The Digital Only Future

With Steam changing the way PC games are distributed, Stephen asks if there is room for physical media or if PC gaming will become the first digital only market.

[Riderz1337]

I think i'm one of the few people who prefer digital only. I've recently started to buy games on the PS Store since some are available day 1 digital. I just don't like the hassle of swapping discs on my ps3 nor do I like having to risk scratching my disc.

[KentBlake]

Totally agree with you. The only thing that needs to improve is the price of the digital games (for consoles, of course - Steam has perfect pricing).

[Saryk]

Brick and mortar stores are the horse and buggy of days old!

Think of the resources saved by going all digital!

[Hicken]

And think of all the problems that come along with it:

1. You're stuck with the game you buy forever. There is no trading it, no returning it. You can delete it, but there's no way to recoup the money you spent on that game. Unless...

2. Your "ownership" can be revoked at any time. The developers, publishers, or providers(in the case of Steam, for example) can decide to shut down servers or otherwise kill support for the game, and you're left out in the cold. You could have a perfectly valid copy on your HDD, but if anything ever happens to that copy and the makers of the game no longer support it, you're SOL. Hard drives and game data can corrupt over time; not something that happens with physical copies.

3. Internet service provider limitations will probably never go away. And as games become more and more detailed, they'll take up even MORE space. Which means, along with having the hard drive space necessary to HOLD all these games, it'll cost you ever more to ACQUIRE them. Big releases like Call of Duty... can you imagine 8 million copies being downloaded off the servers on the first day?

And I'm sure there are some other problems I haven't thought of, too. But these are the ones that jump out at me, and they're enough to make me worry about an all-digital future.

[Information Minister]

My problem with digital distribution is that you don't really own the games that you pay for, and you're still paying full price for them, even though there are no packaging and distribution costs for the seller.

I'll further exemplify: earlier this year I bought the collector's edition of Dead Space 2 for €15. Last time I checked, the game was selling for €30 on the Playstation Store. You can get much better deals on traditional brick and mortar stores, as they try to clear inventory.

A digital only future is not one that I want to be a part of.