I Don't Want an All-Digital Future...

Good afternoon, folks. I hope you're all well. Today, we talk about physical and digital games and how I fear that a future where physical games are pretty much nonexistent is coming sooner than we all might realize. I hope you all enjoy!

0:00 Intro
01:59 Preservation
05:26 Prices
06:15 The Loss of Something Special
07:10 Conclusion

Tags and stuff so the video gets seen:

eshop, emulation, psn, xbox, playstation, nintendo, game preservation

[TheMeanJoeGreen]

Buying a physical game and finding a paper with a code is the worst feeling

[TheDarkVyers]

I've been a physical game guy as far back as I can remember. Still have Nintendo games with their original cases. I never trusted digital games and avoided them since you don't actually own those. Seeing the possibility of an all digital future drawing nearer each day worries me.

The only digital games I have are the F2P ones on PC or any I got on a steam sale for 5$.

[bourkekarl]

I actually feel like I don't own a game unless I have a physical copy.

[dabradmp]

This video touched my personally. I also fear for a digital only age. For me digital games are worthless, I pay full price for something I don't really own. Personally if the industry really goes full digital I will buy maybe 1 or 2 game a year or wait for an extreme discount on those games.

[Caiburn]

The worst is buying a physical copy, you put in the disc and then it downloads the game anyway....

[atariboy]

The video game industry wanted to turn video games into fast food and never care about physical gaming and wanted to sell the next game in there menu. To this day the video game industry never call video games as "ART" as they rather wanted you to see them as disposable gaming.

[kernsanders]

The same issue encroaching physical media for Movies and similair media, a digital future. Physical copies are also going out the door with streaming services that are replacing them. We are now even facing lost media becuase of movies and series are being altered or censored on those platforms and becoming the only available source to see them legit. My guess is the high seas are gonna become a much bigger part of this for preservation purposes. Hopefully with law starting to be passed to protect preservation if corporations dont lobby those to thin air

[stevew]

I really like the fact that with no more region locking on Sony consoles, I can go to a game store and find titles that were published all over the world. Especially games that weren't released either physically or digitally here. I've got games released in France, Germany, England, Australia, Mexico, Brazil, Korea, Japan, and Taiwan, mostly found in game stores here in Texas. I love the international feel of physical media nowadays. I don't want that to go away and become all digital.

[PressALPHA]

Man grew up with a Wii. This man grew up with NES.

[secretarmadillo]

I feel like company’s will see a decline in sales due to a lot more people emulating. This will show the company’s that physical media is better

[CD-Gaming]

I won't ever buy a digital only console, I wanted a laptop with a disc drive, but got a pretty good gaming laptop without (the specs are mental, mind), then went out and bought an external DVD Player that I can jus plug into the USB (I have too many PC games on disc...)! And I like having the boxes, I have a drawer full of PlayStation, Xbox, PS2, 360, PS3 and 3DS cases! Having them physical means I have ready and instant access to them whenever I want, I don't care about having to change discs, they're all right there in front of me anyway! Although, a couple of games I did get digitally cuz they were so damned cheap (Digimon World: Next Order for less than £7? Feck yeah!), but 99% of the time, I can get them considerably cheaper physically! And I do like emulating, so...

[thefiletypeiswrong]

I think the recent E shop closure’s definitely have reignited the spark of interest for physical releases in many. So I don’t think after seeing how crazy people were buying up physical copies that companies will stop physical releases any time soon

[CarlosXPhone]

I agree. I don't want a digital-only future, but Microsoft is forcing a future where games are downloaded or streamed.

[BLASTIC]

"if you cant hold it... you dont own it" (a phrase borrowed from the precious metals world... physical in hand vs. a futures contract)

[capturedvessels]

As a PC only guy atm i don't want physical games to disappear and you're pretty much summed up the reasons.

[PressALPHA]

100%. This is pure facts. Keep gaming physical.

[KongGig]

I love the whole experience of being able to buy physical, be it finding games at flea markets or at the game stores, participating in midnight launch events or just being able to have one thing to keep on the shelf.

Should it happen that we switch completely to digital, I will probably stop buying new games altogether.

[kevex]

Physical games all day. Physical media will always be there, unlike digital.

[ThirteenMusic]

Game & Console manufacturers are pushing for digital only because it gets rid of the 2nd hand game market and game sharing which means anyone who wants to play a game has to buy it from them (cant borrow a copy from a friend anymore) and they can control the price.
They can also control the market for reissues/remasters. When a new version of a beloved game comes out they can essentially make old versions unavailable and force people to have to buy a new copy. Its greed and power and it can fuck off

[ethanc.]

Finally somebody speaks out about it

Honestly I do prefer physical media waaaay more than digital and what upsets me is that some games you were excited on getting ends up being digital only (sometimes it happens in some countries)

I'm looking at you Klonoa Phantasy Reverie series