Cognition Dissemination: This Is the Future of Physical Games

Baldur’s Gate 3, a surefire contender for the Best RPG of 2023 award considering the praise lavished upon it by the enthusiast press and general players, remarkably released only in digital form late in the summer for PC and PlayStation 5 (it’s coming to Xbox consoles next month). But a physical release was bound to arrive sometime soon considering its popularity, and how developer Larian Studios noted the number of fans who wanted the option. This was bound to be different from the version being released in Japan come December from Spike Chunsoft, which reportedly requires an internet connection to even start, thus beating the purpose of owning the game physically.

Larian Studios has now fully revealed the “Deluxe Edition” physical version, and has fully made up for the months-long wait by doing it up, as the saying goes. The package is stuffed with goodies, including the game for PS5 and Xbox Series X on two discs and three (!!!) discs, respectively, the three-disc physical soundtrack, a double-sided cloth map, 32 stickers, two patches, and a Mind Flayer poster. There’s also a PC physical release that includes a CD key and an installer, because there was no chance of them packaging about 20 CDs (something that I’m not doing the math for) with the game across all of them. It’s a remarkably good deal for the $79.99 they’re asking for, regardless of how it will cost more than that for anyone having it shipped to countries like the United States for an extra $20, and possible sales tax on top of it.

This is a great package for a physical release. It’s also remarkable that this is the only option for it. But something was revealed here: This is the future of physical video games.

Demand remains for physical game releases, but many of those are coming from vocal online communities. For the mainstream, publishers and hardware manufacturers are continuing the push towards getting the gaming audience to adopt digital copies over them. Sales analysts make sure to remind everyone who listens of this fact whenever sales charts are provided in the US and Europe, and Japan these days to a lesser extent. The audience still asking for physical copies is becoming comparatively niche. This will lead to more packages like the BG3 DE becoming more common, with the only physical options available being part of big packages that will be more expensive than the single digital game.

The price for this BG3 collection is considerably better than I would have expected considering the content included — especially the physical soundtrack. Don’t be surprised if, or when, the prices for such collections increase.

But I don’t want to get too ahead here: There are faces of the gaming world where this has already become a common way to release physical games. Both NIS America and XSeed have only released their physical copies as part of deluxe editions that include items like small bonus soundtracks (which include nowhere near the entire soundtrack) and cloth maps. Larger extras are still reserved for big-boy deluxe editions sold exclusively through the publisher’s online stores, especially with NIS America. But it’s an open question as to how long that will remain the case.

This is also, to a lesser extent, what Limited Run Games does. They’ve made a literal name for themselves by offering limited editions with plenty of goodies. But they just as often provide the games with limited extras like mini soundtracks and small posters for a much lower price. LRG does, however, represent a different facet of what’s in store for the future. Every game they print is for a niche audience, and their physical offerings are always more expensive than the digital version. Take the upcoming Persona 4 Golden physical version that’s now available for preorder on the website. The digital version is available for $19.99, but the physical version is going for $34.99, nearly twice the price, notably the standard price for LRG standard versions. That’s not even getting into the $69.99 and the $199.99 (!!) Midnight Channel edition.

Expect the strategies demonstrated by Larian and LRG to become more dominant among several other publishers as hardware manufacturers start phasing out consoles with disc drives as the default options. Microsoft might be set to do so if they stick by their plans to release an “adorable” Xbox Series X without a disc drive, and it wouldn’t be a surprise if Sony followed suit, perhaps with that rumored PlayStation 5 Pro model.

The future is pretty grim for anyone who remains a connoisseur of physical goods for their media, with the landscape for movies, TV shows, and anime being even worse. But at least the option will be sticking around for a bit. Just cross your fingers and hope all of these efforts lead to physical copies getting a second wind among a portion of the mainstream, similar to vinyl now.

This post has been updated for clarity.