New Nintendo Switch Hardware Model Codename Suggests Completely New Form Factor

[vivster]

Mar1217 said:

vivster said:
10 years from now the next generation will laugh at us and ask why we felt the need to put software on individual cartridges or Blurays when there are perfectly fine local storage options. People clinging to physical games is today's version of people clinging to vinyl.

Yet more popular than ever. The ownership of physical goods is still the superior form whatever may come vs buying a license to utilize said software.

How is physical more popular than ever when the percentage of digital sales has been rising steadily for the past decade?

IcaroRibeiro said:

vivster said:
10 years from now the next generation will laugh at us and ask why we felt the need to put software on individual cartridges or Blurays when there are perfectly fine local storage options. People clinging to physical games is today's version of people clinging to vinyl.

There is a slight difference though

Song file size 20 years ago - 5,2 MB

Song file size now - 5,2 MB

Game file size 20 years ago - 5,2 MB

Game file size now - 52 GB

While I fully agree physicals will definitely become obsolete someday, I'm not really buying the idea that all the storage and internet issues will be solved in that short time. Song and images files hit their plateau many years ago, movies size file is becoming non-issue because streaming can dynamically reduce image quality (also also the quality of the movies are limited by the quality of screens, not every TV has 4K support). Games's size however is growing just as fast as storage devices are becoming cheaper and more reliable, I don't know if it will be a definitive solution for this in the next two generations. 

Storage is a non issue, really. Nobody, no matter how much they pretend they do, needs to have 20 games simultaneously installed, especially not games that are 50GB. Games can be downloaded and uninstalled easily and quickly. Storage is a comfort that everyone wants but very few actually need.

If people can do without a headphone jack, they can easily do without having unlimited storage. In the end convenience will always win out and having 10 games locally installed will always be more convenient than lugging 20 cartridges around and sometimes having to download a game.

If anything the increased demand of storage will drive developers to do even less physical. The physical mediums are way more limited than local storage.