GTA VI’s boxed copies have arrived with a code, a poster and an empty disc tray, four days before the game unlocks

The most anticipated video game in years is arriving in boxes with nothing inside to put in a console.

Boxed copies of Grand Theft Auto VI began reaching buyers this week, and the photos they have posted show the same thing: a download code printed inside the cover, a double-sided poster and an empty disc tray. Rockstar Games had already confirmed the game would not ship on disc, but the reality of opening the box has still landed badly with some fans. One wrote that they regretted buying the physical edition at all; others called the missing map “pretty disappointing”.

When can I play it?

Not yet. The code lets you download the game early, not play it. Rockstar opened pre-loading on 10 November for digital orders, and codes from boxed copies became redeemable from 12 November.

The game unlocks at local midnight region by region, starting with New Zealand. In eastern Australia that is midnight AEDT on Thursday 19 November. The United States is one of the last places to get it. It is out on PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X|S; Rockstar has not announced a PC date.

Clear some room first. The install is about 212GB, roughly a third of a standard PS5’s storage and close to half of an Xbox Series S.

What is going wrong with the codes?

Since Friday, some buyers have posted on social media that their boxes had no code in them, or that the code had already been claimed when they tried to redeem it. How widespread the problem is has not been established, and Rockstar has not publicly responded to the complaints. Without a disc, a box with a faulty code has no fallback: there is nothing else in it to play.

Anyone with a problem code should contact the retailer they bought it from and Rockstar’s support service before launch day, so it is sorted before the unlock.

Why no disc?

Because the money is not there any more. Take-Two chief executive Strauss Zelnick said this week that digital sales now make up 98% of the company’s business and physical retail just 2%. He said physical games will survive, but as a tiny slice of the market, the way vinyl survives in music.

In August he argued that discs “don’t really make sense” for a game the size of GTA VI. On the company’s earnings call on 9 November he said any decision on a disc version would be Rockstar’s to make, and gave no sign that one is coming.

That makes GTA VI a test case. Previous Grand Theft Auto games sold heavily on disc, and a boxed copy could be lent, swapped or resold. A code, once used, cannot. For collectors, the poster is now the only physical part of the launch.

Why it matters

GTA VI is the series’ first new main game since GTA V in 2013, which remains one of the best-selling games ever released. If a launch this size can go without discs, other publishers have little reason to keep printing them for their biggest games.