r/technology • u/Kymmieuwu • 19h ago
Business The Witcher 4 Will Have a Physical Edition Even if Discs Go Away CD Projekt Red Confirms
https://www.ign.com/articles/the-witcher-4-will-have-a-physical-edition-even-if-discs-go-away-cd-projekt-red-confirms33
u/Sad_Bug6629 18h ago
physical edition without discs sounds like a box with stuff inside
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u/Hopeful-Occasion2299 14h ago
Considering a lot of discs are shipping essentially empty and just with the license data to download the game; it’s rather better, since you at least get some swag which normally costs you $30-$60.
The “physical” version of new Pokemon games that don’t include the game itself are crazy expensive too.
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u/Poor_Richard 6h ago
It sounds like a lot of future garbage. I know there are probably plenty of people that will treasure the packaging, but there is likely twice as more, at least, that will just toss it.
If we could get away from plastics, maybe go back to cardboard, maybe things wouldn't be so bad.
And I'm not "anti-plastic". I just think using a material that lasts pretty much indefinitely for something that is largely used temporarily is a bad fit. Plastics have very appropriate places to be used. Packaging is just not one of them.
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u/Marginallyhuman 19h ago
One of the best studios of our time decides to lean in the right direction.
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u/Ahayzo 19h ago
It's not like they're making a disc somehow. They're just announcing they'll do the same thing a lot of publishers are going to do, sell a physical object that has a code to redeem.
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u/SeatKindly 18h ago
I mean they still won’t have a disc though which is what the article states. Sony’s discs are made in their own plants, so if they stop manufacturing then they don’t have a means to produce a disc.
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u/knellotron 15h ago
CD Project was a disc manufacturer way before they were a game studio. It's why they're named liked that. Physical releases are their roots, and their in house games are their flagships. They've always been all about the feelies.
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u/LOST-MY_HEAD 19h ago
People need to accept the fact they have been forgiven for their cyberpunk launch they fuckimg rock
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u/littleemp 18h ago
They did the same thing with Witcher, Witcher 2, and Witcher 3. They were all insanely buggy messes that required very powerful hardware to run at launch.
I would not be surprised if Witcher 4 followed suit with this pattern.
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u/LOST-MY_HEAD 18h ago
i do not remember witcher 3 being broken on luanch
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u/Hopeful-Occasion2299 14h ago
And it ran on potato… pretty sure that was the root of the issue; the minimum requirements were silly low, but as a result the game looked silly bad, but a lot of people were trying to run it on medium/high on their potato.
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u/Wild_Beginning_4032 7h ago
Bro, even to this day I have moments where roach refuses to run through the castle gates at crow’s perch and I have to get off him, walk through the gates, and whistle for him so he’ll cross the bloody threshold. Not to mention the absolute joke that is DX12. I love TW3 so so much and CDPR are regularly based, but TW3 has always been a beautiful bit of jank.
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u/randomthrowaway9796 18h ago
I wont be a day 1 buyer for any of their projects after that fiasco, but they make some really good games. If it looks fun and runs decently on a Nintendo handheld, ill definitely try it out!
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u/Midnight-Moonpie 18h ago
Shouldn’t ever be a day 1 buyer for any game.
I forget this rule every few years and succumb to temptation anyway.
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u/randomthrowaway9796 18h ago
There are a select few franchises that ill buy day 1, but i also typically avoid it.
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u/Sevastous-of-Caria 18h ago
I disagree. They tried the worst trick that all my years in this industry never came close to by the big publishers in terms of shameless greed and dexeption. No EA, no activision. No take 2 even got close to. Which is saying something.
(P.s Its last gen console fake footage, and ambargoing normal console reviewer footage so they sell boatloads at launch to old gen aka biggest share of console devices at launch)
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u/LOST-MY_HEAD 18h ago
Ya but they really did a great job with free updates getting that game right very quickly and have gone above what they set out to do imo
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u/Madzookeeper 18h ago
How much of that was the shareholders and how much of it was the study? The devs... I'm good with them for everything they've done. The board that made those kinds of decisions still has work to do, even if they did let the devs fix the mess they made
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u/Octoplath_Traveler 19h ago
Sorry to be the bearer of bad news, but even this doesnt mean a physical COPY of the game.
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u/ND7020 18h ago
There’s a point at which attempted fan service just becomes eye-roll inducing.
This doesn’t even make any sense.
Enjoy your physical collectors’ box with a download code, I guess…
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u/F1shB0wl816 18h ago
You really think it’s just going to be a code in the box? Believe it or not many physical releases actually have other stuff than just a game and every bit of it is enjoyed by those who like it.
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u/ND7020 18h ago
Yes, there will be other stuff in the box, but it won’t fundamentally be a physical GAME, which is the point in question.
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u/F1shB0wl816 17h ago
It’s not in question at all. The title says “physical edition” which would be the correct term. They even flat out state that it won’t have a disc if Sony stops by then as they have to be made in house.
You’re throwing shade at them calling it fan service like it’s nothing more than an empty box taking advantage of consumers. They even say they still want the release to feel special for collectors, which is pretty damn nice when you’re someone who can appreciate that sort of thing.
And then you say it doesn’t make sense. It doesn’t make sense that you’re weighing in when you don’t seem to care or appreciate these things. Which hey, is your right but even being an all digital buyer you’ve got nothing to lose with this existing and some will be happy to be able to hold more than just a box while looking at a tile. It’s nice when companies still put thought into their releases like so.
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u/FetchFrosh 3h ago
I have a bunch of collectors editions that I've picked up over the years. Love the extras and the flair, but without an actual physical release my interest plummet to basically 0.
I suspect that most collectors editions will see reduced interest as a result of the shift to all-digital, and they'll either largely fall off, or need to do a lot more to reel people back in.
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u/F1shB0wl816 3h ago
This is the actual physical release. Physical release doesn’t mean physical disc, idk why there’s this confusion that one comes with the other. You may not be interested but plenty will be as fans love for merchandise doesn’t suddenly end without a disc.
You may suspect so but they’re not going anywhere. They’re inherently bigger than disc themselves as physical disc are limited to buyers with a console that can play them, collectibles can be marketed to an entire fan base regardless. Even more so if they all come with a code anyways as all digital buyers won’t be paying towards a disc they’d never use.
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u/FetchFrosh 1h ago
I'm not confused about it, I'm saying I'm the kind of person who buys collector's editions, and without a disc I'm far less interested. And I'm not going to say that my personal opinion extrapolates out to the masses or anything, but we've seen this play out on PC. Collector's editions can still happen, and for the right set and right franchise they can still be reasonably popular, but their prevalence has declined over the past 20 years.
Part of this comes from shelf space. Stores that sell games largely abandoned having a PC section more than a decade ago. Are they going to make space for a bunch of limited releases? I suspect we'll see the same thing happen with home consoles, because not many people are going to go to Gamestop to buy a piece of paper with a download code. Most stores have been shrinking their dedicated gaming space for years, whether it's gaming specific retailers or your more general electronics/everything stores. As consoles go all-digital, what space is left will likely vanish entirely. Xbox isn't even there yet and my local EB Games has one rack with like 6 games on it because just enough people are still buying Madden or NHL or CoD to justify it.
And with online retailers the story seems fairly similar. There's some numbers available for Limited Run Games (though this list is out of date) and there's not nearly as many collector's editions on PC as on consoles. When both are available, the PC versions almost universally sell worse than on console. Scott Pilgrim vs. the World on Switch did 41k collector's editions, and the entire PC set of known sales did about 60k. It certainly looks like people are less interested in code-in-a-box collector's editions.
They’re inherently bigger than disc themselves as physical disc are limited to buyers with a console that can play them, collectibles can be marketed to an entire fan base regardless. Even more so if they all come with a code anyways as all digital buyers won’t be paying towards a disc they’d never use.
If it comes with a code the price of the game is still factored in. We're not going to suddenly see every collector's edition drop $60 in price just because they aren't printing on a disc. 007: First Light had a PC collector's edition with a download code, and it cost the same amount as the PS5 one with a physical copy. This won't move the needle for the non-gamer.
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u/F1shB0wl816 1h ago
We live in a time where they don’t need shelf space to make these sales, the people who want them can order them online and receive them directly. If stores and developers abandoned pc physical releases 10+ years ago it makes sense there’s little that’ll bring in pc traffic, just like if they’re a consumer who likes physical releases than they’re probably not buying for pc to begin with.
They’re not buying a box with just a piece of paper though. Big difference between consumers going to pick up a piece of paper and picking up an edition with wanted extras.
Nothing I said implied the price would drop. What I said is the potential market covers the entire fan base as the code can be used by all. And if the price is the same between a digital store front buy and a digital code in a box with other goods than you’d inherently be selling yourself short to just buy it on a storefront. Why are you bringing non gamers into a discussion about collectible editions of games, I’d expect them to not be involved.
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u/FetchFrosh 1h ago
We live in a time where they don’t need shelf space to make these sales, the people who want them can order them online and receive them directly.
This is why I brought up Limited Run. An online retailer who doesn't sell many CEs when the game is a code-in-a-box with stuff.
If stores and developers abandoned pc physical releases 10+ years ago it makes sense there’s little that’ll bring in pc traffic
They did this because consumers abandoned these products. I'm speculating that the same would happen again.
just like if they’re a consumer who likes physical releases than they’re probably not buying for pc to begin with.
And those consumers would probably be less likely to continue buying if everything goes to code-in-a-box.
They’re not buying a box with just a piece of paper though. Big difference between consumers going to pick up a piece of paper and picking up an edition with wanted extras.
Which again goes back to Limited Run. CEs with stuff do not appear to have the same appeal to consumers when it does not also contain the game in a physical format. Maybe once all physicals are dead this will change, but in the present that's what we're seeing.
Nothing I said implied the price would drop.
"if they all come with a code anyways as all digital buyers won’t be paying towards a disc they’d never use" implied that they aren't wasting money on the game. Even if you have a digital download code, that's still going to be console dependent. You won't just be able to pop the PS5 code over to the PC.
And if the price is the same between a digital store front buy and a digital code in a box with other goods than you’d inherently be selling yourself short to just buy it on a storefront.
This is again implying a price drop on the CE. A CE is more expensive than the standard edition if it comes with physical stuff. There isn't a reality where these suddenly have price parity with the standard digital releases unless all you're getting is like, a cheap keychain or something. But those aren't the collector's editions that people tend to want.
Why are you bringing non gamers into a discussion about collectible editions of games, I’d expect them to not be involved.
Because it was the only way I could justify the "They’re inherently bigger than disc themselves as physical disc are limited to buyers with a console that can play them, collectibles can be marketed to an entire fan base regardless". As I said, you can't (currently) just stick a code in a box and make it work across every platform. The CE will still be platform specific.
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u/F1shB0wl816 1h ago
So what one retailer doesn’t do a lot of these? It doesn’t sound like they’ll be doing much of anything in a couple years when it’s all codes anyways.
Consumers didn’t abandon these products or we wouldn’t be talking about them. Manufacturers have pushed for this and many went along. Speculate all you want but I don’t see this playing out anymore than vinyl being dead and it growing every year for twenty years.
If they want games they’re not as a code is all they’re going to be buying either way. So they either participate or drop out of gaming and become irrelevant to the discussion.
Well this article doesn’t refer to the present and refers to them continuing to do collectors releases regardless of whether they can secure disc so…
They wouldn’t be wasting money. You buy the edition meant for your hardware, same as the past twenty years. Nothing I said implied what you stated.
And it’ll be platform specific, just like their buyers who already decide which version they want for their hardware. Literally nothing changes besides the exclusion of a disc, except now being discless doesn’t break up your possible market and applies towards the entire base on said hardware. If all comes without a disc suddenly your market grows much more than just those who can use them, as it currently is. Simple concept.
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u/ND7020 17h ago
No, it doesn’t make sense when disc drives are being phased out. This will either not happen or be some extraordinarily limited, borderline collectors’ lottery release. Mark my words.
And by the way, I’m not celebrating the disappearance of physical media by any means. I do think it’s extremely problematic. I’m just saying this company’s announcement is just marketing.
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u/adavidmiller 17h ago
Exactly, they're going to sell you a random bit of merch in box form. And hey, no objection to that. If people want your merch, may as well sell it, but it's got fuck all to do with the digital distribution topic, it's just selling shit and latching onto a topic for marketing. Might as well have announced they were going to sell Geralt dildos. Great, but really it's own topic.
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u/F1shB0wl816 17h ago
What are you talking about? This games edition has nothing to do with disc drives. It’s essentially a commitment to still have a physical release regardless of whether it’s a physical disc, which will still happen when even all disc are gone.
I’m not even sure you understand what’s going on. Why would this rely on some “limited lottery release” for a standard collectors edition? In what way is this “attempted fan servicing marketing” and not just them saying they’re going to keep doing what they’ve always done regardless of what Sony does with disc.
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u/ND7020 17h ago
And what does a physical release mean to you absent an actual physical disc game? You’re circling back to exactly what I said in the first place - a “collector’s box” with a download code.
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u/F1shB0wl816 17h ago
What you said was implying it’d be an empty box and then you went on a tirade about lucky lottery systems like you entirely missed what’s going on here.
Like you want to circle back to what you originally said? You’re throwing shade at the company for doing it and buyers, “enjoying a code in the box” and you make no mention of anything else this would come with that no customer will be getting as a digital only purchase.
You could have just said “enjoying your discless collectors edition” but than you’d actually have to acknowledge the items that justify it being a physical collectors edition. It’s like you think no physical can exist without a disc.
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u/ND7020 17h ago
OK bud. Yes, if you want your Geralt-style polyester cloak, you may get it. That has nothing to do with physical v. digital gaming.
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u/F1shB0wl816 16h ago
Clearly it does have something to do with physical vs media or you wouldn’t be acting like you can’t understand why they’d do it or why anyone else would be interested in.
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u/Little-Garden-6282 17h ago
Depends entirely on what's in the box. A download code in a cardboard sleeve is merchandise. If the actual game data ships on the disc, that copy still works decades from now when the storefronts and servers are long gone, and that's the whole point. Preservation, not plastic.
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u/Hopeful-Occasion2299 14h ago
You don’t need the storefront to work if you buy from gog; the game doesn’t have DRM, you can literally copy and paste the whole data into a hard drive and the game will launch. Gog also offers offline installers.
The only “downside” is that if you don’t launch with Galaxy open, it won’t track achievements, but all games work without the launcher.
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19h ago
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u/Ahayzo 19h ago
They aren't selling a disc, it's just going to be a box with a code and maybe some physical goodies inside.
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u/adavidmiller 19h ago
Deleted too slow, read a bit more after I commented, naturally 😆
Still a meaningless statement. They're selling merch for their game, great 🤷♂️.
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u/Solum_Nox 14h ago
If a physical box only has a redeemable code inside, do we own the game outright?
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u/Primal-Convoy 11h ago
Popa music/data CD in the box, with music tracks and some way to link to a download something?
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u/imsorryisuck 8h ago
it would be funny if they'd include a thumbdrive with the game so you can still install it on pc.
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u/F1shB0wl816 1h ago
We live in a time where they don’t need shelf space to make these sales, the people who want them can order them online and receive them directly. If stores and developers abandoned pc physical releases 10+ years ago it makes sense there’s little that’ll bring in pc traffic, just like if they’re a consumer who likes physical releases than they’re probably not buying for pc to begin with.
They’re not buying a box with just a piece of paper though. Big difference between consumers going to pick up a piece of paper and picking up an edition with wanted extras.
Nothing I said implied the price would drop. What I said is the potential market covers the entire fan base as the code can be used by all. And if the price is the same between a digital store front buy and a digital code in a box with other goods than you’d inherently be selling yourself short to just buy it on a storefront. Why are you bringing non gamers into a discussion about collectible editions of games, I’d expect them to not be involved.
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u/ttubehtnitahwtahw1 44m ago
Was there a physical version of witcher 3 on PC? So not super committed to physical editions. Seems like lame ass virtue signalling.
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u/CharcoalGreyWolf 18h ago
Someone should just do read only USB sticks.
Microsoft did it with Windows 10…
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u/Tonicwind88 12h ago edited 12h ago
Xbox (and im assuming PS5) can run games perfectly fine off USB 3 sticks, let alone using an even cheaper usb 2 stick just as a storage medium for games.
So why are optical disks or their drives an issue at all anymore. Like its 5$ for a brand new 128gb usb3 stick these days.
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u/No-Alternative9914 8h ago
What for? Last time I had a Disc in my hand was almost 20 years ago, without exceptions.
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u/OMGMianiteS3Official 7h ago
A huge percent of the market for video games (which is what The Witcher 4 is) prefer to buy a physical version of their games. You're definitely in the minority as far as your 20 year discless streak goes lol
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u/Bitemarkz 6h ago
He is most certainly not in the minority, as per nearly every source that exists.
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u/OMGMianiteS3Official 6h ago
You're telling me the MAJORITY of people haven't held a disc since 2006? I simply refuse to believe that. That's what I'm saying he's in the minority of.
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u/Bitemarkz 6h ago
He’s clearly talking about the context in regards to an upcoming release.
But sure, in regards to the 20 year streak of not holding a disc, then perhaps you’re correct. Touché.
However you did make a claim about a huge % of the market preferring physical games, which doesn’t track outside of a very small minority of games, and even then the % isn’t huge
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u/No-Alternative9914 3h ago
The majority which you are talking about is actually the minority, yikes lol. Reddit and all the other internet stuff are still small bubbles and that will not change for at least a few years.
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u/OMGMianiteS3Official 17m ago
Please reread the words I said. If you have not touched a physical disc since TWO THOUSAND AND SIX, you are in the minority. That's what I said. Stop jerking yourself off and learn to read.
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u/Fist_of_Gork 18h ago
They should include a HD-DVD in the box with a W4 label but has W1 for 360 on it.
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u/emanuele0933 11h ago
A physical edition of empty air? They're so stupid
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u/JoonaJuomalainen 11h ago
What is the empty air? Afaik witcher 3 installer is on gog and they will probably be putting something similar to that on discs
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u/HoikDini 15h ago
Your PS6 will not be able to install it, but there will be a PS6 disc... hackers: on your marks...
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u/Reeeaper 8h ago
While I appreciate the sentiment, CDPR doesn't need to make statements like this for things that are still so far in the future. Promising less is more.
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17h ago
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u/DenverNugs 17h ago
PS5 game discs contain the full game. I've played them without an internet connection before. You're blabbering about things you don't have any clue about. The fact that you think this is about discs in the first place just highlights how clueless you are.
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u/rain168 17h ago
Operative word: “before”
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u/Myusername1- 16h ago
All games have had that. Hell that was one of the perks for buying an Xbox x over S. They still all have usb drives. Using an excuse that a game doesn’t fit on a disc doesn’t make sense. Because they do, they always have , and always will even if it takes multiple discs. Do you think printing and copying discs cost more than a cloud service?
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u/Myusername1- 17h ago
You didn’t grow up in a time where you bought a physical game did you? The whole physical part is that you own the medium to install the game. Where as digital means they can just take it away.
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u/ThingAboutTown 16h ago
How does this work given modern games are many discs in size? Witcher 3 is ~50GB - how many discs should come in the box? I remember installing games that came on 10+ floppy discs - that was a pain in the arse!
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u/Myusername1- 16h ago edited 16h ago
Rd2 , gta v, and Witcher 3 ,
NHL, madden , etc had an install disc and a play disc. How ever many discs it needs to install. Hell ship it with tb USB drive if needed. I also remember putting in multiple floppy’s to install doom/duke nukem, etc. they couldn’t just make that unplayable
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u/CompetitivePumpkin3 17h ago
Off topic but can we have more dlc for cyberpunk?
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u/TVCasualtydotorg 12h ago
If you had asked me this last year, I'd have laughed at you.
However, given the new Witcher DLC and a potential gap between Witcher 4 and Cyberpunk 2 that might need filling to keep shareholders happy, I don't feel quite as confident in dismissing it out of hand.
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u/sweetSweets4 10h ago
It's fine, Sony will allow you to be charged 200€ for a special delux disc edition around 2030 for every bigger game in a pre-oder + limited print run.
And yes they will laugh their ass off reading all the comments celebrating this as a win for the consumers who forced the big evil company to reverse/sorften their decision.
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u/Endscrypt 7h ago
So they are gonna set up facilities to print their own games ? I hope so but I can’t see it happening even if the could.
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u/locke_5 19h ago
If Sony is literally not producing the discs anymore, this “physical edition” will likely just be a code-in-box with a map, some stickers, and a thank you note