I think game preservation in general is going to get harder as planned obsolescence takes over. You can't get the Steam version of Fallout 3 running very well on Windows 10. I doubt a launch model PS5 or Series will last past 10 years of moderate playtime. CRTs will start dying in the next 10 to 15 years, forcing us CRT lovers to deal with the mess that modern monitors make of 16 and 8 bit games.
But despite all this I think it will still be entirely possible for a dedicated enthusiast to play his games on somewhat original hardware for decades to come (provided he's willing to open his wallet). Saturn disks are rare, but ODE modules like MODE or Fenrir solve that problem. I'm willing to bet that there will eventually be a 3DS and DS cart emulator out there once all the carts finally die. Analogue makes excellent clones of SNES/Genesis/GBA, etc. that all act exactly like the original hardware. In 20 years, I bet there will be an FPGA Gamecube out there, and an FPGA PS2!
| Dulfite said: If you want to avoid this problem or disc scratches, or someone stealing or borrowing your game and never returning it, or your toddler taking a bite out of your game, go digital. I don't regret embracing the digital only life. It's more convenient and creates a much cleaner and minimalist gaming space. I used to be physical only, but I can't even comprehend that perspective anymore since microSD cards are so cheap now. |
I would take the care to make backups of my backups with any digital Nintendo games. Sony and Nintendo seem not to care all that much about keeping their digital stores up after 10 to 15 years.
As far as going all digital goes, I sort of agree. I'm skipping PS5 this gen, because I know once my PS5 breaks all my games are unplayable. Instead I'm getting the big AAA games on PC, because I know I can fix my PC if it breaks.
As for going all digital on Switch, I can't really agree. Nintendo is bound to take their servers offline one day. Joycons may break, but the Switch in general seems to be pretty sturdy thanks to being a gen and a half behind PS5/Series. Switch 2 is bound to be backwards compatible and likely still in production by 2033. So even if you give a Switch 2 a lifespan of 10 years of moderate play, I'm willing to bet Switch games will be playable on OG hardware until 2043.
