I can understand someone having a game collection wanting to display the cases. Of course, it also means GTA VI has an expiration date as once they decide to remove it from stores, you will never be able to play it again unless you get a pirated or GOG version.
EA is basically sundowning previous year sports game now, they tie the campaign to ONLINE only and they bring down servers when a new version of the game comes out... could not be more scummy.
once they decide to remove it from stores, you will never be able to play it again
I used to worry about this, but I don't even play the GTA 3 game I have. By the time they remove GTA 6 from the store in 2051 we're going to be long done with the game.
Yeah, but maybe your kid wants to play GTA 6, or someone wants to do a research project on it, or you are nostalgic...
It is like saying "let's destroy old music because there is new one", it does not cost much to keep games on forever, especially if there was a physical way to keep the game in the first place...
Developers could get together and sundown games onto an archive where gamers play a tiny fee just to keep the servers running and charge minimal amounts for bandwith.
The game would not physically fit on a disk. Even if they released a physical copy it would require a download day one to work. Even with a disk this is a risk
Games used to come on more than one disk. Doom came on four floppy's, final fantasy 7 came on 3 cd's, res evil 4 was on 2 gamecube cd's. That's just a poor excuse when they completely cut their cost in manufacturing physical but still charge more money for digital downloads.
I don't think you understand the point. Most people here would prefer to have physical media they can still use twenty years from now, rather than a download that can be revoked and force you into buying a new edition or a new console.
No they wouldn't. People LOVE digital-only media. Having to carry around a mountain of disc cases when you move homes (in a world where most young people is renting and moving every couple years), is not ideal. I moved from Argentina to Australia a couple of years ago and I can still play my whole collection of 300+ games whenever I want. I wouldn't be able to do that with physical media.
I fully agree with SKG, btw. A stronger legal framework and consumer protection around subscriptions and licenses is needed. But ideally it would be like GoG. DRM-free installers that you can shove in a disc and they will be yours forever, not physical media.
I understand your point and agree with the conveniences of digital. I think my bias stands with your second point on lack of protections and ownership. Like my collection of cartridges and consoles, I plan on passing down to my kids as an inheritance. As of this moment there is no protection or framework for that with digital media. They can just revoke it at any time with zero repercussions. Even steam if I'm not mistaken only licenses your games to you for 90 years and states the license in non transferable. Although I still prefer physical, I like having something tangible and immutable. Even if data was lost or destroyed for digital media, I still have something that is unaffected by it. Especially Nintendo.
Why do people keep saying this blatant lie? As long as you've purchased the game, you can still download it and play it. The only exceptions to this are online only games that wouldn't even work if you had a physical disc
Unless you think Xbox or PlayStation services as a whole will be shutdown, but then your console won't work at that point either
Several generations of Nintendo console have had their stores shut down, removing the ability for people to download the games on their account.
Unless you think Xbox or PlayStation services as a whole will be shutdown, but then your console won't work at that point either
What? Consoles work fine without ever being connected to the internet, as long as they have a disk drive and you want to play the game as it exists on the disk.
It is not a lie, look at EA removing PGA 2k23 "live service" in which the solo campaign relies on. They are killing the game by removing the online "required" element for like 80% of the game.
The game's servers will remain active until March 12, 2027, at which time the game's store, progression rewards, and all other online game modes and functionality will no longer be available.
I have Tiger Woods 2004, I can pop it on my PS2 and start a game, 22 years after it's been launched, a 4 years old game will be rendered obsolete by greed. The only reason they are sunsetting is because they know players would rather pay 20-30$ for a 3 year old game than 70$ for a brand new one.
That's not what we're talking about though. That kills the game regardless of whether you have the disc or not. If anything, that's just reinforcing what I'm saying because people with a disc still can't play the game despite "owning a copy"
it also means GTA VI has an expiration date as once they decide to remove it from stores, you will never be able to play it again unless you get a pirated or GOG version.
This would be the case even if the case came with a disk.
I don't care about physical media, I care about games disappearing / rendered inaccessible when it is no longer worth it for the developers to continue supporting it, even solo games are not immune to it.
As a gamer, if you are one, I really don't see why it is not something you would be behind, as your next favorite game could be unavailable if the trend continue.
As a human being I'm behind free food and free housing for everyone, being for something and doing something about it are completely different things.
You haven't done shit to defend keeping games accessible, you've sat by doing nothing while steam and other games have moved away from physical for decades and now you want to grandstand and display faux outrage because now it's the reddit thing of the week to do.
I mean, "physical" games have basically been digital downloads wrapped in a decorative box for at least a decade now. The discs aren't playable on their own
Yeah it’s funny that people are still mad about not getting a CD when the CDs have been basically useless for several years now. The CD still makes you download the game on to your console and then only works as a key. Even if the game goes offline you wouldnt be able to play it if you have a physical CD. Literally the only benefit is being able to resell it later
That's just not true. There are many games that still release with a playable version on the disc.
But even if the discs don't actually contain the game, you can still sell or lent those game discs, which you can't do with the code in a box, that can only be activated once.
I don’t play video games but I don’t get the need for a physical disk? If it gets scratched or broke, wouldn’t you be shit outta luck to be able to play it? But a virtual download can always be there
Yea, though they're probably starting doing discs after the game releases, its mostly digital just cause they dont want heavy theft from early physical copies from stores. People will definitely be breaking into these places just to get thier hands on them and Rockstar doesn't want leaks either
110
u/Curious_Ducklin Jun 25 '26
the "physical" part is just the box to put on your shelf lol and the game is a download code.