I love physical gaming because it means once I buy the game I can have it forever, but I like the convenience of digital gaming because I can buy the game from home, assuming I can actually own the game I buy unlike with Sony these days.

If gaming really does go digital only, how can we make it work? Because currently, digital gaming as presented by Sony, is very anti-consumer, with people's entire gaming libraries and PSN movie purchases deleted just because some people were inactive for 3 years. What about people who haven't been able to access PSN for that amount of time, like comatose patients or soldiers fighting overseas? How's that fair, PlayStation?

Worse still the people who lost their digital purchases weren't even given a refund.

Either digital gaming becomes more consumer friendly or it can fuck right off.

So how can we make digital only gaming actually work for consumers?

Ability to resell games is one of the biggest things missing in the digital market. If that was an option, I'd imagine a lot fewer people would have a problem with it. Obviously, the whole issue of ownership is another one. Make digital purchases actual owned copies rather than a licence you buy for the right to play a game. Those two are the big ones I see.

It's actually been true of almost all digital storefronts; Sony was the only one who was upfront about it. Nintendo, Microsoft, and Steam all have the exact same TOS; Steam even tells you on its checkout screen that you are only puchasing a license, not ownership of the game.

Only GOG says, "If you buy it, you own it." And the majority of its catalog are, as its name says, old games that have been largely forgotten, aside from a few exceptions like CDProjekt games from its former owner (and who knows if that will remain true now that CDP games has divested itself of GOG). And even GOG is not immune to having games delisted. 

And that will never happen without legislation. There's a reason why very few new releases, and a lot of older releases, are not on GOG.

Congressman Richie Torres (D-NY) did introduce legislation in October 2026 that, if passed, would require the FTC to recognize ownership of digital purchases, but it's not going to get through the current Congress, and would no doubt die on Trump's desk. 

CDProjekt also divested GOG because, in a good year, GOG barely breaks even.

I thought once you pay once and download a game on Switch, Switch 2 or Xbox One you still owned it. Are they seriously going to delete somebody's downloaded games just because they were inactive for a number of years?

GOG sounds ok compared to the others. When has Nintendo said that we're only purchasing a license for a game besides NSO exclusives like F-Zero 99?

So GOG is doing it right yet they're not profitable?

Nintendo Switch End User License Agreement

As much as people complain about them, Game Key Cards are probably the closest thing to digital ownership on consoles. They are as transferrable to other people as normal cartridges, who can use them to download and play games. The original purchaser will still have the game on their system but will not be able to play it without the GKC. The only downfall is if the Nintendo eShop goes down... but 20 years later, you can still re-download the games (excuse me, licenses) you have previously bought from the Wii and DS eshops, even though those platforms have been sunsetted long since.

But still, your digital game library's fate is ultimately at the mercy of a millionaire/billionaire, whether it's Shuntaro Furukawa, Hideaki Nishino, Asha Sharma/Satya Nadella, or Gabe Newell.

The platform holders are unlikely to delete someone's game (excuse me, license) purchases from inactivity, but as an example, if you lose access to your login to access these games, then those games are lost to you. When I had a 360, I had my digital purchases tied to my Hotmail (now Live) account. Unfortunately, my password got messed up, and Microsoft does everything but require a stool sample to retrieve your account, so I was never able to reactivate it. After that happened, I made sure that the email addresses on my Nintendo, Sony, Steam, and other accounts were set to my iCloud account, not my old MS account. There's also the problem of the fact that EA has, in the past, suspended accounts of people who got moderated in EA forums, and that caused them to also get suspended from their EA Origin accounts and the games tied to them.

Sadly... yes. GOG is now owned by one of the founders of CDPR, Michal Kicinski, who is no longer affiliated with them. He had a hand in the original creation of GOG, so he still believes in the original vision behind his creation, but GOG is very much a labor of love for him. 

When it comes to the PC market, people overwhelmingly choose convenience over ownership. 

Well there need to be laws in place to prevent that bullshit.

And I thought Game Key Cards were only able to be used once.

No. The license is tied to the GKC, not the console or the account holder. So it's fully transferable, just like an on-cartridge game is.

Once you finish Resident Evil Requiem on Switch 2, you can hand it off to your friend, or sell it. The recipient/buyer can plug the GKC into their Switch 2, download the game, and play it. Once you no longer have the GKC, you won't be able to play it. 

In that respect, GKCs are at least superior to code-in-a-box, which is tied to the account it is entered into and is not transferable.