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Although many players still opt for boxed editions of games, their contents increasingly differ from what the market has been accustomed to for years. A good example is Grand Theft Auto VI, whose physical edition does not include a game disc. Instead, buyers receive only a code to download the title. Rockstar has now revealed an additional restriction for one version of the game. In Japan, the download code for GTA 6 on PlayStation 5 will have an expiration date. For some collectors and people who buy the game later, this could be a significant problem.
Japanese PS5 edition of GTA 6 will include a time-limited code
Rockstar confirmed on its website that the download codes for GTA 6 included with boxed PlayStation 5 editions in Japan will expire 170 days after the game's release. That means players will be able to activate the code only until around May 8, 2027. After that date any unactivated code will become invalid. In practice this means a sealed box bought many months after release may no longer grant access to the game. The company emphasizes that the restriction stems from regulations in Japan. According to industry reports, these are rules concerning prepaid digital instruments. Codes valid for longer than six months there are subject to additional legal requirements. Setting the validity period to 170 days avoids those restrictions. Rockstar also recommends purchasing the game in the same region where the PlayStation account used to activate the code is registered. The restriction applies only to the Japanese PS5 version of the game. So far no similar rules have been announced for other countries. Xbox console users are not affected by this measure either.
Physical releases are increasingly just a box with a code
The news reignited the debate about the significance of physical game releases. In the case of GTA 6, the box does not contain a game disc but only a code to download the digital version. Players will be able to start downloading on November 12, a week before the release scheduled for November 19, 2026. For most people buying the game on launch day, the code's expiration probably won't matter much. The situation is different for collectors, people buying the game as a gift, or customers picking up a copy many months after release. In their case, an expired code can mean buying a product that can no longer be activated. It's another example of the industry's gradual move away from traditional physical media. Increasingly, the box serves only as packaging for a digital license. For some players, that means a diminished sense of actually owning the game they bought. At the same time, publishers gain greater control over how their titles are distributed. This trend may extend to other big-budget releases in the future.
Rockstar confirmed that the Japanese boxed edition of GTA 6 for PlayStation 5 will include a code valid for 170 days after release. Although the restriction applies only to Japan, it once again shows how different modern physical game releases are from those a few years ago.
source: digitaltrends
