VDSL is a modern technology that was established in 2001... And updated in 2006 with VDSL2. - Granted it's delivered over half a century old copper, but still, lots of additional infrastructure updates to the copper network was fundamentally required for VDSL to be viable in Australia.

We have super vectoring that can provide additional throughput on top of our current NBN network, whether NBN Co bothers is another matter entirely though..

Multiple consoles aren't options. Or tell me how do I play *insert any 3rd party game* on my Switch. They're all their own ecosystem with artificially limited choice within, both in hardware and software. "Just for collectors" is a petty weak argument to keep physical games. If consoles had actual options you could just pull your digital games from the console if you really need anything on your shelf. But of course they wouldn't do that because they hate options. Removing physical discs would be absolutely par for the course, but it would still be one of the best things they could ever do. Reducing waste and putting an end to terrible optical media that every other industry already ditched.

no box no buy from me

Can you imagine having to get up and walk to the tv to turn it on? The horror.

TVs have updates nowadays as well ugh. My 4K HDR tv has patched itself at least 5 times since I bought it, without asking. At least TVs use very little power in standby mode. In Rest Mode, your PS4 reportedly uses about 10W of power with the default settings. When it's powered off, it uses about 0.3W instead. Still 0.3W when turned off. Rest mode uses 87.6 Kilowatts a year just for the convenience to have your digital games patched automatically. (And it will of course use more when downloading and patching)

When you have to install the game anyway (as with playstation and xbox) I see no point with physical versions of the game (note that I live in a country without download caps on internet and I have a 250/250 connection).

But when you can play directly off the cartrige/disc I prefer physical games.

Interesting topic.
But I doubt this gen will be the last one for physical media,
although that opinion might be a bit biased because I'm 100% physical,
dont plan to change that anytime soon and if a game doesnt get a physical (in the strict sense) release, then I wont buy it.

Bought TLOU2 digital because the delivery options weren't going to get it to me at launch, and I can't justify leaving the house for a video game in the middle of a pandemic. Now it looks like I'm about to do the same with Ghost of Tsushima and... i'm not too bothered by this growing trends as I thought I'd be. I've been reselling games less over the years, and I pretty much never lend them to friends any more so I can see myself doing this more in the future.

Yeah, I would be much more interested to see what the split is for titles that are released physically on the same day as the digital release. I think these numbers aren't publicized because it is in the best interest of publishers if gamers don't actually own their media. 

I agree. Two of the best things about physical games (cool manuals and most or the entirety of the game on the physical media) are all but extinct now. That just leaves the used games market and sharing with your friends as the two big positives left. With Switch, I get most of my games physically. After all, most of the game is on the cartridge. Plus Switch storage is nowhere near as cheap per GB as other consoles because it only accepts microSD cards.

With PS4, the vast majority of my games are digital. That means both games I buy outright, and the Instant Library games. My 1 TB internal HDD and 2 TB external HDD suffice for files. I've still got a lot of space left. If it gets close to getting full, I'll delete games that I don't really play.

Something that I have failed to mention before that others have is internet connection speeds. Those probably won't be enough to have physical media still thrive, but they are a concern. Plenty of people and countries have internet too slow to make game downloads convenient and quick. 

Digital games are a Prisoner's Dilemma situation.  Publishers and the big 3 make more money from digital sales.  That motivates them all to push for more digital sales and even create this narrative that "digital is inevitable".  On the other hand, who are they taking these sales away from?  The publishers get more money, but who is losing?  The retailers.

If digital sales get pushed too much though then the publishers, the console makers and the retailers will all be worse off.  If retailers can't make enough money on software, then they will demand to make money on the hardware.  That will drive up hardware costs.  The biggest thing that makes consoles attractive is that the hardware is cheap (i.e. no one makes a profit off of it).  But if retailers can't make money on software then they will demand to make money on hardware.  Console prices will then skyrocket and everyone is worse off.

It's a Prisoner's Dilemma.