This means you can't pass the game around to your friends or sell it afterwards, which completely ruins the purpose of physical media imo. I mostly play PC these days so this doesn't affect me, but it's a disappointing direction for console games. At least they could've used an empty disc that has proof of ownership.
EDIT: Bethesda has confirmed that only the PC version won't include a disc. Physical versions of Xbox will include a disc. Whew.
I honestly don't get the obsession with physical media. That's a thing of the past, my PC doesn't even have a drive anymore.
The only benefit I see is a reduced download size, but with day one patches sometimes being 40+ GB that's also not always the case.
It's not like you own the game, just because you have a physical copy of it. Once the licensing servers are shut down that disk becomes a paper weight, and that is if it doesn't require a constant connection to begin with.
On the other side you could argue that it's better for the environment if we finally get rid of all disks. Is it a huge impact compared to everything else? Probably not, but it is a step in the right direction.
Pretty straightfoward. And understanable IMO.
If I have a physical disk of something, I can put it in a compatable system and play/watch it regardless of whether my internet is out or just shitty in general, even years down the line (as far as I'm aware, the devs/company have yet to be able to register/tie disks to devices, and they're not gonna break into my place and take my media away. So while I don't own the thing, my copy is my copy to do with as I please so long as I'm not passing it around for others to download). It's also not tied to any account, so my use of the thing doesn't hang on whether i have a Steam account or a Netflix account or whathaveyou. There's also media preservation, and just the fact that some people like to have something tangible that they can say "this is mine".
Discrot and failing hardware is a problem...but personally, as long as I have a receipt or proof of purchase for it, I'm not gonna lose sleep over getting it from alternative sources if i can't rip the data off the thing myself. It's simple: the company gets my money, they give me a copy of the software, and that's it. What they do with that cash is not my business and what I do with that copy (unless I'm either illegally distributing it or reverse engineering it for my own profit) is not thiers.
That was a valid argument, but in the days of 40+ GB day one patches and the likes, I firmly believe that the disc will become useless as soon as someone decides to kill the servers, usually ~5-10 years down the line depending on the success and popularity of the game/franchise.
Case in point: My physical copy of Overwatch.
Man, I still get pissed off whenever I remember what was promised in regards to Overwatch 2 and what was delivered.