Starfield physical copies won’t come with disc, Bethesda says

There’s also the more serious game preservation side to it. In an age where more media is being distributed solely digitally, it’s a bit worrisome to imagine what happens when, inevitably, there’s no way to access or buy certain things anymore. Having a game on a physical disc or game cartridge (and keeping it safe, obviously) feels like the only surefire way to ensure that you can keep hold of it forever, but when that’s not an option, you can’t help but be concerned about what the future holds for it.

Take a look at the story trailer for Starfield below.

For all these reasons and more, gamers are currently up in arms over the fact that Bethesda’s upcoming space-exploration RPG, Starfield, could apparently be subject to that dark download-only fate.

This was first revealed in a since-deleted tweet from the official Bethesda Support account on Twitter. Responding to a fan’s question, it wrote: “All physical editions include a code for the chosen platform. There are no physical discs.”

Fans on Reddit aren’t happy at all: “If it got taken down there’s a possibility it’s a mistake. I pray this is a mistake,” FerroLux_ commented. “Damn if this is true, that sucks! Just killed the pre-owned market for the game,” wrote cmvora.

Thankfully though, there’s a chance that this is just a mixup. Earlier this month, the official Spanish Bethesda account responded to the same question, and instead wrote (translated by Google): “It depends on the edition. For example, the standard has a disc, while the Constellation Edition has a code engraved on a collector’s item.”