Take-Two boss Strauss Zelnick says that over 90% of the company's sales are digital, so physical discs for games like GTA 6 "don't really make sense for the consumer." Also, considering you have to "register online to play" in most cases anyway, "who cares if you download digitally?"
A lot of people, I imagine, but anyway. As part of Take-Two's latest financial briefing, an investor takes the opportunity to ask Zelnick about Sony's controversial decision to end disc production and its potential impact on the publisher's plans. While Zelnick declines to comment directly on Sony's decision, he offers some thoughts on how Take-Two is approaching the current state of physical media.
"Our business is well over 90% digitally distributed, as it's already a digital business," he says. "So, in certain instances, especially if it's a big game, discs – and note I said discs – don't really make sense for the consumer.
"Also, in most instances you have to register online to play anyhow. So if you're already connected, who cares if you download digitally? It's all the same and it's much more convenient. So that's where the world is going in our opinion, and I think Sony understands that. We certainly understand that."
While Zelnick appears pretty down on physical media, though, he goes on to stress that it doesn't mean Take-Two and the various game studios it owns are unlikely to ditch it entirely.
"That doesn't mean that we won't have physical editions now and then," he continues. "I'm sure we will in the same way that there's still vinyl in the recorded music business, but in other instances it just won't make sense."
The topic of physical media has been ringing around the industry of late. A large part of that comes down to Take-Two-owned Rockstar itself, which announced that boxed versions of GTA 6 will essentially be a code in a box at launch. That said, Nintendo's game-key cards certainly had their moment, and Sony's announcement that PlayStation discs for new games won't be available beyond January 2028 has been the biggest talking point on the topic lately. Hence the investor question.
As a result, the question has been put to other publishers and developers, too. Final Fantasy 7 Revelation lead Naoki Hamaguchi recently told us that conversations about what the RPG's offering will look like are still ongoing.
Similarly, Capcom also mentioned in an investor Q&A that the Resident Evil maker isn't that worried about what happens with physical, as 90% of their sales are digital, much like Take-Two.
On the whole, it paints a bleak picture for the future of physical media, as players' clear preference for digital is evident in the sales data, and publishers mostly offer a collective shrug at the topic. Still, the backlash is fierce, and movements like Stop Killing Games aim to ensure that the ownership issues that come with digital aren't merely brushed away. Watch this space.
Here's how to watch the GTA 6 extended look later this month.
