| Shaunodon said: If you think Nintendo is somehow pushing for the end of physical games, I'm not sure you've actually seen what literally every other platform is doing. Nintendo are still the only platform that regularly has physical retail games that are fully playable out of the box without a necessary download or install. Spending a bit more to get a real product is hardly a great punishment. Even the game-key situation which originally alarmed me turned out to be a positive step back towards some ownership. After hearing DF break the details down, what the game-keys actually do is mandate that every physical copy even if they're a full game download, must ship with at least a physical cartridge that's tied to that copy of the game. So even when you download that game, the digital copy isn't tied to any one account but the cartridge with the key. It can then be removed, shared or sold just like a regular physical copy which anyone can use. Of course the publishers that will regularly ship games with only a download key, are mostly still the same bad actors that Nintendo have little control over. Nintendo still generally try to encourage and offer solutions for fully physical games. Cyberpunk 2077 is proof of that. Nintendo are the only platform holder creating more solutions to protect physical ownership. |
I also see the game-key card as a positive step for the reason that it's more honest than the previous fake physical games that had a little bit of game data on the card and forced the rest to be downloaded. Now the full size of the game's file is printed on the front of the cover, making it easy to tell instantly what size of an actual game card would have been needed. This will make it much harder for the bad actors on gaming forums who defend the bad actors in game publishing.
Legend11 correctly predicted that GTA IV will outsell Super Smash Bros. Brawl. I was wrong.
