By using this site, you agree to our Privacy Policy and our Terms of Use. Close

Forums - PC Discussion - Blizzard:Your physical copy is useless paper weight.Sorry, you can't play the game you bought.

torok on 02 October 2014
prayformojo said:
Welcome to the future. Pretty soon, all of our physical media is going to be collecting dust while we weep for the days when we actually owned the things we play.


Well, I try to do my part: only buying physical media, except when the digital version is on a crazy sale with 90% discount and it's not a game I want that much.



Bet with jetforcejiminy: PS4 will pass the Wii lifetime numbers.

Around the Network
JinxRake on 02 October 2014
prayformojo said:
KingdomHeartsFan said:
prayformojo said:
KingdomHeartsFan said:
prayformojo said:
Welcome to the future. Pretty soon, all of our physical media is going to be collecting dust while we weep for the days when we actually owned the things we play.

This is PC gaming, I remember a report saying 92% of game sales on PC were digital in 2013.  On consoles its not anywhere close to that, hell its not anywhere close to half of that.  PC gaming does not give insight on the future of physical media on consoles.

 


Oh, I know. I was speaking about physical media in general. I have a huge collection of DVD's that I bought between 1999-2005ish and yesterday, it dawned on me as my old DVD player is starting to break down, that all of our CD's, DVD's, BR's and games will be useless. If you don't manually convert your stuff into some sort of digital file, you're GOING to be screwed because there's going to be nothing to play any of them on in the future.

I may be in the minority, but that is pretty depressing to me.

Every computer can play DVDs I think and both consoles can play blu rays and DVDs so you'll be able to watch those forever :P, but converting that situation to gaming, say I had a huge collection of N64 games, but then my N64 broke.  There are a few retro gaming stores around me where I could buy another N64, but if I live in a place where there are no retro gaming stores then I could order one online.

What concerns me is games that have a required online feature where it is not even needed.  Ex Destiny has no reason to require an online connection imo, you can't trade items between people, hell you can't even communicate with other people.  It is not a mmo and it is perfectly playable alone, but the simple fact that people supported it even though it needed a online connection without it being needed and it being a huge success might mean other games will try doing the same.  Ofc when the servers for any game like this go down it will be unplayable.


As far as playing movies and music, what I meant is that the PLAYERS, even consoles, they're going to break down because they are mechanical. I only have one working DVD player now. I use to have 4 lol. My old VCR finally bit the dust and my PS2 is next (games are starting to freeze). That's what I'm trying to say here. Unless we all back our stuff up digitally, 30 years from now, we're not going to have any way of actually watching, playing or listening to our phyiscal media. 

I agree with you about the online required games. If you want to see what it's going to be like, look no further than PSO for the first Xbox. It required an XBL account to play the game. You couldn't even play offline without one. Now that MS has shut down internet access for the original Xbox, unless you happen to have one WITH an old XBL account already there, the game is unplayable. Desitny, Titfanall... when those servers are gone, so too are those games. 


30 years from now you won't be able to use your physical media...

Let's assume your media lasts for another 30 years. Who says you won't have what to play them on?

 

Long as there is a demand for something, there will always be someone to offer the supply. A digital only, no physical media anywhere future will never come to pass.

Also, I wouldn't rule out pirates from this equation. Everything that is currently unplayable is available online in some form or another, for some emulation software or another. You can't find a Jaguar easily anymore, but you can play their whole collection on your PSP if you so like.