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Is the era of physical game media over?
| Not as long as physical games are still cheaper than digital lmao.
But, yeah, I got a feeling physical games will just be a collector's thing soon. Like, there will still be a lot of them, but it's not something for most players.
| Doubtful. Not everyone has a decent internet connection to keep downloading games, so installing from the disc or inserting the cartridge is ideal.
Besides, there are still normies who hardly know their way around digital stores. So companies would be missing out on their money if they couldn't just pick up a game at a brick & mortar shop.
| On Switch, I prefer physical games over digital, they are always cheaper (unless the game is very old and is getting a holiday hyper discount). For example I Pre-ordered Sonic Colors Ultimate just for 20€ (thanks to preordering other game I got 10€ discount, the game was at 30€) and you can refund the game, give it to someone else or sell it.
| Not worth paying more for something stuck on 1 account, with chances of getting removed (got that problem on some 3DS games I can no longer download). And who knows if future consoles would retro play them, making them even worthless if they doesn't...
| On PC is another thing. CDs are really noisy and Steam does have pretty good prices with games from almost every generation ever. New releases tend to be half the price in half a year. And you have cdkeys, G2A or Humble Bundle (when it was good on bundles) that benefits even more. Origin is EA, and they remove things you purchased too. And I don't consider Epic to be a safe place to have a password since Fortnite.
I would somehow love if PC games came in USBs though.
| >>789553
Brick and mortar shop just deadass don't exist where I live anymore. There's online stores that sell physical, sure, but that's no easier than navigating digital stores.
| >>789563
>CDs are really noisy
Yeah, fair, but... isn't the noise part of the experience? I get really nostalgic when I hear a CD drive spin up, or even more nostalgic whenever I hear a floppy drive clicking away.
and this doesn't happen anymore, but if you gave me the cassette searching noise from C64 (before it found the program) you could just as well shove me into a coffin and call me deceased
| On PC are physical media longer time dead, honestly i think that future of gaming consoles is in cloud systems "^^
| Not yet, but soon.
Props to Nintendo for going with flash storage on the Switch, I believe that format will last longer than the disks.
>>789563
Let's be real though, noise is not that big of a problem when it comes to CD/DVD. Now, the abysmal loading times in games though, hoo boy, now that's an issue. And I don't really care about that being "part of the experience" like >>789578 says, it just sucks.
| Obviously not. Physical media will always stay.
| Physical media will never ever leave. After all, Who the fuck wants to lose your entire library when the service shuts down?
| I don't even know where I could buy a CD for PC anymore. all the game stores around me sell steam codes or such inside a CD case now.
| Nah, there's probably always going to be a market for it. Even if that market is old media/special editions.
Most of the recent games i've backed on Kickstarter had physical versions offered, even if they were slightly more expensive.
| >>789603 I'm always surprised when I go to a shop and find physical Pc games and yeah, releases from 2021.
Cloud gaming needs to improve a lot for that (or just lie to your costumers like right now)
And it would be better if it wasn't based on subscriptions. I prefer spending $300 on a console and $300 on games for 5 years than $1000 on a subscription with only 1 game I care.
Something like what Ps4 and Ps Vita had, a link with a device at home and the other wherever you want.
| But looking at the Steam Deck, it would be easier and cheaper for everyone to just have the thing in your pocket than to have a good connection at any point of the planet.
| I've been collecting physical games for a bit, so I've seen the shifts in the field firsthand. My 2 cents:
Physical media is gonna be around through the current generation, but it's future depends on something very specific: how games are stored. Cartridges were the standard until CD's overtook floppy disks in computing, and became the most effective 'and' cost-efficient choice. Then we got DVD's. Then Blu-Ray, and whatever variation we're on now. But we've kinda hit the limit...
| Discs just plain don't hold enough data to keep up with modern games anymore. Getting a disc that doesn't have the storage space or read speeds to support something big means the disc is more like a key to the rest of the data, stored on the internet and downloaded to your hard drive. It's outdated now, it doesn't cut it. We already have entire game consoles with versions that forsake the disc drive, and even as a collector, I don't blame that choice.
| If Sony and Microsoft keep with the tradition (and I use that word in a negative light) of using discs for physical games, then physical games probably won't see the PS6 or Xbox-"insert-bad-title-here".
Nintendo already figured that out, though. They never quit with cartridges, carrying them through the 00's with their handheld consoles, up to the Switch. The Switch shows that physical media can thrive still, and it does so by utilizing the far-improved hardware we now have.
| So overall: If discs stay relevant, physical will fade away. If 'any other genuine option' begins to take hold in more than just Nintendo's repertoire, physical will coexist with digital for some time to come.
| Personally, I've always hated discs. They're fragile as all hell, and aren't a huge improvement over floppies in terms of preservation. Sega CD games will be the first generation of gaming media to see mass deterioration, because the discs will all rot first. Fifth generation games will follow, and the rest down the line eventually. Everything dies eventually, but considering consoles like the 2600 will still have functioning libraries for longer... it's just sad. Screw discs.
| > "boys"
op is a sussy baka imposter confirmed
| >>789657
Join us in redump.org and help preserve our collective digital history.
>>789678
Lol! OP thinks there are boys on the Internet lmao
| I used to think physical games would fade away till I needed a day 1 version to do something in a game. Those times I'm grateful to own the disc
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| Title, I think it's dawning boys ;-;