I Remain Annoyed at Video-Games Working to Eliminate Physical Media

You know what I'm still irritated about? Video-game companies giving up their offering of physical media as an option. I know a lot of PlayStation and Xbox users go with digital formats, but even having the choice to use a disc--that you own--is good. Physical games help with making it possible to preserve games, rent titles, resell them, and they give consumers a lot more rights than it seems companies want them to have. Sony has already made its intentions clear and Microsoft is going through massive restructuring and layoffs in regards to Xbox, so who knows their exact future plans? It’s a mess.

It is odd to think back to 2013, when Sony absolutely dominated E3 with their presentation one-upping Microsoft's plans to complicate how players owned and enjoyed games. Thirteen years later, Sony is dropping discs entirely with the PS6, and Microsoft seems poised to dump them too with the new iteration of Xbox. The stars of Sony's viral, "How to share your games," bit from that E3 recently re-enacted the meme with their hands empty, as they lacked a physical prop. Oddly, it becomes fitting symbolism that they are, "Exchanging," nothing, as soon that's what Sony will offer (and quite possibly Microsoft). Then there's Nintendo.

Nintendo has often done things their own way and provided unique experiences with their devices. This has sometimes brought insane success (Game Boy, Wii, Switch) and other times shocking failure (Virtual Boy, Wii U). They've been a lot slower to embrace the use of the internet with their consoles, and that has paradoxically turned them from luddites to champions of having physical games. Yes, there is an online store for games and a number are digital-only, but Nintendo has always had a focus on interesting ways to play games as opposed to maximizing graphics or such. I'm not saying Nintendo should be heralded as some kind of champion, as they've engaged in their own questionable behavior. I mean, they are a good deal more litigious than any other game company and sue projects that they honestly have little reason to go after! Still, Nintendo's belief in physical products is a nice counterpoint to much of the rest of the game market.

If I were to sit and imagine what gaming looks like in 2030, I would picture a World where we have a handful of AAA titles that cost millions and a lot of indie games, but fewer mid-sized titles, as it seems budgets for games are either minuscule or massive these days, and that trend might continue. I'd also imagine there is barely any focus on physical copies of games outside of those concerned with preservation (making bootleg-esque copies), or those who enjoy boutique publishers that release special editions of games with physical iterations and bonus swag (Limted Run Games and what have you). That is, of course, if any consoles still even have a physical-media choice (by 2030 that might be solely Nintendo and theoretically some PC gaming for those with disc drives). I can't tell you exactly what gaming will be like by 2030, obviously. I guess I can estimate what it won't be, more than anything. For better or worse, we're entering the end of one era for games and the start of a new one--for better or worse.