Physical disc pc games on release used to be £25-30, digital games are now like £50-60, makes no logical sense, plus games these days are pretty crap compared to what they used to be, yet we're paying twice as much, insanity.
In the beginning where you asked for us to share our opinion on games we love being delisted and we're unable to buy tthem, I *immediately* thought about the closure of the 3DS and Wii U Store. I was pleasantly surprised you actually brought them up in your video! I *really* want monolith soft to bring Xenoblade X off the WiiU! I have friend who want to play it now, but they have no legal means to do so. Its sad that piricy seems to be the only viabe answer.
If for whatever reason they stop releasing games in physical form, I will simply stop buying games🤷♂️ I have an extensive library of games that I haven’t finished and I can go back at any time and play them.
The thing I fear the most about digital only is to be at the mercy of the digital stores. I didn't really thought about that until the rise of prices of the Dark Souls series in Xbox and Steam. I don't know if that happened in every region. I remember just anxiously checking Live everyday for sales, and them from nowhere the prices became higher. At least I discovered resellers like Eneba because of it.
Eneba's prices are great, there's no way I'm paying full price for decade old games that sell at like 5$ on those sites. Now, If I really like a developer, I buy their game at official stores like Steam in order to support them. But if the developer/publisher is scummy and try to pull BS on us, then I'll go to resellers.
Bandai namco jacked the prices up because elden ring was good. DS3 is 3x more expensive than sekiro for me right now xD. Publisher issue unfortunately. Bandai namco is mega greedy but not as bad as 2K EA etc. They publish millions of copy paste warriors games too.
@@DTPandemonium Nah that's not the case. They raised the prices in South American, South Asia and Eastern Europe regions because of region disparity as to adjust them to the global standard. While it sucks for those that live in those regions, the prices were actually lower than normal.
Deadpool (PS4), Digimon Story: Cyber Sleuth (PS4), Transformers: Devastation (PS4), Super Mario 3D Allstars (Switch) and also always online games like Marvel Heroes Omega and Dragon Ball Online. All of these are victims of the "digital only" trend currently going on. If you didn't purchase them before, the only way to play them now is a physical copy and if that didn't exist, well... That would be it for those games. I completely understand why most people love the idea of digital only; being able to go to whatever storefront you buy your games at, purchase a game, download it and immediately start playing is such a convenience. Hell, I do it all the time nowadays. However, the fact that developers and/or publishers can just go and deny our access to these games that we paid for and that should rightfully be ours is scary. It's also really bad for future conservation, as for example you can still play NES and Genesis games nowadays, but in 20 to 30 years? Will anyone be able to play a PS5 game for "nostalgic reasons"? And what about 30 years after that? We are truly heading in a bad direction for gaming, but if that's what the people want, let them have it. Just don't cry when you realize the old ways were better.
Digimon Cyber Sleuth on the PS4 isn't digital only. I have both Cyber Sleuth games physical for my PS4 that I bought at Walmart as well as the Switch collection that has them both on one cartridge. That aside I agree wholeheartedly.
It brings me joy to see my collection, browse through it, maybe lend something to my daughter or friends and have something in hand overall. It's important to me and there are still games on my shelf that bring me back when I just look at them. I see the advantage to have a digital library but I can't understand how anyone would approve the practice to just cut the option for people like me to have this experience that is important to us. I won't buy Alan wake 2 even though it looks incredible but I don't support the epic/digital only. Fully on board with you dude. I know it's happening and I don't like it but I will fight against for as long as I can. And I would appreciate everyone who has love for this media to stop accepting bad practice just because they don't care about other people that are more attached to physical copies. Thanks, much love and happy gaming
I like both. But what I don’t like is paying full price or more now a days to own a digital copy of something that they can take away. In my mind digital should cost less than a physical copy of any product.
I'm older than most of you, heck I played on my stepdads Atari as a kid, so if anybody should be mad about physical games going away it should be a dinosaur like me, but the second digital became an option, I was done with physical copies. I was ready to leave behind a binder full of disks, and changing my games in and out of a system. Or dealing with one tiny scratch that messes up the entire game. I haven't bought a physical game in a couple of decades, and I can't see myself ever doing it again. And it's true that by the time any games I'm playing now are no longer available, I won't be playing those games anyway. With that said I do think people that _want_ physical copies should always be able to have that.
That's why you should never listen to moral grandstanders saying piracy is wrong. Piracy is the only way to play so many games that are no longer available through traditional means. Yar har har, maties
I still love digital copies since i don't have the space to store all the games i own on steam for instance. That said, we need better ways to ensure we can still play those games later.
The easiest way is to buy the physical game and buy the console it belongs to. What's so heard about that? You act like the developers and company's are controlling the market in physical media and are pushing you and holding you back from going to a store or eBay or whenever and physically preventing you from being able to put your card number into the eBay for purchase confirmation and or taking your physical money or card at a store and forcing you to take back your money each time you try to pay for the physical game and console lol it's pretty damn easy to get old and older and recently older games and consoles and surprisingly are pretty cheap for being so old.
I think my wake up call for the looming digital future was when Nintendo was closing the 3DS e-shop back in March of this year. I purchased several titles on the shop since they were only a few dollars each and I had concerns and, surprise, now IF Nintendo has added them, it’s to NSO only. So yeah, fears confirmed that Nintendo doesn’t want you to own old games, but you can rent them forever! The major concern I see with cloud/subscription only gaming companies s there’s a very real possibility they can just add and remove content either to higher tier subscriptions or just all together just like Netflix, Hulu, Amazon, etc and there’s really nothing anyone can do if you didn’t actually purchase any game. 😕
You can still redownload those purchased games on your 3ds and Wii u etc, once you purchase them they are there forever onto your system even if you delete them for space and decide to want them back you can redownload it.
@@DANCERcow Yes, I realize that, but I'm referring more to the fact that almost none of the titles from the 3DS and WiiU e-shops have moved to Switch (maybe a few), but if they have, it's only to NSO with no option for someone to purchase on Switch's e-shop. So, if you "missed the boat" back in march, then your options are limited.
I think one of my biggest concerns about a digital only world is that at any point, developers and directors can on a whim decide to go back and revise their product and change it in ways that dramatically change the experience (cc various Star Wars edits and the Blade Runner edits). OR even more likely, companies decide that older games need to revise or cut "sensitive/ problematic content" in order to stay on their e-shops. Imagine a world where you can't get access to MW2 anymore because Sony or whoever decides they want No Russian removed (not just a "skip mission" option added, TOTALLY removed).
Thats a non issue for present and future though. Because a disc only installs part of the game and almost always need an internet connection to finish the install, or to patch updates. There are very few games you can fully install and run offline without getting a single patch. Once you update your disc install to the latest version, or just finish the install online, RIP any content the devs dont like.. And as for old games, they'll always be there because digital future doesnt take away your physical content.
Just today, I looked at the digital prize of 2 games I'm interested in and then looked at the prize for the physical editions. I can buy both physical games for the prize of one of the digitals. That's just one reason I'll always favour physical versions for.
Yup, publishers are going to go all digital and still charge us as if they have to sell us the plastic, paper, disk, and shipping costs that comes with physical media.
@@Laocoon283You only get to buy the license to play the game. You don't own the game, which means game distributors can ban you from playing the game you bought.
@@Laocoon283my game collection is worth enough to buy a house with. Let's see in 15 years?? I don't think it will be worth a cent. I've collected for years since the 90s. I have hundreds of games where just the box is worth over 300 Dollars. Adjusted for inflation my game collection is worth more than I paid for it and has been a positive investment rather than a money pit. Those are a lot of cool advantages that you will never have. You may even lose your digital access to games in the future. All of my complete rare titles will continue to climb in value with the potential to allow me to retire early in a better area ...tell me physical isn't better.
I guess this doesn't 100% count but the original verson of Dragon Quest XI was delisted from the Steam store when they ported over the enhanced edition from the Nintendo Switch. Same thing happened with Dark Souls Remastered. Obviously you can still play them if you own them, and maybe you can still purchase them if there are keys online, but I wish they still existed on the store since they aren't "the same game" and some people may want a specific version (DQ11S for example has a lot of changes, some of which I think are negative, so I could see people wanting to play the original). I played Dead Space for the first time at the start of this year and was pleased to see that the original game could still be purchased on Steam even though a new remake had come out, I assumed they would have pulled it to force you to buy their new, more expensive version.
I think my thing is not having the control. I had a modded PSP back in High School and still have my soft modded Nintendo Wii now. Because I constantly kept copying my save files throughout the years and ripped the ISO files from my Wii games, I can still play those games with my saves from 2009 on an emulators today.
To me gaming and music tbh has been devalued by having subsciption services. Game Pass is great but I had months free on it and didnt bother playing nearly any of the games. In the past you treasured each game that came out that you saved up to buy. The only way this can progress well is if the Sony's etc said game preservation was a serious issue they were lookibg to join up with the other distributors to keep preserved for owners of digital versions.
Having digital copy of something feels similar to renting it out instead of buying it. So buying physical copies of games, books, etc, make me feel like they are mine. same with anime!
I agreed with you I love digital, but I go physical as much as I can because like you said I don't trust the servers staying up or the games always being available. Also digital should be cheaper than physical
Thank you so, so much for this video. And as a cautionary tale, if anyone reading is still not concerned about games being delisted, try being a (late) racing game fan. No other genre has been even remotely as affected by delisting as this one. Sure, that's also because of licensing issues with car companies and record labels. But don't be fooled: over the years, this has become a convenient excuse of sorts. Important racing games with made-up cars have been delisted as well, and publishers could just patch songs out if need be. They're just not that interested into preserving their history and they have an extra, believable excuse to not do that. So many of the best/most iconic racing games can't be bought digitally by now. So, so many. And I don't even need to go as far back as the Super Nintendo/PS1/PS2 era. Let's just stay on PS3/Xbox 360 onwards. Dirt 1 through 3. Grid 1 and 2. Driver San Francisco. Burnout 3. Driveclub. All F1 games up to 2021. Gran Turismo 5. All Midnight Clubs save for Los Angeles, and even that is only on Xbox. The first two MotorStorms. All PS360-era Need for Speeds. Project CARS 1 and 2. All Project Gotham Racing games. Pure. Several Ridge Racers. Test Drive Unlimited 1 (and 2, depending on your region). And I didn't even get into Forza Motorsport. You know, arguably one of the three best-known racing franchises of all time, alongside Gran Turismo and Need for Speed? Guess what: NO FORZA MOTORSPORT IS AVAILABLE. Not a single game. Not even the most recent one, 7, made for the Xbox One well into that generation. Nope. You want it, get a used physical copy. The game is barely 6 years old and was delisted a mere 4 years after release. I know Forza Horizon is the hot new thing, and I love it too, but damn. Oh, you think Horizon is exempt from this? Nah. The first three aren't available either, and 4 will most likely be delisted soon. I've come here now to vent this because I entered a racing game binge this year and there were so, so many classics I had to buy in the used market. Some I still can't find and therefore have to resort to emulation to play them. Imagine if you couldn't buy now, I don't know, games like Skyrim, Dark Souls, the Uncharted trilogy, all Halos save Infinite, no Gears save 5 and so on because they have all been delisted and never got a remaster/remake. That's the landscape on the racing game genre right now. So keep buying too hard into the convenience of digital copies to see where this will lead you. It will take some more time for the other genres to catch up, but they will. Remasters and remakes may alleviate the problem in the short and medium terms, but at some point they won't be feasible anymore. A remake of a remaster of a remake of a remaster? 20 years from now, that level of rehashing won't be nearly as appealing or financially viable. You'll all want back the original games, or their first remaster/remakes, and they'll be long gone by that point. Hope you enjoyed your convenience until then!
Digital Steam games if backed up could be made to run without Steam if they closed for some reason so I think they are the safest games to own. I buy Steam games and physical Switch games only. I am glad I kept all of my pc disk games from the past. It is so cool to look at the box art. Some even have books showing how the controls work.
I think it's important to remember that there's a difference between a game being delisted and gone forever. On Steam if a game is delisted it will remain in your library and downloadable so long as Steam exists.
I bet once digital games end up being cheaper than a physical copy it’s going to make those digital copies look much more worth it. Also, physical games increase in value over the years depending on their popularity so as they age they will not become easier to purchase or even find I mean look at the case with any older Mario game on GameCube or even Zelda or Metroid for instance. Those games are insanely expensive in their physical form granted their isn’t many means outside of emulation to play them digitally but still it goes to show how important digital can be.
I feel you missing a point here mate, you are correct physical games increase price because there not a digital game but go back some years physical were super cheap like 3ds games costing 5 dollars or 15 if you want some pokemons but now yeah you correct they are expensive and hard to find because they are not making more copies and don’t get me wrong I love digital I have like 400 games but man for some reason I lose my account that is gonna hurt
I miss when consoles didn’t have DRM which was back during the ps2/GameCube days because even if you brought the game digitally you still cant play them with the console offline or if the game isn’t updated off the disk
Preserving delisted digital only games on consoles is a pain... (at least without modding) I have to keep these PS4 titles sitting on a hard drive in the case they cannot be downloaded anymore: - Ace Combat 5 (was included in digital Ace Combat 7 Deluxe Edition) - P.T - Driveclub series + all DLC I also have a PS3 with 700gb of games, updates and save files. Back when the PS3 store was announced to be closed, I took the time to buy, install and patch every single one of my physical and digital games that I still want to play on the platform. Thankfully the PS3 emulation scene is making rapid progress.
there are a lot of games delisted from Steam, but Steam still serves the downloads to the owners. moreover, I think it's also possible to buy delisted games as product activation keys or as gifts from certain Steam users that had the foresight to hoard them.
I think they should keep providing both options. Unfortunately for me I only play on PC which happened to be built without the ability to play physical copies of anything so I'm currently forced to stick with digital copies.
i can relate so much, i myself rarely buy digital versions aswell, unless i have to for same reasons. i just hope that we still get physical versions in the future, but i guess that's really unlikely. to the mattet of cloud gaming... i tested it some times with, imo good and stable connection, but it still sucked input wise, i always felt a input delay and had a few disconnects (i stayed online everywhere , even the console did not disconnect). that pretty much sucks
As a fellow boomer I was holding onto physical but I’m now considering 2 things a) if digital makes industry greener then I’m all for it and b) I should get something when I intend to play it, you can’t play everything and I’m not a collector, just here for some great experiences. It however should not be an excuse to release unfinished artwork!
I applaud your opinion here I love my physical games. I’ve bought every ps5 exclusive I wanted and added them to my collection. Physical games are special as your bang on the money it’s always accessible and will never stop working. The only time I’ve gone digital is when it’s a game me and my son want to play as I can buy it once and share it on 2 ps5 for eg remnant2. Otherwise it’s a hard copy of the game every time
Ahh and the Xbox One DRM debacle comes full circle. I'm old enough to remember when the Xbox was poised to create an online digital marketplace that would allow people to sell, lend and even give their games away. In typical Sony fashion, they couldn't compete. Sony has been a leading force in holding back console gaming for almost every generation. Whether it be online play, broadband only, HDD added to a console, paid online fee to enrich the online offerings, you name it. Sony was always last to the table. So they vilified the technology to the consumer against the consumer's best interest. It was a frustrating time as a person who understood what was being put on the table had never been done before. Ownership and sale of digital media was a game changer. Now many years later, they get to have their digital world without giving the end users anything at all. XBox has lost that visionary forward thinking mindset and now just does the same dirty business practices as Sony does with little benefit to gamers. Buckle up, it's happening whether you like it or not because all of these companies are finally on the same page.
Nothing will match opening a case, reading the manual, ejecting the other disc and swapping them. Clicking on jpeg for a downloaded game just doesn't compare
They should try to release physical copies. I think it would be easier to release like USB thumb drives in the case instead of discs. They keep saying its expensive to develop a game, then shy not after the game has made its run (a year? or 2?) with all of its patches improvements and all then announce to release the physical copy as a farewell as it leaves its servers. it would be additional sales (Like Hollywood does in their movies after its initial run go with DVDs BLU rays).... its more sales.
Monster Hunter Tri and 4 are no longer available as Nintendo's 3DS and Wii(U) shops are discontinued. Beautiful games with no current method to play besides emulating.
No such thing as a clear cut distinction between the two, like DVD/Blue-ray: Good and Digital: Bad. DVD is still subjected to rot (yes, it can), while a person who moves constantly from place to place due to their job career might prefer digital distribution. If everything that has a server is bad, might as well start playing single-player game only, as servers that handle multiplayer will eventually shut down. This is also true for single player games that uses server (Dragon's Dogma pawn system).
Physical games on average cost me £7 to go through...buying well/preowned/selling. The games industry has no intention of pricing them that low digitally...
Ever since a game stopping being entirely installable off the disc, we were in the digital future. They masked it well I guess because so many people think they own physical copies. Its an empty plastic box with no instructions, a flimsy spine, and a disc with a half a game. Is that really worth crying over? We lost physical games after the ps2 era
I feel the sting of this too. I'm a lifelong fan of Square's Mana series. The PS Vita remake of the first game in the series, Adventures of Mana, has never been released physically. Its stuck on Vita's shop and mobile (hell no...). What bugs me most about this is the fact that they released Collection of Mana, which was a Switch cartridge with the first 3 games in the series, but that had the original versions from Game Boy and SNES. Each of those has since had a remake, but we didn't get a collection of those together. Take my money, Square!!
I admit that I mostly buy games digitally now out of convenience, and I don't really replay most of the games I've played and just keep those playthroughs I did as fond memories However, since I used to have the game discs and whatnot back then it'll be a shame if we really do lose physical media so hearing that Microsoft has full intention in pushing digital games even further is awful, even if I expect that from them
One other thing that people don't talk about enough is that optical media is no longer a viable option when it comes to physical media in the scope of video games, and is likely another contributing factor to the death of physical game media. A UHD blu-ray disc has a space limit of 100GB, and the speed at which your drive can even read a blue-ray disc at 16x is only 576 Mbps, or roughly 72 MB/s. Not only that, but optical media isn't especially resilient on a physical level, due to things like disc rot and the every now and then surface scratch. Games have evolved to a point where optical media is now obsolete, and now that NAND solutions are becoming cheaper, I think it's high time that Sony and Microsoft start creating better solutions, especially now that game sizes are also starting to stagnate a bit. I know that people will knock on Nintendo for having "last-gen" hardware, but one of the benefits to that is that they've also been able to afford using cartridges for their physical media this gen, and are apparently still planning to use cartridges for the Switch's successor. Plus, Switch cartridges are able to read at 100 MB/s, which is almost 40% faster than 16x blu-ray speeds, and uses no mechanical parts.
There are pros and cons of both, but the biggest con you present of digital games can be solved simply by maintaining a selection of external drives with all your digital games backed up. I've got a few drives, and they take up MUCH less space than all the physical games would. Pretty much leaves only all the pros and conveniences of digital.
This was a great video. Well said. These publishers hate you. They hate gamers. The people who do this just want your money and free access to your brain to put all of their little propaganda to make you hate the right people which conveniently helps the investors make more money. If you enjoy a game, really enjoy it, please get a physical copy.
I think digital-only is not as big of a problem as online-only. the former can be cracked, the latter requires reverse-engeneering the entire server backend.
I love to trade in the physical copy when I'm done too. The fact I don't own skate 3,any of the fight night games or lost odyssey pains me but I have physicals for all the other games I can't play
I don't understand how people can say "You don't own the game even when it's physical". Yes, you do own it. You own that physical game. You don't own the _property_, no. But you own that copy. You bought it, you can sell it, you can give it to your sibling or child or niece or nephew when you're done with it. You can put it on your shelf. You can play it in 40 years time. Your grandchildren can play it. I've spoken to friends about physical Steam games in the past. Floated the idea that in the store, you could pay a little extra and they post you the physical media with a little booklet in a nice case. Even better if you could fully transfer the license to it, so it could be transferred to different steam accounts (probably with a time limit like once per month). It might not be a disc. It might just be a nice branded USB stick. Or even better - since Steam is getting into hardware - they do their own special NFC reader and the physical media would be an amiibo kind of thing.
The only reason I bought consoles is for the offline access. The majority of my time in the military was spent in places with no/bad internet. being able to play offline and only bring discs was nice. The digital ps3 games I bought don't work on my ps4. Meanwhile I can play 20 year old pc games on every pc I have bought.
The only real way to preserve games is to have DRM free copies on HDD's I love physical games, but will they always work? Especially when consoles change
I don't understand why this physical thing is still Important anymore. For one. Blockbuster is dead, Gamestop stores are dead or dying. Many places where you could purchase games are ruined or deserted, empty. For second. Even if you purchase a physical game today. Even the Deluxe Edition or Premium Edition in four to six months it's going to be outdated because of patches, new downloadable content, new versions of the game. For example if you purchase Mortal Kombat 1 Premium Edition. The DLC content is not included in the disc. It comes as digital download later. And if the developer wants to extend story mode or something else you need another download. Therefore your disc is deemed useless, incomplete unless you agree to pay another $120 and plus amount for the definitive Edition when the game cycle is officially dead.
Right now I just can’t keep the physical games, they are collecting dust, and any new physical game is kinda lost because there are no more major retailers where I live. The only physical you find will be new games, not even retro, which where I live is probably more expensive than normal $60 (yes they rip you off on retro games). So the inevitable is the only option for me.
I only play half-baked, forever-in-development early access garbage so this won't be a problem for me. All jokes (sort of) aside, while I don't have a problem with a digital-only future, I can completely understand why people would prefer to have physical copies. Maybe if they want to cut down on costs and reduce the environmental impact of physical media, they could still offer them to people who wanted them. You could buy a game code and request a physical copy of said game upon checkout, then they put put you and everyone else on a list and when they reach some milestone they print the copies and send them out. IDK, that's just a random idea I came up with on the spot but you get the sentiment.
I agree with your sentiment and have thought about this a lot too. After some discussions with other people, I think I found my peace with Digital games with these facts: - what you preserve with physical copies is just the base game, considering what a lot of game companies do these days, that is usually the worst version - you can preserve digital games using hard drives. This way you can include the patches
Games have been digital only since the beginning, now we just store digital contents on our own drives instead of publisher provided disks/cartridges. As soon as you accept that there is no intrinsic value in infinitely copyiable bits of data, you can get back to just pirating all single player games. The steam deck runs switch emulation near flawlessly.
I believe that Rurikhan is confusing digital only, with online only, or "live service". You can still save up offline installer files, patches and whatnot, and still be able to preserve games to perpetuity.
@@rurikhan Perhaps with console exclusives. PC games though, as long as it's not an always online title, there's nothing stopping you from making your own physical copies. The only limiting factor is hardware compatibility.
The P.T. demo, lost to the few ps4's that still have it downloaded. i've heard that somewhat recently that skull girls game had some update that removes content so unaware steam users games just got changed after the fact withouta way to reverse it (maybe someone has an older update archived but that situation is the worst outcome of digital only games). The bit about more time to polish sounds like BS to me, though maybe im just cynical. It never seems to affect the price of games since they probably save a good chunk of money not having to make and ship a bunch of physical copies
in this new age, "we own nothing, and we are happy about it", I hate it honestly, even if I myself aren't enthusiastic about owning physical copies there are ways where we could actually own digital versions as well but ofc no one would allow that, I hate the license model, and I wish at least we kept physical copies.... but even then since they are tied to licenses to steam and shit now they can become useless should the company decide so
The way I currently feel is when the PS6 comes out, if it is all digital only then I'm not buying it. I'm definitely the type who prefers to buy his games and movies physically as opposed to digitally. Any yes, Microsoft and Sony are realistically pushing for the digital option of things on their consoles to further promote their plans for Gamepass or PS Plus or their stores. I want to OWN my games and not be irresistibly locked into buying only from storefronts or paying monthly or yearly to play games available or offered on PS Plus or Gamepass. I'll just continue to play on my still-working PS3, PS4, and PS5 and will likely look into third-party sellers to buy used copies of games on disc. In my opinion, gaming in its simplest form should require a person to at least buy a playable device (talking about consoles and PC here not smartphones lol), buy a physical game, and instantly play it when they get home. Gaming shouldn't be the structure where a person has to have access to the internet, buy the console, and buy the gaming service (PS Plus or Gamepass) or buy and download the from the storefront. The latter might require more money to be spent which is unnecessary. But at the end of the day, Microsoft and Sony are both pushing for the digital side of things to lock their addicted buyers into a system that continuously puts money into the pockets of Sony and Microsoft.
@Rurikhan here's some troubling news. Down here in Brazil, there was some talk earlier this year that Microsoft would stop selling physical media for Xbox altogether in the country. And it seems that came true. I can't find a local copy of Starfield or Forza Motorsport in any of the bigger, usual stores (Amazon, Submarino, etc.), save for the odd Starfield one from a third-party reseller. This one looks like imported and goes for more than double the price. Google searches only return digital codes for sale. Usually you'd get some results from smaller stores around the country, but I don't see any this time. It seems Brazil has become one of the test grounds for Microsoft's only-digital future, probably because of the prevalence of the Series S and widespread Game Pass adoption. (Which in itself is not surprising considering the heavily taxed hardware, with the Series X and the PS5 going for almost 1,000 dollars in local currency). And I don't see any outcry here. Not a peep. Not a single article on the biggest local news outlets, no deep dive on how this is happening now. It's disheartening.
I agreed with you Ruikhan. I have buy the fisical copy of diable 3, and since the release of the necromancer dlc, i cound't play anymore. Not only the game dosen't work offline, iven for a solo game, the server or are out of order or full. If i want to play the game today, i cannot... I wish the work as the previous versions off the game, diablo 1 and 2 that you can play offline. And the allow you to host the game for your friends, so the servers will be free to a lot of players, alsod dosen't make necessary that the companie spend money with costy servers!
i think all games and DLCs going to a game pass like service is the way even now we when you buy your game you technically don't own anything coz you still need to connect to the storefront to validate the game and get all the bug fixes etc. but if they do start to make a phisicle releases of the games once they reach a complete state of the game that will not need any DLCs and bug fixes would really be nice
Due to where I live, digital copies are far more convenient but I do prefer having physical copies of all my games. Digital is convenient and all but if they decide to remove the game(s) purchased, you're screwed.
Transformers War of Cybertron and Transformers Fall of Cybertron, I always loved the game but when I was younger I couldn't buy anything online. They've been delisted on steam for YEARS and I'm pissed.
F all this boomer shit. You are an OG. But, cant believe u didnt bring this up... buying a physical game used to be an experience! The art and the little book(s) u got with it were awesome! I clearly remember this: playing a new game, going to bed, reading the manual/checking the art and then peacefully falling asleep being so hyped about the game. Many times dreaming about it. It was amazing. What i do nowadays is watching some youtube about the game, also nice, but not the same at all. 3rd fleet was the best for this btw.. Also, actually physically owning the game feels more like u actually own the game. This is why emulation feels off a bit. For pc gaming i got used to it. too many games now also, so i like that convinience. When i builded a new pc a year ago most cases didnt even have an option to build in a cd/dvd player...wtf is that bs. using an external drive now when i need it.. But for console games i really like physicals. Even though the books/manuals are so much worse. I always try to get the physical copy. I was really hyped to play the metroid prime remake, but waited to get the physical. btw didnt knew u were into octopath. I just started octopath 2. Great games, underrated, i hope u will cover it a bit.
Feel the same way like getting physical edition sometimes I just get digital the last couple years hard time getting physical copies now especially since they push digital I miss the olden days
they cant push digital if nobody buys it. plus if someone buys a digital copy and dislikes the game you cant take it back or exchange it. you are stuck with it. The day they kill physical media is the day i stop gaming.
Delisted Game I want access to: Phantasy Star Online Blue Burst. I loved this game as a solo player. Can't get it unless you get an earlier xbox or gamecube. But the Blue Burst part is only digital and that is where the game really had enough content and needed a physical copy.
I’m not that old at 26 but I still grew up with the ps2 era and 360/ps3 era. I like physical copies cause I like to own games goddammit ! I didnt always have internet so this is quite worrisome. Now I’m far less interested in Alan Wake 2.
@rurikhan PlayAsia sold physical versions of Soul Sacrifice and Soul Sacrifice Delta. When it was restocked I think I posted it on your Discord. But it went quickly.
Microsoft has been crusading against physical media for YEARS. Remember the disastrous reveal event for XBox One? It started there when they originally tried to axe used game sales. Looking back, them attempting that was a clear step in this direction.
I'm not a fan of digital only. I like having a physical copy of games cause they're more satisfying than digital copies. Having a shelf with a bunch of video games you bought feels nicer and being able to look at the case and looking through the instruction manual just feels so much better than rummaging through files on your computer. Plus inserting a disc or a cartridge into a console feels satisfying, especially when the console has that click when it gets properly inserted. It feels like an art and love has just died out because they don't want to take the time to make a physical copy anymore. Digital doesn't have anywhere the same impact that physical does. It sucks that game preservation sucks as it does cause they could make easy money by at least porting the games onto newer consoles, maybe a touch here and there, but a lot of people would likely still by a basic port to a console just to be able to enjoy an experience they had. They don't always need to go the effort of going out to completely remake a game. I would absolutely love to see the mana khemia and ar tonelico games come back and play them again.
you did not mention the cost for Digital games. Sony, Microsoft sell games for £70 but physical games can be shared or bought cheap from stores. i buy mine from a shop that sells them cheaper with digital only you have no option to shop for cheaper games
I got a Series S, size and style wise I liked it more, and I honestly did not mind owning my games digital. In my mind, I would have to install them anyway so whatever! But now with this delisting nonsense...I'm not so sure. It's worrying me about the future for sure. The smartest move, if they're to continue digitizing games, is to have them somehow preserved on servers that can be accessed by us, the consumer. Who knows
I don't care too much about loosing physical copies personally, i find it more convenient to just switch on and play any game i "own"... but what really gets to me is that the digital versions are the same cost as a physical copy. Also storage space is another expense the customer is now expected to manage. I understand they can't possibly cover this but having cheaper games in digital form will give some savings that can be spent on storage. I get the valid "want to stay physical" for availability, having a collection or poor internet connections though, so it will be sad to see that option go away.
that is the thing though. you don't actually own them. you have a license digitally to play it. Its like how itunes was and spotify is, you dont actually own any songs you buy. You bought a license. But you dont actually own it like you would a CD or a record. It is the same thing with games or digital movies. And the owner which is the company can alter the content and terms as they see fit at any time they wish. It doesn't seem like a big deal because they play it off as minor or no big deal. But when you dont actually own something physically it is a bigger deal than you might think it is.
Exactly, thanks to piracy and consumers, the games of the corresponding console are preserved. Even though it's still in digital form, we can at least make backups of it, and keep them on a HDD or something.
Honestly even though I’m not crazy about physical copies ( I just don’t like the consoles all that much and barely play my switch). I can understand the important of physical media for some folks. For me I just can’t justify buying a console cause I don’t play much anyways. I’m planning on sellling my Nintendo switch oled soon.
The fact digital costs the same as physical is still wild
Not really. The plastic costs them like 2 pennies to make bro.
They cost more in a lot of cases...
Physical disc pc games on release used to be £25-30, digital games are now like £50-60, makes no logical sense, plus games these days are pretty crap compared to what they used to be, yet we're paying twice as much, insanity.
@@Laocoon283I wonder how much it costs for the manufacturing and distribution expense if anyone knows roughly
This is because stores won’t want to carry the physical editions of games if Sony / Nintendo / MS consistently undercut the price on their e-stores.
In the beginning where you asked for us to share our opinion on games we love being delisted and we're unable to buy tthem, I *immediately* thought about the closure of the 3DS and Wii U Store.
I was pleasantly surprised you actually brought them up in your video! I *really* want monolith soft to bring Xenoblade X off the WiiU! I have friend who want to play it now, but they have no legal means to do so.
Its sad that piricy seems to be the only viabe answer.
If for whatever reason they stop releasing games in physical form, I will simply stop buying games🤷♂️ I have an extensive library of games that I haven’t finished and I can go back at any time and play them.
The thing I fear the most about digital only is to be at the mercy of the digital stores. I didn't really thought about that until the rise of prices of the Dark Souls series in Xbox and Steam. I don't know if that happened in every region. I remember just anxiously checking Live everyday for sales, and them from nowhere the prices became higher.
At least I discovered resellers like Eneba because of it.
Eneba's prices are great, there's no way I'm paying full price for decade old games that sell at like 5$ on those sites. Now, If I really like a developer, I buy their game at official stores like Steam in order to support them. But if the developer/publisher is scummy and try to pull BS on us, then I'll go to resellers.
Bandai namco jacked the prices up because elden ring was good. DS3 is 3x more expensive than sekiro for me right now xD.
Publisher issue unfortunately. Bandai namco is mega greedy but not as bad as 2K EA etc. They publish millions of copy paste warriors games too.
@@DTPandemonium Nah that's not the case. They raised the prices in South American, South Asia and Eastern Europe regions because of region disparity as to adjust them to the global standard. While it sucks for those that live in those regions, the prices were actually lower than normal.
Deadpool (PS4), Digimon Story: Cyber Sleuth (PS4), Transformers: Devastation (PS4), Super Mario 3D Allstars (Switch) and also always online games like Marvel Heroes Omega and Dragon Ball Online. All of these are victims of the "digital only" trend currently going on. If you didn't purchase them before, the only way to play them now is a physical copy and if that didn't exist, well... That would be it for those games.
I completely understand why most people love the idea of digital only; being able to go to whatever storefront you buy your games at, purchase a game, download it and immediately start playing is such a convenience. Hell, I do it all the time nowadays. However, the fact that developers and/or publishers can just go and deny our access to these games that we paid for and that should rightfully be ours is scary. It's also really bad for future conservation, as for example you can still play NES and Genesis games nowadays, but in 20 to 30 years? Will anyone be able to play a PS5 game for "nostalgic reasons"? And what about 30 years after that?
We are truly heading in a bad direction for gaming, but if that's what the people want, let them have it. Just don't cry when you realize the old ways were better.
Digimon Cyber Sleuth on the PS4 isn't digital only. I have both Cyber Sleuth games physical for my PS4 that I bought at Walmart as well as the Switch collection that has them both on one cartridge.
That aside I agree wholeheartedly.
Sadly, it isn't a trend. It's an inevitable future. Truly the darkest timeline.
Imagine if they started this during the GameCube/Xbox/PS2 era. Games for those consoles are 20+ years old. What will happen 20 years from now?
Now imagine that but this time it's money
It brings me joy to see my collection, browse through it, maybe lend something to my daughter or friends and have something in hand overall. It's important to me and there are still games on my shelf that bring me back when I just look at them. I see the advantage to have a digital library but I can't understand how anyone would approve the practice to just cut the option for people like me to have this experience that is important to us. I won't buy Alan wake 2 even though it looks incredible but I don't support the epic/digital only. Fully on board with you dude. I know it's happening and I don't like it but I will fight against for as long as I can. And I would appreciate everyone who has love for this media to stop accepting bad practice just because they don't care about other people that are more attached to physical copies. Thanks, much love and happy gaming
I like both. But what I don’t like is paying full price or more now a days to own a digital copy of something that they can take away. In my mind digital should cost less than a physical copy of any product.
Digital copies should by 50 to 60% less in cost.
@@Ahzathoth then no store would want to sell the physical games if they know they will be undercut 100% of the time by the console maker.
@@sean4907 They are already moving to not sell physicals, so my point stands. The digital copies need to be a bare minimum of 50% cheaper.
I'm older than most of you, heck I played on my stepdads Atari as a kid, so if anybody should be mad about physical games going away it should be a dinosaur like me, but the second digital became an option, I was done with physical copies. I was ready to leave behind a binder full of disks, and changing my games in and out of a system. Or dealing with one tiny scratch that messes up the entire game. I haven't bought a physical game in a couple of decades, and I can't see myself ever doing it again. And it's true that by the time any games I'm playing now are no longer available, I won't be playing those games anyway. With that said I do think people that _want_ physical copies should always be able to have that.
That's why you should never listen to moral grandstanders saying piracy is wrong. Piracy is the only way to play so many games that are no longer available through traditional means. Yar har har, maties
I still love digital copies since i don't have the space to store all the games i own on steam for instance. That said, we need better ways to ensure we can still play those games later.
The easiest way is to buy the physical game and buy the console it belongs to. What's so heard about that? You act like the developers and company's are controlling the market in physical media and are pushing you and holding you back from going to a store or eBay or whenever and physically preventing you from being able to put your card number into the eBay for purchase confirmation and or taking your physical money or card at a store and forcing you to take back your money each time you try to pay for the physical game and console lol it's pretty damn easy to get old and older and recently older games and consoles and surprisingly are pretty cheap for being so old.
Agreed. You can also back up digital games on a external drive.
Every game I've bought on steam for the last 20 years is still there. I doubt it's going anywhere.
@@Retrodude_92scott pilgrim war flashbacks
I think my wake up call for the looming digital future was when Nintendo was closing the 3DS e-shop back in March of this year. I purchased several titles on the shop since they were only a few dollars each and I had concerns and, surprise, now IF Nintendo has added them, it’s to NSO only. So yeah, fears confirmed that Nintendo doesn’t want you to own old games, but you can rent them forever!
The major concern I see with cloud/subscription only gaming companies s there’s a very real possibility they can just add and remove content either to higher tier subscriptions or just all together just like Netflix, Hulu, Amazon, etc and there’s really nothing anyone can do if you didn’t actually purchase any game. 😕
You'll own nothing and be happy.
You can still redownload those purchased games on your 3ds and Wii u etc, once you purchase them they are there forever onto your system even if you delete them for space and decide to want them back you can redownload it.
@@DANCERcow Yes, I realize that, but I'm referring more to the fact that almost none of the titles from the 3DS and WiiU e-shops have moved to Switch (maybe a few), but if they have, it's only to NSO with no option for someone to purchase on Switch's e-shop. So, if you "missed the boat" back in march, then your options are limited.
I think one of my biggest concerns about a digital only world is that at any point, developers and directors can on a whim decide to go back and revise their product and change it in ways that dramatically change the experience (cc various Star Wars edits and the Blade Runner edits). OR even more likely, companies decide that older games need to revise or cut "sensitive/ problematic content" in order to stay on their e-shops. Imagine a world where you can't get access to MW2 anymore because Sony or whoever decides they want No Russian removed (not just a "skip mission" option added, TOTALLY removed).
Thats a non issue for present and future though. Because a disc only installs part of the game and almost always need an internet connection to finish the install, or to patch updates. There are very few games you can fully install and run offline without getting a single patch. Once you update your disc install to the latest version, or just finish the install online, RIP any content the devs dont like.. And as for old games, they'll always be there because digital future doesnt take away your physical content.
Just today, I looked at the digital prize of 2 games I'm interested in and then looked at the prize for the physical editions. I can buy both physical games for the prize of one of the digitals.
That's just one reason I'll always favour physical versions for.
Id buy digital if they came with prizes
Yup, publishers are going to go all digital and still charge us as if they have to sell us the plastic, paper, disk, and shipping costs that comes with physical media.
Digital-only is a terrible idea.
I used to own a disc binder... it's probably somewhere still, I should find it
I hate this digital-only era, you won't even own your games anymore.
How not lol?
@@Laocoon283You only get to buy the license to play the game. You don't own the game, which means game distributors can ban you from playing the game you bought.
@@Laocoon283
after digital only comes cloud only gaming.
@@Laocoon283my game collection is worth enough to buy a house with. Let's see in 15 years?? I don't think it will be worth a cent. I've collected for years since the 90s. I have hundreds of games where just the box is worth over 300 Dollars. Adjusted for inflation my game collection is worth more than I paid for it and has been a positive investment rather than a money pit. Those are a lot of cool advantages that you will never have. You may even lose your digital access to games in the future. All of my complete rare titles will continue to climb in value with the potential to allow me to retire early in a better area ...tell me physical isn't better.
I guess this doesn't 100% count but the original verson of Dragon Quest XI was delisted from the Steam store when they ported over the enhanced edition from the Nintendo Switch. Same thing happened with Dark Souls Remastered. Obviously you can still play them if you own them, and maybe you can still purchase them if there are keys online, but I wish they still existed on the store since they aren't "the same game" and some people may want a specific version (DQ11S for example has a lot of changes, some of which I think are negative, so I could see people wanting to play the original). I played Dead Space for the first time at the start of this year and was pleased to see that the original game could still be purchased on Steam even though a new remake had come out, I assumed they would have pulled it to force you to buy their new, more expensive version.
The xenoblade cutscene music goes crazy. One of the best RPGs of all time
I think my thing is not having the control. I had a modded PSP back in High School and still have my soft modded Nintendo Wii now. Because I constantly kept copying my save files throughout the years and ripped the ISO files from my Wii games, I can still play those games with my saves from 2009 on an emulators today.
SO glad I kept my X360 with all my games. I pop out Forza motorsport 4 and NFS most wanted (2005) every now and then. So much nostalgia and fun.
To me gaming and music tbh has been devalued by having subsciption services. Game Pass is great but I had months free on it and didnt bother playing nearly any of the games. In the past you treasured each game that came out that you saved up to buy. The only way this can progress well is if the Sony's etc said game preservation was a serious issue they were lookibg to join up with the other distributors to keep preserved for owners of digital versions.
Why I do love digital I understand the importance of physical copies. I really hope there will be a way to keep both around and thriving.
Having digital copy of something feels similar to renting it out instead of buying it. So buying physical copies of games, books, etc, make me feel like they are mine. same with anime!
I agreed with you I love digital, but I go physical as much as I can because like you said I don't trust the servers staying up or the games always being available. Also digital should be cheaper than physical
Thank you so, so much for this video. And as a cautionary tale, if anyone reading is still not concerned about games being delisted, try being a (late) racing game fan. No other genre has been even remotely as affected by delisting as this one.
Sure, that's also because of licensing issues with car companies and record labels. But don't be fooled: over the years, this has become a convenient excuse of sorts. Important racing games with made-up cars have been delisted as well, and publishers could just patch songs out if need be. They're just not that interested into preserving their history and they have an extra, believable excuse to not do that.
So many of the best/most iconic racing games can't be bought digitally by now. So, so many. And I don't even need to go as far back as the Super Nintendo/PS1/PS2 era. Let's just stay on PS3/Xbox 360 onwards. Dirt 1 through 3. Grid 1 and 2. Driver San Francisco. Burnout 3. Driveclub. All F1 games up to 2021. Gran Turismo 5. All Midnight Clubs save for Los Angeles, and even that is only on Xbox. The first two MotorStorms. All PS360-era Need for Speeds. Project CARS 1 and 2. All Project Gotham Racing games. Pure. Several Ridge Racers. Test Drive Unlimited 1 (and 2, depending on your region).
And I didn't even get into Forza Motorsport. You know, arguably one of the three best-known racing franchises of all time, alongside Gran Turismo and Need for Speed? Guess what: NO FORZA MOTORSPORT IS AVAILABLE. Not a single game. Not even the most recent one, 7, made for the Xbox One well into that generation. Nope. You want it, get a used physical copy. The game is barely 6 years old and was delisted a mere 4 years after release. I know Forza Horizon is the hot new thing, and I love it too, but damn. Oh, you think Horizon is exempt from this? Nah. The first three aren't available either, and 4 will most likely be delisted soon.
I've come here now to vent this because I entered a racing game binge this year and there were so, so many classics I had to buy in the used market. Some I still can't find and therefore have to resort to emulation to play them.
Imagine if you couldn't buy now, I don't know, games like Skyrim, Dark Souls, the Uncharted trilogy, all Halos save Infinite, no Gears save 5 and so on because they have all been delisted and never got a remaster/remake. That's the landscape on the racing game genre right now.
So keep buying too hard into the convenience of digital copies to see where this will lead you. It will take some more time for the other genres to catch up, but they will. Remasters and remakes may alleviate the problem in the short and medium terms, but at some point they won't be feasible anymore. A remake of a remaster of a remake of a remaster? 20 years from now, that level of rehashing won't be nearly as appealing or financially viable. You'll all want back the original games, or their first remaster/remakes, and they'll be long gone by that point. Hope you enjoyed your convenience until then!
Preach!
Digital Steam games if backed up could be made to run without Steam if they closed for some reason so I think they are the safest games to own. I buy Steam games and physical Switch games only. I am glad I kept all of my pc disk games from the past. It is so cool to look at the box art. Some even have books showing how the controls work.
I think it's important to remember that there's a difference between a game being delisted and gone forever. On Steam if a game is delisted it will remain in your library and downloadable so long as Steam exists.
I bet once digital games end up being cheaper than a physical copy it’s going to make those digital copies look much more worth it. Also, physical games increase in value over the years depending on their popularity so as they age they will not become easier to purchase or even find I mean look at the case with any older Mario game on GameCube or even Zelda or Metroid for instance. Those games are insanely expensive in their physical form granted their isn’t many means outside of emulation to play them digitally but still it goes to show how important digital can be.
I feel you missing a point here mate, you are correct physical games increase price because there not a digital game but go back some years physical were super cheap like 3ds games costing 5 dollars or 15 if you want some pokemons but now yeah you correct they are expensive and hard to find because they are not making more copies and don’t get me wrong I love digital I have like 400 games but man for some reason I lose my account that is gonna hurt
I miss when consoles didn’t have DRM which was back during the ps2/GameCube days because even if you brought the game digitally you still cant play them with the console offline or if the game isn’t updated off the disk
Preserving delisted digital only games on consoles is a pain... (at least without modding)
I have to keep these PS4 titles sitting on a hard drive in the case they cannot be downloaded anymore:
- Ace Combat 5 (was included in digital Ace Combat 7 Deluxe Edition)
- P.T
- Driveclub series + all DLC
I also have a PS3 with 700gb of games, updates and save files. Back when the PS3 store was announced to be closed, I took the time to buy, install and patch every single one of my physical and digital games that I still want to play on the platform. Thankfully the PS3 emulation scene is making rapid progress.
there are a lot of games delisted from Steam, but Steam still serves the downloads to the owners. moreover, I think it's also possible to buy delisted games as product activation keys or as gifts from certain Steam users that had the foresight to hoard them.
I think they should keep providing both options. Unfortunately for me I only play on PC which happened to be built without the ability to play physical copies of anything so I'm currently forced to stick with digital copies.
Darkspore, Marvel Heroes, Space Siege, and I am sure there are more, those three are just the ones that came to the top of my mind.
i can relate so much, i myself rarely buy digital versions aswell, unless i have to for same reasons.
i just hope that we still get physical versions in the future, but i guess that's really unlikely.
to the mattet of cloud gaming... i tested it some times with, imo good and stable connection, but it still sucked input wise, i always felt a input delay and had a few disconnects (i stayed online everywhere , even the console did not disconnect).
that pretty much sucks
We're missing SANITY IS WHAT WE'RE MISSING : (
All the Activision Marvel games from the PS360 era; Marvel Ultimate Alliance 1/2, Deadpool, & the Spider-Man games.
Does this mean that any consoles that exist so far that have disk drives are gonna be sold at scalper prices again?
As a fellow boomer I was holding onto physical but I’m now considering 2 things a) if digital makes industry greener then I’m all for it and b) I should get something when I intend to play it, you can’t play everything and I’m not a collector, just here for some great experiences. It however should not be an excuse to release unfinished artwork!
I immediately thought of MvC2 and MvC Origins for Ps3 and Xbox 360 that got delisted.. im glad i still have them downloaded on the system
I applaud your opinion here I love my physical games. I’ve bought every ps5 exclusive I wanted and added them to my collection. Physical games are special as your bang on the money it’s always accessible and will never stop working. The only time I’ve gone digital is when it’s a game me and my son want to play as I can buy it once and share it on 2 ps5 for eg remnant2. Otherwise it’s a hard copy of the game every time
Dude, PLEASE make more videos like this. I need more content lmao
Ahh and the Xbox One DRM debacle comes full circle. I'm old enough to remember when the Xbox was poised to create an online digital marketplace that would allow people to sell, lend and even give their games away. In typical Sony fashion, they couldn't compete. Sony has been a leading force in holding back console gaming for almost every generation. Whether it be online play, broadband only, HDD added to a console, paid online fee to enrich the online offerings, you name it. Sony was always last to the table. So they vilified the technology to the consumer against the consumer's best interest. It was a frustrating time as a person who understood what was being put on the table had never been done before. Ownership and sale of digital media was a game changer. Now many years later, they get to have their digital world without giving the end users anything at all. XBox has lost that visionary forward thinking mindset and now just does the same dirty business practices as Sony does with little benefit to gamers. Buckle up, it's happening whether you like it or not because all of these companies are finally on the same page.
Nothing will match opening a case, reading the manual, ejecting the other disc and swapping them. Clicking on jpeg for a downloaded game just doesn't compare
They should try to release physical copies. I think it would be easier to release like USB thumb drives in the case instead of discs. They keep saying its expensive to develop a game, then shy not after the game has made its run (a year? or 2?) with all of its patches improvements and all then announce to release the physical copy as a farewell as it leaves its servers. it would be additional sales (Like Hollywood does in their movies after its initial run go with DVDs BLU rays).... its more sales.
Monster Hunter Tri and 4 are no longer available as Nintendo's 3DS and Wii(U) shops are discontinued.
Beautiful games with no current method to play besides emulating.
No such thing as a clear cut distinction between the two, like DVD/Blue-ray: Good and Digital: Bad. DVD is still subjected to rot (yes, it can), while a person who moves constantly from place to place due to their job career might prefer digital distribution. If everything that has a server is bad, might as well start playing single-player game only, as servers that handle multiplayer will eventually shut down. This is also true for single player games that uses server (Dragon's Dogma pawn system).
Physical games on average cost me £7 to go through...buying well/preowned/selling. The games industry has no intention of pricing them that low digitally...
Ever since a game stopping being entirely installable off the disc, we were in the digital future. They masked it well I guess because so many people think they own physical copies. Its an empty plastic box with no instructions, a flimsy spine, and a disc with a half a game. Is that really worth crying over? We lost physical games after the ps2 era
I feel the sting of this too. I'm a lifelong fan of Square's Mana series. The PS Vita remake of the first game in the series, Adventures of Mana, has never been released physically. Its stuck on Vita's shop and mobile (hell no...).
What bugs me most about this is the fact that they released Collection of Mana, which was a Switch cartridge with the first 3 games in the series, but that had the original versions from Game Boy and SNES. Each of those has since had a remake, but we didn't get a collection of those together. Take my money, Square!!
I admit that I mostly buy games digitally now out of convenience, and I don't really replay most of the games I've played and just keep those playthroughs I did as fond memories
However, since I used to have the game discs and whatnot back then it'll be a shame if we really do lose physical media so hearing that Microsoft has full intention in pushing digital games even further is awful, even if I expect that from them
Because if everything goes digital, it can be easily controlled. "Say something we don't like and we'll just take everything away from you".
One other thing that people don't talk about enough is that optical media is no longer a viable option when it comes to physical media in the scope of video games, and is likely another contributing factor to the death of physical game media. A UHD blu-ray disc has a space limit of 100GB, and the speed at which your drive can even read a blue-ray disc at 16x is only 576 Mbps, or roughly 72 MB/s. Not only that, but optical media isn't especially resilient on a physical level, due to things like disc rot and the every now and then surface scratch. Games have evolved to a point where optical media is now obsolete, and now that NAND solutions are becoming cheaper, I think it's high time that Sony and Microsoft start creating better solutions, especially now that game sizes are also starting to stagnate a bit.
I know that people will knock on Nintendo for having "last-gen" hardware, but one of the benefits to that is that they've also been able to afford using cartridges for their physical media this gen, and are apparently still planning to use cartridges for the Switch's successor. Plus, Switch cartridges are able to read at 100 MB/s, which is almost 40% faster than 16x blu-ray speeds, and uses no mechanical parts.
There are pros and cons of both, but the biggest con you present of digital games can be solved simply by maintaining a selection of external drives with all your digital games backed up. I've got a few drives, and they take up MUCH less space than all the physical games would. Pretty much leaves only all the pros and conveniences of digital.
This was a great video. Well said.
These publishers hate you. They hate gamers. The people who do this just want your money and free access to your brain to put all of their little propaganda to make you hate the right people which conveniently helps the investors make more money.
If you enjoy a game, really enjoy it, please get a physical copy.
I’m totally agree with you Rurikhan I only buy physical copy unless I’m playing a live service game.
I think digital-only is not as big of a problem as online-only. the former can be cracked, the latter requires reverse-engeneering the entire server backend.
I love to trade in the physical copy when I'm done too.
The fact I don't own skate 3,any of the fight night games or lost odyssey pains me but I have physicals for all the other games I can't play
I don't understand how people can say "You don't own the game even when it's physical". Yes, you do own it. You own that physical game. You don't own the _property_, no. But you own that copy. You bought it, you can sell it, you can give it to your sibling or child or niece or nephew when you're done with it. You can put it on your shelf. You can play it in 40 years time. Your grandchildren can play it.
I've spoken to friends about physical Steam games in the past. Floated the idea that in the store, you could pay a little extra and they post you the physical media with a little booklet in a nice case. Even better if you could fully transfer the license to it, so it could be transferred to different steam accounts (probably with a time limit like once per month). It might not be a disc. It might just be a nice branded USB stick. Or even better - since Steam is getting into hardware - they do their own special NFC reader and the physical media would be an amiibo kind of thing.
How exactly do you go about selling a digital game that I bought on PS5, Xbox Series X, or Nintendo Switch on Ebay?
@@russellmania5349 you can't sell it once you've activated it. That's one of the problems with digital games.
@@Deidde
I totally misread read your comment. I thought you said I don't understand how people say you don't own the game even if it's digital.
The only reason I bought consoles is for the offline access. The majority of my time in the military was spent in places with no/bad internet. being able to play offline and only bring discs was nice. The digital ps3 games I bought don't work on my ps4. Meanwhile I can play 20 year old pc games on every pc I have bought.
The only real way to preserve games is to have DRM free copies on HDD's
I love physical games, but will they always work? Especially when consoles change
I don't understand why this physical thing is still Important anymore. For one. Blockbuster is dead, Gamestop stores are dead or dying. Many places where you could purchase games are ruined or deserted, empty. For second. Even if you purchase a physical game today. Even the Deluxe Edition or Premium Edition in four to six months it's going to be outdated because of patches, new downloadable content, new versions of the game. For example if you purchase Mortal Kombat 1 Premium Edition. The DLC content is not included in the disc. It comes as digital download later. And if the developer wants to extend story mode or something else you need another download. Therefore your disc is deemed useless, incomplete unless you agree to pay another $120 and plus amount for the definitive Edition when the game cycle is officially dead.
Speaking of Xenoblade- did they ever release a physical edition of Future Redeemed?
Right now I just can’t keep the physical games, they are collecting dust, and any new physical game is kinda lost because there are no more major retailers where I live. The only physical you find will be new games, not even retro, which where I live is probably more expensive than normal $60 (yes they rip you off on retro games). So the inevitable is the only option for me.
I only play half-baked, forever-in-development early access garbage so this won't be a problem for me. All jokes (sort of) aside, while I don't have a problem with a digital-only future, I can completely understand why people would prefer to have physical copies. Maybe if they want to cut down on costs and reduce the environmental impact of physical media, they could still offer them to people who wanted them. You could buy a game code and request a physical copy of said game upon checkout, then they put put you and everyone else on a list and when they reach some milestone they print the copies and send them out. IDK, that's just a random idea I came up with on the spot but you get the sentiment.
I agree with your sentiment and have thought about this a lot too. After some discussions with other people, I think I found my peace with Digital games with these facts:
- what you preserve with physical copies is just the base game, considering what a lot of game companies do these days, that is usually the worst version
- you can preserve digital games using hard drives. This way you can include the patches
When I think of de-listed games Metroid prime trilogy immediately comes to mind
Drakengard 3(PS3), Drakengard(PS2), Cryostasis: Sleep of Reason(PC) F.E.A.R. 2(PC) Clive Barker's Jericho(PC), The 3rd Birthday(PSP)...
Thats why i got rid of my digital ps5 and got one with a disk going physical only for now on until some serious reforms to digital media are made
Games have been digital only since the beginning, now we just store digital contents on our own drives instead of publisher provided disks/cartridges. As soon as you accept that there is no intrinsic value in infinitely copyiable bits of data, you can get back to just pirating all single player games. The steam deck runs switch emulation near flawlessly.
I believe that Rurikhan is confusing digital only, with online only, or "live service". You can still save up offline installer files, patches and whatnot, and still be able to preserve games to perpetuity.
No you can’t, not with most games anyway.
@@rurikhan Perhaps with console exclusives. PC games though, as long as it's not an always online title, there's nothing stopping you from making your own physical copies. The only limiting factor is hardware compatibility.
Nop, if you’re using steam and it becomes unavailable, rip. If you’re using gog though, sure.
The P.T. demo, lost to the few ps4's that still have it downloaded. i've heard that somewhat recently that skull girls game had some update that removes content so unaware steam users games just got changed after the fact withouta way to reverse it (maybe someone has an older update archived but that situation is the worst outcome of digital only games).
The bit about more time to polish sounds like BS to me, though maybe im just cynical. It never seems to affect the price of games since they probably save a good chunk of money not having to make and ship a bunch of physical copies
in this new age, "we own nothing, and we are happy about it", I hate it honestly, even if I myself aren't enthusiastic about owning physical copies there are ways where we could actually own digital versions as well but ofc no one would allow that, I hate the license model, and I wish at least we kept physical copies.... but even then since they are tied to licenses to steam and shit now they can become useless should the company decide so
I am the same when it comes to digital games. I only buy when there is no other option.
The way I currently feel is when the PS6 comes out, if it is all digital only then I'm not buying it. I'm definitely the type who prefers to buy his games and movies physically as opposed to digitally. Any yes, Microsoft and Sony are realistically pushing for the digital option of things on their consoles to further promote their plans for Gamepass or PS Plus or their stores. I want to OWN my games and not be irresistibly locked into buying only from storefronts or paying monthly or yearly to play games available or offered on PS Plus or Gamepass. I'll just continue to play on my still-working PS3, PS4, and PS5 and will likely look into third-party sellers to buy used copies of games on disc. In my opinion, gaming in its simplest form should require a person to at least buy a playable device (talking about consoles and PC here not smartphones lol), buy a physical game, and instantly play it when they get home. Gaming shouldn't be the structure where a person has to have access to the internet, buy the console, and buy the gaming service (PS Plus or Gamepass) or buy and download the from the storefront. The latter might require more money to be spent which is unnecessary. But at the end of the day, Microsoft and Sony are both pushing for the digital side of things to lock their addicted buyers into a system that continuously puts money into the pockets of Sony and Microsoft.
@Rurikhan here's some troubling news.
Down here in Brazil, there was some talk earlier this year that Microsoft would stop selling physical media for Xbox altogether in the country. And it seems that came true.
I can't find a local copy of Starfield or Forza Motorsport in any of the bigger, usual stores (Amazon, Submarino, etc.), save for the odd Starfield one from a third-party reseller. This one looks like imported and goes for more than double the price. Google searches only return digital codes for sale. Usually you'd get some results from smaller stores around the country, but I don't see any this time.
It seems Brazil has become one of the test grounds for Microsoft's only-digital future, probably because of the prevalence of the Series S and widespread Game Pass adoption. (Which in itself is not surprising considering the heavily taxed hardware, with the Series X and the PS5 going for almost 1,000 dollars in local currency).
And I don't see any outcry here. Not a peep. Not a single article on the biggest local news outlets, no deep dive on how this is happening now. It's disheartening.
I agreed with you Ruikhan.
I have buy the fisical copy of diable 3, and since the release of the necromancer dlc, i cound't play anymore.
Not only the game dosen't work offline, iven for a solo game, the server or are out of order or full.
If i want to play the game today, i cannot...
I wish the work as the previous versions off the game, diablo 1 and 2 that you can play offline.
And the allow you to host the game for your friends, so the servers will be free to a lot of players, alsod dosen't make necessary that the companie spend money with costy servers!
i think all games and DLCs going to a game pass like service is the way
even now we when you buy your game you technically don't own anything coz you still need to connect to the storefront to validate the game and get all the bug fixes etc.
but if they do start to make a phisicle releases of the games once they reach a complete state of the game that will not need any DLCs and bug fixes would really be nice
Due to where I live, digital copies are far more convenient but I do prefer having physical copies of all my games. Digital is convenient and all but if they decide to remove the game(s) purchased, you're screwed.
Transformers War of Cybertron and Transformers Fall of Cybertron, I always loved the game but when I was younger I couldn't buy anything online.
They've been delisted on steam for YEARS and I'm pissed.
Vigil: The Longest Night has been removed from Steam too
F all this boomer shit. You are an OG.
But, cant believe u didnt bring this up... buying a physical game used to be an experience! The art and the little book(s) u got with it were awesome!
I clearly remember this: playing a new game, going to bed, reading the manual/checking the art and then peacefully falling asleep being so hyped about the game. Many times dreaming about it. It was amazing.
What i do nowadays is watching some youtube about the game, also nice, but not the same at all. 3rd fleet was the best for this btw..
Also, actually physically owning the game feels more like u actually own the game. This is why emulation feels off a bit.
For pc gaming i got used to it. too many games now also, so i like that convinience. When i builded a new pc a year ago most cases didnt even have an option to build in a cd/dvd player...wtf is that bs. using an external drive now when i need it..
But for console games i really like physicals. Even though the books/manuals are so much worse. I always try to get the physical copy. I was really hyped to play the metroid prime remake, but waited to get the physical.
btw didnt knew u were into octopath. I just started octopath 2. Great games, underrated, i hope u will cover it a bit.
All the mainline Forza games were delisted.
Feel the same way like getting physical edition sometimes I just get digital the last couple years hard time getting physical copies now especially since they push digital I miss the olden days
they cant push digital if nobody buys it. plus if someone buys a digital copy and dislikes the game you cant take it back or exchange it. you are stuck with it. The day they kill physical media is the day i stop gaming.
The irony is we are spending more money than ever on video games and dlcs and etc. And they want us to have and own less and less. It's tragic
Pretty much any of the great licensed Marvel games from the early 2000's, namely Ultimate Alliance 1&2 as well as X-Men Legends
The main reason I even buy digital games is cause me and my cousin are game sharing. If not for that then it’d be mostly physical
Delisted Game I want access to: Phantasy Star Online Blue Burst. I loved this game as a solo player. Can't get it unless you get an earlier xbox or gamecube. But the Blue Burst part is only digital and that is where the game really had enough content and needed a physical copy.
Cant you just store the game to hdd to preserve it?
I’m not that old at 26 but I still grew up with the ps2 era and 360/ps3 era. I like physical copies cause I like to own games goddammit ! I didnt always have internet so this is quite worrisome. Now I’m far less interested in Alan Wake 2.
@rurikhan PlayAsia sold physical versions of Soul Sacrifice and Soul Sacrifice Delta. When it was restocked I think I posted it on your Discord. But it went quickly.
Microsoft has been crusading against physical media for YEARS. Remember the disastrous reveal event for XBox One? It started there when they originally tried to axe used game sales. Looking back, them attempting that was a clear step in this direction.
a lot of the older forza horizon games are just removed from the microsoft store, never to be seen again
I'm not a fan of digital only. I like having a physical copy of games cause they're more satisfying than digital copies. Having a shelf with a bunch of video games you bought feels nicer and being able to look at the case and looking through the instruction manual just feels so much better than rummaging through files on your computer. Plus inserting a disc or a cartridge into a console feels satisfying, especially when the console has that click when it gets properly inserted. It feels like an art and love has just died out because they don't want to take the time to make a physical copy anymore. Digital doesn't have anywhere the same impact that physical does. It sucks that game preservation sucks as it does cause they could make easy money by at least porting the games onto newer consoles, maybe a touch here and there, but a lot of people would likely still by a basic port to a console just to be able to enjoy an experience they had. They don't always need to go the effort of going out to completely remake a game. I would absolutely love to see the mana khemia and ar tonelico games come back and play them again.
you did not mention the cost for Digital games. Sony, Microsoft sell games for £70 but physical games can be shared or bought cheap from stores. i buy mine from a shop that sells them cheaper with digital only you have no option to shop for cheaper games
I like to collect the physical edition of certain games. Like the collectors editions of the SoulsBorne games and other titles.
I got a Series S, size and style wise I liked it more, and I honestly did not mind owning my games digital. In my mind, I would have to install them anyway so whatever! But now with this delisting nonsense...I'm not so sure. It's worrying me about the future for sure. The smartest move, if they're to continue digitizing games, is to have them somehow preserved on servers that can be accessed by us, the consumer. Who knows
*It's Time To Let It Go 🙏 I've honestly only ever liked physical for the Artwork but most games don't even have that now* 👎
Without internet a lot of modern physical game are paper weights anyway sure its awful but my game purchases are bare minimum nowadays
I don't care too much about loosing physical copies personally, i find it more convenient to just switch on and play any game i "own"... but what really gets to me is that the digital versions are the same cost as a physical copy. Also storage space is another expense the customer is now expected to manage. I understand they can't possibly cover this but having cheaper games in digital form will give some savings that can be spent on storage. I get the valid "want to stay physical" for availability, having a collection or poor internet connections though, so it will be sad to see that option go away.
that is the thing though. you don't actually own them. you have a license digitally to play it. Its like how itunes was and spotify is, you dont actually own any songs you buy. You bought a license. But you dont actually own it like you would a CD or a record. It is the same thing with games or digital movies. And the owner which is the company can alter the content and terms as they see fit at any time they wish. It doesn't seem like a big deal because they play it off as minor or no big deal. But when you dont actually own something physically it is a bigger deal than you might think it is.
@@zeromagnum2811 yes that's why I said "own"
Exactly, thanks to piracy and consumers, the games of the corresponding console are preserved. Even though it's still in digital form, we can at least make backups of it, and keep them on a HDD or something.
Honestly even though I’m not crazy about physical copies ( I just don’t like the consoles all that much and barely play my switch). I can understand the important of physical media for some folks.
For me I just can’t justify buying a console cause I don’t play much anyways. I’m planning on sellling my Nintendo switch oled soon.