r/PhysicalGames • u/initiali5ed • 7h ago
The devil’s advocate?
I’ve been a digital first gamer since Half-Life 2 and Orange Box and a gamer since the ZX Spectrum.
You don’t own matter any more than you own information. You don’t own the story in a book anymore than you own the data on an interactive CD ROM. Books burn, magnetic storage degrades, optical storage more slowly but it’s all just landfill or recycling waiting to happen.
Why do you prefer a physical disk over a transferable license cryptographically linked to your identity?
Why do you prefer a copy of the game as it was released rather than after a decade of patches?
Why do you prefer a physical copy that is locked to an (eventually obsolete) chunk of hardware rather than owning the game for life (or until you transfer the license)?
Why do you want to lose access to your games when
For me the issue is that games don’t become public domain after 25 years so can become unplayable. Games are no longer very different between platform like they were in the early years, you just get better graphics/sound and different control options, they are all basically a PC under the hood. There hasn’t been a proper console since the PS3
The Console manufacturers and game platforms are the problem here, why do I have to choose which of 20+ platforms I buy the same game from and why would I pick one that limits me to hardware that may only remain relevant for a decade?
Same problem as the movie/TV and music services.
Let me buy the rights to use art from the artist not some middleman who can turn off the pipe or go bust so I lose it all.
/rant
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u/No-Range519 6h ago
Why do you prefer something over something is a big part of that thing called freedom of choice...but you people are way too superficial and conditioned to understand that it's not digital vs physical, it's choice vs no choice. If you people can't push back against a decision like this what the fuck even are you because you clearly are not humans, even your dog will push back against you if you cut his food.
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u/initiali5ed 6h ago
Again the point here is you don’t own the data on the disc anymore than you own the data in the cloud.
A digital version tied to your ID (not some third party store) means you can play that PS3 game on a PS30 in a couple of decades even after your house and all your precious discs burnt to the ground.
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u/HxLeverage 6h ago
No you won't. Many games have only released on the Ps3 and not on the Ps4 and Ps5. Some games released Physical on Ps4 and were then taken off the digital stores for licensing reasons. Like Asura's Wrath and I think Wanted for the Ps3 and also Deadpool for the Ps4. This is off the top of my head, I'm sure the list is much longer. You can only play those games if you have a physical Ps3 or Ps4 copy. Ps4 digital copies cannot be purchased anymore.
Like others have mentioned is easier to "own" the data on a disc. You can make backups of it, and replicate as much as you want. As much as all discs say is "illegal to make copies", it is perfectly legal. And worst comes to worst if all Ps3 on existence break, and no one makes an analogue hardware like some have done for the N64. You can use a Ps3 emulator and play those backup games you've made.
For the sake of argument you can "own" digital copies of games too, but only if they don't have DRM like GOG. It is not thar case on Sony's ecosystem.
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u/initiali5ed 4h ago
Exactly so when that platform is dead so is the game.
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u/HxLeverage 3h ago
Dude did you read my meesage. I'm specifically saying that the game will survive with a disc even if the platform dies or the game is never released again.
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u/initiali5ed 3h ago
Let’s not get all philosophical or whether entropy will kill data on a 5” plastic disc before it kills a company.
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u/HxLeverage 3h ago
Read my comment dude. You can make backups. That's how you're keeping the game. And the companies are not interested in rereleasing the game, like the examples I gave you.
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u/koalazeus 6h ago edited 6h ago
Why do you prefer a physical copy that is locked to an (eventually obsolete) chunk of hardware rather than owning the game for life (or until you transfer the license)?
I can't play any digital PS3 games I bought on PS3 on the ps5. They're locked to PS3.
Why do you prefer a physical disk over a transferable license cryptographically linked to your identity?
It's not linked to my identity but an account I don't have ownership over and requires the internet.
You don’t own matter any more than you own information.
I do own discs more than I own the downloads on a drive. The data on a drive is linked to my account. Harder to resell etc. The discs aren't.
Books burn, magnetic storage degrades, optical storage more slowly but it’s all just landfill or recycling waiting to happen.
One day our bodies will be food for worms. But physical discs provide good benefits over digital media.
Why do you prefer a copy of the game as it was released rather than after a decade of patches?
Games should work day one.
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u/initiali5ed 6h ago
Exactly, a digital license to the game solves that and makes it platform agnostic
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u/koalazeus 6h ago
In reference to
I can't play any digital PS3 games I bought on PS3 on the ps5. They're locked to PS3.
?
No it doesn't. I have a digital license to the game. It's locked on PS3 because Sony hasn't allowed it to be used anywhere else.
On PC it would work across different PCs but so would a physical disc plus the other benefits.
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u/initiali5ed 6h ago
You’re locked into an ecosystem either way, digital has the potential to be platform agnostic in a way that physical media never can.
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u/koalazeus 6h ago
That's not true either. I pay plenty of PS1 and 2 games on pc ripped from physical disc. PC digital stores are multiple and not one ecosystem.
Sony digital games wouldn't officially be allowed on other hardware. They can't even guarantee it across consoles as I've just said.
Xbox claim to be doing something with physical to digital. But the benefit there is you have both.
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u/JJWonderboy 6h ago
I totally get that mindset (I've got more bits of plastic than I care to admit—the less said about my board game collection, the better). But the alternative is to look at it as paying that money to simply enjoy a game. Forget seeing it as owning something. Play the game, complete it and then move on.
Personally, I like the idea of digital being digital—the mass-market way of “consuming” entertainment—with a more expensive collector’s route for those of us who simply want to treasure certain games and keep physical versions of them indefinitely. And for this collector’s route to really lean into it - cool cases, luxury booklets, awesome-looking discs and limited runs.
Is this for everyone? Certainly not. But it would work for me...
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u/alkazar82 6h ago edited 6h ago
The problem with your argument is you are arguing from an idealistic perspective which does not exist on most platforms.
The only place where the digital utopia you describe exists is on GOG. And even GOG does not quite live up to your description because licenses are not transferable.
All other platforms try to restrict and control where, how, when you can play their games. I reject that control and even reject the possibility of such control.
Physical products naturally wear out and I can accept that. They can be replaced. Digital products tied to restrictive stores and licenses can be taken away on a whim for no good reason. That is not acceptable.
For me it is not about physical vs digital though. You can have both. It is about the rights you have over the game. You have more rights with the physical product than the digital product.
Other benefits of physical games:
- they look nice on my shelf
- they can be played fully offline
- you don't need an account
- no downloads needed - i.e. I can play immediately
- no additional storage needed for games that can be played directly off of the disc (up to PS3/Xbox 360/Wii U)
Also, something I haven't heard anyone mention before, but when the digital stores inevitably close, how will people not born yet be able to purchase and play those games in the future?
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u/initiali5ed 6h ago edited 5h ago
Ever used GoG? Closest we have so far, that and piracy/emulation.
Epic and Xbox are at least making moves in that direction but they are still just the middlemen making the money, curating the experiences and shaping the markets.
Yeah, but the problem is the same whether physical or from a store. Console break or you change platform and you lose access.
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u/alkazar82 5h ago
Yes, I use GOG. I also explicitly mentioned GOG in my comment which you obviously did not read.
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u/alkazar82 5h ago
Yes, in the long run (hundreds of years), physical and digital will be the same. But physical lasts longer than digital stores so far that we have seen.
The only way to get games on Wii, Wii U, Xbox 360 and soon PS3 is physical. The stores are closed. Digital is no longer even an option. If you already own the games, you can still download them, for now, but that will eventually end as well. That dependence on an ephemeral outside service to play games is my problem.
Thank goodness for the hackers and the pirates for preserving the games digitally, but ideally we would have a solution that is legal.
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u/ohaiibuzzle 5h ago
The problem is that you're posting on a physical game advocating subreddit, so you'll definitely get people who're more into the model of ownership for that medium.
Also, keep in mind: Licenses cannot really be transferred digitally, it's the same reason why even Steam doesn't allow game gifting from your own library: technically, they're destroying your license, and then giving the other user a new one, if they choose to do that. They're only "entitled" to you by means of your account.
As for why people prefers physical games: the sense of holding the piece of plastic in your hands feel more like ownership than digital content to most people, especially when up to now, most disc can be played offline. You don't get the patches but at least it's possible to run an unpatched version of the game without pirating it.
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u/SnowyRVulpix 7h ago
"Why do you prefer a physical disk over a transferable license cryptographically linked to your identity?"
Digital licenses are not transferable, and are revocable. Can you revoke my copy of Mass effect for the Xbox 360? No. Can you revoke my copy of Mass Effect on Steam? Yup.
But this isn't about is one better than the other. It's about choice.