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this post was submitted on 02 May 2025
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Unpopular Opinion
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If the internet connection isn't required after downloading, I don't see the issue. Nobody wants go back to CDs (or what ever games come on these days).
I absolutely want to go back to physical media. Preferably some sort of non-proprietary medium, like CD, DVD, Blu-Ray, or a USB connected flash storage device.
Blu-Ray is very proprietary and DVD-Video requires licensing. Some games also have on disc DRM which imo is still akin to making it a proprietary medium.
You can own software without needing to use dated distribution methods. Look at GOG. You can download and keep your games in any way you want forever. And you don't have to deal with annoying formats or media that's hard to back up.
Blu-ray is proprietary in the sense that companies have to pay a licensing fee to put the blu-ray stamp on their disc and officially claim to be a blu-ray, but is otherwise an open standard. DVD and CD are both the same way.
As for on-disc DRM, as long as it never touches the network, it doesn't bother me that much. It's still less than ideal, but it's less of a problem when compared to online DRM.
As for GoG, I applaud their stance towards providing DRM free games, however they are still a digital distribution platform, and suggesting them as an alternative to physical media misses the point of the original post as an internet connection is still required to obtain the game.
It also ignores platforms other than PC.
If you want to be able to buy the game physically then sure it would be nice. But as someone who works in the games industry, I can say that you'd be alienating a gigantic chunk of the games industry especially the indie scene. Physical game distribution is really expensive, ethically dubious, and actually acts more as a marketing tool than a means to make sales.
I work for a pretty big studio where I am and we can't afford to do conventional physical distribution. The last studio I worked at only could do it because our publisher had connections.
But that doesn't have to be the nail in the coffin. You have access to the internet. You can make your own physical media by purchasing drm free games and storing it in something quality. if you can't for a specific game then you should vote with your wallet. It'll eventually come to gog or something.
Just buy a harddrive.
Why? I have more than enough storage already. That isn't the point of wanting physical media.
When you're able to install off of physical media you have a builtin backup, you have something you can loan to friends, something you can sell when you're done with it, and something that can't be taken from you just because a company went under or lost a publishing license.
Also, at least in the time prior to the prominence of digital distribution you had some assurance that the game would at least function because the company making the game knew they wouldn't be able to just push a day-one update.
All of that can be achieved with an external HDD at a better convenience. I wouldn't want my games to ship even on a usb flash drive, I already have enough of those.
Sure, if you exclusively game on PC and exclusively buy DRM free titles, you can achieve all of that with an external HDD. I'll give you that.