If you buy physical so you can play when the internet dies, or so you own something you can resell later, read the numbers before you trust the plastic. DoesItPlay tests retail discs and cartridges for offline play and for whether a download is required to get the intended game. Their live platform stats are the scoreboard below.
The scoreboard: no download vs need a download
DoesItPlay splits "download required" into four buckets: no download, no download but with caveats, download with caveats, and a hard yes. The useful buyer line is the green No share: that is the share of tested physical releases that do not need a download to play as intended.
| Platform | Entries tested | No download required | Share that is *not* a clean no-download pass |
|---|---|---|---|
| PS5 | 792 | 66% | 34% |
| Xbox Series X | 78 | 50% | 50% |
| Switch 2 | 48 | 75% | 25% |
| Switch (original) | 775 | 80% | 20% |
Those mid-generation Microsoft and Switch 2 rows are thin samples. Treat Series X (78) and Switch 2 (48) as directional, not as a finished census. PS5 and original Switch are the sturdy datasets.
Offline play is a related but separate chart. On PS5, DoesItPlay currently marks 93% as offline-capable (Yes), with smaller Yes* and No slices. A game can still demand a day-one patch even when the disc boots offline later. Check both pies on their site before you assume "disc equals complete."
Why a disc still asks for gigabytes
Publishers keep shipping "physical" products that are installers, incomplete day-one builds, or missing chunks of campaign content until a patch lands. Bandwidth caps, hotel Wi-Fi, and console store outages turn that into a real access problem, not a vibe complaint. Preservation is the longer fuse: when the patch host goes dark, the plastic keeps spinning and the game does not.
