A third of physical PS5 games and half of Xbox Series discs need downloads to work properly, report shows
From Sony's decision to end production of discs for new PlayStation games in 2028 to the Xbox network outage that stopped some disc-based titles from working, there's been a lot of conversation about physical media recently. Read Entire Article
A new report has highlighted how physical PS5 games and Xbox Series discs require downloads to function properly, challenging the notion that owning physical media guarantees an offline gaming experience. Sony announced the end of disc production for new PlayStation games in 2028, while Xbox experienced a network outage that stopped some disc-based titles from working.
A study by Does It Play found that 27% of physical releases tested require downloads to fix game-breaking bugs or obtain core content, with 34% of PS5 disc releases needing downloads to play as intended. Half of the tested PS5 discs are beatable but suffer from serious bugs or missing content, while the other half cannot be played at all without downloads.
On Xbox Series X, only 50% of physical releases were complete and playable from the disc, with 12% being beatable but buggy or missing content, and 38% requiring downloads. The Nintendo Switch 2 performed better, with 75% of tested releases playable without downloads. The study underscores the reliance on downloads weakens the long-term access benefits of physical media, as servers may close and essential patches become unobtainable.
Physical copies still offer advantages like resale, lending, and lower prices, but the Xbox outage demonstrates that discs aren't always a guarantee against server failures.
Written by urgent.news from TechSpot's reporting — not their text. Machine-written — may contain errors; check the original before relying on it.
