By These days, predicting what Xbox will do is practically impossible
- written by Sammy Barker
Although it feels odd coming from a PlayStation-centric outlet, we think we have every justification to criticize Microsoft’s policy toward boxed games.
On the PS5, Indiana Jones and the Great Circle and DOOM: The Dark Ages both shipped with discs containing only a handful of megabytes—true Game Key Discs, borrowing the term from Nintendo.
Many worried that Gears of War Reloaded could repeat that practice—particularly after eagle-eyed players spotted a disclaimer on the European cover, making clear an external download will be required. Yet, oddly enough, the exact same notice is absent from the North American packaging.
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Does It Play, the watchdog site focused on guaranteeing physical media remain offline-friendly, reports via a reliable contact that the PAL release does in fact contain the entire single-player adventure on the Blu-ray. Apparently the rest—mainly online multiplayer—must still be fetched from the servers, yet that’s a far less egregious compromise.
This development should be welcomed by collectors and disc purists awaiting Gears of War’s first outing on a PlayStation console. We’ll keep you posted as additional details surface.
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Serving as the Editor of Push Square, Sammy has spent over fifteen years dissecting the PlayStation ecosystem, covering everything from the PS3 era through the PS5 generation. He specializes in Sony’s first-party studios and broader industry trends, while also holding court on the subject of sports sims. When spare time allows, he enjoys sinking into sprawling RPGs, albeit with a mild gacha habit.