PS5: I struggle to even call myself a PS5 collector since I know full well its physical games are more or less glorified CD keys. I don't think there is any future in collecting for the PS5 since I know these games will have no longevity in a decade or so from now when Sony pulls the plug on its servers. Nearly every PS5 game I've played requires at least half the game be downloaded, if not way, way more than that. And I've never been able to have more than a dozen or so games downloaded onto my PS5 at a time given how much space they take up and also there being no way to update the HDD in them. If not for the games being petty fun, this would be a straight up F Tier console in terms of collecting for me.
I often hear this argument being tossed around. My question to those who espouse this - couldn't the same logic be applied also to PS4 and even PS3 games, since there are quite some games even from that time period that saw updates and patches not included on the game disc? When Sony shuts down the server for those legacy platforms, and you can't get the patches directly from them, is there no point in collecting those either? I think the downloads included with many disc games are just a prioritized method of getting the latest version, when you have an Internet connection. Not that there isn't any version on the disc.
I acknowledge that it can be worse now when developers release a beta on disc and then patch it day one, but that's usually the exception and not the rule. It mostly applies to rushed triple A games, which is far from being every PS5 physical release. Sometimes there are definitive edition physical releases, if the game is a big enough success, but there's also a lot of smaller release and indie titles which are complete on the disc. I think too much is made of the issue. SomeOrdinaryGamers once did a video demonstrating that yes, you can in fact install and play games like Demon Souls remake and others without any Internet connection at all to his PS5. So there certainly is something on the disc with the physical games, more so than the hearsay is leading people to believe. Sometimes EA or Ubisoft will pull some crap in pursuit of their bottom lines, and screw the consumer of a complete or accessible product. But it's not a reason to write of PS5 collecting enitrely, IMO.
Well, for the PS3 the patches were usually pretty minimal. While there may be a couple games that rely on the patch to be fully functional (Usually DLC), Nearly everything is playable on the ps3 without any patches downloaded. Back then, the game was expected to be released completely functional and ready to go.