Lords of the Fallen 2 Boss Calls GTA 6 Physical Disc Decision 'Unfair'

GTA 6 and Sony took the first big steps toward a digital-only gaming future, and as physical media took a few hits, the company's CEO Lords of the Fallen 2 he stated that it was not fair to smaller studios and publishers. Rockstar's GTA 6 it recently became the most watched AAA game to avoid a physical release entirely, sparking significant controversy.

The future of physical media in games has been called into question in recent weeks by the most anticipated game of the year. GTA 6 opened pre-orders on June 25 with the bold announcement that it would be a digital-only release that would only include the retail boxed code, with no disc version. Shortly after, Sony announced plans to end physical disc production entirely in 2028, and rumors began to circulate that Microsoft was working on a disc-to-digital conversion system, as Project Helix is claimed to be digital-only. Fans weren't happy with any of this news, and now even studio heads are expressing that it's potentially unfair to companies that want to give fans what they want.

The seller refuses to sell Grand Theft Auto 6

At least one retailer is refusing to sell copies of Grand Theft Auto 6 when the game comes out later this year.

GTA 6 physical disc decision declared 'unfair' by Lords of the Fallen 2 CEO

CI Games CEO Marek Tyminski joined the discussion about the future of physical media on Twitter, stating that GTA 6 Digital-only is unfair to the smaller studios who still choose to release a physical version because of the costs they incur. Tyminski says physical sales are ultimately harder to justify due to “lower per-unit revenue for developers, longer shipping times and unnecessary costs in a tough industry where many are already losing money,” but the studio still plans to launch physical copies Lord of the Fallen 2. Naturally, making a case and a disc on a store shelf will make the unit cost per game sold much lower than a direct download digital release, which can hurt the bottom line for studios smaller than something like Rockstar Games, which is so big it can probably bear those costs just because of sales volume.

Arrange the covers in the correct US release order.

Easy (5) Medium (7) Hard (10)

The CEO of CI Games even breaks down what a typical cash breakdown looks like for each game disc sold. Tyminski says retail takes roughly 25-35%, distributors 10-20%, and the actual physical production costs roughly $10, leaving studios with about $26 per game sold, not factoring in sales or markdowns. Compared to the roughly $49 that Tyminski says the studio can get from top-margin digital-only sales, that's certainly a small number. The CEO concludes his series of posts by stating, “From a pure ROI perspective, the choice is obvious.”

Tyminski's statements are in line with what other developers have been saying in recent days. Especially, Baldur's Gate 3 the developers spoke out after Sony's announcement, saying that while the physical edition of the game may have been ridiculously expensive to produce, it was still worth it and made people happy. However, given the sales breakdown detailed by Tyminski, it seems like publishers will definitely have to consider how much these physical editions mean going forward.

GTA 6 isn't the first AAA game to go digital only, but it's definitely the most watched game if it sticks. Alan Wake 2 was also notably a digital-only release until fan requests showed enough interest in a physical release that Remedy and Epic Games deemed it a worthwhile venture. Meantime, Hellblade 2 remains the next AAA game without a physical release as fans clamor for a boutique company like Limited Run Games to take over from Microsoft and release a disc. It remains to be seen whether Limited Run and other third-party physical media sellers will take some of the burden off studios that would like to provide fans with physical copies while keeping costs down.