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JOKA_ said:
Of course not.
In the 80s/90s the easiest, fastest, most efficient way to get a game to you was on a cartridge.
Well, it was either cartridges or floppy disks. Cartridges won out on consoles because they were harder to pirate, more durable, had no load times, and didn't require an expensive floppy disk drive.
In the 00s the easiest, fastest, most efficient way to get a game to you was on a disc.
The only reason discs won out over cartridges was because they cost less and could hold more data than the cartridges of the 90s could. It had nothing to do with consumer preference (the N64 was winning in the U.S. from September '96 to August '97) or about ease of use, speed, or efficiency. Hell, the N64 had effectively zero load times and fewer moving parts, so you could argue they had the speed and efficiency advantage. Cartridges vs. CDs was a format war settled purely by the desires of third parties.
Right now, digital download is becoming (not fully yet) the easiest, fastest, most efficient way to get a game.
I have a GameStop and Wal-mart on the same block just 5-10 minutes away. Going out and buying a game is hardly an arduous task.
You listed some advantages to physical over digital, and yes they do exist. However there are some advantages to digital:
- Can't be damaged
But files can be corrupted, and hard drives do fail, and if either of those happen after your console is no longer supported, well...
- Can't be stolen
Your odds of someone burglarizing your home are going to be dependent on where you live, but I imagine your overall lifetime odds of getting burglarized are pretty low on average. Also, there's a reason why home security systems and homeowner's/renter's insurance are things. And if you can't afford those things, you probably aren't in a financial situation to be buying video games or paying a premium for high-speed internet. Also, hardware can be stolen, and your games with it. Sure, you can redownload them... for now. But what about 20 years from now when every extant console is likely no longer supported?
- Can pre-load and literally play them the second they release, all without leaving my couch
All fine and dandy if you have good internet and you plan on pre-ordering everything. But if you don't preorder a game, even if you have good internet it might be quicker to just pick up a physical copy from the store. I have pretty good internet, but even assuming optimum download conditions it will still take at least 4 hours to download a 50GB game. Realistically it'll take longer. Meanwhile, there's that GameStop that's only a ten-minute drive away.
Listen, if you want to download all your games, that's your prerogative. Whatever floats your boat. My problem is that far too many digital-only evangelists seems to want physical copies to just go away. I'm fine with people having a choice. You do your thing, I do mine. But if someone wants physical media to stop being made, then I have a problem. They don't respect my choice. They don't want me to have a choice. If gaming does go digital only, I no longer have a choice. And I think most of us would resent a completely needless revocation of choice, which is why no other segment of the entertainment industry has forced digital on anyone. I prefer physical media. I find that actually owning what I buy is the better alternative. I don't trust digital any further than I could throw it. If physical media goes away, then I'm done supporting the industry, and that's that.
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