I’m not a very good with high speed games anyways, so the increased latency isn’t generally noticeable in the games I play.
Steam has done a remarkable job staying open for 20 years (My copy of Half Life 2 is right where I left it). Sony has done a reasonable job. I don’t know about Microsoft. Nintendo has failed several times, but may have finally figured it out with the Switch.
I know I can buy discs and cartridges from any previous era and as long as I have a system (or emulator), I can play them, lend them, or sell them. Digital versions allow me to play, but for how long. I can’t lend or sell them. If I get the urge to play Resogun in 2033 and don’t have it downloaded, am I going to be able to?
I do think there may be a generational component to it as well. I’ve always thought Gen X is more tied to the idea of “owning” a copy (music, movies, games), while younger generations are more comfortable with digital only releases, or even subscription catalogues that change over time as the primary means of entertainment.
The standard physical editions still include a disc or cartridge and occasionally just a code.
With the development cycle and Sony and Microsoft’s distribution setup as it is now, physical copies effectively act as a token to play the game only. Using Cyberpunk 2077 as an example a recent patch to the game mandated a nearly full redownload of the whole game on PS5 and Xbox Series - ~60+GB. On PC it was ~5G.
source?
I'm fine enough with piracy being the nuclear option if we run into situations like with F-Zero or Legends of Dragoon or whatnot. But there are official options for almost every other game I would be interested in re-visiting. I still like owning a disc the same way I like owning a physical book, but I'd be lying if I said I ever popped in a disc for any 10+ year old game. It's more of a sentimental gesture to display on my shelf than a means of preservation.
Not actually owning the games is a problem. Nvidia's service, GeForce Now, originally allowed you to play any game you had purchased on Steam, under the theory that you were using your license to play it. Their library was decimated when that was challenged legally.
Most of the services don't offer the same modding options as you would have on PC either.
If I were to pick between the two, I'd rather we move towards having more control over the things we purchase than less.
People often seem to have a general sense of helplessness when it comes to large businesses, why get upset about it when there's nothing you can do?
I don't see anything unless people find the motivation to make it a political issue.
A personal anecdote that I think exemplifies the problem:
I was once double invoiced for custom charges by FedEx. The phone number on the invoice lead to a phone tree where every option simply hung up. Depending on where I looked there were three different email addresses, and an online form; only one provided an automated response and my first three emails were ignored entirely. Their customer support line was unable to connect to that department.
At one point I was given an individual's work email and received no response either. Despite this, I continued to receive past due, and final notice letters from them.
It took months and hours of my time to resolve a problem they created, had I not persisted, I would have had to deal with collections and credit agencies.
Why should we allow companies behave this way without repercussions?