The debate over a physical GTA 6 release can be put to rest. On Wednesday, prices for Grand Theft Auto VI for PS5 and Xbox Series X/S were revealed, and an unpleasant fact was confirmed: the boxed version of the game will not include a disc. Fans believed until the very end that this was a temporary measure. They were wrong.
The community’s logic was simple. Many assumed Rockstar Games was removing the disc only at launch—to protect against spoilers—and that proper Blu-ray editions would hit shelves a couple of months later. These expectations were fueled by a Rockstar support letter that went viral on Thursday, after pre-orders had already opened. We noticed one detail back then: the wording “you will be able to purchase a physical copy in the coming months” made no mention of a disc. This led to some confusion, including the theory that the support representative simply misunderstood the question and was talking about boxes with a code, not a disc.
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What does “physical copy” really mean from Rockstar?
The optimists chose a convenient interpretation, but reality turned out to be the former. According to The Hollywood Reporter, citing its own sources, Rockstar and Take-Two Interactive currently have no plans to release GTA 6 discs at all—neither at launch nor in the months to come. So, the phrase about a “physical copy” is clear: a box with a code, not a disc. No Blu-ray.
It’s a shame the publisher went this route. How many discs GTA 6 would have required is a separate question (for comparison, Red Dead Redemption 2 and Horizon: Forbidden West fit on two). But it seems gamers would have gladly paid extra for real physics, not a collectible dummy with a piece of paper inside.
GTA 6 pre-orders are breaking records, despite everything.
Analysts, however, immediately warned that this would not affect sales. And it seems they were right. French retailer CDiscount collected six times more pre-orders in one day than during the entire standard pre-sale period for other major series like EA Sports FC or Call of Duty. Interest is so high that some insiders are seriously worried about the servers—whether they will be able to handle the launch, even with pre-loading a week before release.
There are no official pre-order statistics yet. However, rumors are circulating online about a crushing lead between the PS5 and the Xbox Series X/S—allegedly 8 copies on PlayStation versus 1 on Xbox. Microsoft has denied these figures: an Xbox representative stated that the partner data used in the calculations does not reflect actual sales, but merely the click-through rate of GTA 6 on the platform. The company did note the “record” order volume. Detailed data may be a while off. However, many indications point to the PS5’s advantage—just likely not as crushing as an 8:1 lead.
