| The_Liquid_Laser said: I am no fan of Steam, but they have a much better track record with digital purchases than the big 3 do. |
It is tougher to get banned from Steam and by extension tougher to lose access to your digital games compared to consoles. Steam has no written right to brick your computer or even your Steam Deck. The console corporations can brick your hardware for severe violations.
Steam is not perfect and still has DRM but is more secure for purchases over time. For instance, the Wii Shop Channel and DSi Shop had an outage from mid-March until July 6, 2022. Over two and a half months and people could not download their purchased games. I see the ability to use those two shops to download games getting discontinued in the 2030s or at least around 2040. Additionally, I don't think Xbox 360, PS3, Vita, 3DS and Wii U will survive into the 2040s to download your games.
I could see Switch, PS4 and Xbox One still supporting downloads in the 2040s given how popular digital games are on them.
Lifetime Sales Predictions
Switch: 159 million (was 73 million, then 96 million, then 113 million, then 125 million, then 144 million, then 151 million, then 156 million, then 161 million)
PS5: 116 million (was 105 million, then 115 million, then 122 million)
Xbox Series X/S: 38 million (was 60 million, then 67 million, then 57 million. then 48 million. then 40 million)
Switch 2: 120 million (was 116 million)
PS4: 120 mil (was 100 then 130 million, then 122 million) Xbox One: 51 mil (was 50 then 55 mil)
3DS: 75.5 mil (was 73, then 77 million)
"Let go your earthly tether, enter the void, empty and become wind." - Guru Laghima
