That's not entirely true. Buying games from GoG gives you offline installers. Throw those on a disk or a flash drive and boom, you have your physical game.

https://arstechnica.com/gaming/2024/04/controller-maker-says-switch-2-will-be-backward-compatible-with-all-switch-games/

Rumor is that the Switch 2 will also use carts, and will have backwards compatibility to the Switch. So you can continue using all your Switch carts with it.

That would be awesome if true. They did the same thing with the GB, GBC, and GBA.

Digital ownership laws could use a consumer friendly update.

I still enjoy owning physical copies. I also enjoy digital downloads. I have a mix of both.

My appreciation of physical games is a mix of wanting something to collect, and also insecurity about my digital game library. I don't ever want to lose access to all my games, so I don't keep them all in one basket.

I love physical media, however most games are just too big for it nowadays. BDXL discs can hold 100gb but most people do not have blu-ray readers in their PCs.
Game publishers don't want to distribute 10-DVD boxsets of their game when they can just list it on Steam (and get more sales)

I still have my physical copy of left 4 dead... complete with bill of sale... that says it works on windows XP.

it stopped mattering when games became "services"... can have your game all you want but they just cut off the service component now and all you have is an AOL disk.

Originally posted by Kamiyama:

https://arstechnica.com/gaming/2024/04/controller-maker-says-switch-2-will-be-backward-compatible-with-all-switch-games/

Rumor is that the Switch 2 will also use carts, and will have backwards compatibility to the Switch. So you can continue using all your Switch carts with it.

That would be awesome if true. They did the same thing with the GB, GBC, and GBA.

I’m hoping that turns out to be the case. I’ve built up a list of Switch exclusives that I want to play, over the years, and I’d love to be able to play all of them and anything from the next generation on one device.

I don't like discs if I don't have to use them. They clutter up space, take additional environmental resources to manufacture and if it breaks or wears down, you have to obtain another copy. I have no problem with digital copies and for all intents and purposes, I do "own" them. I'm not even mad about games as a service because it can be quite economical and encourages production of a wider variety of games.

jeeze, I remember games being on cartridges... I don't want to go back to that... I like having all my games in one place.

Originally posted by Haiku's Knife:

I don't like discs if I don't have to use them. They clutter up space, take additional environmental resources to manufacture and if it breaks or wears down, you have to obtain another copy. I have no problem with digital copies and for all intents and purposes, I do "own" them. I'm not even mad about games as a service because it can be quite economical and encourages production of a wider variety of games.

I don't like discs so much either TBH, but they pulled a fast one when they transitioned from physical media to digital distribution where they classified everything as a "service" to circumvent consumer protections for "products".

most games today trying to cut costs with the games without patches are broken or a compressed no texture version or a license for digital download. isnt worth it anymore to collect. but some physical games dont have that but today it doesnt have manuals anymore so my call is to redesign the disk case to be slimer to save spaces and money
I lean more on digital but it also has its own downsides

I prefer physical for consoles but my 20-24 year old GBA games are showing lots of wear. For PC though I'd just rather download everything, makes it easier to mod games.

Originally posted by kingjames488:

I don't like discs so much either TBH, but they pulled a fast one when they transitioned from physical media to digital distribution where they classified everything as a "service" to circumvent consumer protections for "products".

To my knowledge, people still can and do get refunds for digital products. Isn't Steam quite good for that?

Originally posted by 90054321564584560:

most games today trying to cut costs with the games without patches are broken or a compressed no texture version or a license for digital download. isnt worth it anymore to collect. but some physical games dont have that but today it doesnt have manuals anymore so my call is to redesign the disk case to be slimer to save spaces and money
I lean more on digital but it also has its own downsides

cept most of the services that some of those games relied on are dead rendering them unplayable.

This is one reason Gog is Steam's equal, and even better in some areas.

Download offline installers, burn to archival disk, pass down to grandkids or be buried with it.

Originally posted by Electric Cupcake:

This is one reason Gog is Steam's equal, and even better in some areas.

Download offline installers, burn to archival disk, pass down to grandkids or be buried with it.

don't they distribute steam keys?