The future of physical games is not looking great

This is The Stepback, a weekly newsletter breaking down one essential story from the tech world. For more on video games and physical media, follow Jay Peters. The Stepback arrives in our subscribers’ inboxes on Sunday at 8AM ET. Opt in for The Stepback here. The future of physical games is not looking great Players and game preservationists might need to prepare for a world without discs. Players and game preservationists might need to prepare for a world without discs. How it started As a kid, I relished trips to Best Buy, GameStop, and the nearby mall so that I could browse video games. I loved sifting through games and chatting with my friends at the store about upcoming releases. On the lucky days I actually got a new game from the store, I treasured reading through every page of the manual on the drive home. Over the years, I built up a collection of games that I was proud of. That was a long time ago. Shortly after college, I sold my collection of older games and hardware because I wasn’t using them and wanted the money for other things. (Probably weekends out.) Starting with the Nintendo Switch in 2017, I started buying games digitally because it was easier to just download stuff, and I wouldn’t have to accumulate physical game cases. Now, I don’t own any physical games: My Switch, PlayStation, Xbox, and Steam libraries are all digital. I’m not the only player who has moved to mostly digital games. Digital libraries are increasingly convenient, especially as console makers have made efforts to keep backwards compatibility across generations. Some players can’t play physical games at all, as PlayStation and Xbox launched the PS5 and Xbox Series consoles with all-digital console options that were cheaper than the versions with disc drives. On PC, digital libraries through platforms like Steam have been the reality for quite some time. Capcom, one of the biggest publishers around, reported that an astounding 93 percent of its game sales were for digital copies in its last fiscal year — a figure that it expects will rise to 95.4 percent over the fiscal year. Many of the most popular games are only available digitally, like Roblox and Fortnite. For better or worse, video game players overwhelmingly buy and play digital games. But in the span of a week, two industry giants put nails in the coffin of physical games — or perhaps even poured concrete into the grave. How it’s going On June 24th, Rockstar Games finally put a price tag on Grand Theft Auto VI ahead of its scheduled November 19th release on PS5 and Xbox Series X / S: $79.99 for the base edition and $99.99 for the Ultimate Edition. The prices themselves weren’t too unexpected, as even Nintendo has dabbled with $79.99 games for its biggest titles. But what was more shocking was something buried in Rockstar’s post: The physical version of the game won’t have a disc, instead containing a download code in the box. The announcement was a worrying sign for physical games. Selling games as cod…