LogFAQs > #969868218

SKARDAVNELNATE posted...

PC games definitely aren't sold that way. Toward the end even the boxed copies just had the Steam or Blizzard client and you could not make use of the files on the disc.

Yeah, this is much more true for PC than consoles. Physical PC games really haven't been a thing for many years, to the point where my optical drive isn't even plugged in because I got a new hard drive and I couldn't be bothered finding a different SATA cable.

SKARDAVNELNATE posted...

I think my physical copy of Monster Hunter: World on PS4 would not let me start the game until I connected it to a network, updated, and downloaded the Iceborn expansion.

That's not necessarily the most representative example. Even if you're playing solo, MH is intended to be a multiplayer game, and even without actually buying Iceborne, the number of updates and whatnot between the initial release and Iceborne coming out is substantial enough that I would expect an unpatched game to be incompatible with more up-to-date ones. That's not entirely dissimilar to being unable to log in to, say, WoW without installing the patch that corresponds to their newest expansion, whether you bought the expansion or not.

That said, day one patches are indeed quite common. They're often not a matter of downloading the game, though, but rather a reflection of the fact that the development and bug-fixing process often continues well past the game going gold, for better or worse.