People want retail games and if the big 3 can't cover that market a new and more sustainable subject will fill that space. Maybe it's time to bring back physical media to PC, a more open system where publishers could make profit selling their retail games similarly to vinyls for music.

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[–] 63 points 2 months ago (25 children)

No, physical media is not useful for PC games, you want a DRM free installer (preferably with all relevant patches applied, both game patches and compatibility DLL/mods for older games), not the physical media (which may or may not have DRM).

This ship has sailed a long time ago on PC (~15 years ago).

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  • [–] [S] 16 points 2 months ago (12 children)

    I think drm-free indie oriented publishers like Annapurna could make a lot of money with physical copies.

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  • [–] 18 points 2 months ago* (last edited 2 months ago) (4 children)

    That may be true, I just don't see the point of storing the DRM free installerі on an optical disc, something like an SD card which can be easily updated seems like a much better fit.

    Most computers don't have optical disc drives (I do have one, but I am exception and I don't use it for data).

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  • [–] 3 points 2 months ago* (last edited 2 months ago)

    I, for one, would be in favor of selling physical PC games on flash drives. Like, flash drives are (were? not sure how bad the chip shortage has hit them, if at all) dirt cheap, and even the biggest games today generally don't go far beyond 128GB (not counting post-launch patches), and I can find 128GB flash drives retailing for $10 right now at Micro Center. I assume a big enough publisher buying in bulk could get them far cheaper and more price optimized for this specific use case, and 256GB drives for even larger games for not much more. It would be more expensive than discs or cards, true; but not every PC has a disc drive or SD card reader, every PC these days has USB ports and most of them have USB 3.0 now. And still being smaller and more durable than a disc the same way cards are, could save on packaging costs if they optimized the packaging for it.

    I also feel that people buying physical PC games are usually enthusiasts willing to pay a premium, anyhow, and giving them a reasonably nice flash drive with the game on it would feel more "substantial" than just getting a card or disc in a plastic case.

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  • [–] 3 points 2 months ago (2 children)

    You can legally resell if it is on disk.

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  • [–] 15 points 2 months ago

    As someone with a collection of a couple hundred CDs and another hundred or so DVDs filling my closet, I'm not really sure everyone appreciates the logistics of holding physical media for a couple-hundred-game library.

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  • [–] 7 points 2 months ago (2 children)

    I could see physical releases, at least as special editions, being a thing people would like. Though I think today SD cards would make more sense, at least if flash memory prices ever come back down.

    But a SD card with a custom label in box with proper box art and a little art book inside would be cool for fans and collectors.

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  • [–] 7 points 2 months ago (2 children)

    Physical media has long sailed but not drm free software.

    (I'm not sure which of those you're referring to, just clearly stating)

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  • [+] 3 points 2 months ago* (last edited 1 month ago) (8 children)
  • [–] 1 point 2 months ago (7 children)

    Optical media really isn't your friend. I love it, I have loads of old games on optical discs and I bought a PS5 with its disc drive specifically because that's how I wanted to buy the media. But I also back up what I can to spinning rust or solid state drives that can sit cold stored until I want them. Optical media will degrade. There are exceptions, like M-Disc, but the medium is slow and space consuming.

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  • [–] 1 point 2 months ago (3 children)

    If the files are DRM-free as they said, then there's nothing stopping backups. I don't get why you're trying to paint it as an either/or thing

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  • [–] 1 point 2 months ago (2 children)

    I'm not sure I understand. Whether it's DRM free or not has no bearing on the reliability of optical media as a backup format. Discs you write to are not generally as reliable as factory pressings, with some archival exceptions, so it's not the ideal choice. I wasn't making any argument about whether it works or not.

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  • [+] 1 point 2 months ago* (last edited 1 month ago) (2 children)