Rockstar co-founder Dan Houser says companies should still provide physical game releases if players want them, adding a notable voice to the video game discs and digital games debate.
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Houser puts player demand at the center of the disc debate
Dan Houser, the Rockstar Games co-founder who helped write and produce Grand Theft Auto 3 through 5, Red Dead Redemption 1 and 2, Bully, and Max Payne 3, has entered the physical games argument with a simple position: if players still want discs, companies should still offer them.
Speaking with IGN at San Diego Comic-Con 2026 during an appearance for his current company Absurd Ventures, Houser was asked whether he cared about games being released on physical media. His answer was measured rather than nostalgic. “I don’t know that I care, but if people want that, I think companies should provide it,” he said, according to IGN and Video Games Chronicle. “But I don’t know that I personally care.”
That comment lands with unusual force because of the moment around it. IGN and VGC both place the interview in the middle of a broader backlash over physical game releases, with PlayStation’s reported plan to end production of new physical games from January 2028 still drawing criticism from players. IGN also reports that Grand Theft Auto 6 physical copies will not include a disc when the game launches this November, instead shipping as a code in a box.
Houser is no longer at Rockstar, having left in early 2020, so his words are not Rockstar policy and do not signal a change for GTA 6. But as a creative leader associated with some of the most successful boxed games in the medium’s history, his comments function as a new industry signal: the digital shift may be accelerating, but player demand remains a live part of the argument rather than a closed case.
His answer was not a blanket defense of discs
The useful part of Houser’s answer is that it avoids the easy pose. He did not present video game discs as sacred objects, and he did not dismiss digital delivery as anti-player. In the same IGN conversation, he argued that digital releases have helped developers improve games after launch.
“I also think that, as critical as people are of digital releases, the ability to update and fix problems in games has been really useful for the quality of games,” Houser said, according to IGN. VGC reported the same point, framing it as Houser acknowledging one of the practical strengths of digital distribution while still saying physical options should exist for those who want them.
That distinction matters in the digital games debate because the strongest pro-disc argument is not that every player wants a shelf full of cases. Many do not. The stronger argument is choice, ownership expectations, resale, preservation, gifting, access for players with weak internet, and the ability to install or keep a product outside a single storefront relationship. Houser’s statement does not solve those issues, but it recognizes that demand itself is a reason for companies to respond.
The caveat is equally important: modern physical games often still rely on updates. A disc can hold a build of a game, but day-one patches, live-service features, bug fixes, and performance updates can remain essential. Houser’s point about patches reflects how contemporary action-adventure games, especially large open-world productions, are built, shipped, corrected, and expanded after release. The disc is part of the delivery question, not the entire technical answer.
The Rockstar connection gives the comment sharper edges
Houser’s name inevitably pulls the discussion toward Rockstar, even though he has been gone for years. IGN describes him as a former Grand Theft Auto and Red Dead Redemption developer, while VGC notes that he co-founded Rockstar and left in early 2020. That history is why a comment about physical game releases now echoes louder than it would from many executives or developers.
The tension is obvious. IGN reports that GTA 6 will not ship with a disc when it launches this November, with physical copies instead containing a redeemable code. TheGamer likewise frames the past month as a major blow to physical games, citing both GTA 6’s code-in-box plan and Sony’s reported 2028 disc production cutoff. Beebom reads Houser’s comments as giving some fans hope for a future GTA 6 disc, but that is interpretation and hope rather than a confirmed publisher plan.
There is no official reversal in the supplied source material. Nothing from Rockstar or Take-Two in these sources says GTA 6 will receive a disc later, and Houser’s opinion does not bind a company he no longer works for. Reddit users on r/PS5 reacted to that tension directly, with one commenter joking that Houser says companies should provide physical games while Rockstar offers “a decorative box with a QR code,” and another pointing out that Houser is no longer at Rockstar. Those comments are community reaction, not reporting, but they capture the confusion around who actually makes the call.
For players, the practical reading is straightforward. A Rockstar co-founder publicly backing discs as an option is notable. It is not evidence that GTA 6’s current physical plan has changed.
Lazlow Jones captured the convenience case for digital
Lazlow Jones, the former GTA radio writer and presenter who left Rockstar in 2020 and later joined Houser at Absurd Ventures, gave the companion argument during the same IGN discussion. He acknowledged the ritual of buying a physical game, opening the case, and putting the disc into a console, but he also described the appeal of being able to download games quickly while traveling.
“We all have that sort of feeling when you get that copy, and you put the disc in the console,” Jones said, according to IGN. “But I also have to say I really like being at the airport and going, ‘Oh, cool. I can download some quick games to my Steam Deck for this 12-hour flight.’”
That is the everyday force behind the industry’s digital turn. Digital storefronts are fast, convenient, and built into modern play habits. For handheld PC players, frequent travelers, and anyone who bounces between a backlog and a sale page, the download button has its own rhythm. It removes the trip to a store, the wait for delivery, and the need to swap media.
But Jones’ example also points to a platform divide. Steam Deck exists in a PC ecosystem with multiple storefronts and a long history of digital-first distribution. The PlayStation debate is different because console ecosystems are more tightly controlled. TheGamer makes that distinction directly, arguing that PC’s open storefront landscape is not the same as PlayStation’s closed ecosystem. If discs disappear on a closed console platform, the player has fewer routes around a single storefront, account system, regional policy, or pricing structure.
Physical demand is smaller than it was, but not imaginary
Publishers have clear incentives to favor digital, from storefront control to fewer manufacturing and retail complications. The sources provided here do not include a publisher laying out those economics in detail, so the confirmed reporting is narrower: companies are moving away from discs, and players are pushing back.
TheGamer cites a sharp long-term decline in U.S. physical game sales, saying 37 million physical copies had been sold in the U.S. by June 2026 compared with 292 million units in the same 12-month period in 2009. That is a dramatic contraction. It also means physical demand still exists at a scale too large to dismiss as pure collector sentiment.
TheGamer also points to the second-hand market, valued at $7.2 billion when including consoles, accessories, and peripherals, and notes that physical games remain important for collectors and for players in places where poor internet connections or lack of official PSN support can make digital gaming difficult or inaccessible. Those are not fringe concerns for players who buy fewer games, share discs, trade in old releases, or rely on physical retail because downloads are slow, expensive, or regionally limited.
This is where Houser’s comment cuts through the usual industry inevitability talk. He did not claim discs are the future. He said that if people want them, companies should provide them. In a market where 37 million U.S. physical copies can still move in a year, the question becomes less about whether demand exists and more about whether platform holders and publishers consider that demand worth serving.
Absurd Ventures shows why physical media still has creative weight
Houser and Jones were at SDCC to discuss Absurd Ventures, not to announce a new disc policy for any game. VGC reports that Absurd is working on the American Caper comic series, and Jones said moving from years of digital game work into a physical comic book has been creatively fulfilling.
“That’s what’s been interesting,” Jones said, according to VGC. “We’ve worked in digital together for a lot of years and then making a physical product of a comic book is a different creative process, but it’s also just really fulfilling to have a physical thing so you can say ‘look, we made a thing.’” Houser then added, “I love physical media,” with VGC noting that he appeared to be pointing specifically to the latest issue of American Caper and implying books in that moment.
That context keeps the quote honest. Houser’s strongest emotional defense of physical media in the interview appears tied to books and comics, while his position on game discs is more pragmatic. He personally may not care whether a game arrives on disc, but he sees value in companies responding when players do.
For action-adventure fans, that divide feels familiar. The genre has spent two decades chasing bigger worlds, cleaner patches, performance modes, and post-launch fixes, all of which fit neatly into digital pipelines. At the same time, many of its landmark releases became cultural objects partly because they existed as boxes, maps, manuals, collector’s editions, and lendable discs. The modern blockbuster wants the flexibility of the download and the permanence of the artifact. The industry increasingly prefers the first. A vocal chunk of players still asks for the second.
Players waiting on discs should watch official listings, not hope
For now, the confirmed picture is limited. IGN reports that PlayStation will cease production of new physical games starting in January 2028. VGC similarly reports that Sony announced physical disc games will be discontinued for PlayStation consoles from January 2028. IGN also reports that GTA 6 physical copies will ship without a disc at launch this November, using a code in a box instead.
Houser’s comment does not change any of that. It adds pressure to the conversation because of who he is and because his phrasing puts responsibility on companies rather than on players to simply accept the transition. Still, anyone making a purchase decision should treat store pages, publisher statements, and platform-holder announcements as the controlling sources.
If video game discs matter to you, the safest approach is to check whether a listing specifically says the box includes a disc, not merely whether it uses the word “physical.” A box with a download code may satisfy collectors who want packaging, but it does not provide the same installation, resale, lending, or preservation value as a disc. If a publisher later announces a true disc edition for GTA 6 or any other major release, that would be a separate confirmed development. None is established in the supplied reporting.
Houser’s intervention is best read as a line in the sand from a major former Rockstar creative: digital convenience is real, patches have improved games, and players who still want physical game releases should not be treated as if their preference has already vanished.