If Netflix killed physical media, Rockstar Games just ran over its carcass.

On Wednesday, the Red Dead Redemption and Bully publisher revealed that Grand Theft Auto VI, the most-anticipated video game in, well, probably ever, will only be available as a digital download. In addition to the entirely digital delivery option, the Take-Two Interactive-owned imprint did advertise a coming “physical version” of GTA VI, but that was just a convenient use of language. The “physical version” of Grand Theft Auto VI will merely be a download code packed in a physical video game case. It is something of a loophole to attract collectors — and satisfy antitrust concerns — but not what the words mean to everybody else.

The matter was settled until it wasn’t. On Thursday, an email accidentally provided (more) false hope for a GTA VI disc. The email, a response to a ticket filed to Rockstar Support asking for a disc-based version of Grand Theft Auto VI, stated, “You will be able to acquire a physical copy during the following months.”

The Hollywood Reporter confirmed the authenticity of the email as coming from Rockstar.

The language is being misinterpreted by a hopeful internet, a source with knowledge of the plans told THR. At this point in time, there are no plans for Grand Theft Auto VI discs to be printed — not at launch, and not months after. The email’s use of the phrase “physical copy” there refers to the same “physical version” (the code in a case) announced on Wednesday, and its “the following months” language is a clunky reference to the months following Wednesday’s announcement, the source said, and not the months following the Nov. 19, 2026 release. (Players will be able to begin the lengthy process of pre-loading the giant game on Nov. 12.)

Rockstar’s decision to go digital-only for GTA VI is a (vehicular-manslaughter) death sentence for the physical media industry.

Some critics will argue that physical media has long been dead and buried, but that’s not entirely true — especially in the video game industry. It is more accurate to gauge this as the final nail in its coffin.

Physical media is barely a thing in the more traditional branches of entertainment. Napster destroyed the music industry at the turn of the century, a position since taken up (legally) by Apple’s iTunes and Spotify. Though artists get paid when we stream their music, it’s nothing like the album sales days of yore. (Vinyl is sort of back — and to a lesser degree, cassettes too — but those still comprise a pretty thin piece of the overall pie.)

Next, Netflix put Blockbuster Video out of business. And then, Netflix put itself out of that same business.

Netflix began streaming video in 2007, but it didn’t full-stop mailing out DVDs in those iconic red envelopes until 2023. The same year, Best Buy announced it would be exiting the physical media space for film and TV Blu-ray/DVDs. The retail giant still sells physical copies of video games, which is a huge segment of the greater entertainment business — for now. What happens when the biggest game of all time does not print a single disc? (Rockstar offering the code in a box to the likes of Best Buy, GameStop, Amazon and other retailers eliminates potential claims of monopolistic practices against the digital stores owned and operated by the console makers, Sony and Microsoft.)

In 2020, Warner Bros. and Universal announced a joint venture (now called Studio Distribution Services) to handle the production, sales, marketing and distribution of their DVDs and Blu-rays. Four years later, Disney exited the physical media business, outsourcing the rights Sony. It was the another end of an era: Disney Home Video was huge in the ’80s and ’90s.

Somewhat similar to music, movies have received somewhat of a push to return to their physical form. That is due to a combination of nostalgia and practicality — films jump on and off any number of streaming services these days, and if there is no WiFi (and you have not downloaded the movie), you’re S.O.L. anyway. There is also this sort of Catch-22 between film and DVDs. As so eloquently explained by Matt Damon (while eating hot wings), the loss of DVD support on the backend basically ended the mid-budget movie.

Digital-only video games are bad for consumers for two reasons: 1) They do not allow for re-sale or even loaning/transferring to friends, and 2) Current-generation AAA games require an enormous amount of storage space — the expansion-cards market is about to boom.

To some degree, Rockstar’s decision is understandable in that it is inevitable. The future of gaming will be split between digital purchases and subscription-based downloads/cloud access, because the new ways are more secure and much more profitable. Specifically here, Rockstar has to recoup a tremendous investment, which analysts estimate at $1 billion-$1.5 billion spent on the installment over 13 years of development. (That also explains the $79.99/$99.99 price tags for the two GTA VI options.) The Grand Theft Auto VI release date has already been delayed numerous times as developers know they have to get this thing right on Day 1. Ironically, the delays only add to the internal and external pressure for perfection.

Traditionally, video game retailers kept about 30 percent of each sale, according to Kantan Games Inc., and another 5 percent went to manufacturing. That is significant on an $80-$100 game.