| Shadow1980 said: I think it'll have limited appeal, and only to those who have the needed internet speed and lack of data caps to make it practically and economically feasible for them. But for most serious gamers, I doubt it will make much inroads. I'm pretty much a physical-only person, with the only digital games I have being ones I got for free as part of some promotion. I don't like digital because you don't own the copy. The copyright holder does. They're merely leasing it to you indefinitely. Thus you cannot lend, sell, or trade the copy unless the copyright holder gives you permission to do so. They can even rescind your license to use "your" copy (quotes intentional) for any reason or no reason at all, something that has happened in the past. If the title has been de-listed from digital storefronts or the digital store closes and you lose your copy for any reason, you may not be able to re-download it (this actually happened to me before nearly a decade ago, and is what made my anti-digital stance more ossified). If a title is only available digitally and you didn't get it while the getting was good, you ain't getting it all, maybe not ever (at least not legally). These are typically not issues with physical copies, which are legally your property to do with as you wish (except for making and distributing new copies, obviously), and since copies usually remain on the second-hand market you can, in principle, find and buy a copy of an out-of-print title, even if you had a copy and lost it or never owned a copy in the first place. Streaming is even worse than digital downloads, though. It takes the worse aspects of digital and combines it with the most annoying aspects of always-online services. Not only do you still own nothing, but your experience is completely dependent on both A) a constant internet connection, and B) the service being up and running. Even if you only play single-player games, if your internet connection goes down or the service is experiencing any sort of interruption, you don't get to play anything. If a title is removed from the service for any reason, you don't get to play at all, perhaps not ever again (at least not legally). If the service ever gets shut down, well, you're just shit outta luck. Better hope there's an alternative. At least with digital downloads you have a local copy to show for your money, at least in principle. With streaming you can't even say that much. |
Sadly, physical versions of many games are worthless already. I switched to the digital version of GT Sport for convenience while putting my useless steel book first edition copy on the shelf. The game on there is about 20% of the content that's there now and when the servers turn off you can't even play it.
With Dreams I immediately bought the digital version (didn't like the box art anyway) since that too is worthless without updates and the online content. Racing isn't suited to streaming yet something like Dreams might actually work better if hosted in the cloud. Easier collaboration, being able to work together from many devices, see what others are playing etc.
Streaming offers new gaming possibilities. Stuff like PS home (ps3 experiment) that works without loading times, second life, ms flight simulator with all traffic, fitness games that match you up with others like Peleton, any mmo games and games with frequent updates or using real life data.
It's not for everything and for something like
https://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2020-02-25-luna-the-shadow-dust-review-a-charming-self-contained-puzzler
I will always prefer a physical edition. Maybe it will come to consoles eventually with a boxed option.
