Will Best Buy stop selling DVDs affect games like GTA 5?

Grand Theft Auto (GTA) 5, a Rockstar Games all-time best-seller, has sold millions of physical and digital copies in the last 10 years. However, many are now wondering if consumer-electronics giant Best Buy's decision to stop selling physical media in the near future will affect Grand Theft Auto 5's physical sales moving forward.

It doesn't seem like this change will have a significant effect on titles like GTA 5, as games are mostly sold digitally nowadays. The release of digital-only consoles also goes to show that physical media might become redundant in the coming years.

---

Will games like GTA 5 be affected due to Best Buy's decision to stop selling DVDs?

Best Buy will soon stop selling DVDs (Image via Twitter/@Variety)

Best Buy will soon stop selling DVDs and Blu-ray discs online and in stores. While the official statement pertains to the change in how movies and TV shows are consumed today, games not being mentioned could mean that they might continue to be sold as usual.

However, even if video game discs are discontinued, it shouldn't affect their sales. This is mainly because purchasing titles digitally has already become the preferred option in recent years.

Steam and the Epic Games Store are two of the most prominent digital outlets for purchasing video games on PC. PlayStation and Xbox also have their respective digital stores and are now coming out with digital-only consoles. The PS5 has a digital edition, the Xbox Series S is digital-only, and a new Xbox design with no disc drive recently leaked.

In a nutshell, the gaming community is pretty accustomed to buying games digitally. Many in GTA 5's player base own a digital copy, given that it was offered for free on the Epic Games Store for a limited time back in 2020. Therefore, stores such as Best Buy discontinuing the sale of physical media should not affect the sales of games like GTA 5.

Even game developers are slowly phasing out physical media. Several deluxe or collector editions of existing and upcoming titles don't include a disc. This change is a good indication of how games will be sold in the future.

Whether Rockstar Games also adopts a similar strategy for selling the highly anticipated Grand Theft Auto 6 remains to be seen.

---

Until that game comes out, players can enjoy Grand Theft Auto 5's multiplayer, GTA Online. It regularly receives fresh content and recently saw the addition of the Albany Brigham, a car based on the Ecto-1 from Ghostbusters.