At this point, with games requiring updates and patches to function properly, objectively yes. Physical has the same issues, plus degradation.

Haven't had to update my 2600 carts since I bought them, and they all work just dandy... forty-plus years later.

I like the responsibility of deciding how long my media works for and when I can have access to it. I don't like ceding control over what I buy. I want that control. Physical provides it.

OK then. Next time a game you want to play is released buy it on the Atari 2600 format then. The rest of us will be comparing the current options in gaming.

I own a PS5, and while I have a small selection of games for it, the current industry is not my main focus. I am a retro gamer, first and foremost. When we went from being able to pop in a cart or disc and play games that were 100% complete (no DLC) without needing to update them, I began to lose interest. I also don't believe today's AAA games can old a candle to the creativity of yesterday's. FF16 vs FF6? MGS Whatever vs. when those games were actually coming out? Resident Evil 3000 vs. the OG trilogy? Mario Odyssey vs. SM64? Yeah, the new stuff looks and sounds superior. And yes, in most cases, they even control and run better. But they aren't as innovative. They aren't as creative. They aren't able to blow my mind anymore, or redefine what we think a game could be. It's all just the same old shit, over and over again, ad nauseam. And don't even get me started on re-makes. Nothing backs up the notion that they are creatively inept more than those.

Well, for the most part.

There are a few outliers.

Take this with a grain of salt but I recently read that some new PS5 models being sold recently come with disc drives that already work without authentication. I don't know if it's every PS5 slim or how can you tell, but I read that from someone in a physical media discussion on reddit. They bought a new PS5 slim and they didn't have to authenticate.

Depends on what you mean by "require". There are some games that come broken or with unfinished builds so obviously those are paperweights once the servers for the console are dead.

There are still plenty games being released nowadays that can you play out of the box without updating though. There might be some bugs here and there but for me, if the game can be beat without too much hassle, I would consider that a full physical release. Personally, the former I try to avoid and the latter are the ones that I try to support with my purchase.

I can confirm this, I bought a brand new PS5 slim this summer, and was able to use it to play physical games just fine without connecting it to the internet first for authentication. I also don’t know if that is the case for all PS5 slims.

Thank you for the confirmation! Those are some great news for physical preservation. I own a first model PS5 but I've thought about the possibility of getting another one somewhere down the line so it's great to hear I won't have to worry about this.

Nothing last forever, but i trust my physical games a hell lot more then trusting any company with a digital game

digital by a mile, to some extent that digital game will be online be it by the parent company or not. Also, digital i don't have to worry about dragging along a bunch of plastic with me when i travel and move (I move every year). I dumped physical years ago and never once looked back.