New data shows that physical software dollar sales dipped to an all-time July low of $85 million in the US — the worst total since tracking began in 1995.
Notice that since 2009 the trend of physical media sales. This isn’t a new thing here and was a trend that well before this whole “scandal” of getting rid of physical media from the three console makers.
It was the gamers that moved away from physical media well before the industry made these decisions. It was the gamers that decided convenience is more important than having a physical copy of a game. I honestly view this as the industry simply catching up to the dynamics of the gamer market here and this was something that the gamer market brough largely by themselves. At this point, I think it would be more beneficial to the gamer to focus on making sure we have the same rights over digital goods as we do with physical media, including the ability to sell our keys withing the ecosystem.
Now don’t get me wrong, I’m still an advocate for having physical media but I’m not going to be some kind of hypocritical outrage machine when I myself have so much more digital games vs physical games and basically treat physical media as a treat just like vinyl.
I like collecting physical media of all kinds (books, games, movies, discs) but its mostly just physical license keys now.
Even 4K blu-rays have internet connection requirements…
DRM-free digital copies that can run on open-source software like proton or an emulator. Multiple copies on different production batches, manufacturers, and types of media at different sites.
Individual disks rot, data rotated across redundant disks will last forever. That’s how you preserve games for the next generation.
https://x.com/charlieINTEL/status/2079561875507826898
Notice that since 2009 the trend of physical media sales. This isn’t a new thing here and was a trend that well before this whole “scandal” of getting rid of physical media from the three console makers.
It was the gamers that moved away from physical media well before the industry made these decisions. It was the gamers that decided convenience is more important than having a physical copy of a game. I honestly view this as the industry simply catching up to the dynamics of the gamer market here and this was something that the gamer market brough largely by themselves. At this point, I think it would be more beneficial to the gamer to focus on making sure we have the same rights over digital goods as we do with physical media, including the ability to sell our keys withing the ecosystem.
Now don’t get me wrong, I’m still an advocate for having physical media but I’m not going to be some kind of hypocritical outrage machine when I myself have so much more digital games vs physical games and basically treat physical media as a treat just like vinyl.
I like collecting physical media of all kinds (books, games, movies, discs) but its mostly just physical license keys now.
Even 4K blu-rays have internet connection requirements…
DRM-free digital copies that can run on open-source software like proton or an emulator. Multiple copies on different production batches, manufacturers, and types of media at different sites.
Individual disks rot, data rotated across redundant disks will last forever. That’s how you preserve games for the next generation.