CD Projekt has promised that there will be a boxed edition of the PlayStation version of The Witcher 4, even if it’s impossible to put a disc inside. With Sony insisting that PlayStation games will release 100 percent digitally from 2028 (presumably to coincide with the launch of the PS6 toward the end of the year), fans across all of gaming are miserable at the loss of physical media, but also the pleasure of being able to buy a nice box to put on a shelf. CDP’s joint-CEO Michał Nowakowski told The Game Business (via Eurogamer) that the Polish studio has “no influence” over the possibility of a disc, but that the company is “big fans of people having access to tangible, collectible things.”
The loss of physical media is a shitty thing for a long list of reasons, not least the permanent cementing of our never actually owning any of the games we buy. But sometimes forgotten is the simple pleasure of the physical box itself, and the goodies they can contain. While slim DVD cases have dramatically reduced the possibilities compared to the glory days of 90s colossal cardboard boxes packed with cloth maps and code wheels, they’re at least still something. Fortunately, CD Projekt doesn’t seem willing to abandon the format, even if it proves impossible to put the game inside too.
“We don’t know what’s going to be the case,” Nowakowski told The Game Business, the pun likely unintended. “We know what PlayStation has announced. And we have no influence on the policies of first parties. The discs for the first parties, including PlayStation, have to be manufactured in their own factories.” Thankfully, the boxes the discs go in do not, and that’s where CDP still has some freedom.
“We’re big fans of people having access to tangible, collectible things,” Nowakowski continued. “We’re nerds ourselves, and we like that. We always supported that. So, whatever is the case, we’re going to be for sure having a box. We’re going to have a box that’s going to have some feelies in it. Something you’re going to be wanting to open up and enjoy.”
“Feelies” is the really rather grotesque term for physical objects contained in game boxes, which is supremely dumb until you remember we also still call cinematic entertainment “movies.” So there’s still hope that we’ll be able to go walkies and buy a corporeal container, even if it is a deliberate recreation of the farce that is special editions that don’t contain the game.