Like a Dragon: The Game Without a Disc

[dhaabi]

So, news broke yesterday that the upcoming Like a Dragon Gaiden: The Man Who Erased His Name (LADG) will be a digital-only title, despite it being reported to retail at $50 USD. This news comes not long after Alan Wake II being announced without a physical purchasing option as well.

Of course, these reports could become outdated as times moves forward, in addition to these games also potentially receiving physical prints through online publishers. In the case of LADG, I believe the current speculation is that this event only affects the North American release. If that's true, then importing another region's copy may be an option, but many consumers will not go to those lengths ordinarily and will instead either purchase the game digitally or skip it altogether. A lot of people are comparing what's happening with LADG back to when Yakuza 5 released for the PlayStation 3 as a digital-only title. However, years later when the remastered collection comprised of Yakuza 3, Yakuza 4, and Yakuza 5 released for PlayStation 4, the pack was bundled with an empty PlayStation 3 case for the fifth entry.

For me, I think that many would agree—no matter what their preferred means is to play games—that removing any consumer option is poor business practice. Even though I obviously know where I'm posting this and to whom I'm directing this topic to (i.e. mostly physical console collectors), what is your opinion on this slow attempt to remove physical options for new game releases?

[vivigamer]

This is terrible news beacuse it has taken SO long for the Yakuza series to become accessible - Something which was achieved in the PS4 era and has made the series much more relevant today! I hope this isn't a trend which is going to starttaking place after Alan Wake II has announced the same Digital Only nonsense - A game that also went to great efforts to make the 1st game more accessible with a Physical Remaster.

I never buy Digital Games for a reasonable price, it would bhave to be something non Physical (Or non Limited Run etc.) & under £5-10. I can't justify spending much on Digital Content.

[sworddude]

End of an era, although we don't know what Nintendo is going to do in the next gen since they are usually more physical.

That being said will suck, because online only will mean an iron grip on high prices and I'm also not a fan of paying much for digital either.

[telekill]

I enjoyed Judgment and will eventually pick up Lost Judgment. Due to that, I was considering the Yakuza series. Now, though, my game time is severely limited and I have zero care about a game that won't have a physical release. It's becoming more apparent by the month that PS5 will be my last system to keep up with modern gaming.

If you look at my sig below with the games I've added, I'm fully up to date. With the exception of Zelda, all the games below were purchased back in December around Christmas. I picked up the mClassic I think around January or February and am not counting that as a game. The next game I'm getting is the physical version of Sonic Origins Plus to replace my digital copy. After that, I don't know what the next game is that I'll buy, but it probably won't be purchased until Black Friday in November.

[vivigamer]

I'm guessing their thought on this is becuase it is more of a shorter spin-off game. However, I rememebr on the PS4 we began getting shorter experiences on disc - Wolfenstein: The Old Blood, inFamous: First Light or Uncharted: Lost Legacy. These gamse would be considered generous DLC but they all got their own physical release, which I loved! If there is substantial DLC and we get no Complete/GotY Edition, have the option to buy the DLC at a lesser price on disc is a great option.

[dhaabi]

This is terrible news beacuse it has taken SO long for the Yakuza series to become accessible - Something which was achieved in the PS4 era and has made the series much more relevant today!

I hadn't even considered this fact, but you're certainly right. This news turns away from those previous efforts.

I'm guessing their thought on this is becuase it is more of a shorter spin-off game.

To me, $50 is still a premium value. With that said, plenty of $20-30 games are given physical releases. If this is Sega's reason, it's shortsighted.

I enjoyed Judgment and will eventually pick up Lost Judgment. Due to that, I was considering the Yakuza series.

I've yet to play the Judgment games, but I know they're fairly similar to Like a Dragon, so you'd probably enjoy the main series. Like vivigamer alluded to above, all eight main Like a Dragon games (0-7) are available physically for PlayStation 4 and are all affordable.

[bikingjahuty]

As much as I love Shenmue (aka the so called predecessor of the Yakuza franchise), I've never extensively played one of the games despite owning the first 4. The greater implication though of bigger releases not getting physical releases has me worried, but it's hardly a surprise. I know the gaming industry is one gen away from turning its back on physical media and when that happens I'm more or less out. I may buy digital when the games are significantly marked down from their original retail price, but no way in hell am I ever spending more than $20 on a game I'm essentially renting indefinitely. With how few games have excited me during the summer gamefest and some of the conferences we've had, I guess it's not that big of a deal, it just deeply saddens me that this is where we're at now.

[kamikazekeeg]

Eh, I'm a PC gamer primarily, so this has just been something I've been use to for like...a decade now I think lol I don't think it's really THAT huge of an issue, but it definitely sucks to have that option removed for those that want it, it's not like the consoles are NOW going all digital, so unless it's like a smallscale indy game, I'm not sure there's a good reason to not have a physical edition of a console game from bigger studios.  Yakuza as a Japanese series (I still just call it Yakuza lol), just seems like one of those games that is likely to have an audience that wants physical editions, like those who collect JRPG's and such and want a nice display, especially for an ongoing series.

I don't think it does anything to hurt the series, most people are probably buying digital as it is, or playing the game on Game Pass, it's the inevitable future and it only really bothers collectors and probably more old school gamers than it does the current younger audience or people who are okay with digital.  I'll still pay full price for the games I really want digital or I wait for deep cut sales, just depends on the game.  Even if something happened and I lose that game for whatever reason, it's not like I didn't get my money's worth out of it.

That isn't to say I don't also buy physical, I primarily do physical for console, because there are games I want to physically have on my shelf, or I buy them because I know I'm only going to play them once, like the God of War series, Last of Us, Uncharted, Horizon, etc, and then go trade them in and put it towards either a new big game or one I might keep.  If things go all digital for consoles, even the big games, I'm not sure if I'm going to be as likely to play those ones at launch.  It's not that I'm not going to enjoy them the same, but these days if I'm buying stuff, I want to feel like I'm gonna return to it at some point perhaps and I never really do for those games usually.

[alligo]

I was disappointed when I heard the news, I would have preferred to have it in physical form for my personal collection.

I don't understand why they're considering this option because, as mentioned above, the series has started to become popular (until now, changing the name for the Western audience)
besides, it's quite expensive for a "spin off".

[sworddude]

from a business perspective I get the digital only. because if where going outside Nintendo decent price drops are common for even pretty big titles. also as a small bonus good for the enviroment with zero physical products extra good rep

With digital only you can control the marketplace. and while you could argue that it would end as pc with tons of discounts and cheap prices. I kinda doubt it, console has always been a different beast. Prices are going to stay high for a while with new stuff maybe staying near full price for years if everything is going to be digital only on consoles.

[dhaabi]

Eh, I'm a PC gamer primarily, so this has just been something I've been use to for like...a decade now I think lol I don't think it's really THAT huge of an issue

Some who choose to continue using consoles rather than PCs or digital-only systems do so due to the issue of poor internet connection or ISP monthly data caps, so the accessible means of having a disc with most of the data on it (ignoring egregious recent examples such as Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 which shipped with 72MB of game data on its disc) is something many rely upon.

People also overlook many other areas of the world such as parts of Europe, Africa, and Asia in addition to rural North America, even. I doubt we'll truly see a digital-only console anytime soon, because regions like these won't be able to support a digital-only system. If decisions like to make certain games digital-only is to come, then they'll just be missing out on sales while certainly not gaining any more.

[dhaabi]

From a Tweet which has since been deleted, Bethesda has confirmed that no version of Starfield will include a disc.

[bikingjahuty]

From a Tweet which has since been deleted, Bethesda has confirmed that no version of Starfield will include a disc.

I have negative interest in Starfield, however this might be the beginning of a bigger trend of companies selling cases with codes inside and no disc. I knew this day would come eventually, but i honestly thought it wouldn't start until the end of this gen or beginning of next gen. This is really going to limit what games I choose to buy around launch since I have a hard line in the sand about how much I'm willing to spend on a game digitally.

[kamikazekeeg]

From a Tweet which has since been deleted, Bethesda has confirmed that no version of Starfield will include a disc.

It's been confirmed that the standard edition of the game will have a disc, it's the collector's edition that won't.

[dhaabi]

It's been confirmed that the standard edition of the game will have a disc, it's the collector's edition that won't.

From what I understand, that is news confirmed from two weeks ago. The news I'm reporting is from earlier today. Of course, how Starfield is actually released physically could be either with a disc or as a voucher code, but we won't know until it releases some time later.

If Starfield is releasing without a disc, it does not come as a surprise to me. I'm sure the game will have large patches to fix what I am presuming will be a troubled state at launch. It also makes sense to a degree because the game will be available on Game Pass on launch day, as I'm sure there is only a small percentage of Xbox players without that subscription.