Your comment about PS5 games isn’t correct, except for obvious ones like online games. And certain studios (like Ubisoft) are more paranoid than others. Super easy to test yourself: just disconnect your PS5 from WiFi and put in the game in question.
More broadly, PS5 and Xbox Series (not hybrid) games come with the entire game on the disc with a relatively small number of exceptions. Switch is even better about it, and in those unusual cases where it does need to download content, it’s called out on the case. Xbox dual releases (Xbox One and Series) come with the Xbox One release on disc and the other version must be downloaded.
The problem is that nearly all games need huge patches after launch, and so it makes physical collecting a bit pointless these days.
In terms of Switch games, several publishers have deliberately being using smaller carts (to save money) and you have to download the rest of the game when you get home with your purchase. I remember the guys who ported Diablo III were proud of the fact the entire games was on the cartridge upon launch.
Most (not all) console games run fine without downloads or patches. It’s not very common for a game to ship with game breaking bugs to the extent that Cyberpunk 2077 did.
Anyway, it doesn’t really matter, because if the Internet disappears due to some disaster, we’ll all have much bigger problems than playing video games. And if one of these giant MNCs pulls out of gaming or goes out of business, well, I guess we’ll figure it out.
Your comment about PS5 games isn’t correct, except for obvious ones like online games. And certain studios (like Ubisoft) are more paranoid than others. Super easy to test yourself: just disconnect your PS5 from WiFi and put in the game in question.
More broadly, PS5 and Xbox Series (not hybrid) games come with the entire game on the disc with a relatively small number of exceptions. Switch is even better about it, and in those unusual cases where it does need to download content, it’s called out on the case. Xbox dual releases (Xbox One and Series) come with the Xbox One release on disc and the other version must be downloaded.
The problem is that nearly all games need huge patches after launch, and so it makes physical collecting a bit pointless these days.
In terms of Switch games, several publishers have deliberately being using smaller carts (to save money) and you have to download the rest of the game when you get home with your purchase. I remember the guys who ported Diablo III were proud of the fact the entire games was on the cartridge upon launch.
Most (not all) console games run fine without downloads or patches. It’s not very common for a game to ship with game breaking bugs to the extent that Cyberpunk 2077 did.
Anyway, it doesn’t really matter, because if the Internet disappears due to some disaster, we’ll all have much bigger problems than playing video games. And if one of these giant MNCs pulls out of gaming or goes out of business, well, I guess we’ll figure it out.