GTA 6 will reportedly be getting a physical release after all, with disc editions of the game rumored to release in December 2026.
Rockstar Games finally releasing more details about GTA 6 – such as the GTA 6 price, details about the Ultimate Edition, and other assorted bits of news – is something that you would expect to bring universal happiness given how much people have been dying to hear anything about the game. However, some of Rockstar's decisions have drawn ire, such as exclusive content locked behind the $100 Ultimate Edition and the news that there won't be a proper physical release, as GTA 6 physical copies are a code in a box.
Polish outlet PPE (via machine translation) is reporting that this won't be the case forever though. According to a source who previously kicked off rumors that Rockstar was going to delay physical copies of GTA 6 (which is somehow potentially both true and untrue), Rockstar's open-world title will get a disc release after all. Their source reports that the code-in-box versions of GTA 6 will be the original run, with an option for a disc edition to follow sometime in December 2026.
If this turns out to be true, this somewhat confirms the theory that Rockstar is delaying physical copies of the game to avoid widespread leaks like we witnessed earlier this year with Resident Evil Requiem.
However, there's also a cynical part of me that sees this as an extension of the way Rockstar treats PC releases. Releasing a PC version of Rockstar games a year or so later always results in double dip sales as people buy it on console out of FOMO before buying it on PC to get the best version. Take-Two undoubtedly knows this is a factor, and given that analysts predict GTA 6 not having a physical disc won't have any impact on Rockstar's sales, it's hard not to see this as a way to get FOMO sales from people who want a physical copy, hoping they'll drop another $80 on it weeks later once a real physical version releases.
Multiple retailers drop GTA 6 after physical version is confirmed to be a code in a box.
