u/BarracudaFearless631

In Assassins Creed Shadows, the disc still needed an online connection during setup before I could play offline later

That made me think about upcoming games like Assassins Creed Black Flag Resynced.

If discs are just:

installing the game, requiring online once and not fully usable offline by themselves

then whats the actual point of them now?

Do you still prefer physical copies in this case or is digital just better?

With the upcoming release of Assassin's Creed Black Flag Resynced, the community has been discussing the mandatory "one-time internet connection" required just to install the game from the physical disc. Looking at the technical specifications, this implementation raises some interesting questions regarding current-gen hardware and publishing standards.

The Math of Disc Capacity vs. Game Size The estimated file size for Black Flag Resynced is approximately 65GB. Current-gen consoles utilize Ultra HD Blu-ray discs, which have a maximum capacity of 100GB. Mathematically, the entire launch build of the game can easily fit on a single disc with over 35GB of storage to spare. This means the mandatory internet handshake isn't workaround for a hardware limitation, but rather a deliberate design choice.

Industry Precedents and Alternatives

Even when modern games do exceed the 100GB threshold, the industry has established consumer-friendly workarounds that don't require server dependency:

The Dual-Disc Solution: Massive titles like Red Dead Redemption 2 and The Witcher 3 (Next-Gen Disc) shipped on two discs (a Data Disc and a Play Disc) to allow for a 100% offline installation.

Full Off-the-Disc Playability: Top-tier developers like Santa Monica Studio (God of War Ragnarok) and Naughty Dog (The Last of Us) consistently prioritize shipping complete, playable launch builds (Version 1.0) directly on the retail disc without requiring any online activation.

The Implications for Game Preservation

When a physical disc requires a server verification to move data locally to a console's SSD, it shifts the nature of physical ownership. If the authentication servers for Assassin's Creed Black Flag Resynced are eventually taken offline years from now, the long-term utility of the physical disc becomes a major concern for game preservationists. Furthermore, this model creates a barrier for players with data caps or unreliable internet infrastructure who rely on physical media specifically to avoid large network dependencies.

Questions for the Community:

How do you view this trend of mandatory internet checks for games that physically fit on the retail disc?

Is this a necessary evolution for modern game deployment and security, or does it fundamentally erode the core value and purpose of buying physical

media?

I just saw the requirements for the physical edition of AC Black Flag Resynced, and it's disappointing. Even with the disc, you need a mandatory internet connection to install and start the game.

As someone who collects physical games, this is a dealbreaker. It's a single-player experience-why do we need Ubisoft's permission to play a disc we bought? If the servers go down in the future, this disc becomes useless.

I wanted to open a discussion here: Are we okay with this becoming the industry standard? How do we protect game preservation if even physical copies are just 'timed licenses' now?

I'd love to hear your thoughts on this. It feels like we are losing the right to actually 'own' our games.

Hi everyone,

I wanted to share why I've decided to boycott the upcoming Assassin's Creed Black Flag Resynced.

As someone who values physical media and game preservation, I was shocked to see that Ubisoft is once again requiring a "one-time internet connection" to install the game from the disc.

For me, buying a disc means I want to own the game forever, regardless of whether servers are up or down in 10 years. We saw what happened with The Crew, and I don't want my favorite AC game to suffer the same fate.

A disc that requires a server to "activate" or "download mandatory data" is just a digital license on a piece of plastic. It's not true ownership.

I'm standing with the #StopKillingGames movement. I won't spend my money on a product that Ubisoft can "kill" whenever they decide to turn off the activation servers.

Who else is skipping this release until Ubisoft provides a truly offline, complete-on-disc version?

https://www.reddit.com/r/fuckubisoft/s/qcOBenaChy

When do you think Assassin's Creed IV: Black Flag Resynced will drop below 50% on PS5?

I want to buy the game, but the internet requirement for the disc version is stopping me.

My concern is simple: if the servers ever go down in the future, the disc could become useless or impossible to install properly. That defeats the whole purpose of buying a physical copy for preservation and long-term access.

You're not protecting anything. You're just making sure people don't actually own what they paid for.

Even on PS5, a physical disc still requires an internet connection just to launch the game. That makes the disc pointless.

One server shutdown and the game becomes useless - even if it's fully single-player.

Stop pretending this is about "security" or "features". It's about control and nothing else.

We've had single-player games for decades without this nonsense. This isn't innovation - it's regression.

This is one of my favorite games, and I've been a long-time returning fan of the series.

I honestly can't imagine buying a physical copy of a game I love and then being forced to depend on the internet just to make it work.

For me, a disc has always meant true ownership and freedom to play anytime, anywhere, without conditions or barriers. When that freedom is taken away, it feels like I don't fully own what I paid for.

I really hope Ubisoft understands how important offline access is for players like me, especially long-time fans, and considers preserving full offline play without restrictions or dependency on servers or connections