![[EDIT: CONFIRMED FALSE] Starfield physical edition won't include physical discs.](https://szmer.info/pictrs/image/5238cee4-2855-4ae1-9e0b-3631d3bbc1cb.png){kind=link}
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This means you can’t pass the game around to your friends or sell it afterwards, which completely ruins the purpose of physical media imo. I mostly play PC these days so this doesn’t affect me, but it’s a disappointing direction for console games. At least they could’ve used an empty disc that has proof of ownership.
EDIT: Bethesda has confirmed that only the PC version won’t include a disc. Physical versions of Xbox will include a disc. Whew.
I honestly don’t get the obsession with physical media. That’s a thing of the past, my PC doesn’t even have a drive anymore.
The only benefit I see is a reduced download size, but with day one patches sometimes being 40+ GB that’s also not always the case.
It’s not like you own the game, just because you have a physical copy of it. Once the licensing servers are shut down that disk becomes a paper weight, and that is if it doesn’t require a constant connection to begin with.
On the other side you could argue that it’s better for the environment if we finally get rid of all disks. Is it a huge impact compared to everything else? Probably not, but it is a step in the right direction.
Selling the game after you’re done is the biggest one I heard. If you’re playing a single player game that you don’t expect to want to do another run of, you can recoup some of the money. Similarly, some people prefer to buy somebody’s copy for 80% of the price they would pay on the digital version.
But just you then just buy a worthless piece of plastic nowadays, because the license key was already added to Steam, GoG or whatever?
I mean, sure, but the discussion isn’t only about PCs, the question in the screenshot was about the series X. You can find pre-owned discs for consoles sold on gamestop, for example.
Ah, I get it now. I was so locked into PC gaming that I wasn’t aware we are talking consoles.
Yeah, the argument gets a lot better on consoles, but I guess physical console games are a dying breed as well.
I don’t think that’s been possible for years, has it? Games had activation codes since long before downloading games became the norm, and I thought that meant you couldn’t resell them?
Sure it is, just Google “pre-owned games” and you’ll probably have hits from whatever the main game supplier js in your country (GameStop, GAME etc.).
Ooh are you talking about console games? Because it’s not the same for PC games.
Ah, hadn’t realised you were on about PC gaming.
Physical editions for PC gaming for me died a long time ago as I pretty much exclusively use Steam.
Consoles however I always try and get physical where possible.
That’s how PC software/games work. Starfield isn’t shipping a disk for Xbox either. Console gamers are enamored with swapping disks that are functionally just DRM keys (due to updates and DLC) around instead of picking their software from an installed titles list. Or they want to sell the game after playing it, which you can’t do with software that’s sold as a license key.
You haven’t walked into a Gamestop in the last couple years?
Pretty straightfoward. And understanable IMO.
If I have a physical disk of something, I can put it in a compatable system and play/watch it regardless of whether my internet is out or just shitty in general, even years down the line (as far as I’m aware, the devs/company have yet to be able to register/tie disks to devices, and they’re not gonna break into my place and take my media away. So while I don’t own the thing, my copy is my copy to do with as I please so long as I’m not passing it around for others to download). It’s also not tied to any account, so my use of the thing doesn’t hang on whether i have a Steam account or a Netflix account or whathaveyou. There’s also media preservation, and just the fact that some people like to have something tangible that they can say “this is mine”.
Discrot and failing hardware is a problem…but personally, as long as I have a receipt or proof of purchase for it, I’m not gonna lose sleep over getting it from alternative sources if i can’t rip the data off the thing myself. It’s simple: the company gets my money, they give me a copy of the software, and that’s it. What they do with that cash is not my business and what I do with that copy (unless I’m either illegally distributing it or reverse engineering it for my own profit) is not thiers.
That was a valid argument, but in the days of 40+ GB day one patches and the likes, I firmly believe that the disc will become useless as soon as someone decides to kill the servers, usually ~5-10 years down the line depending on the success and popularity of the game/franchise.
Case in point: My physical copy of Overwatch.
Man, I still get pissed off whenever I remember what was promised in regards to Overwatch 2 and what was delivered.
This is a good argument for physical copies of pre-internet games. Now? The game you have on your disc is incomplete. You need the internet and an Xbox account™ to download 65 more gigabytes on Day 1 to avoid a bug where using a bow and arrow on a horse crashes the game. There’s a Roadmap™ for the 40% of the game they’re delivering as DLC over the next couple of years. Hell, on the Switch there are firmware versions that explicitly disallow you from booting game cartridges without downloading the update for that game - what happens in 20 years when Nintendo isn’t serving those update files? How meaningful for preservation is your BOTW cartridge then?
Piracy and DRM-free digital content are the only methods of preservation. Full stop. The fight isn’t physical vs digital, it’s DRM vs DRM-free (pirated counts as DRM-free). If I buy a game on GOG and store its installer on my PC, which is backed up to my server, which has a SnapRAID array that tolerates two drive failures, that game’s mine. It’ll work if GOG goes out of business and takes down its CDN, it’ll work if the dev loses the rights to the soundtrack, it’s immune to the devs deciding I’d rather have Witcher 3 with ✨ray tracing✨, it’s immune to Blizzard “reforging” my Warcraft 3, I can’t have account details stolen and subsequently banned…
For Playstation, I believe you can play the vast majority of games from disc without an Internet connection. It would just be the 1.0 version unless you’ve previously patched.