GTA 6, Steam Machine, Xbox price hikes, and Destiny layoffs

Layoffs, price hikes, and the death of physical media have made this a grim week for games. It feels like the end times, and it’s hard to find reasons to be cheerful. There were some sparks: Valve’s Steam Machine presents a genuinely thrilling third way for gaming hardware, and GTA 6 looks poised to be a huge cultural moment thanks to its extravagant detail and scale.

Still, rising hardware costs threaten that boost — the Xbox Series X now costs $800, $300 more than its launch price, and Xbox and Valve have pointed to global memory shortages as a key factor. Distribution choices add another worry. Selling GTA 6 as a code in a box turns a physical purchase into a licence with no backup copy, a precedent that undercuts ownership; Nintendo’s Game-Key Cards are noted as better because they can be resold or lent.

There is a sliver of hope: unconfirmed but plausible reports suggest the code-in-box move is an anti-leak measure and that a disc release could follow after launch.

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