Author Topic: I don't think anyone will care about physical media in 20 years.  (Read 2667 times)

The stuff will be worthless but also hard to find because it will be getting chucked out and no one will want to take the time to bother selling it.

There'll be generations of people growing up in an all digital world and it will be like holding onto cassettes and VHS tapes. Archaic, antiquated and eccentric.

We'll be old people all like 'back in my day games were better!' and the pool of people who care about retro will fade to nothing.

I can still see me wanting to play old games in my retirement no matter how crazy most of the world would view that. I'm thinking about what games are truly timeless to play in my last days on Earth, if the consoles even still function 40, 50 years from now.

burningdoom

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Re: I don't think anyone will care about physical media in 20 years.
« Reply #1 on: May 16, 2018, 12:59:29 pm »
I don't know about other people, but I will.

I still buy VHS and cassette tapes when I come across cool ones.

Re: I don't think anyone will care about physical media in 20 years.
« Reply #2 on: May 16, 2018, 01:44:19 pm »
I know I will be all about physical media, too.

Also, to this day loads of people (in Denmark at least) collect ex-rental VHS tapes and pay top dollar for them, too. And cassette tapes are definitely a thing again these days and a lot of new music is released on cassette today.

If sometime during my lifetime only digital exists (which I don't think will be the case) I will simply dive into my backlog of old physical stuff and play/watch/listen to that. Plenty to choose from as it is.
« Last Edit: May 16, 2018, 01:49:03 pm by medisto »


Re: I don't think anyone will care about physical media in 20 years.
« Reply #3 on: May 16, 2018, 02:05:17 pm »
I still by 78rpm records from the 1920s.  Older things do become more niche, but not forgotten.

rayne315

Re: I don't think anyone will care about physical media in 20 years.
« Reply #4 on: May 16, 2018, 02:20:34 pm »
even when digital becomes the only way to consume video games there will still be a market for the physical games. there are so many games that are only available legally through physical media and that will remain true for the next 100 or so years after the last physical game is released (copyright laws).

the main issue with a digital only game is that the game only exists as long as the servers that host them do. if you buy 100 games from steam today and they go out of business tomorrow you are going to loose anything that is not directly downloaded on your computer. additionally there are a bunch of games that take advantage of DRM that can also go down making those games unplayable.

in 50 years they may even have removed games that you had bought that were amazing games 8-10/10 rated games that you will never be able to play if it was not downloaded on your system. there is also the possibility of your hard drive having an issue that erases your only copy of the game.

im not saying that digital is a bad thing and should be avoided at all costs but there are some definite issues that still need to be addressed before we should get away from physical entirely.
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Flashback2012

Re: I don't think anyone will care about physical media in 20 years.
« Reply #5 on: May 16, 2018, 04:08:13 pm »
The stuff will be worthless but also hard to find because it will be getting chucked out and no one will want to take the time to bother selling it.

There'll be generations of people growing up in an all digital world and it will be like holding onto cassettes and VHS tapes. Archaic, antiquated and eccentric.



Re: I don't think anyone will care about physical media in 20 years.
« Reply #6 on: May 16, 2018, 04:29:12 pm »
The stuff will be worthless but also hard to find because it will be getting chucked out and no one will want to take the time to bother selling it.

There'll be generations of people growing up in an all digital world and it will be like holding onto cassettes and VHS tapes. Archaic, antiquated and eccentric.


Nah man it's obvious, it's a niche hobby as it is.

burningdoom

PRO Supporter

Re: I don't think anyone will care about physical media in 20 years.
« Reply #7 on: May 16, 2018, 04:34:55 pm »
The stuff will be worthless but also hard to find because it will be getting chucked out and no one will want to take the time to bother selling it.

There'll be generations of people growing up in an all digital world and it will be like holding onto cassettes and VHS tapes. Archaic, antiquated and eccentric.


Nah man it's obvious, it's a niche hobby as it is.

I'm in not just video game collecting groups, but also movie collecting, music collecting, and comic book collecting groups that are all very active.

Physical sales of video games still outsell digital.

Physical media is in no danger of going away or just being niche. It's just the analysts and upper management that are pushing that idea because it costs less to produce, and they can retain legal control over the content even after you bought it.
« Last Edit: May 16, 2018, 09:52:48 pm by burningdoom »

ffxik

Re: I don't think anyone will care about physical media in 20 years.
« Reply #8 on: May 16, 2018, 06:42:39 pm »
About the only way physical media will be done away with would be forcing it.  If companies just decide to quit producing it altogether then, yes it will die.  Should that happen the media already out there won't lose much value I'm afraid.  As the supply dwindles the price will only increase.


Re: I don't think anyone will care about physical media in 20 years.
« Reply #9 on: May 16, 2018, 06:52:41 pm »
Probably not a lot, but there will still be collector's and people interested in physical media.  I mean in 20 years, I'll be 50, and I'll still care about physical media, so I proved this wrong lol 

There's always people interested in old things.  People like to collect antique cameras and other things from 50 years ago.  There's still likely going to be a gaming industry in 20 years, so there will still be people wanting to check out the origins of gaming.  Of course there's going to be a shift to pure digital eventually, that is expected, but collecting will never go away, it'll just shrink down for a smaller crowd when there is less stuff to find and the generations shift from even having physical games in the first place.

sworddude

Re: I don't think anyone will care about physical media in 20 years.
« Reply #10 on: May 16, 2018, 06:54:43 pm »
Physical media as a whole will last for a while but only because the costs are the same in most cases and when people shop in a store they want a physical thing but tbh allot of people would not care eitherway look at movies wich devalue allot faster than games, Most are satisfied with seeing a movie just once or twice or for free on the net illegally.

But for the old stuff I can't say he is incorrect as far as retro gaming comics etc goes but also other hobbies such as vhs wich has even less people who are still interested in that.

While it is hyped it is still a pretty niche hobby the majority sees the older games just as trash and can't imagine how people can enjoy that this is including people who did own these consoles in the past for many of them even 2d games did not age well and they are not enjoyable for most of them anymore not to mention that many of those people rather have other hobbies. Obviously there are certain groups of people who enjoy it but it is a niche hobby.

It will happen at some point but I personally don't think in twenty years and if there is any interest maybe in them being antiques. Still though for the interest to die Nintendo has to go bankrupped at some point since I feel otherwise allot of people will still go back in the past since the games are pretty old school even today. Also capcom for example since they still make modern arcade games wich also turn people to the past.

With sony and them ps4 games It's not the same since the best selling games do not really have a real connection to the past ps2 and especially ps1 games except gta but that type of game would not attract people to much other genre's like nintendo does.

Speaking of dead formats

Physical music cd's are very niche these days as far as modern music goes pretty much for hardcore people only

Those dollar Itune downloads and free music sites or ones with very low monthly payment spotify  really killed physical music big time

Movies are going that way as well but music is most definitely a nice example of a media being pretty much digital only.

Most people just want to use the content and with music It's so cheap to have acces to pretty much all songs worldwide old and new for just a very small amount.
« Last Edit: May 16, 2018, 07:15:49 pm by sworddude »
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Re: I don't think anyone will care about physical media in 20 years.
« Reply #11 on: May 16, 2018, 07:16:44 pm »
Nah, that's dumb.

It's not going to die out because for a lot of people, they'd buy video games, dvds and whatever else in the same sort of place they buy groceries. Not to mention, not everyone has internet, has constant access to internet, or would want to wait a few hours to download the game they just bought. Physical media is simply more acessible than digital media, always has been and always will be. Digital stuff is only really practical as another option.

This really isn't something we should let happen anyway, because it'd be really, REALLY bad. Nowadays you could play a game that was released 30 years ago because it's physical; but if everything's digital, if it's gone, its GONE. No used games, either, meaning companies can charge 60$ for a game basically forever. It'd create this reality where absolutely nothing has a legacy; we'd consume one piece of media, totally forget about it and move onto the next. Then there's "games as a service," games constantly being released with 10% of their content, and unpopular games simply being left unfinished. The idea of a "totally digital" world would allow companies to be as lazy and money hungry as they possibly can.

Don't let physical media die, it's a horrible idea.

sworddude

Re: I don't think anyone will care about physical media in 20 years.
« Reply #12 on: May 16, 2018, 07:22:46 pm »
Nah, that's dumb.

It's not going to die out because for a lot of people, they'd buy video games, dvds and whatever else in the same sort of place they buy groceries. Not to mention, not everyone has internet, has constant access to internet, or would want to wait a few hours to download the game they just bought. Physical media is simply more acessible than digital media, always has been and always will be. Digital stuff is only really practical as another option.

This really isn't something we should let happen anyway, because it'd be really, REALLY bad. Nowadays you could play a game that was released 30 years ago because it's physical; but if everything's digital, if it's gone, its GONE. No used games, either, meaning companies can charge 60$ for a game basically forever. It'd create this reality where absolutely nothing has a legacy; we'd consume one piece of media, totally forget about it and move onto the next. Then there's "games as a service," games constantly being released with 10% of their content, and unpopular games simply being left unfinished. The idea of a "totally digital" world would allow companies to be as lazy and money hungry as they possibly can.

Don't let physical media die, it's a horrible idea.

What about music

Acces to all songs making lists digitally for just a very small fee.

Allot of people do it that way very accesible in seconds not to mention the free options wich even more people use and are plenty :o

For music the last bits of physical media will die as soon as the older generations are gone since the new generation does it that way.

Movies are well on their way to do the same as music but not just yet and games will be next.

Technology will improve and it will be more easy as time goes by. Physical will be a hassle if digital would be just as easy as digital music is today. Low costs, fast accesibility acces to pretty much all content ever made. Older companies will sell their licenses to get in the pool of content for cheap for a small compensation according to the amounts it will be used.
« Last Edit: May 16, 2018, 07:27:49 pm by sworddude »
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Re: I don't think anyone will care about physical media in 20 years.
« Reply #13 on: May 16, 2018, 08:43:10 pm »
That comparison really isn't fair at all. Video games are made with wildly different code, different game systems in mind, etc..with music and movies, they can look and play different, but how they work is universal. You can watch The Dark Knight on an old tv but you can't play Super Mario Sunshine on an nes. You'll be able to pirate a movie until the end of time, but a game inevitably will eventually become unplayable if it's not physically preserved.

Games will change and improve but they'll never, ever be as simple and easy as downloading an Mp3 file or whatever. It just doesn't work that way.And the extremely negative impact on the gaming industry, the longeitivity of games, and how it screws over consumers in the long term, do not apply to movies and music, hence why people don't complain about those going digital as much. Like, call me a skeptist, but there's not going to be a day in our lifetime where we can buy the entire game of Skyrim for five bucks and jump right into it

The fact is, though-no such thing has happened. Just consider the fact that gaming PCs capable of running any current 60$ games are considered a niche and are (and will remain) much more expensive than any sort of console. And if you're going to go out of your way to head to the store to buy a console, what would you get? A 60$ eshop card, or the game you want, sitting right there on the shelf? Physical games are more likely to end up in someone's hands than digital games, and the more advanced games become, the more that fact remains true.

Cheap ass game companies want this so they can have pretty much no respect for their consumers. Don't let that happen.
« Last Edit: May 16, 2018, 09:03:01 pm by cirno »

aliensstudios

Re: I don't think anyone will care about physical media in 20 years.
« Reply #14 on: May 16, 2018, 09:13:27 pm »
Sure people will care. Not everybody but lots of people still will (myself included). Saying "anyone" is a bit too broad.
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