I don't think I ever owned more than 30 physical games at once.
You're forgetting about DRM free games. Salt & Sactuary is yours to own, and I copied it from Steam to my computer and it runs on it's own. There's others like: Civilization III Complete, Darksiders III(not the DLC I believe), the entire Divinity franchise, Final Fantasy IX/X/X-2/XII: Zodiac Age, Hollow Knight, a couple of Oddworld games, All the Sega MegaDrive classics packs, the early Sonic games, +100's more.
And this isn't even including GoG.com, which is all DRM free games. Or developers who only make DRM free games.
Additionally, in 100 years, the only working old consoles will be in museums. And any catastrophe that would end the entire games industry would likely end society tbh. I doubt you'll even have electricity. Video games are the largest entertainment sector by far. You'd have to devastate humanity to get rid of it at this point.
And 100 years from now, gaming will be the most insane virtual reality experience we could ever imagine. I doubt we'd want to revisit PS2 era games for anything other than history lessons. Modern games will be to next-century gamers what The Great Train Robbery is to modern movie goers: strictly watched in film history classes.
Last edited by StyleTime on Jul 12th, 2020 at 11:23 PM
I mean, don't get me wrong, I have plenty of games digitally on ALL my systems, but I do think there's a possibility that one of the three big gaming companies, including STEAM, which many of you have put THOUSANDS of dollars into likely may not be around as far as 50 years from now, let-alone 100.
I get 100 years from now gaming will be some seriously crazy shit, but it'd be fun to re-visit the classics (if you still have them).
I just can't see there not being at least 10,000-20,000 PS2's 100 years from now, I think it's a downright impossibility that there won't be TONS of people that still have working PSP's and PS2's.
I get we have no metric to measure that against, or do we? You can still buy a working analog computer to play "Tennis for Two", which is a game from 1958.
I'd measure to say stuff like the NES or PS1 could last just as long, I don't see why not.
In a 100 years, you would most likely be able to play an "classic" game on whatever device it is without paying a single cent. It would be no different than being able to listen to classic music.
I think its a pointless debate. All physical media has moved to a digital format. The only two holdouts are books and console games. In 15 years, I wouldn't be surprised if all games move to a subscription service similar to Netflix, Apple Music, Audible and etc. It's already starting now with Game Pass and whatever Sony will do in the next few years.
In 30 years, these physical games we all have will be available in a subscription. You already seeing this with NES and SNES Online (only Nintendo is being strict on releases)....but the generation behind us are being brought up watching, listening and reading content through a subscription...I cannot see physical releases being a viable option anymore.
Why worry about keeping physical copies...in 30 years, you most likely be able to play those games for free through a browser (if those exist also!). There has been initiatives by groups of people to start collecting and putting classic games online...I recently played some old computer games I use to play when I was a kid...all through browser without paying money.
You can remove patches in lots of games, especially on PC. Some games are nice enough to let you toggle between patches. That said, yeah, physical copies would generally make things easier.
Regardless, that one thing doesn't really outweigh all the advantages of digital. If a medium requires rare, corner cases to support their viability, then they are already on their way to being obsolete, at least in general use.
We could think of weird scenarios where physical books are preferable to e-books, but e-books are still overall superior.
Last edited by StyleTime on Jul 14th, 2020 at 01:27 AM
I just have one question, how many years do you think it'll be before you have rebuy those digital copies?
How many years after THAT do you think it'll be to buy ANOTHER digital copy.
What if someone hacks your account and changes your password? What if (again) one of the companies you bought from goes bankrupt? What if STEAM goes bankrupt? You will not get those games back.
If these big-budget games end up on browsers it won't be for 50+ years, considering we barely get access to DOS games on browsers, while they can barely handle 3D games.
Solely because of graphical fidelity is the reason it'd be harder, and yes in 100 years they'd surely be on browsers but still.
You want my opinion? I think Stadia is gonna fail outright, everybody will never want a solely digital gaming platform.
I lecture my friend all the time because he trades in his games after he's done with them and it boggles my mind considering he'll just have to rebuy it again if he wants to play it (and he does some years down the line, always).
There's too much risk, not enough reward. I'd rather buy something physical for $50 one time then spend $20 over and over every 20-25 years. Chances are possible that something WILL happen to Sony, Xbox, Nintendo, or Steam, and if something does, ya'll are screwed, you lost out on tons of games that you have to rebuy, and in a lot of cases physicals are cheaper.
I got Kingdom of Paradise on my PSP for $8.48, it's more then double on the store.
Yes I understand in many cases that's not how it works, in many cases it can be FAR more expensive then when it even released.
On top of that, you can't really play a lot of games on it's original system (like Final Fantasy VII: Crisis Core) without buying a physical company or using an emulator.
As I get older I prefer the simple convenience of being able to game wherever I go, I played the hell out of my PS3 when I was younger but not console gaming has slown down tremendously for me, I still haven't completed KH3 because I don't feel like sitting in front of a TV looking up for 3-4 hours.
Here's the thing. I don't really care. I rarely am going to play a game that I've already beat 10-15 years ago. But, on the rare case that I do, I'm not going to play it on the original console anyway. Even if I already own it, I'm going to use an emulator instead.
Yes, basically. I agree. I don't care either.
I am not going to keep hold of all the consoles I have, just on the chance I might want to play it 15 years from now..when I most likely pick it up for $3.
And...in 15-20 years...can you even use those consoles on a TV? Will they have the correct inputs? What about PC games? Can you even install them anymore? Physical also has limitations as well.
I think Stadia will fail as well. I don't think the business model works and they have no customers to fall on....but considering MS is offering their streaming platform if you have Xbox Game Pass...it could take off (if it works)..
Like I said, it's creating outlandish scenarios to make physical media seem relevant. Most people play through their games once or twice and never touch them again. You won't need to repurchase anything. Additionally, streaming services exist, and will likely be the future of gaming. I have PS Now, which is basically Sony's video game Netflix. I no longer physically own Resident Evil 4 or Shadow of the Colossus, but they are available along with 100s of other games through that. And I can try games I was interested in but didn't want to purchase. Some outliers, like Einhander, exist. I just emulate those though. I'd happily pay for it but they refuse to put it back on the store for whatever reason.
You can already emulate PS1 games in a browser for free.
Those services all have more than just username/password security. Mobile verification is there too, if you want it. Steam alerts you whenever someone logs in from a different computer. And you can always call for identity verification if something goes wrong. It's not impossible to be hacked, but it's way less likely than your PS2 dying....which 100% will happen eventually. Your discs could also be damaged. As for them going under, again, there's plenty of games you can just copy over to your computer. Most you won't be re-buying anyway, and they will likely be picked up by whatever streaming service is big at the time Steam hypothetically dies.
All these arguments against digital rely on unlikely doomsday scenario where the entire games industry crashes in 100 years. It's like me saying you'll break all your physical games by accident ans have to repurchase them.
Phones killed hand-held consoles, so I have to disagree there. Playstation and Xbox also have digital only versions. That will be the standard eventually. Stadia has other problems though.
I don't think most care about playing on its original system.
Digital games are, by default, more portable than physical games.
KMC Community Forums
Jul 12th, 2020 11:14 PM
Thanks Scribble!
