As Sony prepares to end physical game disc production in twenty twenty-eight, physical media appears to be reaching its final days. However, a recent report shows that purchasing a physical game disc no longer guarantees that you can play without downloading extra files first.

According to statistics from the game preservation group Does It Play, modern consoles do not offer a complete offline experience on disc. For PlayStation five, out of nearly eight hundred tested games, sixty-six percent can be played completely offline without downloading extra data. Seventeen percent of tested games can be completed but contain major bugs or miss key features without a download, while another seventeen percent require a download just to function.

Microsoft consoles show even higher download reliance, with Xbox Series X reaching only fifty percent playability out of the box from a smaller sample set. Twelve percent of tested Xbox titles are playable despite significant bugs, while sixty-eight percent require downloads. Nintendo Switch two performs better, with seventy-five percent of tested cartridges functioning without extra downloads.This growing reliance on internet downloads creates significant problems for video game players. Players with limited home internet plans lose data when forced to download mandatory files. Network outages can also lock players out of physical titles they physically own.

Most importantly, this trend threatens video game preservation. When company servers eventually go offline, mandatory download files will disappear, leaving future players with incomplete physical discs that cannot function.