With the release of Grand Theft Auto VI just around the corner, various brick-and-mortar stores have already started displaying empty game boxes. Physical packaging for the PS5 version leaked into the market ahead of the official sales start date permitted by the publisher on November 12.
Earlier today, a batch of photos showing sealed PS5 physical copies appeared on the Reddit subreddit "GTA VI Uncensored Discussion." The poster was reportedly a retail employee from Germany. The physical box matches expectations, featuring the standard semi-transparent blue PS5 case design with a white seal on the outside. A prominent label on the cover alerts consumers that the box does not contain a physical disc and requires an internet connection to redeem the included code for the digital download.
The user subsequently deleted the post and deactivated their Reddit account. Considering publisher Take-Two's notoriously aggressive stance on protecting its intellectual property, combined with the heightened security across the entire supply chain as the November 19 launch date approaches, it is highly likely they feared repercussions for the leak. In fact, eliminating physical discs is itself an anti-leak measure—past incidents of store employees stealing stock or warehouse staff pilfering discs have frequently led to content leaks, and a disc-less design effectively mitigates these risks.
Pre-loading for GTA VI will begin on November 10, and players who pre-ordered the physical edition will start receiving their boxes from November 12 onwards. This means players can take the box home a full week early, while the North American servers won't officially go live until the 19th. Take-Two's decision to abandon physical discs also gives us an early preview of the disc-less era that Sony has promised will fully arrive by 2028.
In the future, more publishers are expected to adopt the "code-in-a-box" model, maintaining physical displays in retail stores. For dedicated collectors, this means they can still collect these empty boxes as memorabilia.