By using this site, you agree to our Privacy Policy and our Terms of Use. Close
Airaku 3 days ago
Edit Thread
haxxiy said:
Airaku said:

You do not own your digital games, you own a license that gives you the right to play the game on the platform the licences is purchased for until revoked.

I mean, it's technically the same with physical. You own a license that is subject to copyright laws and tied to the disc/cartridge, sometimes also to online activation. If either or both are gone or deteriorate, so is your license, and you can't demand a replacement from the publisher.

Many PC games from the 2000s and 2010s are dead because of that, even to those who own the physical media.

This is true, especially with the Xbox One and PS4 and forward. The disc only contains the data but you have more control over the psychical aspect of it and where and what you do with the disc, where you play the game and who gets to play it etc. Though there was a time where you could get a disc replacement in older generations if your disc was damaged. Not all companies did this but there were a few that had this service. Also Walmart generally would do exchanges for the same game and I never had any issues with that. There were certainly options in the past to deal with these issues. Not to mention Game Stop and Walmart also offer $5 product replacement warranties for games which I believe is still an on-going program.