PC is an open platform, consoles are not. If a data can be downloaded locally it can be backed up one way or another. You may need a crack to get around the DRM or reverse engineered private server to access some games but the options are there.

At some level this is also possible on many consoles but usually requires either emulation or modded console.

Physical games on PC were already dead at the time, with securom+activation key and dead activation servers

This is just kind of moronic. Valve didn't kill physical PC games it was the Internet....

Valve isn't in charge of CD production, they're just providing a digital storefront. Game publishers choose digital because it's more profitable when you can ignore logistics.

There's two main reasons why I like physical media:

1. Longevity. If the maker/publisher of the game doesn't want to support it anymore or goes broke, I still have the game.
2. Used game market. I've got a backlog of PS4 games I got cheap because they still existed after demand went down, so prices went down.

Steam meets both of those in different ways.

1. Any game I've purchased on Steam has remained available to install, even though some of them aren't available for sale anymore via Steam. If a publisher folds, Steam can still serve their files to people who bought the game before it folded. This might change in the future and there might be exceptions where a publisher went to court to stop Steam from serving the files (not that I know of any cases of this, just acknowledging the possibility exists here while it doesn't for physical games you already own), but so far so good.
2. Steam sales are often better than used game sales. Sure, not all publishers participate in them, but my steam backlog dwarfs my console backlog because I can often buy multiple games for the price of one used disc game.

They are both ultimately in it for greed, but a different kind of greed. Sony wants the short term make most profits this quarter every quarter, even if this quarter's strategy hurts next quarter, that's a problem for next quarter.

Valve seems to at least understand that not taking its users for granted and forcing shitty options on them to make a quick buck will mean they are more willing to continue spending money on their shit.

Also, Valve didn't come in trying to end physical media, they were a digital service from the start. Similarly, I had no problem with some games on the PS store not having physical releases and I've even bought a few. My issue is that the physical disc drive is one of the main reasons I even have a ps5, so saying they won't be doing them anymore mostly just means that the ps6 won't be as interesting to me. I'm not even really mad, just disappointed and moving on.

This is the shit that makes me laugh about this. Fucking people simping for a billionaire, because they think he's their billionaire.

I’m gonna agree with the other guy. That was the internet.

When Valve released Steam back in the early-mid 2000’s internet speeds were like 1-3mbps. A 4GB download (less than a single layer DVD) would take ~3-8 hours. I bought a physical copy of HL2(2004) to load it onto the computer in Steam for that reason alone. I also had the Orange Box(2007) on disc.

To be fair physical media for PC has always been a bit different than the "insert disc, play game" you get on consoles.