Digital is the future!
The physical media in video game industry is lucky to have survived this long... Or perhaps it is only due to the absolute stubbornness and entitlement of gamers!
The music industry was taken over by the rise of mp3s, iPod, and streaming. People still buy CDs and vinyl but they are the minority. The movie industry was taken over by the rise of digital stores like iTunes/Google Play/Amazon Prime and streaming services such as Netflix, YouTube, Disney+, Amazon, etc. Sure, some people still buy DVDs + Blu-ray but again they are in the minority.
The video game industry is next and it won't be so lucky! The reason physical media still exists for music + video is because it offers better quality. Streaming music through Spotify and watching movies on Netflix is good enough but for enthusiasts they can get better quality buying vinyl or Blu Ray.
The same can not be said for games! Games won't necessarily perform better on physical media vs digital. If anything, a game loaded onto an SSD will be accessed and load faster than what a spinning disc and laser are capable of.
People will argue "but digital music + video is easier to download/stream compared to video games!" Yes...that definitely has gave physical games a bit of extra life but there is no avoiding the fact that digital is becoming more popular which means internet quality is improving and/or more people are just accepting what the future holds by moving to digital.
The writing is on the wall. Rising digital sales. Physical game sales falling. Microsoft buttered up everyone with the All Digital Xbox One S and now Sony is firing a warning shot with the All Digital PS5. Oh no, physical media will stick around for a while yet but it's only a matter of time.
You can try hang onto your discs and drives for dear life but you'll need to let go eventually. It's best to just do it now and get it over with. There is no avoiding it. If you refuse to go digital then your only option will be to not play games. Us on PC have been all digital for years. I haven't bought a physical PC game since 2005. Trust me, it's really not that bad. In fact it is simply better.
Tick tock.