Starfield physical release won't include physical disc

This doesn't directly affect me, as I've exclusively bought digital games only for over a decade, but this still annoys me. It's basically a bait and switch - it would be far more honest to just say "it's digital only" than to sell a useless physical box.

Same. I buy exclusively digital for the convenience, but how can they claim this is a physical version of the game when it doesn't physically include the game? It's not even a loophole at those point. It's just a lie.
They want the people who buy physical for the box in their collection, to buy the game, but they don't want anybody to have the ability to resell the game for a fiver after the fact, because that means someone else gets the game without giving them money instead of buying a brand new digital license at full price.
I'm part of the problem, I've only bought games on Steam (or in a few instances in the not too distant past, xbox store for cross-platform Forza enjoyment), but holy hell does it irritate me that we can't actually OWN a copy of a game anymore.

So, the physical release is just... actual garbage? Like sure, someone may proudly display it in their bookshelf or whatever, but then, it eventually becomes trash, and there's no reason to keep any of it because there's no physical copy of the game which can be resold or even borrowed out to friends?

That's not a "physical release", that's a piece of merchandise, as useful as a Funko Pop.

Only if you paid $$$ for the "Constellation Edition" - that includes a digital watch, a nice case, and a few other physical goodies. It's already sold out though, so yeah don't bother now to buy any physical edition.

Honestly, one of the reasons to get a physical copy is to save time on the download. Not everyone has blazing fast or reliable internet where they live. Just having to download a patch as opposed to the entire 80+ GB game can be a big deal to some. I know it was like that for me back when the only thing available in a past residence was DSL. No cable or Fiber, just DSL.

This argument was laughed at some 10 years ago already, because everyone in the western world has good enough Internet and if you live in the middle of bumfuck, nowhere, then you should move.
What has changed in 10 years is that now Eastern Europe has good Internet too, with the exception of Estonia, where Telia is allowed to be supreme overlord of deciding who gets fiber and who doesn't. Spoiler alert: If you don't live in a building with 20+ apartments, they don't really care much about getting fiber to your building.
To make matters even more ironic, we're supposed to be the tiny IT powerhouse of Europe and even the whole world. Well then why the hell does it take me 10+ minutes to download a fresh dockerized Java/Kotlin project's dependencies from Maven at home?! And 5+ minutes for any individual Cargo project even if it's not dockerized because it seems Cargo doesn't even have a central local cache like Maven does, it's per project.

I'm a big fan of physical games, I want to own them, and play them even if the internet isn't available, and this blocks that, I don't want it. I don't have a gaming PC anymore because I can buy a console cheaper, but if physical discs are gone, gaming PC's allow for piracy so I can keep the games for as long as I want because I don't see every future Xbox having backward compatibility.

I understand the sentiment, but how many new releases can you really play without any internet connection? You often need to download a day 1 patch or contact the game servers to be able to play, even for single player games.
It's annoying for the customer, but it's not a new development.
- It's totally unacceptable to me too. I would only buy if it is on physical disk or is available as a full DRM-free offline installer.
Also the used game market makes it so you can buy and sell your games when you are done with them. I switched to PC awhile ago. I don't think it's really cheaper. It cost about $1000 to build a PC that can compete with a $400 console.
- pirate more than ten games and you come out ahead
- Yes but that PC can generally last longer, and perform far more tasks. It isn't a fair comparison to use price alone.
- It depends on your use case. If you're always buying the newest games it ends up being more expensive since the games cost the same at launch and a comparable PC will always cost more than a console. But if you have a big backlog of old games you still like to play, take advantage of pc sales (being a smart shopper, buy game keys from other storefronts, don't need every need game you want at or near launch), like to mod, and need a computer that is powerful for other reasons already then there's a reduction of cost with all of that plus additional benefits for continuing to play on PC as you upgrade.
- That PC is an investment. It will easily outlast at least three generations of $500 consoles, because it can be upgraded.

There ought to be a law that a physical release of a game sold in a box has to include some kind of physical media that contains a version of the game. Yes, I get that a multi-gig Day 1 Patch is inevitable, but as someone that had to rely on a craptastic mobile broadband connection for a solid year or two, this is a travesty.

If you wanna just sell a code for a digital version in retail stores, just sell code cards without the plastic disk-like box. It wastes less resources, and makes it more clear what it is.

Boxes should come with branded USB sticks (who even has a disc drive these days?), and if the physical version isn't a box why even bother. Random swag is the point.
- Well, the PS5 and XBOX Series X still use disks as their physical media... but yeah, the Series XBOXes in particular could switch over to those storage modules you can slam into the back of the consoles. At least for exclusives - the XBOne has no port for those.
  But for PC... I reckon most people buy games on Steam there anyway.
  And while I would appreciate swag... I think most developers would only go with cheap non-brandname USB sticks with the logo of the game printed on it, that's built just good enough to not spontaneously combust if you look at it funny.
The stupid reason for the box is probably that people equate size with value, and stores have a harder time charging $90 for a slip of paper.
- Easy fix: Print the install size on the slip of paper in big letters.
  In Bytes if need be.

"physical" release my ass.

Release your ass, buddy.
- Are the three days already over?
- I'm not your buddy, pal.

That's not really a physical release then? It's basically one of those cards they have hanging up at walmart, but with an unnecessary box. And the whole point of the box is as a protective distribution method for physical media.

Welp. With this and other AAA games like Alan Wake going full digital, I suppose the end is nigh for physical media. It's a real shame. I own tons of physical games dating back to the Atari 2600. I tend to view things like Limited Run Games to be collector bait, so I guess most of my games are going to be purchased on GOG or Steam once the plug is pulled(I do not trust digital storefronts on console).

What really sucks is that it eliminates any sort of trade-in systems. I rarely have the desire to play a game I've already finished, at least I would be able to recoup some of that money towards a new game. There goes that along with lending games to friends
- How often does that happen these days though? Trading in games or lending to friends hasn't been worth it for a while. Trades are worth a handful of dollars and if your friends are adults they can probably afford their own game anyway. We cling too much to an era where people could still believe the earth would be fine. It's a hobby, is it really worth it?
they can still support encrypted format usb sticks which technically doesn't have storage limit. (then decrypt/then encode again when transfer to your console. as if they are downloaded from the server)
Like windows OS is selling on usb sticks.

You will own nothing and be happy

I know people drive sales of digital media because of convince, hell I have bought a few movies digitally myself for this reason. However with the videogame industry you are truly right. You are dropping 60/70 bucks so that Microsoft, Bethesda, or whoever, can just yank these games from their platform for no reason. You are then left with nothing, maybe a backwards compatibility release on the next platform, but guess what, your buying that shit again.
It is truly baffling the lack of foresight, with clear examples of this issue such as Nintendo's shops closing, and psn manipulating of backwards compatibility hardware over the years of PS3.
Saddens me greatly.

Microsoft tried to kill borrowing and lending, and this just seems like ankther attempt. Someone with a real presence on other sites (and is good at social media) should stir up a backlash.

I hate digital-only media. :/

One day my mother called me out of the blue. She told me, that Amazon had sent her an email, because they had a very special deal on a video game, which was going down from 60€, to just 10€. And she was like, "It's dirt cheap, if you want, I can deliver it to your address!".

And I was like that's very touching! Thank you, I really do appreciate it. What's the game by the way?

So she looked it up in her emails... Oh, it's a game called...

FALLOUT 76.

I bursted out laughing. I told her that this was like, the worst fucking game she could have told me and that it was no wonder she got such a special discount. Because this was just at release, when the game was such a train wreck, that retail stores and like, were slashing the prices just to get rid of the damn thing.

(I hear it's good now? I played it for literally 10 minutes, and the game was so horrendously bad looking and so buggy, I never touched it again.)

We laughed about it, and I said, send it anyway, just for fun, might as well.

Two days passes, and there it is. Fallout 76, in my own hands. How jolly. So I open my package, get the game out and... you know what? It felt good! It was exciting, you don't get that many physical releases on PC nowadays. They exist, but there is almost never a reason to buy them, because usually, you can get the game much cheaper on a digital platform. So having a physical game in your hands, for your PC, it's a very rare thing and kind of nostalgic too. Even if it was that game out of all of them, I was still happy to get that physical thing in my hand.

So anyway, I get my PC already, open the box, and to my utter dismay...

...it was a fucking cardboard disc! With a product key on it!

To this day, I don't know how to feel about it. Because on one hand it sucks and is wasteful but on the other hand... nah it just sucks, but I don't know, there is something that I find really funny about having a whole plastic box, just to hold a disc shaped piece of cardboard in it. It's not just a sheet of paper, no, there was some effort put in.

But hey! At least it was not a total waste from stop because this wasn't just fallout 76 come on this was the S.P.E.C.I.A.L. Amazon Edition of the game. So I got some cool official Vault Boy pins!

Thanks mom! :D

...makes me wonder if Starfield will come with a cardboard disc too. It would be a shame, because I really love the steelbook for this game. It's so clean and beautiful. But to house a cardboard disc? One which you can basically throw away as soon as you use the key? :/

If it’s just a code in a box, does that mean it can’t be resold?

Yes

Look around and realize how you got here to Lemmy/kbin/beehaw/etc - you were betrayed by a few VC-captured executives that made profit-blinded, consumer-hostile decisions about an important product you used frequently. They ruined it.

Anyone here defending digital media or saying it's not that bad or they should have done a digital lending system, you're not remembering the recent past.

The only acceptable ground to give here is NONE. Physical media needs to start mandatory, or your purchases are never owned and you're always at risk and at the whims of someone like Spez.

Alternatively downloadable self-contained installers like what you get from https://www.gog.com/
This.
Also, AAA companies shouldn't be able to ask for pre-orders and them deliver botched games that require terabytes of network traffic just to be playable. Physical media should be playable (decent framerate and seamless-enough gameplay) from the beggining.

No matter where you look in Media, digital copies have outpaced physical. And it´s not even close! So the step is not really a surprise. Also, some games are already essentially a digital copy, even if "some" game files get delivered on a disc. But the lack of a physical medium is not what sucks about this. It´s the fact that you link the purchase to your own account of whatever store it´s in and that´s it. No lending, selling or gifting once you activated the code. I actually prefer to buy cartridges for the switch because of that very reason.

But with digital downloads being so much more convenient and instantly available, I don´t see how any market forces would ever change this. Also, people pre order digital copies as if they worry the store wouldn´t have enough copies on launch day, which is also quite telling.

Yeah the bummer is the system they were going to implement for Xbox one was going to allow game lending which would have been a decent first step towards proper digital ownership of games.

Why even sell a physical box if it has absolutely no benefit over a digital download? I wonder if it's at all driven by desire to trick people who want a physical disk copy (ie, a copy that can be resold or traded)?

Given that people generally expect physical copies to have a disk (at least for console games), it feels like false advertising.

Having a product on a shelf is a form of marketing. It's why big releases get a full wall at GameStop. They cna keep a box in the back, but the publisher has paid for all of that shelf space, and they've paid for it because it makes it look like a big deal to people who are just wandering in looking for a gift, or for their next thing to play between Fifa or Madden releases.
- I have no idea why you're being downvoted; this is literally what those walls full of game boxes were meant for (even back when they actually had shit in 'em).
No benefit? I only buy physical (when possible), because then the game is mine. You dont own digital only games, you just license them. I can give back, resell or lend my games and I get a feeling of ownership. I hate the direction the games industry is going.
- because then the game is mine.
  EULAs say otherwise even in that case.
- It's a physical box that contains a download code. There's no game inside. No disc, no cartridge, nothing that actually holds the product.
  You're not reselling that.
- But physical disks now won't let you play unless you download 500GB worth of "updates"
  I miss old physical games where you had the disk and that's it
- because then the game is mine.
  What? No, that's wrong. You only ever purchase a license to play the game. The only thing you own is the package and the disc.
  Also, you can just copy the files of the digital download.
- You only ever own a license and possibly a medium, not the game. From the perspective of the law there is very little difference. Now, the terms of use of a particular DRM platform, this is a different matter.
Honestly I'm not very bothered. I struggle to see this as false advertising when they're declaring on public forums that physical copies will not include a disc, and it's quite likely that those physical copies will also state on them that it includes a code and not a disc.
Given our increasing environmental concerns the idea that hundreds of thousands, if not millions, of discs are not going to be produced for this is a good thing, I think. I imagine the only reason a physical version exists at all is to ensure the game has a presence in physical stores, so large advertisements can catch people's eye, so stores can do related promotions. In essence, all those empty boxes will be produced purely for advertising purposes, otherwise I imagine they would scrap physical copies all together to save the related production, transportation, and logistics costs.
I think at least part of it is to let people buy with cash or store credit though I do wish they made it more like a branded gift card or something because that would be less waste
- I do wish they made it more like a branded gift card
  That would be preferable.
- Nintendo does exactly this with digital Switch games, so it's definitely possible for Starfield too
It's probably driven by a desire to keep retail partners happy with stocked store shelves.
Because brick and mortar retail isn't entirely dead. Impulse buys, Christmas gifts, etc etc etc etc. All the reasons to have a product for sale in a store. The product was never the CD or DVD or floppy disks, and gamers who make a fuss about it are just crotchety for the sake of it. There's no reason to print physical media. I haven't even owned an optical drive in my pc for well over a decade. Still bought some "physical copies" of games that were just codes. I'm not upset.
You're old grandpa, go back inside and stop yelling at The Cloud.
- Ffs, a shockingly large portion of the U.S. still has terrible internet. People buy physical copies so they don't have to download over several days and exceed their data caps.
  Others enjoy physical copies for the collectible aspect, which a box alone does not suffice for at all.
  Selling a box that looks like it contains a physical copy, and calling it a physical copy, when it demonstrably isn't is just deceptive advertizing. If they just want to sell a digital copy in stores, it should be a card with a code on it and marked as a digital only copy.
  You're entitled to not care about the physical copues yourself, but calling everyone who does care "crotchety for the sake of it" is just nonsensical and shitty.
- You're absolutely right. All these people shouting about "back in my day we owned games!" are forgetting that games have to be manufactured. Is all that plastic and pollution worth having a plastic rectangle with a different plastic circle in it? At the end of the day once you've played the game that's it, it's yours. Your experience is unique and it can't be taken away, don't cling to manufactured waste when what you cherish are the memories.

This may have been an error, either the employee mistook the special edition with the regular, or Microsoft saw how angry people were.

Would be a terrible decision during their Activision legal battle, turning Bethesda into a worse company for the consumer.

I mean, who would expect Starfield to fit on a disk?

then put in X Disks.
we did that with (floppy) disks forever, and CDs too.
I don't remember any DVDs using that, but they surely existed
- A single Quad layer Bluray could fit the entire game, but not a ton of PC users have an optical drive, much less a Bluray capable one. A microSD card or USB drive might be more viable these days. A 128GB costs less than $10. When you want to stick to DVDs you would need either 27 (DVD-5), 15 (DVD-9) or 8 (DVD-18). Multi-DVD releases are definitely a thing. Star Wars Battlefront comes on 4 discs. I suspect they would opt for a DVD-9 release as this allows you to print artwork on one of the sites and you likely need a few extra discs as you cannot use all of the storage for data. So we talk about a 16-18 disc release. ~22mm (7/8 inch) of DVD goodness.
- Star ocean the last hope on the 360 had 3 disks
It actually does. Blurays go up to 128GB and the game needs 125GB.
- I think that out spec current xbox consoles? cause I remember reading series x only supports up to the dual layer 66gb ones.
- And who the fuck has a Bluray drive in their PC?

CDs in current gen physical copies aren't really much more than a license to download anyway considering many require a gigantic day 1 patch to play. So the CD doesn't really give you anything anymore (except I guess you could lend it to a friend).

You also can't sell it, and thus also can't buy it used. This is the final move to end the used market for console games.
- I'll continue to avoid digital-only games copy for as long as I can because of this.
  After a few years I typically replace my console, and sold the oldgen along with physical game copies. Sometimes I sell games sooner.
  Each time I reconsider whether to buy Xbox vs Playstation, availability of physical copies is always a precondition.

I mean, even the Skyrim disc for PC just ran a script to download it via Steam. This has been coming for a long time.

I’m disappointed that there isn’t a consumer protection law against this.

Things like this is why I already made the switch to digital games. If the one point of having physical media was to have a backup, and nowadays most games aren't even fully on the cartridge/disc, whats the point? At that point it's just another form of DRM.

This isn't too surprising though, Microsoft has been big into getting rid of physical media.

I knew it. As soon as Epic announced their bullshit I saw the end in sight.

I don't follow news with Epic much, but what do they have to do with Starfield or physical games?
- They're publishing Alan Wake 2. Alan Wake 2 will be digital-only.

This is good for GME lol

They’re now saying that this was incorrect: the Xbox release will include a disc.

https://www.gamespot.com/amp-articles/starfield-does-have-a-physical-disc-after-all/1100-6515495/

Which will once again show, that pirates get the best service, as they will package the game into ISOs and hold it on their discs for as long as they want, regardless if the Bethesda servers ever go down.