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[Rezae]

I still think we're a long ways from physical going completely away, and there is the whole argument that most of the time you don't get the complete game on disk these days anyway due to patches/DLC.

PC I don't worry about as I don't see BC going anywhere unless there is a major shakeup with Windows and PC architecture in general.

Consoles being a walled garden I see being an issue once servers are shut off and hardware breaks down.

I agree with others that in 10-20 years I don't see myself coming back to play a lot of recent games. The only reason myself and a lot of others still play a lot of games from the 80s or 90s is they were much more gameplay focused and not as cinematic, making them much easier to pick up and play, regardless of age. Sub-HD low FPS cinematic movies with gameplay sprinkled in (big over generalization) of a lot of modern games I don't see being appealing to return to.

Modern hardware being what it is seems to have much higher failure rates than a lot of the tank-like systems of past gens. You could have a bookshelf of disks, but I think you will be just as likely to run into hardware issues (along with theft, fire, etc.) as you are to losing games from servers shutting down. Really for the most part I think this is a bad time for the collector types. Digital servers, physical incomplete games, unreliable hardware...

 

[sugarless]

To compare the situation to my movie-watching habits, there are some I want to have a Blu-ray of for posterity and absolute best quality, and some I'm happy to stream or catch on TV. Before all that I watch some at the cinema but that doesn't really compare to games.

In the same way, I can see a lot of people being fine with a subscription-style service, perhaps limited in the number of different games per month, and then making select purchases for favourite franchises and collector's editions. Music has basically gone that way for a lot of people already: casual listening on Spotify, buy some favourite albums digitally, and probably very rarely buy a CD. The majority of people are happy to consume media rather than accumulate it if the proposition is relatively convenient and affordable. Naturally, the people on a site like this are less likely to fall into this category, but I'm trying to think of it in a broader sense.

I can see this trend in more than just media: it seems inevitable that driverless cars will proliferate and there will be a generation of people like myself (currently in my thirties) and older/a bit younger, who will be panicking in the back seat, wanting to reach out and take control, and then the ones who grew up with it will wonder why anyone would want to have to actually steer the car themselves. Convenience will win out over control and most people won't mind; there'll be people who do but we'll all be labelled as curmudgeons who are behind the times...

 

[Wensih]

Wait, is the XBL marketplace separate for each platform? I mostly have experience with PSN where it is one big store for all platforms.

But even on the PSN store there is content that doesn't carry over to the PS4. Outland cannot be downloaded for the PS4.

 

[thesuperfunk]

#teamphysical

 

[Haunted]

Do they? I think this was something kind of mumbled in the early days of the service and was never spoken of again.

I keep seeing it repeated when the concern comes up, but maybe that was just the same one every time. Even if they were committing to it, there's no way to prove they'll be in a position to deliver when the moment comes either way.

PC gamers might just end up having to crack all their own games sometime in the future. :lol

 

[UncleSporky]

I can see this trend in more than just media: it seems inevitable that driverless cars will proliferate and there will be a generation of people like myself (currently in my thirties) and older/a bit younger, who will be panicking in the back seat, wanting to reach out and take control, and then the ones who grew up with it will wonder why anyone would want to have to actually steer the car themselves. Convenience will win out over control and most people won't mind; there'll be people who do but we'll all be labelled as curmudgeons who are behind the times...

Convenience means being able to choose to break the speed limit, speed through lights that are really cutting it close, or make various other minor snap decisions.

 

[conman]

Once it does happen, this will only apply to big AAA releases. Small games and indies will still need to be sold a la carte. I have zero interest in EA's initiative.

 

[sugarless]

Convenience means being able to choose to break the speed limit, speed through lights that are really cutting it close, or make various other minor snap decisions.

I suppose some people will see it that way, while others will be happy to forget about those decisions and lie back and treat it like being on a plane or train...but we're going OT and the metaphor isn't really holding up

 

[Azure Wolf]

It's going to be tough to cope with for many, but there's too many advantages to digital distribution for it not to become more and more prevalent.

I'm a 10 year Steam user, so I've been used to this for a long time, but I still remember getting retail Half Life 2 and being really annoyed I had to sign up to a service just to play the damn thing, and it didn't even have an instruction booklet either.

Little did I know this would be something I'd not only get used to, but ultimately absolutely embrace as the logical future of gaming.

Games are code that maifests as colours and shapes and movement on a screen - that's it, they don't require any physical form, and in a rapidly expanding world population with limited resources then that's all they should be.

I'm not an eco guy at all, but to have physical form for a medium that requires none is wasteful and unnecessary. However, I do understand the perspective of people that want physical games, there are pros and cons to any side of an argument, but there are benefits to not having to deal with physical media, a 300+ collection that fits in the space of a couple of physical games, all playable within seconds, no messing with discs, etc, it's liberating.

I think a lot of console gamers are experiencing what many PC players did in 2004 - Steam felt like an unnecessary intrusion, an annoyance, but it soon became widely accepted.

To be fair, it's one thing going 100% digital on Steam, I have absolute faith in Valve, I'm not sure I could feel the same way about Sony or MS so can still understand people's concerns regarding digital distribution on consoles.

 

[RetroStu]

If consumers don't want it then it won't happen. Once they bring out a console without a dsik drive and they see how game sales are considerably down because of it (which they will be), they will quickly revert back to physical media.

 

[PoorChoices]

Honestly? I'm fine with it. With PS+͵ I have played tons of games that I would not have bought otherwise., and pairs of games from GWG. Also͵ this would stop me from buying sports games every year and then never touch them again the next. And $30 a year? That's basically one Madden game on sale. So for that, I get multiple games that I won't play a year from now, and get to remember the EA E3 guy last year every time I play Peggle 2.

It's win-win.

 

[Banjo-Kazooie]

it's a good thing I've literally purchased almost no DLC for the entire gen and will continue to never purchase DLC

Only DLC I can ever remember purchasing was Minerva's Den on PC. I ain't responsible for this future, no sir. ;P

At least the chose the best DLC ever made to be your only purchase

 

[Hari Seldon]

Console games that are those 6-8 hour throwaway games I have no desire to actually own, so if the price is right I will jump on board if there are enough games I want to play to justify it. However I'm not renting games I will actually play for years and come back to at a later time.

 

[vagabondarts]

I like the simplicity of buying a game and knowing I can play it even if the hardware isn't supported by the company anymore. I also like the flexibility of something like PSN, where I can play all the PSX games I have bought digitally even today.

Going forward, the company that doesn't use services as a way to exploit their customers will win my United States dollars.

 

[clem84]

I'm a fan of owning my games. Since the industry has been heading in the direction of Digital distribution and games-as-a-service, I have purchased a lot less games. I purchase maybe a 1/3 or even a 1/4 of the games I used to buy.

If things keep going in that direction and we end up with an all digital industry, then at that point I'll probably quit playing new games and be a retro gamer exclusively. Maybe I'll make an exception every now and then if there's an absolute must-play that comes out, but the rest of the time? No thanks. I can't stand not owning my games.

 

[FlyinJ]

One absolutely positive thing about this development:

Gamestop will cease to exist.

I can't wait to see them slowly and painfully collapse into irrelevance.

 

[slimfitcasual]

I personally prefer having discs. The downloads are just too large and hard drives fail all the time.

Because optical discs are bullet proof?

 

[Sixfortyfive]

Because optical discs are bullet proof?

I'm about 99% certain that my Sega CD library will outlive my XBLA library at this point.

 

[OnimaruXLR]

Sony and Microsoft could make this kind of service work. I really don't think that (with the exception of Nintendo themselves, ironically) there is any single company that controls enough games by themselves to justify this kind of thing. The days of one company producing the majority of the third party games I care about (RIP Capcom) are long over.

But then again, I also don't have any desire to play Madden, FIFA, or Battlefield so maybe I'm some kind of weirdo!

 

[SerTapTap]

Digital woes are why Sony and MS REALLY need to work on and publicly promise backwards compatibility. Last gen's RROD and YLODs were the first hints for a lot of people that they can't keep their games forever, as you (practically) can for most retro consoles with extreme lifespans. With x86 they'd be stupid not to do this, but it's hard to put confidence into their ecosystem if they don't offer it.

That said, I'm a big fan of independent development and will readily continue to buy digital if it is the only choice for a game I want.

 

[Gipsy Danger]

I'm about 99% certain that my Sega CD library will outlive my XBLA library at this point.

But that's a specific issue with Microsoft, not digital as a whole. Your GOG library will survive for an eternity.

 

[BasilZero]

If only the digital policies werent limited to the console you purchased (you cant transfer PS3 PSN games to PS4/xbox360 to xbone - Nintendo with their system locked content) then I would embrace digital on the consoles.

As long as they have their own policies as they have now I'll want to buy physical copies.

I want longevity for my digital ecosystem.

 

[Vlade]

I'm not looking forward to gaming as a service, but I don't think it's avoidable anymore.

I hope someone comes up with a system more built for me.
I don't like the idea of a subscription being the only entry to certain games, "base" games are given with the sub, and you still have to pay to get the complete games that you like, all digital, no ownership.
It's a bit disturbing how much control over content that system gives the environment holder. Just as tv is struggling to escape networks and the medium is seeing diversity of content creators, games seem to be begging for a networks structure.
I sense that I will be gaming more on a pc in the future unless certain marketplaces somehow manage to dominate the space there.

 

[Sixfortyfive]

But that's a specific issue with Microsoft, not digital as a whole. Your GOG library will survive for an eternity.

Which is why I said on the previous page that I'm considering forgoing PS4/XB1 in favor of PC despite not really having been a "PC gamer" in over 20 years.

 

[AniHawk]

No they werent

yes they were. they were leaning on the no side but that doesn't mean they weren't weighing their options.

 

[Opiate]

Why will the games die? Why can't I prop up a server for a game people are still playing? Do EA's games not allow for dedicated servers?

 

[Blizzard]

And that obligatory line in every ToS/EULA's which says "You own only a license for this software, and we may take it from you at any time" doesn't make it safer either.

This is what I was wondering about. I don't know if I ever really checked, but do physical copies of console games typically ship with this legal wording in the manual as well, emphasizing it's merely a license to use the software?

I feel like non-console-game software has been this forever, so the big change is that it is becoming more feasible to actually enforce such EULAs.

 

[MisterM]

This is what I was wondering about. I don't know if I ever really checked, but do physical copies of console games typically ship with this legal wording in the manual as well, emphasizing it's merely a license to use the software?

I feel like non-console-game software has been this forever, so the big change is that it is becoming more feasible to actually enforce such EULAs.

I had my copy of New Super Luigi U arrive today and it is sitting on my desk.

I checked all paper work, the disc and the cover, no license is mentioned anywhere. It's not like a Windows disc with a 'license seal'.

 

[Mass Effect]

To compare the situation to my movie-watching habits, there are some I want to have a Blu-ray of for posterity and absolute best quality, and some I'm happy to stream or catch on TV. Before all that I watch some at the cinema but that doesn't really compare to games.

In the same way, I can see a lot of people being fine with a subscription-style service, perhaps limited in the number of different games per month, and then making select purchases for favourite franchises and collector's editions. Music has basically gone that way for a lot of people already: casual listening on Spotify, buy some favourite albums digitally, and probably very rarely buy a CD. The majority of people are happy to consume media rather than accumulate it if the proposition is relatively convenient and affordable. Naturally, the people on a site like this are less likely to fall into this category, but I'm trying to think of it in a broader sense.

The thing is though that all of those other mediums still provide options. As long as this remains the case with games as well, I don't see the problem. But it seems that video gam publishers are a lot more aggressive in terms of taking away our options.

I can see this trend in more than just media: it seems inevitable that driverless cars will proliferate and there will be a generation of people like myself (currently in my thirties) and older/a bit younger, who will be panicking in the back seat, wanting to reach out and take control, and then the ones who grew up with it will wonder why anyone would want to have to actually steer the car themselves. Convenience will win out over control and most people won't mind; there'll be people who do but we'll all be labelled as curmudgeons who are behind the times...

I think the increased safety will also be a big reason to move to driverless cars. No more worrying about drunk drivers, overly aggressive assholes, and worst of all, elderly drivers.

Personally I can't wait for smart cars.

Why will the games die? Why can't I prop up a server for a game people are still playing? Do EA's games not allow for dedicated servers?

Well, most are probably referring to the console versions of their games, which of course you can't set-up servers for. Not to mention on consoles a game's online functionality is still tied to the console manufacturer's online service. So if that goes down, it all goes down. On PC, the only game I think they have now where you can still own your own servers is Battlefield. Everything else is controlled by EA I believe.

 

[Petrae]

Do people seriously go back and play PS1/N64/SNES/GEN etc. games on the original consoles in this day and age? I can understand collecting them, like collecting coins, but actually playing them? N64 graphics are atrocious.

I'm too busy trying to play modern games. I don't have nearly enough time to play all the new games being released, let alone go back and play games from 10, 15, 20 years ago.

In 10, 15, 20 years from now, I'm sure I'll be far too busy playing VR games on my Oculus 3 with its 12k display to care about some crap game I bought in 2012.

To me, people like the author have a low level of mental illness. A touch of hoarder-ism or something. "Oh no! I can't play a game that came out 20 years ago! Whatever shall I do!" It's just an object. Who cares?

I'm one of the crazy people you're describing who actually plays these old games in this day and age. Over 1,000 games-- from NES to PS2-- unaffected by Internet connectivity, DLC, EULAs, and other factors that, to me, have poisoned console gaming as it is today.

Are the graphics primitive? In some cases, yeah. N64/PlayStation games aren't always pretty to behold. Haven't I played them before? Many, but not all-- I've added quite a few games to my library that I'm finally playing for the first time.

Why do I play this stuff instead of what's modern and current? These old games take me back to times that I personally view as better times for console gaming. No load times for my cartridges. No waiting for firmware updates or patches before I play my games. No compromised experiences because a game's servers are offline. These are far less complicated times. These were far more diverse times, in terms of genre variety.

I also at least feel like I own what is in my library. All of these games and discs are mine. There's no danger of a service going down and not being able to regain titles that I had to delete due to lack of storage space. There's no fear that some account will be compromised due to some hacker and that my gems will be inaccessible. Sure, I get that I don't technically own what's on these games in my library-- but licenses are less of an issue with Internet connectivity.

If I'm termed a hoarder, so be it. I've been building my library so that, when the time came to separate myself from modern console gaming-- as I have done-- I'll have an assortment of games to play for the rest of my life without wanting another new console or technology.

 

[Special C]

Good, I tend to buy too many games that I don't end up finishing. Granted, thats a personal flaw of mine, but games as a service is a future that appeals to me. Obviously it doesn't to everyone.

 

[MoGamesXNA]

.

 

[Mael]

I had my copy of New Super Luigi U arrive today and it is sitting on my desk.

I checked all paper work, the disc and the cover, no license is mentioned anywhere. It's not like a Windows disc with a 'license seal'.

Gotta love how Nintendo really doesn't give a shit about that.

 

[Fox Mulder]

Whatever, the day consoles go all digital is when I just give up on them and go to the PC. More freedom and better pricing.

 

[FrozenCell]

go on put your SaaS on app store, see if I care

 

[Jabba]

Only if you let it happen.

Exactly.

 

[Orthogonal]

Digital is the future and I think it's best we embrace it. I used to be vehemently opposed, but have come around in time. I used to hate renting movies util I realized it was very rare that I watched a movie enough times that multiple rentals would cost more than purchasing a DVD/Bluray.

Physical discs for games is great and have a lot of benefits and I always kept mine in pristine condition until I had kids. They have a bad habit of losing them, scratching them up or getting their gooey/grubby paws on them and needing a good cleaning. I started to think digital would be a good way to fix this issue and it wasn't until my 2yr old nephew managed to shove 4 discs into my PS3 slim and damage the disc drive that the last straw had broken the camels back. The disc drive didn't survive trying to fix it so I vowed an all digital future. So far it has been great.

 

[watershed]

I myself have made the transition of only buying retail to buying a mix of retail and downloading, to being almost a download only customer. But for now I will stay out of games as service until someone offers a great package at the right price.

 

[MoxManiac]

This is what I was wondering about. I don't know if I ever really checked, but do physical copies of console games typically ship with this legal wording in the manual as well, emphasizing it's merely a license to use the software?

I feel like non-console-game software has been this forever, so the big change is that it is becoming more feasible to actually enforce such EULAs.

Some do. I actually looked at the EULA for one of the physical games I bought recently and it did have the "you don't own it, it's a license" clause.

It doesn't matter. It's an empty threat. No company can ever take away or render a physical game nonfunctional unless the game is online only. Not until a system is put into place that locks specific copies of games to consoles, like Microsoft proposed.

 

[Netherscourge]

EA already shuts down it's EA Sports games servers every year.

You can only play the most recent Madden games online until the next one comes out, which is every Aug/Sep.

(Yea, you can still play offline, but no more online play or roster updates)

It's a joke.

 

[Occam]

The article is suggesting that this is a step toward a FUTURE with no more permanent owning of games, not that you can't still go out and buy games. So what you own now and this gen and into the past will be what you own, but what comes after you won't have the option to own. At least, that's the bleak potential future being painted here.

And it's reason #32 in a huge list of reasons I ain't touching EA's service.

Hahah, that part "is someone going to come to my house and take away my physical collection" was supposed to be a (poor) joke aimed at the title of this tread. The rest of my post was obviously serious.

We will only lose our rights if we allow them to be taken away.

 

[rokkerkory]

Come on really? As long as wallets continue to pay for physical hard copies then there is no worry right?

books, dvds, cds, etc still sell like droves

 

[sindbadthesailor]

I'm not opposed to a digital future at all so long as digital rights are updated to reflect the rights consumers have on physical goods.

And if I have to move to the EU to get it, so be it. Either that or I'll just stick to retro-gaming.

And this proposal by EA seems awful.

 

[SillyEskimo]

Lol, no they're not.

 

[StudioTan]

I personally don't care. I've been collecting things for years. I have boxes of CDs. I used to buy 2-3 CDs a week. I used to have all my CDs on shelves, proudly displaying my collection. Then about 9-10 years ago I started to rip them all so that I had my entire collection available without having to switch discs all the time.

Now I haven't bought a CD in years, I just use my Xbox Music subscription and download all the music I want. In the end I get more music for MUCH less money with the tradeoff that I don't "own" the music. I don't care one bit, I'm done with collecting physical media.

I still buy Blu-rays because I like the special features and because it's the only place to get good quality 3D. However I never use the discs, I rip them immediately and put them on my server.

I have boxes of comics I've collected too. These days I'd rather just have access to a subscription service like Marvel Unlimited because in the end owning them is nice but what really matters is reading them.

Games are least things I worry about "owning" because I rarely go back and play old games. Almost never. There is only so much time to play games and there new and better looking games I want to play. Bring on games as a service!

 

[16BitNova]

I seriously fear an all digital future for gaming. I love having my choice on whether it's years down the road playing an old classic or previous generation game that I never got around to. The fact that I can do that on a whim since I physically own the disc is comforting to me. This generation I installed a 1.5 TB HDD in my PS4 before ever plugging it in and with Xbox One there are really no worries as to space because I can use 2 external drives.

Any PSN games or XBLA (download only games) I will always keep downloaded on my drives. I will only swap out games I have on disc for space if need be. Why? Because as has been said, what happens to those games that you bought and "own" when a certain platform's online service is no longer available? No problem to the ones that are downloaded and installed. But what about those games you decided to delete in order to make room for more games? They're gone. Gone forever.

And subscription service? That's even worse. There is no ownership whatsoever. And again what when that service is no longer available. All those choices gone. I honestly hope it never comes to this. At least not without figuring out a sure fire way that ownership still means something.

 

[TrickyDaddy]

I definitely get where you're coming from. One step after this would be streaming games properly. ONCE we reach a point where most customers are sitting on Google Fiber-like connection and we can have MINIMAL lag for it.

Days of owning a new system would be over as well. Which is why providing cloud services is such a hot ticket right now.

 

[Petrae]

Come on really? As long as wallets continue to pay for physical hard copies then there is no worry right?

books, dvds, cds, etc still sell like droves

I wouldn't say "droves", but yes. Physical versions of movies, music, and books still do sell a modest amount.

Physical media will still exist in some form-- much like vinyl. It'll be for collectors, sold in small quantities at select retailers.

Reducing the physical footprint and going digital saves publishers tons of cash in production and shipping costs, and consumers are increasingly adopting the digital distribution model. Regardless of whether it's a subscription service or if consumers buy individual games, digital is inevitably going to be the primary form of distribution.

 

[Blizzard]

I had my copy of New Super Luigi U arrive today and it is sitting on my desk.

I checked all paper work, the disc and the cover, no license is mentioned anywhere. It's not like a Windows disc with a 'license seal'.

Thanks for looking. It's interesting that non-PC games avoided that change for so long. Maybe it's because console games tend to be traded more, or maybe EULAs and license seals are just more of an "accepted thing" with PC software.

 

[Kabuki Quantum Lover]

For this console generation, I don't see myself abandoning physical media, especially when it's becoming more cost-effective for me (brick & mortar stores offering at launch discounts).