I've long been an advocate for physical media. Back in the late 00s, I started to become skeptical of digital downloads. Stories like this where digital downloads were simply remotely deleted from people's devices for various reasons aren't anything new, either. This is a problem going back 15 years or more, and was likely the origins of my original skepticism of digital distribution. My skepticism grew even further after I lost my Halo 2 DLC not too long after the original Xbox Live servers were shut down back in 2010. For reasons unknown, the DLC maps had been erased from my hard drive (I did have my 360 sent off for repairs). Fortunately there was a physical option.I did download a few XBLA games onto my 360 and a few Virtual Console & WiiWare games on my Wii, back in the 00s but ever since the Halo 2 DLC incident, I've been very sparing when it comes to spending money on digital content.
I've never downloaded a full-price game before except for Pikmin 3, which I got for free back when Nintendo had that free digital game with the purchase of Mario Kart 8 promotion back in 2014. But from 2011 to present, the most I've ever gotten digitally (aside from some free games I got through Games with Gold) was a handful of VC games on the Wii U & 3DS, as well as Blaster Master Zero on the Switch back at its launch in 2017. That means it's been almost seven years since I purchased any game digitally. Meanwhile, I have over 70 games between the Xbox One, Xbox Series X, PS4, PS5, Wii U, and Switch on physical.
I've never downloaded an mp3 before and I've never downloaded a movie before. I only recently got a streaming music subscription, but only as a replacement for radio whenever I'm driving around (the only radio station I listened to started to have bad reception). But I still buy music and movies physically. I currently have about 130 CDs as well as over 100 movies on Blu-ray.
I've been hurting for money recently after taking on a large amount of debt after having to replace my TV and most of my appliances (everything except the laundry machines failed within a six-month period), but I'm about to have that all paid off, and I plan to start collecting more than I have over the past couple of years. My collection would be a lot larger now if I had the money, but I can't exactly splurge on a routine basis when most of what would be my discretionary income has instead been going to credit card payments.
Years back I bought a new copy of Blur, the 2010 racing game, for PC. The physical copy. I left in the box for a long time. Too long, it turns out. When I first tried to play it, I found the activation servers had been taken offline and my activation code would no longer work to let me play the game. I contacted Activision support for guidance and they told me I was SOL.
Ultimately I pulled a crack down and was able to play. But I make this point because it is not only digital media that is at-risk of being revoked. It's any form of media with digital rights management. Your physical objects are no safer as long as the product is tied to a license or gated behind digital access.
PC software has long been a different beast from console games. It was the one thing that was always exempted from the first-sale doctrine, for example. It should be subjected to the first-sale doctrine, and DRM shouldn't restrict a person's ability to use what they paid for, but it was still never treated the same as physical console games from a legal standpoint.
arstechnica.com
