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SvennoJ on 10 April 2025
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konnichiwa said:

The high majority are not okay with going to the store and buy a physical game so doubt a higher price for a premium will attract more.... People may blame publishers but it is a fact that stores are downsizing physical game or getting rid of them because gamers don't want them.

All game stores/gaming store departments are basically becoming retro/nostalgic sections with figurines/mugs/shirts etc. This is why you get then Retro stores on youtube that invest into youtubers who hype up their stores in the hope that they attract some gamers who are kind of lost in life and become part of their community who then end up investing a ton of $€ in the store or a lot of their time watching those youtube vids.

If all you get from new games in stores is a flimsy case with only a disc or code, why would more people go to a store?

As you said, stores are becoming retro, since the actual physical stuff still sells. Publishers aren't making the things game collectors want anymore. I've been going to my favorite store less and less exactly because publishers only put out the flimsiest cases without even putting any effort into making a nice looking disc label.

End result: I play far fewer games nowadays. New releases don't give me the passion anymore to make time for them. They're throwaway digital stuff without any extras. Play for a few hours, forget.

Then when I find a half decent game I just stick to that for months. Not in any hurry to play it as I have nothing on the horizon to look out for. Decades of false promises, cancellations, delays and bug riddled releases have beat that out of me :/ I hardly follow game previews anymore.

So this year I'll probably mostly play Hitman 3 on PSVR2 and Aces of Thunder (if it ever comes out). And maybe dabble back into PoE2 with my wife in GGG comes back to their senses. (So much anger over 0.2 update, broke far more than 'fixed')

With Switch 2 I'll be watching. Atm I'm a no, however if MKW and DKB get a nice physical edition for those $90, world map, art book those kinda things I might be swayed to go for Switch 2. If it's just a stamp (cartridges have zero space for artwork, too tiny) in an empty box with additional download required, then it's a hard pass at launch. Maybe far down the line when the physical editions are cheaper second hand. I'm not paying $90 for a stamp.