Take-Two CEO says game discs will become like vinyl

Take-Two’s CEO thinks game discs will end up like vinyl records: still around, but a very small part of the business. Strauss Zelnick said so a week before GTA 6 launches without a disc. The game’s boxed copies hold a download code, and whether a disc version ever follows is Rockstar’s call, he said.

What Zelnick said

Zelnick spoke to Christopher Dring of The Game Business in an interview published on November 12, which Kotaku reported the same day. In Kotaku’s account, he made three points:

• He saw this coming. More than ten years ago he predicted that digital sales would become well over 90% of the business, and he says that call proved right.
• Physical won’t disappear. There will always be some physical business, he said, in the same way recorded music still has a vinyl business.
• But it will be small. He described it as “a very small part of the business.”

Kotaku also reports that Zelnick told Variety this week that any news on a GTA 6 disc would come from Take-Two’s labels, which leaves the decision with Rockstar.

The numbers behind it

Confirmed Take-Two’s results for July to September 2026, published on November 9, split net bookings by how they were sold:

“Physical retail and other” covers more than game discs, so the share from discs alone is no higher than that 2%. Over the six months to September, physical was also 2% of net bookings.

Analysis A year ago, about one dollar in twenty of Take-Two’s net bookings came from physical retail and other sales; now it is one in fifty. Take-Two doesn’t say how it will count GTA 6’s code-in-box copies sold in shops.

What it means for GTA 6 buyers

Confirmed Rockstar’s store says GTA 6’s physical versions “will only contain a download code inside the box” and that a disc is not included. Take-Two said in June that the boxed version would be available from November 12 to support preloading.

In practice:

• The box is a code. You redeem it on your PlayStation or Microsoft account, then download the game as a digital buyer would.
• It’s in shops now. Boxed copies went on sale from November 12, so you can redeem the code and download before launch.
• Digital or box is now a smaller choice. Both end up as the same download, but editions, bonuses and returns still differ.

Not announced A disc version of GTA 6. Zelnick hasn’t ruled one out, but neither Rockstar nor Take-Two has announced one.

Common questions

Will a GTA 6 disc be released later?

Not announced Nothing is planned publicly. Zelnick has left that to Rockstar, and Rockstar hasn’t said anything about it.

Can I play a boxed copy of GTA 6 without the internet?

No. The box holds a code, so you need an internet connection and a console account to redeem it and download the game before you can play.