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[DryvBy]

Dystopian gamer here. I was discussing this with a friend the other day and wanted to hear GAF opinions on the subject.

Pretend for whatever reason your Steam/GOG/Epic/PSN/Switch/Xbox library vanished due to being banned or say the company goes under, what would your thoughts be about digital games?

I'm pro-physical but I also have a massive digital library because I find digital to be more convenient for the most part (switching discs?! Worst. Feature. Ever.) But if my Steam library went kapoof and I lost my 3000 games I've not played over the course of 15 years, I'd be extremely ticked off. My friend said it wouldn't change his view of digital stores because he makes back ups of his games in case that happens.

So GAF, again, what would your thoughts be if you got robbed of your digital games?

 

[OverHeat]

Quit gaming

 

[calistan]

Get some fresh air.

 

[gaming_again]

I'd be pissed but realistically I'd only try to replace like 20 of them.

 

[violence]

I would quit. Probably start reading, working out and get married.

 

[Topher]

Head to my local retro gaming store.

 

[Skifi28]

I'd start spending all day on GAF.....oh wait.

 

[DryvBy]

I'd be pissed but realistically I'd only try to replace like 20 of them.

That's what I said. I'm not going to buy Bad Rats again.

 

[LazyParrot]

 

[Midn1ght]

 

[WitchHunter]

Dystopian gamer here. I was discussing this with a friend the other day and wanted to hear GAF opinions on the subject.

Pretend for whatever reason your Steam/GOG/Epic/PSN/Switch/Xbox library vanished due to being banned or say the company goes under, what would your thoughts be about digital games?

I'm pro-physical but I also have a massive digital library because I find digital to be more convenient for the most part (switching discs?! Worst. Feature. Ever.) But if my Steam library went kapoof and I lost my 3000 games I've not played over the course of 15 years, I'd be extremely ticked off. My friend said it wouldn't change his view of digital stores because he makes back ups of his games in case that happens.

So GAF, again, what would your thoughts be if you got robbed of your digital games?

The sooner it happens, the faster it will be regulated. So time to down one of these behemoths . You can also write to your fellow EU politicians about this problem. If the EU regulates this space, they have to offer you offline backups of your lovelies.

 

[Killjoy-NL]

I'd be pissed but realistically I'd only try to replace like 20 of them.

This.

Probably not even 20, but maybe the top 5.
I never replay games, so apart from some multiplayer games, I won't actually miss something.

 

[Gamer_By_Proxy]

Play new games. People buy hardware for new games. No matter how much Phil crys about losing last gen.

 

[Ridaxan]

I'd be pissed but realistically I'd only try to replace like 20 of them.

100%. Same on this end. I will probably re-purchase a select few of the games, but it's always been about the "experience" rather than the "oh I own a license/copy of this game" to me. I have most of my GOG library backed up on cloud storage too, so there's that.

 

[Magic Carpet]

I saw I less than $3 Grand total spent on my Steam purchases recently in another thread.
I'll have to ask my insurance agent if I'm covered if Steam ever decices to say, 'so long suckers'.

Realistically I think I have a better chance of my home being robbed and my hardware being stolen than losing my digital library.

 

[Lucifers Beard]

Right with you there. If a license to those games isn't provided to me by the store front, then I'll be sailing the seven seas all the way.

 

[RoboFu]

Has that ever happened? You are starting an argument without basis.

All the early digital stores that went out of business had a way to download and play all your games. Sony got rid of their video service but you can still watch anything you bought off of it.

So the more realistic question is " what will you do if your digital purchases never go away?"

 

[Sleepwalker]

Play my discs and cartridges.

I already lost my digital xbox library once.

A friend lost his PSN one to a hack and couldn't get it back. It happens.

 

[Comandr]

If my account got banned that's my fault. If somehow all of steam went under I would expect them to take steps beforehand to allow their customers to continue using the products in an "offline mode" if you will.

This scenario is no different than if you had thousands of physical games and consoles and your house burned down or flooded or an earthquake destroyed everything or someone came and stole it all or any number of weird scenarios.

It would be awful if it happened, and I do have close to 1000 games on steam, but ... how many do I actually play anymore and care about? Probably a dozen or two. So many of them I've already played and have no intention of going back to.

I would argue digital players have a lot less to lose than physical gamers. Old digital games don't get more expensive with time; they get cheaper. Replacing the collection that I actually care about would be less expensive than ever. A physical collection on the other hand... welll... That would be a real tragedy.

To answer the question: I'd just rebuy the handful of games I really cared about at a fraction of what I paid for them in the first place. Easy.

 

[Thick Thighs Save Lives]

I was mostly digital till a few years ago when I switched to physical and bit by bit I re-bought most of the games I was interested in owning. Anyway, the point is that my digital library could disappear right this moment and I could not give less of a shit.

 

[TastyPastry]

probably just switch to retro gaming completly

 

[lughnasadh123]

Same thing as if I lost all my physical games.

 

[DryvBy]

Has that ever happened? You are starting an argument without basis.

All the early digital stores that went out of business had a way to download and play all your games. Sony got rid of their video service but you can still watch anything you bought off of it.

So the more realistic question is " what will you do if your digital purchases never go away?"

Yes, digital stores have crumbled before. I bought two games on Direct2Drive and I won't ever get those back again.

I don't think it'll happen but it's just a dumb topic.

 

[Chastten]

I'd be pissed but realistically I'd only try to replace like 20 of them.

This would be my answer as well.

I love looking at physical collections and I'm pretty attached to my physical games, but my Steam library is just... there. I probably wouldn't even notice if Steam deleted 20 games from the list today, unless it's the game I'm playing right now.

 

[NeoGiffer]

Well. The odd video/photoset mean a lot to me and my pet snake. So...

Spoiler

 

[Kilau]

 

[Zathalus]

Sail the seven seas.

 

[ReBurn]

I'm not all that attached to it. It's just a hobby. I'd probably just do something else.

 

[Garibaldi]

Considering I checked my steam spend based on the other thread and I've spent over £13k (not including keys from 3rd party outlets), I'd be rather annoyed tbh

 

[Trogdor1123]

I guess it would depend a bit on why/ how.

If I did something stupid and got banned, I’d probably just restart with the handful of games I actually care about . But, if it was one of those silly infractions where it shouldn’t happen I’d probably do the same thing, but post about it on forums and everything to complain!

 

[ReBurn]

Has that ever happened? You are starting an argument without basis.

All the early digital stores that went out of business had a way to download and play all your games. Sony got rid of their video service but you can still watch anything you bought off of it.

So the more realistic question is " what will you do if your digital purchases never go away?"

I think it happens fairly often. Ask anyone who had their PSN or Xbox account banned what happens to their digital games.

 

[TropicanaTwista]

I would be pissed but honestly, it wouldn't impact me much at all. I rarely play old games. Over the past 15 years or so, I can probably count on 1 hand how many times I replayed an old game I owned. Just seems like a waste. Way too many good new games release each year to play old stuff.

 

[KellyNole]

This.


I am tech savvy and can mod or update consoles/run emulators to get my games back. That and the benefits of digital prevent me from worry about a physical copy.

 

[MiguelItUp]

Depending on how or why, I'd probably attempt to get it back immediately, lol. If it was completely gone I probably wouldn't use that platform anymore, and would even more so selective about what I buy digitally from then on. For the record, I have digital on PC because I was forced to, but on console I have more physical than digital through and through.

 

[adamosmaki]

Ahoy matey

 

[T4keD0wN]

I never lost a digital game, but i did lose my physical CDProjekt+GFWL libraries already, rebought most of it on steam/gog a decade later on sales for a fraction of the cost.

If my physical gog library vanished i would simply redownload it and put it on a more reliable backup drive, if the digital one did i still have my physical one and i can access it. Easy.
If my steam library vanished it would suck and id laugh for being an idiot and trusting that valve have a backup plan.
If my epic library vanished i would just smile.

Luckily i use playnite to combine all of my libraries in one database so i know what i paid for, when and where, nothing is ever lost thanks to the internet so i am not worried.

 

[three_muffins]

Start over...

 

[crackajack]

If all my digital games went poof I would wonder how tf I did not notice that WW3 had already happened.

More realistically one company might go down. And if really no one would buy the user base and continue operation, then I would still kinda shrug my shoulder and just move on after a day or two of being annoyed. The entire premise of not owning my stuff, just using it as long as it lasts, is kinda liberating and detaches you from it.

The money saved over the years could be spent then on (re)buying whatever is available and worthwhile which in 99% of the past games would not be rebuys. I already played em, so I am done ... not much of a replaying games person.

 

[Warnen]

Meh, played most of it got my fun out of it. Prob rebuy destiny 2 if didn’t have to restart. If I did so long gaming, already sick of it mostly.

 

[THE DUCK]

Buy new games, most of it I don't have time to play anyhow, kind of like a bookshelf of books you.have already read. We live with excess, not nearly the catastrophie that some make it out to be. You could sub to gamepass and ps+ and probably get access to half or more back in 30 seconds

 

[winjer]

 

[jshackles]

Sue

It's happened to me before.

 

[Hydroxy]

Not an issue for me. I don't keep a big backlog, so i may at most lost 5-10 games and I almost never replay games either so losing games i already played once is no big deal either.

 

[Freelance Yakuza]

I only buy games on PC because I know that even if the companies disappear, there will still be other ways to access them. Games will only completely vanish, that is, become definitively inaccessible, on the day the Internet ceases to exist.

 

[Kindela]

I'd create a new account and buy again those 2-3 games I haven't yet played. If I can't buy them digitally for whatever reason, I'd buy them physically.
This is such a non issue.

Dystopian gamer here. I was discussing this with a friend the other day and wanted to hear GAF opinions on the subject.

Pretend for whatever reason your Steam/GOG/Epic/PSN/Switch/Xbox library vanished due to being banned or say the company goes under, what would your thoughts be about digital games?

I'm pro-physical but I also have a massive digital library because I find digital to be more convenient for the most part (switching discs?! Worst. Feature. Ever.) But if my Steam library went kapoof and I lost my 3000 games I've not played over the course of 15 years, I'd be extremely ticked off. My friend said it wouldn't change his view of digital stores because he makes back ups of his games in case that happens.

So GAF, again, what would your thoughts be if you got robbed of your digital games?

You're kidding yourself if you think you'll ever play 99.5% of those 3k games.

 

[Portugeezer]

 

[Fbh]

While I'd be disappointed, I generally only buy digital games when they are heavily discounter (40% or more) because that puts them in a price range which I'm ok paying for potentially only playing through a game once. If I'm buying a game at launch or near full price I almost always go physical

That said, I'd have no qualms about pirating the games I lost access to.

 

[angrod14]

I would be grateful for all the years of enjoyment I got from them, as I only purchase what I'm going to play immediately. Then I would happily move on to new experiences. If I'm keen of reacquiring some of them, I'm sure I'll have the means to do so.

"Loss is around every corner" - Yara in Part II (before getting bullet-sprayed by some wolves).

Team Abby The Baddy, baby.

 

[MarkMe2525]

I believe this will happen in my lifetime for at least one of the major industry players.

 

[ThatStupidLion]

keep buying games