During today’s Take-Two Interactive earnings and investors’ call, CEO Strauss Zelnick was asked about Sony’s recent decision to end physical game production in 2028. And according to Zelnick, the game business is already digital, and discs don’t really make sense for most big games, like Rockstar’s upcoming Grand Theft Auto 6.
On August 7, Zelnick took part in Take-Two’s Q1 2027 earnings call and provided some comments on the company’s ongoing business before taking questions from investors and others on the call about various topics. A lot of these questions concerned the upcoming release of GTA 6, as you’d expect, but one person asked Zelnick about Sony’s decision to stop physical game production in 2028 and what his thoughts were on that choice. And if you were expecting Zelnick to suddenly go on and on about the benefits of physical game ownership, well, that’s not what happened.
“I’m not going to comment on Sony’s own decision,” said Zelnick. “But in terms of our decision, look, our business is well over 90 percent digitally distributed as is. It is already a digital business. So in certain instances, especially if it is a big game, discs (and note I said discs) don’t really make sense for the consumer.”
“Also, in most instances, you have to register online to play anyhow, so if you are already connected, like, who cares if you download digitally? It’s all the same, and it’s much more convenient.”
Zelnick’s comments shouldn’t be surprising, really. Take-Two and Rockstar’s Grand Theft Auto 6, the biggest video game release in a decade, is skipping physical discs at launch and reportedly might not get released on a disc in the future. Instead, copies of GTA 6 found in stores in November will contain a simple download code instead of a disc. And it sounds like moving forward, more and more of Take-Two’s video games might follow this trend of going digital only.
“So that’s where the world is going in our opinion,” said Zelnick. “And I think Sony understands that; we certainly understand that. That doesn’t mean we won’t have physical editions now and then; I’m sure we will in the same way there’s still vinyl in the recorded music business. In other instances, it just won’t make sense.”