Just because a game is on disc doesn’t mean it will work in the future

Looking across the major console platform makers, Itsel said that Microsoft is the worst offender when it comes to releasing complete games on disc. “Xbox has long given up on producing fully functioning physical releases,” he told Ars Technica. “They far too often require downloads or force players to create a Microsoft account. It’s deliberately undermining the value of physical releases by making them incomplete or online-dependent in other ways.” While Sony’s physical releases tend to be more playable as is, Itsel said that “we can observe a decline over the recent years” in the number of PlayStation discs that don’t require any downloads. Physical game cartridges on the Switch and Switch 2 often fare better without an Internet connection, but even there Itsel said he sees more publishers opting for Game Key Cards that don’t contain any offline data. While DoesItPlay doesn’t test these Game Key Cards alongside more legitimately “physical” releases, Itsel said he considers selling a physical product that amounts to a fancy download key to be “a form of deception” on the part of Switch 2 publishers. “[Current] stability of servers is… irrelevant if their upkeep is only decided by the financials and licensing agreements,” Itsel notes. “They can do whatever they want with your games, because we let them relabel a purchase into ‘licensing.’ Many always claim that they can still download their old rentals from generations ago… until they can’t anymore.”