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Modern Video Games / Re: What are your plans when everything goes digital only?

« on: January 29, 2024, 09:22:29 pm »

This topic has come up numerous times recently in various Facebook groups I belong to as well as in a livestream I was watching this evening. Being a collecting site, I figure most VGcollect people are not happy about the inevitable digital only future of modern gaming, but I thought it would be interesting to see what everyone's feelings are towards this topic, and how, if at all, will this change the way you purchase and play modern games?

PC only, DRM-Free only (basically means GoG but some titles on steam are actually DRM-Free as well)
I tend to agree with what bunnybear said about many of the new-releases not even being worth your time. It's like they begin with basic structural mechanics like shooting and movement and then just figure out how to make them as addictive as possible so they can monetize the hell out of them. A few years back a friend and I played several Ubisoft titles (IIRC it was the first GR Wildlands and the original Division) because they had them on trial and I was genuinely left yelling at my friend about how boring and pointless they were and how I couldn't fathom how they'd each individually sold millions of copies. Prior to that I'd played several Ubisoft titles and enjoyed many of them but since that experience I literally haven't paid a single one of their titles any mind.
I fully expect streaming-only to come (relatively) shortly after digital-only, at that point I won't even bother, I'd rather make my own games at that point.

Like you said, as of the current generation many games are essentially no better than coasters and the same holds true for many games from the PS4/xbone generation as well.

I've begun thinking that an all-digital future won't happen. At least, not until worldwide internet infrastructure becomes more widely available with higher quality. Below is a comment I've made elsewhere:

People also overlook many other areas of the world such as parts of Europe, Africa, and Asia in addition to rural North America, even. I doubt we'll truly see a digital-only console anytime soon, because regions like these won't be able to support a digital-only system. If decisions like to make certain games digital-only is to come, then they'll just be missing out on sales while certainly not gaining any more.

Of course, this issue could just be ignored with companies deciding to cut their losses in some markets, but I don't think that will happen anytime soon. I've not seen anyone else make this sort of argument, so perhaps that is only wishful thinking.

"One of the things we saw is that gamers are used to, a little bit like DVD, having and owning their games. That's the consumer shift that needs to happen. They got comfortable not owning their CD collection or DVD collection. That's a transformation that's been a bit slower to happen [in games]. As gamers grow comfortable in that aspect… you don't lose your progress. If you resume your game at another time, your progress file is still there. That's not been deleted. You don't lose what you've built in the game or your engagement with the game. So it's about feeling comfortable with not owning your game.

"I still have two boxes of DVDs. I definitely understand the gamers perspective with that. But as people embrace that model, they will see that these games will exist, the service will continue, and you'll be able to access them when you feel like. That's reassuring.

Like the person being interviewed mentions, the majority of people have grown comfortable with subscription-based models for music, movies, and TV. However, that's not to say they enjoy it, as there are so many issues with how it's being managed now, with licenses being sold regularly from party to party. A recent video from videogamedunkey pokes fun at this ridiculousness in a way which only strengthens the argument.

That said, I'm now envisioning a future which has games being treated the same way. While before there were only a handful of major streaming services for visual media, there are dozens of dozens now. Games could easily fall into that model, with individual publishers releasing their own subscription services or, at the very least, selling their licenses to the highest bidder with them being traded around routinely to others. This could easily mean that one game within a series be exclusively available on one service, whereas a second game in that same series be exclusively available on another. So, to play through the entire series, consumers could very well be forced to subscribe to a multitude of models.

The person being interviewed also doesn't mention (from what you've provided as excerpts, anyway) the very real possibility of games being de-listed across all platforms far in the future, which is not uncommon for other forms of media now.

Nobody cares about the regions without access to quality internet. African, South American, and Middle Eastern region releases do exist but the markets are extremely small to begin with (and likely has a large crossover with the ones that can afford high speed internet).
Companies like MS were arrogant enough to say "stick with 360" more than a decade ago when pressed on the topic, arrogant execs certainly haven't gone extinct.
It's also in the best interest for companies like Microsoft, Facebook, and Google to deliberately build out that sort of infrastructure in those places so that they can be the first ones to capture the wider market as their populations gradually get richer.

https://www.purexbox.com/news/2024/01/xboxs-physical-games-departments-reportedly-affected-by-microsoft-layoffs

I'm fully expecting Sony to be next and Nintendo to follow after that. Hopefully we get a PS6 with a disc drive but it's possible they axe it by the PS5 Pro.