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Do you fear the digital only future?
- Thread starter Bioshocker
- Start date
Raise your hand if you suffered through the great Goldeneye shortage of 1997. It was near impossible to find a physical copy of that game on store shelves. And specialty retailers were selling it for a minimum of $69.99.
Keep your hand raised if you can scrounge together a copy of Goldeneye, four N64 controllers and three friends to come over on a Tuesday night for a little multi-player action.
Keep your hand raised if you still fear the digital only future.
I love my physical game collection, but I went all digital in 2013 because of the convenience.
Keep your hand raised if you can scrounge together a copy of Goldeneye, four N64 controllers and three friends to come over on a Tuesday night for a little multi-player action.
Keep your hand raised if you still fear the digital only future.
I love my physical game collection, but I went all digital in 2013 because of the convenience.
I've already gone all digital and I have more games than I'll realistically play to completion at much less financial cost than when I bought all physical games, and I'm trying a huge variety of games that I never would've taken a chance on before, so I'm pretty happy with digital.
I feel that. I hate it, but I get it. Most of the art we consume is a corporate production and a lot of it is lost. I guess the only thing that makes it feel worse in gaming is that this is a young medium and we are able to watch it happen before our very eyes. You can read about the tragedy that is the lost cuts of Metropolis or all the vault fires at Fox and MGM that happened decades ago. But it's a lot harder to know you're losing access to something you lived through.
Losing P.T. changed me, man.
PC gamers must have felt that way some 10 years ago, but they successfully transitioned to the mostly digital world, and nothing disasterous happened.
I don't fear the all-digital future, it's going to be far better than the partially digital present. Most today's games just don't function (well) as purely physical releases, you will need digital enhancements in the form of patches and content updates to enjoy them fully, so why not embrace digital to its full extent then? It's far more convenient, and the world is never going back to fully physical, it's just not happening.
So with companies who get digital (like Microsoft), I'm not afraid to fully embrace it, and it's great. With companies who don't (Nintendo, and to some extent Sony) I'm more apprehensive, but the problem is not in digital, it's in those platform holders. When they fully embrace it, I will gladly make the switch.
I just hope the demand for physical games keeps them there. Even DVDs continue to be manufactured despite Blu-Ray/Ultra HD discs, and Vinyl records made a comeback and carved a niche in the market despite digital downloads and streaming.
I could probably play something like RE2make without its patches if necessary, but I do like that publishers release GOTY editions with all content.
I could probably play something like RE2make without its patches if necessary, but I do like that publishers release GOTY editions with all content.
P.T. was the canary in the coal mine. That's worse case scenario and over all, despite some grumbling from the hardcore gamers, it was forgotten pretty easily.
More games will go this way. It sucks but we're really mostly powerless to stop this.
The only positive here is that hard drives can be pulled and you can easily make backup copies of them.
I embraced digital-only games in 2013 when I bought my launch PS4.
So for me it's the present, not the future, and I love it. The elimination of discs has made my gaming at least 20% more enjoyable.
So for me it's the present, not the future, and I love it. The elimination of discs has made my gaming at least 20% more enjoyable.
I have embraced it, in PC and all my consoles.
In fact, I would say that I started actively disliking changing disks. I like the boxes, sure, but even that has become a little bit of a hassle, space-wise.
In fact, I would say that I started actively disliking changing disks. I like the boxes, sure, but even that has become a little bit of a hassle, space-wise.
Yes, some games are fine, but there are others that are very barebones and/or buggy on their initial release. Like I said, there's no going back to the times where that was not a regular occurence, and the very popular GaaS model depends on digital delivery to even exist.
I'm more scared from streaming taking over than digital, right now.
Not having a box and a disc is one thing, but losing all control and all measures of preservation forever... that seems bleak.
Sometimes, it feels like digital is a stepping stone towards a complete loss on all ownership and control versus convenience and access.
Not the point of the thread I know and perhaps fear mongering due to Stadia but...
Not having a box and a disc is one thing, but losing all control and all measures of preservation forever... that seems bleak.
Sometimes, it feels like digital is a stepping stone towards a complete loss on all ownership and control versus convenience and access.
Not the point of the thread I know and perhaps fear mongering due to Stadia but...
Digital that gives me a method of backup up my data locally, or DRM free installers, are fine by me.
Things that are handled entirely by the company that I've purchased from leaves me feeling uneasy (which is why I make very few of them).
Things that are handled entirely by the company that I've purchased from leaves me feeling uneasy (which is why I make very few of them).
my games were an anchor when I had them, when I sold them, I missed them, I think it's a state of mind. That being said, all digital is one step closer to games-as-a-service, which essentially means we will be paying full price for renting a game long term. At least when I bought Brave Fencer Musashi for 40 bucks in October 1998, it was mine.
We're already in a weird place now where disc preservation groups are preserving ps4 blu-rays, which is fine and all, but they will be a broken version (that would be fixed by a launch day patch, which is a good deal harder to preserve.
I think it's also degrading the good practice of game developers completing games before shipping them.
We're already in a weird place now where disc preservation groups are preserving ps4 blu-rays, which is fine and all, but they will be a broken version (that would be fixed by a launch day patch, which is a good deal harder to preserve.
I think it's also degrading the good practice of game developers completing games before shipping them.
Nope I embrace it. Being older with a family and have moved a few times .. physical things are annoying. Things get lost, broken, and needs somewhere to be stored. With digital I can watch movies or play games anywhere I can log in. Multiple rooms of my house, in the hotel room, while visit family in other states. It's 150% better for me.
I have some fear over the streaming future, not the digital future.
All that separates Digital from Physical, is a medium. As long as there are creative people who can put a digital game on a physical medium is a self-contained format, all-digital distribution won't result in games being lost.
Streaming, however, can result in game availability being completely and irreversibly at the whim of the platform holders and publishers. It's a degree of control over content that I'm not comfortable with. A TV broadcast or video stream can be recorded and preserved, but a streamed game cannot.
All that separates Digital from Physical, is a medium. As long as there are creative people who can put a digital game on a physical medium is a self-contained format, all-digital distribution won't result in games being lost.
Streaming, however, can result in game availability being completely and irreversibly at the whim of the platform holders and publishers. It's a degree of control over content that I'm not comfortable with. A TV broadcast or video stream can be recorded and preserved, but a streamed game cannot.
Digital is fine, but I fear the business side as a consumer: shutting down digital stores and ending access to previously purchased content for example; having less ownership and rights; just getting a limited license with certain usage restrictions, like no modding allowed; unable to transfer software ownership, etc. Who do I trust with my digital library? Steam, a privately owned company? Epic with Chinese majority shareholder? Console platform holders with product life cycles?
Pretty much this. As for my reasoning I used to collect but reached an age when I realized I was just amassing a hunk of crap that would end up in a landfill when I die.
I don't fear it, I welcome more options, but not at the expense of losing consumer choice and rights.
I don't fear it, but it does suck for people who like to hold onto their consoles and games.
Even though I almost never play them, it is somehow comforting to me that if I want to load up Contra on the NES I can always do it because I have the original hardware and cartridge.
Even though I almost never play them, it is somehow comforting to me that if I want to load up Contra on the NES I can always do it because I have the original hardware and cartridge.
Nope. I've embraced it years ago. There's nothing to fear. Not having my house filled with the clutter of physical media is nice.
No, I fully embraced it near the end of the previous gen and I'm never going to buy physical games again unless I have no choice. As for streaming, I likely won't be getting too invested in it but can see it being a useful tool if there's a game on a platform I don't have, that I want to try.
I have more or less embraced it since 2015. The majority of my purchases have been digital from that year since.
Yeah, I've been digital only on books since I purchased a 1st or 2nd gen Kindle.
The only caveat is I'm locked into buying each new Stephen King hardback for the rest of eternity. Started collecting his hardbacks around '87 (The Tommyknockers) and was able to fill in his back catalog at the time. Have been buying 1st Editions ever since.
It's so stupid 'cause I enjoy my collection but I wind up buying two copies every time he drops something new. 1 hardback, 1 digital, lol.
I don't, but I doubt that will happen. The other entertainment medias never actually switched to fully digital.
This is one thing that digital fear mongers never get: Digital and physical will always coexist.
This is one thing that digital fear mongers never get: Digital and physical will always coexist.
I won't be partaking. I've never paid money for a digital game when there's a physical option and I'll never pay full retail price for a digital game that I don't own. It's particularly egregious here, where shops don't charge the MSRP, so the digital versions are significantly more expensive (e.g. Sekiro is £59.99 on PSN, £53.95 on Amazon, £49.85 on Simply Games).
The day that becomes the only option is the day I stop playing new games.
I should clarify that I'm not averse to digital on principle - most of my music comes from a streaming subscription, almost all my reading is on a Kindle, and I have 100+ movies in my iTunes library with maybe 4-5 a year bought on disc - but the games industry needs to come up with a better model before I'll consider it.
The day that becomes the only option is the day I stop playing new games.
I should clarify that I'm not averse to digital on principle - most of my music comes from a streaming subscription, almost all my reading is on a Kindle, and I have 100+ movies in my iTunes library with maybe 4-5 a year bought on disc - but the games industry needs to come up with a better model before I'll consider it.