Sorry to be getting philosophical— but what does it even mean to “own” your video games? How does one define ownership in this context? How does owning a digital copy accessible through a specific storefront compare to having a tangible object with all the data inscribed in its fabric? What about those infamous little cartridges which grant you access to a copy of the game but via a digital download?

Physical media decays and is susceptible to dysfunction given their sensitive nature, digital storefronts and servers for storing downloaded games get shut down left and right, emulators and OS become less functional without constant maintenance, repositories are constantly getting “burned to the ground” (e.g. Myrient is done at the end of the month).

Why should I even care about this “ownership” thing when I know I’ll always be able to emulate any game I could ever dream via dumping or emulation sites? Why should I be worried about my digital copy of Metroid Prime Remastered potentially being snagged away from me in half of a century? These are questions I’ve thought about recently, and can’t give a very clear answer… what about you?

If i got to a store, and I pay for a TV, i get to take said TV home and that TV is now mine. I own the TV.
If i go to an online store, and i pay for an ebook, i now own said ebook, so i can download said ebook. If i delete the ebook for storage reasons, i still get to be able to download it again for free, cause i already payed for it, and now i own it.

Videogames are no diferent and should be no diferent.

For me? It means I can hold it in my hand, doesn't require the internet, and when I play it, it never changes, no matter how many years pass.

Credit to @konnichiwa for bringing this to my attention: This thread couldn’t have been timed any better lol. This is a pretty major shift… my guess is that Nintendo isn’t liking software sales figures at the $70/80USD price tag, so they’re giving a swing at $60/70USD digital.

I say that’s a good call. Giving consumers the option to purchase games such as DKBananza and Kirby Air Riders at $60USD moving forward would be a big win for consumers IMO.

It means you have complete unrestricted access to a product you purchased. Whether that be physical or digital. In the digital world, DRM-free.

Legally speaking, you don't own any physical video game you have in a near-unlimited sense. You do own it, but it's a license. You're not automatically guaranteed to have that license transfer to a different platform, digital copy, etc.
Digital purchases aren't really ownership. If you get banned from online services on consoles, you lose your digital library. Digital purchases are long-term rentals on almost every storefront.

I actually think that will accelerate Nintendo going full digital, so that's actually really bad news to me.

More people will go digital and Nintendo will get a bigger cut, so will have less incentive to offer the physical version instead, they are likely salivating over Pokopia being a success with no actual game needed to be loaded on an "expensive" cart.

I hope the NS2 can still have a good selection of games readily available physically as I already bought it, but I'll likely completely avoid the next system if it progress how I fear it'll.

Being able to access what I bought, that would be my definition. Which Steam games count, at least in my book.

Let me know when Atari can come into my home and take my copy of ET on Atari 2600. Let me know when SEGA,Nintendo,Microsoft or Sony can come into my home and take the games from my shelf for consoles dating back to the 80s to now.

If you can't sell it, you don't own it.

You do not own your Steam account, you can't sell, transfer or will it to someone else.