ShadyAcshuns
Member
Whoever things Switch 2 will be all-digital, I'd like to know where you're getting your smokes.
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Do you agree with Microsoft that physical media will die this generation?
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Hunter 99
Member
To be honest I agree with Microsoft.
I think by the time next gen arrives I will defo be digital only.
Sick of getting a disc then having to download a patch when it's inserted and having to wait 20 mins or so before I can play.
Don't get me wrong,I have a large physical collection from my original megadrive,dreamcast,neo geo ect but with all this patching nonsense/download this and that how will we even get to experience the ps4/xbone onwards 20 years from now on a disc without facing issues/bugs/unplayable?
All my other retro consoles won't require a internet connection so i will be able to experience them like they were all those years ago (if they still turn on haha)
I think I will only buy nintendos next console games physically and leave the xbox/ps physical behind.
I get both sides with not being able to trade your digital games but time constraints mean I am picky with what games I actually really want, so I am willing to spend 10- 20 quid more on something I know I will enjoy regardless if I can sell it onwards. Although it would be nice if you could sell your digital on..
I think by the time next gen arrives I will defo be digital only.
Sick of getting a disc then having to download a patch when it's inserted and having to wait 20 mins or so before I can play.
Don't get me wrong,I have a large physical collection from my original megadrive,dreamcast,neo geo ect but with all this patching nonsense/download this and that how will we even get to experience the ps4/xbone onwards 20 years from now on a disc without facing issues/bugs/unplayable?
All my other retro consoles won't require a internet connection so i will be able to experience them like they were all those years ago (if they still turn on haha)
I think I will only buy nintendos next console games physically and leave the xbox/ps physical behind.
I get both sides with not being able to trade your digital games but time constraints mean I am picky with what games I actually really want, so I am willing to spend 10- 20 quid more on something I know I will enjoy regardless if I can sell it onwards. Although it would be nice if you could sell your digital on..
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Sojiro
Member
No I don't agree with them, outside their own platform that is, for this generation. MS obviously wants people sucking that game pass tit, and they have been clear they are ready for digital only for a bit now. Sony....I think will hold off one more gen at least before trying an all digital future. Nintendo, thank God, I think will "be Nintendo" and go another gen even after switch 2 with physical still happening. I guess time will tell though.
It sucks for us physical people, because while I acknowledge this is the inevitable future, I don't like it at all, and I will likely pull out of new consoles in the future when we get to that point. I still love my physical games, and will full on stick to retro whenever we get to that all digital future.
It sucks for us physical people, because while I acknowledge this is the inevitable future, I don't like it at all, and I will likely pull out of new consoles in the future when we get to that point. I still love my physical games, and will full on stick to retro whenever we get to that all digital future.
ShadyAcshuns
Member
Yeah it sucks, but at least us collectors will have access to all those games we've already bought. Hopefully most people didn't just sell their physical games. I have so many physical games and systems that I can skip all-digital consoles and never run out of games to play until I die.
There's also no way in hell I'll be buying games that are $70 and digital. Now if they said all future digital games would be priced at $40 or less, I'd continue to buy day one games that are digital, but we all know they'll never pass the savings on to the consumer.
Muffdraul
Member
It would if everyone was like me: never sell games, never loan games, never buy used, don't give a shit how much a new game costs because I'm an old dragon that sleeps on a pile of gold coins. Not sure if I'm a minority in the video game consumer pool in general or just amongst hardcore mofos like y'all in here.
Sojiro
Member
Yeah there is a good reason I still nab retro games and consoles, as I know the future with this hobby may be very different for me than what we currently have. It sucks, but it is what it is I suppose. Hopefully Nintendo and Sony still continue to support physical for a good while longer.
yansolo
Member
been digital only for me since 2013 when i got into pc gaming predominantly. I think digital only sucks, game boxes and all the extra stuff youd get like detailed manuals and posters was cool, as well as being able to lend your games to your friends and vice versa. I know you can still do this on console, but with things like subscriptions and cheaper digital only consoles being pushed i feel its only a matter of time
Gavon West
Spread's Cheeks for Intrusive Ads
Yes. All but dead...
Gavon West
Spread's Cheeks for Intrusive Ads
Yessir. 100% digital for me for several years. All in on digital. It's just cleaner!
G-Bus
Banned
Find it interesting that sales data shows the majority are in favor of digital but didn't the PS5 disc version heavily outsell the digital only?
I think having a disc attachment is the obvious answer to this.
As much as I agree with physical and the arguments for it... I tend to buy digital purely out of convenience.
I think having a disc attachment is the obvious answer to this.
As much as I agree with physical and the arguments for it... I tend to buy digital purely out of convenience.
ArtHands
Thinks buying more servers can fix a bad patch
You can bet people will laugh at Nintendo for not moving on with time by embracing full digital when that happen.
Mostly only the "hardcore" gamers would laugh. If the video game section of a store only sells Nintendo games I can only see that as an easy win/sale for Nintendo.
Edgelord79
Gold Member
Agreed. Funny thing is that the switch is the only system I go full digital on as the premise is portability and the hope that going digital will increase my chances of having the games backwards compatible with new Nintendo devices.
Nintendo yes, because they control the medium and their profit comes from the cart tax they charge both publishers and consumers.
The disc drive on the PS5 revision is an attachment. It's a digital console too.
PC has been digital only for nearly a decade at this point. No one even does physical PC releases with a Steam code in the box anymore.
Honestly I think the only reasons we saw a drive on the PS5 and XSX were for BC, movies (and physical is dying there too), and because GameStop wouldn't stock the system without it being able to sell their overpriced used games.
ArtHands
Thinks buying more servers can fix a bad patch
I got a feeling there won't be any video game section in any store by then.
Laieon
Member
For games? Yeah.
I could see UHD players being an add-on accessory though for those who want to carry over old games or who, like me, are actually into physical movies.
Sony specifically has some incentive to keep blu rays going: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blu-ray_Disc_Association
Yeah, but I don't think that situation is comparable to the where games are right now because streaming hasn't entirely replaced the benefits of physical media. UHD and Blu Ray discs are going to have better bitrates and potentially better audio than the streaming equivalent (not all that rare to see Dolby Audio or Dolby Vision on a disc, but not in the streaming equivalent - for example). Streaming is definitely more than okay for the vast majority of consumers, but I think studios understand that there is still a niche that wants the benefits of physical media and is going to continue to offer that (or license out their films to boutique labels like Arrow, Criterion, Shout, etc...). It's similar to where music is right now where most people are more than okay with, say, Spotify or Apple Music, but vinyl (and CDs apparently, I've read recently they're on the rise again) still have their niche.
On the game side, if I buy Spider-Man 2 physically, I'm going to have the exact 1:1 experience I would have had had I choose to buy it digitally.
I could see UHD players being an add-on accessory though for those who want to carry over old games or who, like me, are actually into physical movies.
Sony specifically has some incentive to keep blu rays going: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blu-ray_Disc_Association
Yeah, but I don't think that situation is comparable to the where games are right now because streaming hasn't entirely replaced the benefits of physical media. UHD and Blu Ray discs are going to have better bitrates and potentially better audio than the streaming equivalent (not all that rare to see Dolby Audio or Dolby Vision on a disc, but not in the streaming equivalent - for example). Streaming is definitely more than okay for the vast majority of consumers, but I think studios understand that there is still a niche that wants the benefits of physical media and is going to continue to offer that (or license out their films to boutique labels like Arrow, Criterion, Shout, etc...). It's similar to where music is right now where most people are more than okay with, say, Spotify or Apple Music, but vinyl (and CDs apparently, I've read recently they're on the rise again) still have their niche.
On the game side, if I buy Spider-Man 2 physically, I'm going to have the exact 1:1 experience I would have had had I choose to buy it digitally.
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AtomicStarving
Member
physical media for consoles will never die, period, they will always be in that 30-40% mark.
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Rocco Schiavone
Member
Der physische Spielemarkt in Deutschland wächst – digitale Käufe stagnieren seit Jahren • JPGAMES.DE
Das hören Fans des Haptischen seit Jahren: Physisch ist tot, irgendwann gibt's alle Spiele nur noch digital. Dann erinnern Fans von ...
jpgames.de
The physical games market in Germany is growing – digital purchases have been stagnating for years
That's iffy. We'll still have discs until 2030 most likely since I doubt they will stop making discs for ps5 games in 2028. Although I could see them possibly making the xbox section a lot smaller before then. It all comes down to what Nintendo will do for the Switch 3 which I guess will release around 2030 or 2031.
Then again for PlayStation if they completely phase out the original disc ps5 version and make the new slim discless version the standard then I could see the ps5 section shrinking a lot more as well and then by the end of this end quite possibly only Nintendo would be on shelves.
Impotaku
Member
Physical media wont die this generation but xbox probably will lol. Vinyl isn't dead neither is dvd there's still dedicated releses coming out even now. Same with games there's a whole wave of digital to physical making small prints of digital releases or boutique releases of smaller games. Even if it did happen there will still be physical releases wether the zoomer consoomers like it or not.
Explain how. Or are you just trolling?
Thick Thighs Save Lives
NeoGAF's Physical Games Advocate Extraordinaire
Der physische Spielemarkt in Deutschland wächst – digitale Käufe stagnieren seit Jahren • JPGAMES.DE
Das hören Fans des Haptischen seit Jahren: Physisch ist tot, irgendwann gibt's alle Spiele nur noch digital. Dann erinnern Fans von ...jpgames.de
The physical games market in Germany is growing – digital purchases have been stagnating for years
Yeah, I'm not sure how many digital only bros around here are well informed, but here in Europe physical game sales on PlayStation and Nintendo still represent a large % of the total number of video games sold across the old continent
European console and PC game sales fall 7.1% in 2022
Xbox is the only console to grow year-on-year across Europe
www.gamesindustry.biz
That said, MS can go fuck themselves with their heavy-handed push towards a digital only ecosystem.
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Humdinger
Gold Member
No. I hope not. I would be worried about the future of my digital game library, if that happened. Or my ability to buy old games. What if they shut the store down, 10 years later, like they are doing with the 360 marketplace next year? Unless you had a physical copy, you could no longer obtain that game. I feel like owning a physical copy is more secure, somehow.
yanhash
Member
You ever lose anything on the apple store/play store after you replace your phone? Shutting down? Not in this lifetime, Digital market is too valuable
Humdinger
Gold Member
You ever lose anything on the apple store/play store after you replace your phone? Shutting down? Not in this lifetime, Digital market is too valuable
Yes, you're so hip to the times; I'm very impressed. But really, I don't own an i-phone, and I don't care what Apple is doing there. I'm talking about MS and what they are already doing with their games. They're shutting down the 360 store, meaning that, as of next year, hundreds of 360 games will no longer be available digitally. If you want to trust in the beneficence of MS to maintain your digital library, go right ahead. I don't have a lot of trust in MS, at this point.
But it's probably moot. I don't actually expect MS to go all-digital next gen. This is just the mid-gen upgrade we're talking about. Next gen, I expect them to offer both options, just as Sony did this gen.
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Omnipunctual Godot
Member
I wonder if these numbers are also including things like PS+ free downloads, GWG, free to play games, etc. There are A LOT of games I "buy" with PS+ that I don't actually end up playing.
Omnipunctual Godot
Member
I don't know why you're being so cocky about this. The PS3 and PS Vita digital stores were almost closed down only a year ago. The only reason they weren't was because of massive backlash. But eventually, they will be gone.You ever lose anything on the apple store/play store after you replace your phone? Shutting down? Not in this lifetime, Digital market is too valuable
MatrixReloaded101
Member
Console and PC have different audiences ...
Consoles are more mainstream when it comes to gaming compared to PC and a lot of people rely on the used game market to get new games. When physical games go away people will no longer be able to trade in old games to get new games.
ReBurn
Gold Member
I've lost lots of apps from Apple's store. When they forced only allowing 64-bit apps I lost half of my games I was playing at the time. Updated iOS and then they all had little cloud icons next to the name and when you clicked them they popped up a message blaming app developers. I played the crap out of Soul Calibur on iPad and Apple just killed it because Namco didn't update it to 64-bit.You ever lose anything on the apple store/play store after you replace your phone? Shutting down? Not in this lifetime, Digital market is too valuable
When developers delist apps from Apple's App Store, even apps you bought outright, they are often just gone and you can't redownload them. RIP Flight Control and the bastards at EA who removed it.
So yeah, there have been plenty of times when Apple delisted apps and when I transferred to a new phone they were not available to re-download. Apple is the worst when it comes to respecting App Store customers.
ArtHands
Thinks buying more servers can fix a bad patch
Oh I think there's a chance that disc will still be around, but I think it'll be so insignificant that most places won't stock them in stores anymore. I think besides some novelty game shops, physical players will mostly buy them online (ironically) on e-commerce shops like Amazon.
StreetsofBeige
Gold Member
It'll come at some point. Just like my new laptop has no optical drive.
Sony already started it off with disc and digital PS5s. And MS did disc X and digital S. Assuming the leak is true, MS is doing a digital only version of X with 2 TB drive (power specs the same).
Could be a good chance PS6 and Series Y are digital only.
The second disc sales are gone, stores wont even bother carrying the consoles unless console makers price it so they make profit on the hardware (like selling a microwave and a store makes $50 or whatever). No point carrying $500 hunks of goods for breakeven if all they do is make money selling gamepads and carrying cases.
At that point, it'll be interesting how console makers get wide distribution across stores with no game sales.
Sony already started it off with disc and digital PS5s. And MS did disc X and digital S. Assuming the leak is true, MS is doing a digital only version of X with 2 TB drive (power specs the same).
Could be a good chance PS6 and Series Y are digital only.
The second disc sales are gone, stores wont even bother carrying the consoles unless console makers price it so they make profit on the hardware (like selling a microwave and a store makes $50 or whatever). No point carrying $500 hunks of goods for breakeven if all they do is make money selling gamepads and carrying cases.
At that point, it'll be interesting how console makers get wide distribution across stores with no game sales.
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njean777
Member
Idk I can see Sony offering a detachable drive for some time, especially for blu-ray movies. No reason to fully get rid of physical media if you can offer the choice for publishers or developers that want to make physical editions of their games.
I never understood why it has to be an "either or" type of thing. Make a detachable drive and give the choice to people. Sony and Nintendo seem more likely to do this between the three.
I never understood why it has to be an "either or" type of thing. Make a detachable drive and give the choice to people. Sony and Nintendo seem more likely to do this between the three.
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yanhash
Member
The problem with making it deatachable is that now you won't just make the choice of buying a game at a walmart like store unless you have already made the decision to buy the detachable drive in the past. This will make it to where casuals wont be buying disc games anymore which will pretty much destroy disc sales.
njean777
Member
Publishers/developers can sell the physical game on their websites and put an exclamation that you need the detachable drive to be able to install and play the game. It's really not that hard.
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ShadyAcshuns
Member
I'm starting to see vinyl records making a comeback on store shelves. Haven't seen those for decades now.
AREYOUOKAY?
Member
It already is that way in some stores. Pathetic Playstation and Xbox sections with only a handful of games to pick from while you can find most of Nintendo's new and old first party offerings and the latest third party games of course. It may vary by location but it's still basically like this.
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StueyDuck
Gold Member
I don't but I do think Microsoft should pull the trigger and do it.
Xbox doesn't have a personality, it doesn't have a "brand" as in what is an xbox. Gamepass is becoming the brand.
Microsoft need to aim at what originally made people love 360 (yes games of course) but the reason why the 360 rocked the socks of consumers was because A it was cheaper and B it was more modern than its contemporaries especially when it came to its online infrastructure. Look at the series s being the hot selling Xbox.
A discless , cloud-based console that pushes modernity is exactly what MS should do, get it out there for cheap and offer the best experience and then the games will come.
This buying all the publishers and IP tactic is dumb and will remain dumb and Phil will be forever mocked for it. But I don't feel that MS moving to a digital future is a bad idea.
Time to finally make Xbox mean something again, instead of just that thing that also has gamepass
Xbox doesn't have a personality, it doesn't have a "brand" as in what is an xbox. Gamepass is becoming the brand.
Microsoft need to aim at what originally made people love 360 (yes games of course) but the reason why the 360 rocked the socks of consumers was because A it was cheaper and B it was more modern than its contemporaries especially when it came to its online infrastructure. Look at the series s being the hot selling Xbox.
A discless , cloud-based console that pushes modernity is exactly what MS should do, get it out there for cheap and offer the best experience and then the games will come.
This buying all the publishers and IP tactic is dumb and will remain dumb and Phil will be forever mocked for it. But I don't feel that MS moving to a digital future is a bad idea.
Time to finally make Xbox mean something again, instead of just that thing that also has gamepass
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It will never die off completely, but yeah, outside of Nintendo and some niches, this generation will be the last hurrah for physical media.
I mean, in most countries sales are already something like 70/30 or more in favor of digital and it's only growing by the year. By 2028 most PS/Xbox games won't receive a physical version anymore, or is simply a code in a box.
I mean, in most countries sales are already something like 70/30 or more in favor of digital and it's only growing by the year. By 2028 most PS/Xbox games won't receive a physical version anymore, or is simply a code in a box.
It's not a matter of knowing that you need a detachable drive but the need to buy a detachable drive in order to play the physical game. Not that many people are going to go out of their way to spend extra money for a detachable device just to play some physcal discs.
True but like you can said you can still buy a handful of games and most of those games are the biggest sellers. I haven't see the playstation and xbox sections be that big since the early days of the ps3 when their were tons of ps2 games still on shelves in game stores and most big stores ps and xbox sections were always pathetically small. With the move to digital consoles you won't have parents and grandparents buying physical games on black friday or for the holidays.
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Sorcerer
Member
Target is apparently getting rid of most physical media: The writing is more than certainly on the wall:
https://comicbook.com/tv-shows/news...r physical media like books and vinyl records.
https://comicbook.com/tv-shows/news...r physical media like books and vinyl records.
sainraja
Member
There are plenty of clues that indicate that it could happen; one clue is mentioned by the OP, and other clues are sales of physical media vs. digital and there are even more clues outside of the gaming industry that show people are moving towards or adjusting to digital.
Yeah, that is a huge sign. I used to buy DVDs and Blu-rays of movies, but I hardly do that anymore, and I am likely not alone, so it makes sense that stores like Target would stop carrying physical media for things people are no longer buying.
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ReBurn
Gold Member
Most people just don't buy physical media any more. It's funny to see people clapping back with "I just bought a disc so they're obviously wrong" responses, but bigger retailers have been reducing space dedicated to physical media for years now.
Target doing this may be a blessing in disguise. Big box stores have been killing specialty shops, so maybe this will help bookstores and mom and pop game shops hang on a little longer. I still think it's only a matter of time before console games go the way of PC and people just accept 100% digital. At the end of the day PC gamers just rolled over and accepted it and most console gamers will, too. Those who won't will just die on the hill. There won't be enough of them to matter.
IntentionalPun
Ask me about my wife's perfect butthole
It's a figure of speech; we don't know for a fact they will ditch physical media, despite what the OP is claiming.