The video game preservation group DoesItPlay has published the results of a large-scale study of physical editions of modern games. According to the collected statistics, 27% of tested PlayStation 5 games require mandatory download of updates or content to function fully, and for Xbox Series X, this figure reaches 50%.
Ars Technica reported on the study, speaking with DoesItPlay founder and lead administrator Clemens Itzel. To date, the team has tested 3511 physical editions, evaluating them in a completely offline environment without connecting to PlayStation Network, Xbox Live, or other online services.
The main goal of the project is to find out how much a disc remains a complete way to own a game without internet access. To do this, testers play through the story campaign or main mode, check the game in various scenarios, record critical errors, missing content, and differences between regions, platforms, and editions.
According to DoesItPlay, about 27% of physical games need patch downloads to fix critical bugs or get important content missing from the disc. Cyberpunk 2077 is cited as a prime example. Formally, the game can be played without an internet connection, but the version recorded on disc suffers from serious technical problems, including performance drops, bugs, and other shortcomings.
DoesItPlay uses four categories to evaluate physical releases:
- No — the game is entirely on disc or cartridge, requires no mandatory updates, and has no serious technical issues
- No* — all main content is present, but downloading patches is recommended due to a large number of bugs or missing minor materials
- Yes* — the game can be played without downloading, but only with high tolerance for bugs or if a significant portion of additional content is missing
- Yes — mandatory download is necessary due to critical errors or missing key game content
There is a clear trend: large companies are increasingly treating physical editions with disdain. There is no reason why physical games should disappear, unless companies like Sony deliberately destroy this format.
He was particularly critical of Microsoft, noting that the company, in his opinion, has long ceased to release fully autonomous physical versions of games. Itzel claims that many Xbox releases require mandatory downloads or the creation of a Microsoft account, which reduces the value of disc editions. These statements come amid rumors of Microsoft possibly testing a service to convert disc games into digital licenses.
Nintendo also received criticism. According to the head of DoesItPlay, key cards for Nintendo Switch 2, which essentially contain only a key to download the game, mislead buyers because they do not provide a full copy of the project on physical media.