The Death of the Complete Game Disc? Why Physical Releases are Changing Forever

Alright, let's delve into a topic that is slowly but surely becoming one of the more peculiar arguments surrounding current gaming. The current state of the industry is exemplified by physical games and the surrounding circumstances. The reason is that the game is supposedly getting a PS5 physical release.

Similar to the good old days, you can just stroll into a store, grab the box, slip the disk into your console, and install it. Well, not exactly. Players have found out from early versions that the disc doesn't really contain the complete playable game. Prior to commencing gameplay, you will still be required to establish an online connection and download the day-one patch.

For the record, playing without an internet connection is perfectly acceptable after that update is applied.

You won't have to constantly log in or do a server handshake whenever you start the game. Everything will be fine after the initial download. However, the main problem is clear. The disk isn't enough to launch the game; you also need internet access. At that point, things begin to irritate some players. Because for many people, the sole purpose of purchasing a physical copy is for the sake of preservation.

What makes it so appealing is the thought that you can hold onto a physical object, a disc with all the content, and play it on any system, even ten or twenty years from now. For tangible media, that has been the guiding principle ever since the PS1 era. However, that concept has become somewhat of a practical pain due to the magnitude of modern games.

Here, the numbers speak for themselves. According to the installation images that have been circulating, around 76 GB of data was transferred from the CD. On the other hand, the full PC version is anticipated to come in at roughly 150 GB. There's probably a very direct explanation for such a large discrepancy.

Presumably, opted to release the game on a single Blu-ray disk rather than two, meaning that players will still need to download half of the game. Now, looking at it through the lens of production, that choice makes perfect sense. The production expense, packing complexity, and distribution hassles associated with shipping several discs are all increased.

However, this unusual hybrid condition is created from the player's perspective.

The game requires a digital download even though you purchased a physical copy. It's as if you learn that the final ten chapters are available online after purchasing a hardcover book. All rights to the book still remain with you. A crucial component is what is missing. From this point forward, things are going to become intriguing.

The technical findings that circulated that day suggested that a single patch might include more than just the missing data. It's likely that it will have major improvements, such as compatibility for Sony's PSSR upscaling on PS5 Pro, but the disc version might not be an accurate representation of the final product.

That is to say, the download is multitasking; it is both installing the game and updating the technological stack simultaneously. You could say that this whole thing lands on one of two extremes, depending on your perspective. Preservationists who are dead set against this movement make up one camp.

In their view, the whole point of physical media is rendered moot if it requires a download in order to run. Contrarily, there are players who genuinely couldn't care less. These days, it's just part of life for the majority of gamers to download an update before each session. Their mind will be completely blank as they connect the console, seize the patch, and plunge straight into the adventure

Two distinct worldviews. Discs are seen as relics that will last forever.

The other person views them more as a key to activate the system. The reality is that for quite some time, the market has been leaning toward the second model. Video games nowadays are massive. There are steady updates. Updates to increase efficiency, design, and user experience; repairs for bugs; addition of new functionality.

In contrast to older games that relied on discs, the software nowadays rarely remains immobile. The physical format is not dead just because of it. Absolutely not. For many gamers, there's nothing that beats having their very own set of games, which allows them to collect, trade, and even lend to friends.

But this is only one example of how the concept of physical copy is evolving. More and more, the disk resembles the main door. Even though most of us still spend most of our time online, Crimson Desert is the most recent illustration of how present demands are clashing with more traditional ways of life.

At this point, a more fundamental inquiry emerges. Will games continue to grow in size, and is this merely a stopgap measure? Is this the end of physical media as we know it, though? Game sizes are currently skyrocketing, and the industry is still struggling with the prospect of discs becoming nothing more than fancy license tokens.