I'm just not sure how they would address that in court if needed. I'd need time to research the answer and I've no time until well after release.

Probably 9.4gb ~intensely compressed.

So you take another company to court, you can proof beyond a doubt that they stole assets and your IP, and yet the court will still rule against you on the grounds that you didn't try hard enough to make it more difficult for people to steal from you.

I am by no means an expert on legal issues or copyright laws, but it doesn't sound right.

Don't release a physical version If you're just going to make people download 65+% of the game anyway. Rockstar released Gta V on PC physically the http://static1.gamespot.com/uploads/original/1179/11799911/2843150-7.jpg. Sure you had to download a small part of the game, but it was negligible to those with capped or slow internet. Bethesda what do you gain from doing this? Sure you save cost from using dvds, which are dirt cheap anyway, but you alienate the very consumer the physical copy is marketed to in the process.

That is near my estimate as well.

Do people still think physical media is that outdated just because it′s 2015?

DVDs are getting there. When it takes 10 DVDs to install a game, then it is about time for companies to start the process of going to Blu-ray or USB for their next games.

Blame how US copyright laws work. Yes, we laugh when Disney sues several http://www.snopes.com/disney/wdco/daycare.asp, but if they weren't so hyper-aggressive, the copyright courts can say "you left it alone after knowing about it, so you must not actually care that much about it. You no longer own the copyright at all."

In short, not only must you legally register the copyright, but you must legally defend your copyright to keep a hold of it.

I don't understand this move by Bethesda. I don't even..

I preordered a disc so I don't have to download the entire game...and now this...

smh

i'm actually pissed

I say just cut down on all the flashy cutscenes and kill cam moves and you′re back on one disc

Well it's the computer industry that's the problem. No way game publishers will release on Blu-ray for PC because the market saturation of Blu-ray drives in computers isn't there. Consoles advanced to Blu-ray. Computers have been advancing toward... not having optical drives. I bought a Blu-ray drive (play only, not burn) over 10 years ago for my last PC, which is still running just fine. When I got a new computer for gaming and video editing, I didn't bother with a Blu-ray drive, just a regular DVD drive. I only bought an external Blu-ray burner for my new PC because I needed it for work. And of course my recent laptop has no internal optical drive.

Unlike consoles - in most cases you can only play a game on the original console, so you must have that original hardware and the original media of the game - on a PC, I can still play games that are 30 years old if I have the original media, which I do. But now we're getting into the wake-up period of the transition where as a PC gamer, I can no longer rely on my physical media in order to be able to play an old game that I own. I now have to rely on the publisher to keep that game available and DRM-functional, because my disc either relies on some very dubious DRM that has been used by publishers in the past, or it requires online activation servers, or it doesn't have all the files on it.

And that's why GOG is so vital to the long-term playability and preservation of PC gaming for titles that are being released now.

And while I prefer GOG to Steam, Steam is as important as well. Instead of all these companies having their own systems which can inevitably go away (and some companies are still running their own systems instead of using Steam like everyone else), it's better to have one central system that everyone uses because it promotes the long-term success and stability of that central system. I don't see Steam disappearing anytime soon. Now, we've sadly seen individual games disappearing from Steam, which is still why again, GOG is better for gamers.

But thats not the same

That is pursuit of those who have infringed on copyrights. Not letting people get away with stealing IP is not the same as how many barriers you throw up initially.

As mentioned, will this mean that games like Witcher 3 are completely free now? The whole franchise is just up for grabs because Witcher 3 is DRM free?

I said i'm no copyright lawyer, but that seems highly unlikely.

Witcher 3 probably falls under German copyright law, which holds different standards than US law.

And yes, in legalese, failing to use DRM could be seen as not legally protecting your IP from theft. It's in the acronym: "Digital Rights management". Maybe not on its own, but it can certainly contribute to an IP getting sent into the public domain, as it is incredibly difficult to enforce illegal downloads on the web. Lack of a DRM to mitigate copyright violations can be seen as a contributing factor for loss of an IP.

Basically, it's a form of legal insurance. Don't have to use it, but it's riskier.

If this was any other game I would've cancelled the preorder.

Disrespectful.

If that's the way the want to do it, at least they can let the physical versions of the game ship a week earlier, and let people who bought them download and pre-load the missing files, so they can play the game at the day it officially is live.

That's my logic as well. That's what many people thought about the stupid ass move made by Konami when they shipped Metal Gear Solid V with one dvd and an installer to download the whole freaking game(20+GB)

I'm glad you mentioned Rockstar. I must admit, I hated Rockstar for the way they have treated the pc community; always putting us on the back burner like Ubisoft does. But when I saw the retail pc version of GTA V coming with seven dvds, I completely changed my mind about Rockstar. As you are aware, Rockstar and Ubisoft are famous for being resented by piracy and I wouldn't be surprised if R released the pc version so late as a "punishment" of sorts just like the paranoid Ubisoft with their many anti-piracy tactics and their disrespectful customer service towards the pc community.

But it's interesting that these two companies - specially Ubisoft - are still creating physical pc versions with the full game inside(minus the patches)and you only need, of course, to verify the code in their DRM service which is perfectly reasonable to me - even though Ubisoft does get carried away. But still, I applaud Ubisoft and Rockstar for not falling into this STUPID ASS tactic that some companies are playing around with as of late.

I tell ya, I'm one of those people that has been voicing out loud my disgust towards this bullcrap. I just don't even want to imagine how Bethesda is going to do business once they get their own DRM service. I wouldn't be surprised if they turn out to be like the paranoid Ubisoft and doing business from Mt. Olympus disregarding the whining of the peasants below.

Again, I feel like punching someone right on 'da' nose.

No, they just assume that since they're sitting on a great broadband line that everyone else is, too. /eyeroll

Great broadband or not, we are still physical beings in a physical world and I for one want to handle physical things. There′s just no appeal whatsoever for me with a game that comes in 100% digital form. No box art to look at, no manual to flip through on the sofa, no nice collection on the shelf to marvel at. Just ones and zeros on the drive and an empty apartment.

there are 2 kinds of game publishing companies one like rockstar games who ships their game with 7 dvd's and only 100mb release date patch required to play the game and than there is bethesda softworks who ships their game with only 1 dvd and 30 gb release date patch.

Good Job Bethesda

I don't have good internet so don't go hating on me. 100mbps connection in my country will cost me arms, legs an my kidney monthly and i don't have spares sadly

I hope it's made very clear wherever this is sold that a large download is required.
Unmistakable large type. No hiding it in some obscure fine print.
The retail box needs to have it clearly stated so you can read it from across the counter and in the back of the glass case.

Something like: "This box does not contain a playable version of Fallout 4. It contains one CD which authorizes the original owner to go online and download the game from our on line server. XX gigabytes of data (minimum) will need to be downloaded. Registration to use the server requires personal information. Depending on your ISP, downloading times will vary and may incur additional charges. Check the Terms of Service for your Provider."

And again. This doesn't need to be hidden on the edge of the box somewhere.

It′s easier to get a real gun than a PC game these days!

OMG! hahaha you're right!

Ignoring the part where every previous current-gen game that Beth shipped this past year, came with a pile of discs. So if there's "two kinds of game publishing companies", Beth is flip-flopping between the two.

looks like they have joined the dark side

So do we have any new info about amount of data on disc?

According to some people, one of the leakers claims that there is only a Steam installer on a disc (unfortunately I can’t find a source for this information). I really hope this isn’t true