You Bought the Box. There's No Game Inside

Grand Theft Auto 6 pre-orders are live and the box is real, but open it and there's only a download code. No disc. No trade-in value. No physical copy. Ever. A tech columnist who argued against this exact model with a Microsoft Xbox executive twenty years ago breaks down why it's finally happening, what the auto-renewing subscription buried in the fine print actually costs, and why gaming companies treating their own culture as disposable is the real problem here. From there the conversation moves through Meta's new line of smart glasses, now in twenty-six styles and colours including a Kylie Jenner collaboration, and closes on a hotel in China staffed entirely by robots, with the same robot cat waiters that started showing up in Canadian restaurants a few years back. Three stories about a world that keeps asking you to pay more for less, and keep smiling about it. Topics: Grand Theft Auto 6, digital game ownership, Meta glasses, robot hotel, video game subscriptions GUEST: Chris Abel | krisabel.com | @realkrisabel Originally aired on 2026-06-30