What's in the box?

As much as I want to make another tired, and exhausted reference to the movie Seven (styled sometimes as Se7en), about what's in the box, this matter actually demands serious attention.

Grand Theft Auto VI, one of the most anticipated videogames in history, is launching on November 19 for the PS5 and Xbox. However, if you pre-order a physical copy--I mean, the box with a nice classic GTA-cover--or pre-ordered a digital copy, you can pre-load the game on November 12.

Talk about owning nothing still be happy. What's the big deal anyway about digital copies? For starters, if a game only lives on a company's servers, when licenses expire and not renewed, those titles are removed from digital stores. If you deleted the game to make room for other titles, then that would mean you lose access to that title. Forever. Or maybe until when stores bring them back in. Last I checked, console games can cost up to P4,000, and it should not come as a surprise if GTA VI will be priced similarly in retail, or even more, for max profits and probably because of international tariffs. Official prices are $80 (About P4,880) for the standard and $100 (P6,100) for the Ultimate Edition, and the main difference between the two is the latter will have more cosmetics, more vehicles, and more weapons. Personally, I'm fine with the standard (You should probably look for "Asian editions" of games. They have English languages and they cost less. I've been doing that since the PS3-era and I've a few here and there along the way).

So, turns out GTA VI will cost almost P5,000. That's not a small amount, especially not in this economy.

What are the odds though for GTA VI being pulled out of the PS and Xbox stores in the future? I will be honest, and say none. This title is here to stay. It would be a delightful bonus if it can be used for next-gen consoles, but that's fifty-fifty.

Some people think using physical discs would save storage space, since the consoles will be reading it from there. Actually, no. You insert discs in the console and it copies into the local storage. The console then reads it from the storage. The disc requirement to play it after is just verification that it was purchased. This practice has been going on for years, part of the PS3 and probably the entirety of PS4.

In the case of GTA VI, it's also possible that the game itself is massive. We have titles that can hit 100GB easily. Maximum capacity of Blu-ray discs are 128GB. A digital only access solves the disc-issue. (But it would still cost $80, even though it's digital only.)

One positive thing I can see in digital copies, is that for physical copies, there won't be a shortage in stocks. Even if scalpers get their hands on massive quantities of stocks, if people know that the box contains only a download code, then there really is no reason to buy the box itself.

If you really want to play the game right away, by all means, no one is stopping you, and download it in the PS store. But the box should still come with some goodies in it. The smarter approach would be is to wait for a couple of years, when there is an abundant supply of the box, and when it's significantly cheaper, and then buy it. That way you get the pretty box and the game map--it is unconfirmed if a game map is actually included.)

By the way, in case you haven't heard, GTA VI will start shipping for the PS5 and Xbox only. A PC launch will happen later, similarly to GTA V's initial launch in 2013.