Leak Reveals Gamestop Is Basically Shutting Down

[vivster]

hunter_alien said:

vivster said:

I can do a lot more with a digital copy I bought from steam than a physical copy I bought for PS4. Digital isn't the issue, DRM is. I think it's kinda ridiculous how physical discs are somehow lauded as gaming Jesus while they're full with DRM and already are just as tightly controlled as their digital counterparts.

The protest shouldn't be against digital but against closed platforms.

True, but the issue is that pretty much most digital platforms are DRM systems, to begin with. GoG is a model I fully embrace, but let's be honest, it's one that most publishers will not pursue, so it will always be a niche player in the industry.

Physical with DRM is absolutely an issue, and lately, they became downright cumbersome to use, but I think when most people say physical they refer to the old pre-7th generation distribution models. I think the Switch cartridges are still (mostly) there, but it's only a matter of time until they will go the way of the Dodo.

Still, gaming (as an industry) will get through this, and there will always be an opportunity in it that some will try to exploit, so who knows, maybe one day we will get the best of both worlds

It will only go down from here. Digital only gaming is inevitable. Not that it would make much difference considering that physical media is already basically useless on its own.

Cerebralbore101 said:

vivster said:

I can do a lot more with a digital copy I bought from steam than a physical copy I bought for PS4. Digital isn't the issue, DRM is. I think it's kinda ridiculous how physical discs are somehow lauded as gaming Jesus while they're full with DRM and already are just as tightly controlled as their digital counterparts.

The protest shouldn't be against digital but against closed platforms.

So, because I can't play a PS4 game on an XB1 that's DRM? If only GoG got as many games as Steam. Sadly, most publishers want to make their own store, or put their games on the EGS where there's always online DRM that bricks the game as soon as the servers go down. 

Yes that's one form of DRM. Other forms of DRM include: Not being able to backup media on your own physical storage, not being able to access content on the media, not being able to transfer digital content between consoles(offline). Physical is nothing but an illusion of freedom because they need an extremely closed platform to run on. It's kinda poetic that digital games on PC fulfill the desires of people who prefer physical much better than actual physical media on consoles.

KManX89 said:

hunter_alien said:

True, but the issue is that pretty much most digital platforms are DRM systems, to begin with. GoG is a model I fully embrace, but let's be honest, it's one that most publishers will not pursue, so it will always be a niche player in the industry.

Physical with DRM is absolutely an issue, and lately, they became downright cumbersome to use, but I think when most people say physical they refer to the old pre-7th generation distribution models. I think the Switch cartridges are still (mostly) there, but it's only a matter of time until they will go the way of the Dodo.

Still, gaming (as an industry) will get through this, and there will always be an opportunity in it that some will try to exploit, so who knows, maybe one day we will get the best of both worlds

This. 

Publishers will further push and get away with on-disc DLC as well since, you know, there will no longer be any discs. So they can get away with selling you stuff already in the game and locked in the code.

One of the primary reasons they WANT an all-digital future is so they'll no longer have to lie and cover it up.

But they're not lying about on disc DLC. They could very easily hide it, yet they don't. It's the same for installed DLC on digital copies. There you can also see if the DLC was already in the initial game. In fact it's way easier to detect those "lies" on open platforms with digital only media if they ever occur.