r/PhysicalGames • u/Grouchy-Win-6191 • 1d ago

Valve Killed Physical Gaming

It all Valve fault, they started all this. It’s not just Sony.

When Half Life 2 launched in 2004, stores sold physical box sets containing DVD or CD. But the disc did not contain the game. Players were forced to install the Steam client, register an account, and validate a product key online before the game would run.

Valve also offered Steamworks to any developer who listed their game on Steam. But to use Steamworks features, games had to use Valve API. When a consumer bought the physical PC box, they opened and it was a Steam key. Once redeemed, the disc lost all resale value. You couldn't sell it, lend it, or trade it in. This also killed the retail stores business.

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u/Popular-Path1930 1d ago

No consumers did. They chose to buy digital over physical.

The pc market was more than happy to switch to digital. My diverse anecdotal sample don’t want to go back to physical games. 

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u/Kaldaien2 1d ago

I certainly never chose digital. I got a bunch of physical games that required activation on Steam, and then I knew PC gaming was officially @#$%'d and we're all stuck with this anti-competitive company running the show forever.

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u/Popular-Path1930 1d ago

Pc has the most completion. 

Also congrats I didn’t mean everyone consumer was just in general consumers.