Baldur’s Gate 3’s physical edition took major investment and players are split

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Sony says it will end new physical game discs entirely in 2028, and the decision has already drawn heavy criticism. One of the clearest responses came from Larian Studios publishing director Michael Douse, whose comments about Baldur's Gate 3 underline what gets lost if platform holders walk away from boxed releases. His point is not just nostalgia. It is about whether PlayStation plans to leave any room for dedicated collectors once the market goes fully digital.

Douse did not sugarcoat the cost. To get the Baldur's Gate 3 Deluxe Edition made, Larian took on what he described as a huge financial outlay for a product with a limited audience. The studio still considered it worth doing. After the game had already succeeded digitally, Larian put out a boxed edition that included the full game discs, all released update patches, extra content, and a range of physical collectible items. It was a collector's edition in the real sense, not a box put out just to tick the physical-release box.

That matters because it gets to the core of Douse's argument. Physical discs are expensive to manufacture and the audience is smaller, and Douse did not try to deny that. His point was that these editions still create real value for the industry, and they make a lot of players happy. People still buying physical copies are usually not doing it for convenience. They want something they can keep, display, and actually own, and Douse's view is that this remains a sizable and highly loyal group even as the broader market keeps shifting toward digital.

Sony's logic is easy enough to follow. A disc-free future cuts distribution complexity, inventory pressure, and some of retail's complications. The wider concern is where that leaves premium physical editions once the major console makers stop treating them as standard products. The report also notes that the next-generation Xbox is very likely to go fully digital as well. If both companies move the same way, console discs may end up becoming less like mass-market software and more like niche merchandise.

Douse's suggested solution is practical: Sony could license third-party manufacturers to produce small-run, limited physical editions. That would preserve an option for collectors without forcing platform holders to keep full-scale disc production alive. It is a smaller market, but it would still preserve the option.

For most casual players, digital will still be the easier buy. But for a game like Baldur's Gate 3, which already feels like the kind of game players want to commemorate, the appeal of a physical edition is still real. At this point, the demand is not really in doubt. It is whether platform owners are willing to keep the door open. If Larian's next major game launches after 2028, console players may not be able to buy a new physical disc from the studio at all.