Oddly enough, the more "niche" it has become, the more invested I've become in getting the phsyical copy of games.
| NobleTeam360 said: Oddly enough, the more "niche" it has become, the more invested I've become in getting the phsyical copy of games. |
This kind of happened with me too. For most of 8th gen I was exclusively digital.
But recently I moved into my own place (no more roommates) and ended up getting some more furniture. My office shelves have all my books, but my living room shelf space was completely barren. So I started collecting movies and games again to populate that shelf. It makes the room feel less empty and more lived in. I also aesthetically like a lot of different box arts out there, I bought Tales of Arise physical just because I liked the box art
aTokenYeti said:
This really depends on what you are trying to argue. If you are arguing that digital will be the primary means for game distribution, then we are already at that point on PlayStation and Xbox. If you are arguing that digital will completely snuff out physical games distribution, I think that position is significantly more difficult to defend. The examples set by other forms of media have shown that physical releases basically always settle themselves into a niche. Sometimes this niche is small, as with vinyl in the music industry, but sometimes this niche is still extremely lucrative. DVDs and blu rays are still highly popular with home theater enthusiasts and still have large amounts of shelf space dedicated to their sale in the traditional brick and mortar retailers. I think there is still going to be an enthusiast market for physical games. Rolstoppable thinks that the physical games decline has finally bottomed out, and I see no reason to think that isn’t the case to be honest. On PlayStation and Xbox, and Xbox in particular, if you are still buying physical now you probably will be 5-10 years from now and beyond, unless Microsoft or Sony try to force a digital transition which I think would go poorly. |
I expect at some point consoles will not come with disk drives. Ps7 for sure, maybe ps6.
| RolStoppable said: In the situation you describe, you will still be able to sell your physical game collection which will likely still hold a lot of value, especially for games that had low printruns. Whereas your digital game collection is completely worthless in all possible ways. Ownership can be as simply defined as being able to sell what you've bought. On topic: Anyone who looks at all the graphs can tell that the biggest cause for fewer physical game releases is the decreasing output of major game publishers. Comparing 2018 vs. 2021 shows a drop of 33% in the number of released digital titles. The big third party publishers have increasingly focused on fewer games, that's what the numbers show. But there's a limit to how low they can go, hence why the overall number of new physical releases has dropped by only 7 (3%) from 2020 to 2021 in the USA. Nintendo Switch even showed a slight increase from 2020 to 2021. That makes the headline of the whole analysis flawed. There's no acceleration to witness anymore, we are basically already at the point where things have bottomed out. And of course the analysis is about the mere number of annual physical releases and doesn't spend much time talking about how much physical games are still being sold. You won't find a major publisher who foregoes to release physical versions, except when they are a third party who has an axe to grind with Nintendo console owners, hence no physical on the console where physical is the most popular option. On the other hand, non-major publishers have released more physical games in 2021 than they did in 2020. |
That's exactly what I wanted to say! Also, why do the great majority of PS5 and Xbox Series owners opted for the more expensive variation with a disc-drive? Yeah, the Series X is more powerful but with the PS5 you have no advantage with the disc-version but still people prefer it.
We also have to consider some other factors:
1. For many gamers (incl. myself), gaming means more than just a hobby, it's something they identify with, something that has a true meaning to them (really, like any other connoisseur of art), for some it's a pop-culture that's dear to their heart. Such people surely want something to show-off and if it's only to themselves in their own chamber. Of course, there are more than enough merchandise products but such people certainly want the main producst (consoles + games) in their shelves.
2. All the console manufacturers want to grow in the extended Eastern-Europe, Latin America and in the 3rd World. However, in such countries, outside of the big cities, internet is very poor and the only real option there is to go physical. Also, in countries like Germany and in certain States/regions in the US, the internet is very poor. Therefore, for people living there, it's the better option to go physical. Yes, it's true that for PS5 and Xbox Series X/S you still have to download a lot of data, even if you buy physical but still you have less data.
3. Storage space for Nintendo Switch is very limited with 32 or 64gb, same for PS5 and Xbox Series, for the huge data triple A game eats, the space is too limited. Therefore, a grand majority of people for the Switch prefer buying physical when possible and some make the same decision for PS5 and Xbox Series X (even though, for PS5 and Xbox Series X as described above you still have to download lots of data even if you buy physical). For many people it's too annyoing to hassle with archiving or deleting content and then re-downloading it again.
Companies will most probably try to push for subscriptions-based gaming (like what MS is doing with Gamepass), which means that they won't want people to actually own the digital files 
. Having said that, I don't think physicals will ever completely disappear, they're still being made for films and music even though stuff like Netflix/HBO Max/Disney+/Paramount+/etc. and Spotify/Apple Music/Google Play exist.
I will personally keep buying physicals any time it's possible.
Last edited by Link_Nines.XBC - on 20 February 2022
As long as digital purchases are linked to an account, I don't feel like I own anything. Lose access to the account, lose access to everything on the account. Physical is far easier to keep track of and organize. Looks better as well, easier to find my stuff. Easier to share, can sell and buy second hand.
Digital is spread out over many different accounts, Microsoft account, PSN account, Nintendo account, Steam, Origin, EA, GoG, Humble Bundle, then all the direct purchases leading to accounts with many different publishers. And since I have kids, I have to keep track of their accounts as well. Recently I had to make two more dummy MS accounts to migrate their Minecraft accounts over. More to keep track of.
Sure there are benefits. You can play the same game on two consoles at the same time (yet I could do that on PC with up to 4 PCs in lan with one physical version before digital took over) and don't have to put a disc in to play. So for some games I buy a digital version on top of the physical version...
I've lost plenty digital games already. Lost the download links on PC, simply forgot what some games were called and thus can't find them anymore. I lost a bunch of DLC after my PS3 died, couldn't find it anymore to redownload. Plus it takes forever to get everything back after a drive failure... I haven't had a single disc fail on me since NFS on PS2 had some issues. And then it's just one game, not a whole library.
Plus it's always nice to start a new generation with a generous discount, go through my stacks of games, sell the ones I know I won't touch again. Let someone else have fun with it. And giving stuff away always feels good, can't do that with digital games. I also rather buy my kids physical games instead of, let me download your present on your Switch...
As for environmental concerns, I have never thrown a game away in my life. Plus some study worked out that downloading more than 120 GB is just as damaging as buying a physical game in carbon footprint. Of course most games are smaller, but installing a disc game a second time doesn't matter, downloading digital games again keep the 'damage' going. (Of course some games have stupid large patches, equally bad for physical and digital re-installs) I also don't like having external HDDs hanging on my stuff, which btw also have a large carbon footprint...
In the end, physical also keeps me more focused and driven to finish a game before starting the next.
I think we need to be pro roms and pro piracy more than ever now
Just a guy who doesn't want to be bored. Also
| Mar1217 said: This is the kind of rethoric the console space was facing back in the 7th gen when console manufacturers were supposed to die out, when the discs in the music industry would cease to be (now guess what ? Vinyls are back !). |
As long as digital didn't exist (or was a minority) I favored that one format was the winner and everything else died (VHS in most of Europe/NTSC in North America, CD, DVD, Blue-Ray). It was easier for the consumer. Of course competition is important but there were always several manufacturers of the same standard format. In the streaming world of gaming I would prefer if there will remain about 3 dominant platforms and the rest will die off. It's simply not consumer-friendly (and very expensive) if every single publisher has its own streaming platform with its own subscription service.
Last edited by Fight-the-Streets - on 22 February 2022
I thought this has already been happening for a couple years now?
Chrkeller said:
No idea. I think yes with Steam, but don't know. |
Nope.
Currently, you can only sell a game on Steam if you’re the official owner or developer. You can’t sell a game you bought from Valve – Steam’s parent company – or from third parties. Steam’s business policy is based on the same principle as renting a house for life by making a single lump-sum payment: You get exclusive rights to use the house and can enjoy all the associated benefits, but you can’t turn around and sell it to anyone.
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