Will We Really Keep Our Digital Games Forever?

It seems in this next gen more than ever Microsoft and Sony want gamers to buy into the digital age of games. As more and more gamers jump onboard it begs the question. What happens to my digital games at the end of a console's life when online for that system is shut down?

[papashango]

not if you buy em on console

[Sly-Lupin]

Dunno why you're getting disagrees for this.

Sony pulled the biggest anti-consumer move re: digital distribution this generation with the PS4 not being compatible with digital PSN, PS1, PS2 or PS3 games.

[LordMaim]

It's not like the Xbox One is backwards compatible either. Sony was the *first* to provide backwards compatibility on a console with the release of the PS2. People have just gotten used to a feature that didn't exist not that long ago.

[PSN-JeRzYzFyNeSt]

i hope. thats all im gonna buy this Gen, Digital im readyy..

but if not thaats fine to, torwards the end of this gen ill just stop by Gamestop and pick them up for cheap preowned ;)

[voodoochild346]

People like this ruin gaming for everyone. Smh.

[Sly-Lupin]

Prepare to be bitten in the ass for it, like everyone who went mostly-digital last gen.

[Summons75]

No, many years in the future when Sony doesn't support the Ps3 and it's version of psn and your Ps3 dies guess what you won't redownload!

MS has already pulled games off the XBLA and when you go to delete one of them to save some space it warns you that you WILL NEVER be able to redownload it.

Sony is forcing everyone to rebuy all their Ps3 games with PSnow and and both companies don't even allow you to have backward compatibility on retail or digital games and only a few PS3 arcade games got an upgrade for PS4 but I doubt they will do it for the majority.

Heck, even Steam says they have they can shut down at anytime and you won't be able to access anything anymore in the TOS.

Digital Download = never fully owning the product

[dragon82]

Sony isn't forcing anyone to do anything with PS Now.

[Summons75]

You have to pay for service aka pay for the games you ALREADY OWN.

[Everlastingfate]

I think dragon is saying that you don't have to use the service if you don't like the terms and conditions,

[dragon82]

If you decide to pay for a rental service to play games that you already own then that is "your" choice. Not Sony forcing you to do it. They are simply offering the choice to you. The problem is that people think if they buy a game on PS3 then they should be entitled to all future versions of that game for free. It doesn't work that way. Deal with it.

[pootymcpoockle]

Nope. And that's exactly why I never have (and never will) buy any retail game digitally. With indie games you have no choice, which is why they're only exception.

[1nsomniac]

No of course not! Welcome to the corporate digital age.

Everything we do these days revolves around giving up money as well as ownership & possession.

We give people hard currency & get 'e-vouchers' instead of cash currency back. We pay for music and get electronic mp3's instead of a real physical cd.

We buy games & instead of being given them we're given access to download them from the ether where the same 1 copy is available for everyone else to download as long as they've handed over their money as well.

All of these things just created in electronic clouds & servers that will all be wiped clean at some point. They will be gone forever but will you then get your money back or receive a hard physical copy of it instead... no!

Corporations have found a way to not loose any money in their own processes but then take other peoples money away also without actually physically giving them anything.

Same when countries are in economic crisis & they start launching "cash my gold" campaigns. Just a coincidence that they never have them at any other time other than when you're in a recession. This is because if things fall through then the cash they've given you is worthless because it's a made up currency only the gold that you just gave away to them will.

It's hilarious really!

[wonderfulmonkeyman]

Nope.
But to be honest, as long as I take really good care of the games and the systems they're on, then it shouldn't be too big an issue to keep them around for a long time to come.

However, I will never pay for a service that only allows me to keep the games I pay for so long as I'm a member of their rental service.
It's either a full download that I can keep and play regardless of membership, or nothing at all.

Also, I prefer supporting the developers that make these games, so I'm actually one of the minority that hates seeing good games become freebies in these membership programs.
If a game's good enough to be worth owning, I'd like to give the devs some money for it, because that means they'll have more cash to make more games that I'll likely want to purchase as well.
It's a shame to see great games doled out like shovelware just to tempt people into becoming members of a paid service.

[LordMaim]

If you're talking about Playstation Plus and let's be frank, you are, Sony doesn't get the games from the developers for free. The developer is paid, and agrees to the deal before anything appears on PS+. So everything you just said is inapplicable.

[wonderfulmonkeyman]

If they're paid beforehand, then it's not going to be as much as they would have made off of selling the actual copies of the game rather than including their games as freebies.
I would rather give them the maximum that they deserve rather than paying for a paid service where they only skim a little off the top for it.

Also, whether they get paid or not doesn't negate the fact that the free games only stay there so long as you're a member.
And as far as I know, you're forced to stream them, rather than being able to play them after downloading them.
I like owning my games.

[Superherox70]

It wouldn't let me respond but I wanted to say the ps2 was not the first backwards compatible system, it was the Atari 7800 followed by the game gear which could play master system

[LordMaim]

@wonderfulmonkeyman: Obviously the company believes that they stand to make more money by licensing the software to Playstation Plus than they would through straight sales, otherwise they'd never have taken the deal. Companies are under no obligation to participate, and more than one has jumped at the chance to breathe new life into a title that they feel hadn't gained the attention it deserved at the cash register.

Playstation Plus isn't a streaming service. You download the entire game and can play it as long as you remain subscribed to the service. Once your term expires, so does your license. It spans PS3, PS4 and Vita, so there's a lot of content you get for your money, on top of discounts you get on almost everything else. In the end you save more money than the service costs.

[skyfire2261]

What a shock. Typical anti-digital bs here. Everything I have digital is backed up and even if I lose it I download again. There would have to be something severely catastrophic for the whole system to go down and bye-bye.

What do I care if a game I have lasts 1000 years on a disc? How does this beniefit me? I play my games NOW and if I can get them ALL cheap and have hem available anywhere anytime then f yes to that.

You idiots buying brick and mortor are the suckers to the corporations, especially if you buy used (money that which no deg see's ever)

. Think about how much you spent last gen, I'm going to bet it is a lot more than what you could have done going digital. Granted Sony, Microsoft and Nintendo don't quite get it but they are slowly catching up/on but then again consoles are always behind the times.

Have fun with your coasters.

[DCfan]

Soo much wrong in...

[SegaGamer]

What about if you were to buy about 10 games just as Xbox live was about to close down on the Xbox 360 and when you finish downloading those games your HDD dies? You're going to be pissed. You would have just spent so much money and you never be able to even play those games again.

Or what about the games you have already bought and you one day want to go back and play but you can't because your HDD is dead ?

I know HDD's and i know that they don't last as long as a disc. I still have disc's on my PS1 and Dreamcast that are over 15 years old now and they are in almost perfect condition. I have gone through countless HDD's because they don't last as long.

[DualWielding]

can you explain how you have it backed it up in a way you can restore it if something happens to your console? the problem is that there is DRM in place to prevent people from doing their own backups

[JBSleek]

No. It's a trade off for cheaper prices and convenience. For some it will be worth it and for others it won't be depending if you are someone who returns to games or value physical ownership over digital ownership.

The most important thing is that they both should live together and be options; that being digital and retail.

[Illusive_Man]

Not with Sony.

[blackblades]

Well if something actually happens to sony it'll just be passed to other companies. So yes we'll be keeping them, digital is the future. Hate and disagree all you want cause at the end of the day you people won't be playing them anyways just how most of ya sold your ps3 or put it in the closet when ps4 came out. Let me say this your game breaks, burn, stolen whatever and its discontinued no longer available on store shelves what then, pay hundreds or thousands on internet hell no your screwed right there.

[dcj0524]

If you buy them on SONY or Nintendo products you can't keep em. Xbox and PC both can back up their games with USB drives if Steam or Xbox goes under. The only thing Sony has is Secondary HDDS. Same with Wii U. Vita needs those proprietary memory cards and the 3DS is SD card. I just wish there was a cheaper way for the Wii U, PS3 and PS4.

[MNGamer-N]

This is why is still strongly prefer physical media. I get to keep my games forever. And I can resell them if I want to. It's hard to resell a downloaded game.

[SegaGamer]

I agree, i cannot move to digital downloading until i am told that when they eventually close down xbox live for 360 and PS+ for PS3 that i will still be able to somehow download these games if something were to happen to my HDD's they are stored on.

[swice]

Keep backups of your drives. We have to be responsible too

[DualWielding]

they do not allow you to backup your drives (or rather you can backup your drives but you cannot restore the information from them) maybe they will make the DRM lightweight so people can do their own backups... Im sure everybody would be o.k with them turning off servers if they allow us to make our own backups

[swice]

I'm going digital on Wii U to save money. Best Buys eshop card sales paired with the deluxe digital promotion, I save about $15 dollars on retail games this way.

[DualWielding]

this is a serious concern, I'm kinda hoping they keep the stores going even if they shut servers for multiplayer.....

[Everlastingfate]

Nintendo has. Wii shop is still active but online play (Nintendo wifi) is down forever.

[ninjahunter]

On PC, yea, it can probably work out in such a way that you can keep them even if the companies shut down, or the platform upgrade and such. But on console its a different story, New consoles lose compatibility, old servers and services get shut down, licenses get lost between generations, so on, so forth.