If you’re one of the handful of people that still purchases physical copies of PC games, you’ll probably be a little upset to hear that even physical copies of Fallout 4 will require Steam in order to be playable. Requiring the game to be activated online through Steam is a great way to combat piracy, but that’s not the only reason Bethesda is doing this. According to Pete Hines, the game is simply too big to fit on even multiple DVDs, which is why people buying a physical copy of Fallout 4 will still need to download some of the game files through Steam in order to play.
If you buy Fallout 4 for PC on a disc, you’ll need to download a whack of content from Steam. Fallout 4 won’t ship entirely on-disc for PC; you’ll need to activate the game on Steam to download the rest. “You will still have to download from Steam. The disc doesn’t contain the entire game,” Bethesda boss Pete Hines said on Twitter. Asked why the console version doesn’t require an extra download, Hines said it’s a combination of DRM and the limited storage space of DVDs. “PC requires activation on Steam. Console does not. Console ship on Blu-rays, PC ships on DVDs,” the executive said in a followup tweet. In yet another tweet, Hines confirmed that “piracy” is the reason why PC games require Steam activation. He received an angry reply, and responded with class. “Well we’ve been doing it this way more or less for 10+ years. Seems to be doing ok. Lots of people bought Skyrim, Wolfenstein, etc,” Hines said. Fallout 4 is coming to PC, PS4 and Xbox One on November 10.
