Games
Welcome to the largest gaming community on Lemmy! Discussion for all kinds of games. Video games, tabletop games, card games etc.
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Video games
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- !gaming@Lemmy.world: Our sister community, focused on PC and console gaming. Meme are allowed.
- !photomode@feddit.uk: For all your screenshots needs, to share your love for games graphics.
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OK, seriously now: Why bother saying you're going to "release a physical version" that's nothing more than a code inside an empty plastic box? I really don't get it.
Same question:
Why are funko pops?
Same answer.
That's way, the people with slow Internet will have a nice box to look at while their download fail.
Now that's a reasonable response lol
Some people like to still have the box for collection purposes. Personally, I agree. I think the only physical option at this point should be something like a collectible steelbook if all they're going to have is a redemption code.
Yeah, Steelbooks and the like make sense, but wanting to buy a piece of plastic that's just a waste of space... It's the worse of physical and the digital format, the worse of both worlds.
(The anti Hannah Montana!)
But does it run on Hannah Montana Linux?
i like starfields steelbook. the code is on a real version of the in game credits. its heavy and fun to hold
BigBananaDealer - 2026
Many retail games still allow you to have the full game without any account to a service or internet connection.
How does that work with a “Code-in-a-box”?
To sell in physical stores so parents and other people can buy them as gifts.
OK, but why an nearly empty box!? Why not, idk, a card with the code or something? Why a goddamn box with a little piece of paper in it? At least Nintendo's key-cards are something (shitty, but something nonetheless)
It needs to look as much of as a game as the others, that's why they make a box for a code.
Which is a stupid reason but sales people are like this so.
So people can give it as a physical gift. That's really it.
Gift cards exist. Why not gift cards shaped videogames? Why a nearly empty box?
I'm not entirely sure, but the game disc can still be sold. Isn't it? If it is just a code you enter and then don't need the disc anymore, then you cannot sell it. Its basically a digital code only, like on Steam / PC. But if the game disc acts as a license, then it will download the rest of the game and you still need the disc to play. In that case you can sell the disc and no longer play the game. Similar to how game key cards work on Switch 2.
Another reason why big publishers want to have a physical release is, that they have a presence everywhere where "normal" games are also sold. Maybe your mom buys it for you, or a friend gives a gift.
But what's the use of the box in "code-in-a-box"? It's so fucking useless is insulting.
I just told you a few reasons from both sides. Another reason I can think of is, game cannot leak before official download day. The biggest reason probably is, because its cheaper to produce.
It's extraordinarily cheaper to produce, and it kills the second hand game market. Both of which have been thorns in the side of AAA gaming companies for decades. Nobody else had the balls to force online only games (partially due to EU laws). A few tried (I forget the specifics), but they got smacked down and reconsidered. Everyone's watching to see if this works, and if it does, brick and mortar game stores will go the way of the DVD rental.
To play devil’s advocate: physical disc releases are a security nightmare.
Pirate groups pay big money to get access to disc images before release so they can have a crack ready on day 1, and leakers would love to get early access so they can drip feed information for social media cred. The bounty for an early iso of GTA VI would be astronomical.
I do however agree that releasing a ‘physical edition’ that’s just a code in a box is a waste of everyone’s time and money, not to mention materials destined for landfill.
My problem isn't so much that the box is empty (though that's part of it), but rather: Why sell an empty box in the first place? Why not focus on digital and stop wasting everyone's time?
Because people still want to buy the box? And this makes it so you can't resell it. So they are focusing on the part of digital they care about, no resell. While still getting sales that are bought as gifts or people that have a physical collection and want the case.
Resell what, the empty box??
Yes that is how they're blocking resell, by not giving you a disc.