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firebush03 on 12 November 2025
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G2ThaUNiT said:

For the most part, yes, but with some caveats that probably won't matter in the end for the most part. Current model of the PS5, for example, needs a one-time internet connection to activate the disc drive. Not exactly great when your disc drive one day dies and hoping the servers are running.

Hell, if PlayStation has an outage, no new purchasers will be able to activate the disc drive at that time lol.

I prefer GOG's means of preservation the most. Each game I buy from GOG, I download the game and put them on several different hard drives and my media server, just to be completely certain I'll never lose them. I've even sold them to friends for a few bucks lol. Sure I don't get the resell value and nice collection shelf, but at least I know for certain that I can never lose those games no matter what.

You see, this is where I get veeeery confused on internet discourse when it comes to game preservation on consoles. Let's suppose PS6 has no SKU with a pre-installed disc drive, and let's suppose to maintain this process of needing WiFi to install disc drives. Then how would the GKCs that Nintendo is pumping out be any different than the physical copies on PS6? Would Sony plan on allowing disc drives continue being installed even once servers shut down? And similarly for Nintendo, would they continue to allow users to redeem GKCs? In the latter instance, precedent tells me that they would be willing to support such a system; in the former instance, however, the waters become murky. (And yet nobody even seems to bat on eye at a Digital Only future for Sony so long as disc drive add-ons are provided.)

I think there is a very simple solution to all of this: If you purchased a game digitally, then digital storefronts *must* provide an alternative means to access software following the closure of their services. (E.g. If Steam were to "go under," then maybe they say "You will no longer have access to your Steam account, but you can access all of your games on [insert rival service] moving forward.") If you purchased a game physically, then the publisher and developer must work together to ensure that once this product is no longer playable, that consumers have access to a digital copy which -- if the digital copy no longer becomes accessible -- should recieve an alternative means to access once the method they provide "goes under."

Basic consumer protection. And that's without the concession of even allowing players to have a copy of the game installed into their computer with freedom to burn onto a disc at any time.