According to a publishing CEO, Rockstar and Take-Two’s game may be the one that delivers the final blow to disc-based releases.
The decisions of Rockstar, Take-Two, and Sony to push physical games into the background remain a major topic of discussion. The gaming community is right to oppose these developments, which could have serious long-term consequences.
Marek Tyminski, founder and CEO of CI Games, nevertheless believes the change is practically inevitable. In his view, publishers of every size earn significantly more from each digital sale than from physical copies.
GTA6 shipping with no disc feels unfair to studios still backing physical — and it’s accelerating the shift. Sony ending physical support from 2028 could slash disc releases as early as 2027 or even sooner.
Physical delivers far less revenue per unit to developers, longer lead… https://t.co/gLkVTi5bDL
– Marek Tyminski (@tyminski_marek) July 5, 2026
“Grand Theft Auto VI shipping with no disc feels unfair to studios still backing physical media, and it is accelerating the shift. Sony ending physical support from 2028 could slash disc releases as early as 2027 or even sooner.”
“Physical delivery generates far less revenue per unit for developers, involves longer lead times, and creates unnecessary costs in a demanding industry where many already lose money. We are still planning to release Lords of the Fallen 2 on disc, but it is becoming increasingly difficult to justify from a business perspective when physical sales are well under 20% and considering recent events.” Tyminski wrote.
The CI Games executive also shared concrete figures. According to him, for a $70 physical game, retail margins consume 25-35%, distributors take another 10-20%, and manufacturing costs roughly $10 per unit.
“That leaves studios with just over $26 per unit, compared to around $49 digitally at the highest margin. It only gets worse as prices drop. Large publishers are in a better position, but even they make significantly more per digital sale. From a pure return-on-investment perspective, the choice is obvious.”
Tyminski believes raising the price of individual physical releases or offering disc-based collector’s editions would not solve the problem either. One X user suggested that such premium packages could improve publisher revenue, but the CI Games chief argued that they would make physical sales an even smaller share compared with digital sales.
In his view, that would not help justify the continued existence of physical formats to console manufacturers.
Looking at the market’s current direction, it is difficult to see a way back from what the digital release of Grand Theft Auto VI and PlayStation’s full transition toward digital distribution could foreshadow.
Even if the digital model appears clearly more favorable for developers and publishers from a business perspective, players are not going to accept it easily.
Source: WCCFTech
