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Titanfall 2 on PC - "Download only, no disc included" ?

Source: Wario64 Twitter

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Standby for Titanfall if old.
 
I'm sure the 5 people that are buying titanfall 2 on pc on disc are bothered by this.

That being said even if it is a vast minority it's kinda shitty. They obviously have discs for the other two versions and if someone on PC didn't want to go digital for whatever reason (data caps, refunds) then they shouldn't be forced to.
 

LQX

Member
Same with BF1 and it is ridiculous. I'm getting the boxed versions and would rather not have to download like 50gigs on the day of release.
 
Imagine how many discs it would have to ship with.
Oh wait I didn't even think of this when I compared it to the XB1 and ps4 versions

Are they able to compress it to a blu-ray or is that an incompatible format? How many discs do modern PC retail games come on then?

I haven't used any discs for my PC in years so I honestly don't know.
 

Corpekata

Banned
Oh wait I didn't even think of this when I compared it to the XB1 and ps4 versions

Are they able to compress it to a blu-ray or is that an incompatible format? How many discs do modern PC retail games come on then?

I haven't used any discs for my PC in years so I honestly don't know.

They can't use blu-ray because it's not ubiquitous in PCs, and likely never will be.
 
Oh wait I didn't even think of this when I compared it to the XB1 and ps4 versions

Are they able to compress it to a blu-ray or is that an incompatible format? How many discs do modern PC retail games come on then?

I haven't used any discs for my PC in years so I honestly don't know.
GTAV came on 7 discs.
 
They can't use blu-ray because it's not ubiquitous in PCs, and likely never will be.

That's what I figured. One of the many reasons retail PC games are so rare nowadays I guess.

Hell, don't most PC CE's just give you the download code then? I don't think Titanfall 2 is breaking any new ground here by not using discs for its PC retail release.
 

MrNelson

Banned
Imagine how many discs it would have to ship with.
The first one came on three discs.

While the lack of a disc does suck for people with data caps, the fact that it is still a "physical release" means that I can get my 20% off with GCU.

For Battlefield 1
 

LewieP

Member
I was wondering recently if flash storage will ever get cheap enough that PC games could ship on a USB pen drive rather than a stack of DVDs, but for all but the most popular games it's probably tricky to get good economies of scale.

I'm sure the 5 people that are buying titanfall 2 on pc on disc are bothered by this.

Retail copies of games are cheaper than downloads in lots of regions, by a fairly significant margin.

That said the inclusion of a disc likely isn't required for a lot of people.

Edit: There have been quite a few recent PC releases that had a disc, but all it contained was a shortcut to install the game from Steam, no actual game files.
 

Eusis

Member
that can't be right

I googled

it's right

holy shit
On the plus side that's pretty much a wet dream for those of us that liked what the likes of Working Designs were doing with disc labels in the 90s. Nice artwork in full color across a ton of discs.

Pragmatically though? Just not worth it especially when they're single use anyway.
 

NEO0MJ

Member
A shame. I bought the original on disc because it was just a huge game that would have taken a long time for me to download.
 

LordRaptor

Member
I was wondering recently if flash storage will ever get cheap enough that PC games could ship on a USB pen drive rather than a stack of DVDs, but for all but the most popular games it's probably tricky to get good economies of scale.



Retail copies of games are cheaper than downloads in lots of regions, by a fairly significant margin.

That said the inclusion of a disc likely isn't required for a lot of people.

Edit: There have been quite a few recent PC releases that had a disc, but all it contained was a shortcut to install the game from Steam, no actual game files.

I'm surprised no enterprising retailers have setup a kiosk type system where your 'loyalty card' is a keyring flash drive, and buying a digital purchase from the retailer c+ps the necessary files onto that flash drive for you to take home.
 

theclaw135

Banned
What a sad age we live in, when this is actually an improvement. Discs that contain nothing but a Steam install file that'll become outdated by a day 1 patch are no fun.
 
I pave pre-ordered Quantum Break (the big CE with the book and the Blu-ray documentaries) and at first I thought it was silly that they include the game on 5 DVDs when it's a mandatory Steam unlock.

But now I'm using them for the install. It'll be faster than me waiting overnight for the download.
 

AxeMan

Member
I still build my PC's with a drive.

I use it to RIP my music I buy (and therefore own) on CDs and RIP movies as well.

It's very useful and I wouldn't build a PC without one. They are cheap as as well. About 30 bucks.
But I haven't needed a drive for a game in a long, long time
 
35gb Audio again Respawn?
That alone is the reason I have to download the game all over again every time I want to play it.

I still build my PC's with a drive.

I use it to RIP my music I buy (and therefore own) on CDs and RIP movies as well.

It's very useful and I wouldn't build a PC without one. They are cheap as as well. About 30 bucks.
But I haven't needed a drive for a game in a long, long time
Digital music and movies though.

:/
 

Gamezone

Gold Member
I hate digital games, but it`s pretty common knowledge that PC are pretty much digital only at this point. Games can barely fit on a 50 GB Blu-ray anymore, and PC games are still released on DVD`s. Good thing consoles still have worth while physical media.
 
The people who started the Blu-Ray thing put a lot of restrictions on it and ensured that the BD-ROM format never took off on computers. You can't even buy a BD-ROM drive and have it support Blu-Ray movies out of the box; it requires a software suite to be installed. The format is doomed on PCs and with games reaching the 50 gig mark nowadays, DVD isn't a very viable option either.
 

EvB

Member
The people who started the Blu-Ray thing put a lot of restrictions on it and ensured that the BD-ROM format never took off on computers. You can't even buy a BD-ROM drive and have it support Blu-Ray movies out of the box; it requires a software suite to be installed. The format is doomed on PCs and with games reaching the 50 gig mark nowadays, DVD isn't a very viable option either.

To be fair, DVD movies were like that for years
 
I'm sure the 5 people that are buying titanfall 2 on pc on disc are bothered by this.

That being said even if it is a vast minority it's kinda shitty. They obviously have discs for the other two versions and if someone on PC didn't want to go digital for whatever reason (data caps, refunds) then they shouldn't be forced to.
This is a business decision. It's about boosting digital revenue. An area EA is keen to grow in. Cutting out key resellers that gut retail copies and sell them online is bad for players who want cheaper games.
 

LordRaptor

Member
To be fair, DVD movies were like that for years

DeCSS basically single handedly popularised PC DVD drives

This is a business decision. It's about boosting digital revenue. An area EA is keen to grow in. Cutting out key resellers that gut retail copies and sell them online is bad for players who want cheaper games.

I don't see how not including a disk affects those kinds of resellers at all...?
 
I'm sure the 5 people that are buying titanfall 2 on pc on disc are bothered by this.

That being said even if it is a vast minority it's kinda shitty. They obviously have discs for the other two versions and if someone on PC didn't want to go digital for whatever reason (data caps, refunds) then they shouldn't be forced to.

Same with BF1 and it is ridiculous. I'm getting the boxed versions and would rather not have to download like 50gigs on the day of release.
Welp there is 1 of the 5 :p
 

Kuosi

Member
Haven't bought a retail PC game since they blocked selling them from Åland vat free(they were actually cheap then), but I do understand that people with slow internet may not dig the totally digital world.
 

Corpekata

Banned
DeCSS basically single handedly popularised PC DVD drives



I don't see how not including a disk affects those kinds of resellers at all...?

I think he's suggesting the idea of if there's less discs for people to get around the download (the major advantage of retail for some), they'll stop buying the retail versions period and will thus mean more digital revenue (from their direct Origin purchase) and less resellers (since there will be less supply and less customers). So yeah, in the short term this won't have any effect, but in the long term it could.
 
Haven't bought a retail PC game since they blocked selling them from Åland vat free(they were actually cheap then), but I do understand that people with slow internet may not dig the totally digital world.

Even without the tax loophole, retail PC is still much cheaper than digital downloads in Finland. You can buy Titanfall 2 and Battlefield 1 for €45 retail right now, instead of €60 on Origin.
 

SmokedMeat

Gamer™
I still buy boxed versions from time to time (Rainbow Six Siege this past weekend) as they're often cheaper than digital copies. But I usually just enter the game's key anyway as I don't feel like sitting there juggling a bunch of discs to install a game.

The real loss here is access to a cheaper version, when retailers put box copies on sale/clearance.
 

Kuosi

Member
Even without the tax loophole, retail PC is still much cheaper than digital downloads in Finland. You can buy Titanfall 2 and Battlefield 1 for €45 retail right now, instead of €60 on Origin.

Cheaper, but not that much cheaper(and I mostly buy from GMG which is cheaper than steam/origin) I'd bother driving and picking up the copy, I've gone mostly digital on consoles too this gen, just so much easier and more convenient.
 

Sizzel

Member
I understand how this could irritate a few people, but is a thread needed? As a PC gamer digital downloads are a medium norm. It is stranger to have physical w/ discs. For consoles ,this would be completely against the norm and totally thread worthy.
 

BBboy20

Member
I understand how this could irritate a few people, but is a thread needed? As a PC gamer digital downloads are a medium norm. It is stranger to have physical w/ discs. For consoles ,this would be completely against the norm and totally thread worthy.
Wario64 is a pretty popular guy.

*looks at his stack of PC copies of COD1-4 to his right* Oh Infinity Ward...
 

-shadow-

Member
I get that Blu-ray never really took off like DVDs did. But would it really kill them even doing a small couple thousand run print that you can order online through their own store?

The people who started the Blu-Ray thing put a lot of restrictions on it and ensured that the BD-ROM format never took off on computers. You can't even buy a BD-ROM drive and have it support Blu-Ray movies out of the box; it requires a software suite to be installed. The format is doomed on PCs and with games reaching the 50 gig mark nowadays, DVD isn't a very viable option either.
DVDs were like this for years before Microsoft bothered adding a licence into Windows by default. They've outright admitted that they find it more logical not doing so for blu-ray because the that would cost people who don't use it money. My problem is mostly that I can't purchase the licence separately from them and have it work in Media Player. All those third party media player stuff works and runs like garbage. I know VLC has some support for it, but that's only for older discs. The newer ones throw errors at you.
 

gelf

Member
I still build my PC's with a drive.

I use it to RIP my music I buy (and therefore own) on CDs and RIP movies as well.

It's very useful and I wouldn't build a PC without one. They are cheap as as well. About 30 bucks.
But I haven't needed a drive for a game in a long, long time
Yeah I would still never go without a disc drive even if it's used a lot more rarely nowadays. There are still times I need to pop a disc in on occasion. Aside from still wanting to be able to rip any old music CD I discover, I have some classic games still not available to buy on Steam or GOG.
 
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