This doesn't directly affect me, as I've exclusively bought digital games only for over a decade, but it still annoys me based on principle. It's basically a bait and switch - it would be far more honest to just say "it's digital only" than to sell a useless physical box.

So, the physical release is just... actual garbage? Like sure, someone may proudly display it in their bookshelf or whatever, but then, it eventually becomes trash, and there's no reason to keep any of it because there's no physical copy of the game which can be resold or even borrowed out to friends?

That's not a "physical release", that's a piece of merchandise, as useful as a Funko Pop.

Honestly, one of the reasons to get a physical copy is to save time on the download. Not everyone has blazing fast or reliable internet where they live. Just having to download a patch as opposed to the entire 80+ GB game can be a big deal to some. I know it was like that for me back when the only thing available in a past residence was DSL. No cable or Fiber, just DSL.

I'm a big fan of physical games, I want to own them, and play them even if the internet isn't available, and this blocks that, I don't want it. I don't have a gaming PC anymore because I can buy a console cheaper, but if physical discs are gone, gaming PC's allow for piracy so I can keep the games for as long as I want because I don't see every future Xbox having backward compatibility.

There ought to be a law that a physical release of a game sold in a box has to include some kind of physical media that contains a version of the game. Yes, I get that a multi-gig Day 1 Patch is inevitable, but as someone that had to rely on a craptastic mobile broadband connection for a solid year or two, this is a travesty.

If you wanna just sell a code for a digital version in retail stores, just sell code cards without the plastic disk-like box. It wastes less resources, and makes it more clear what it is.

Welp. With this and other AAA games like Alan Wake going full digital, I suppose the end is nigh for physical media. It's a real shame. I own tons of physical games dating back to the Atari 2600. I tend to view things like Limited Run Games to be collector bait, so I guess most of my games are going to be purchased on GOG or Steam once the plug is pulled(I do not trust digital storefronts on console).

"physical" release my ass.

That's not really a physical release then? It's basically one of those cards they have hanging up at walmart, but with an unnecessary box. And the whole point of the box is as a protective distribution method for physical media.

You will own nothing and be happy

One day my mother called me out of the blue. She told me, that Amazon had sent her an email, because they had a very special deal on a video game, which was going down from 60€, to just 10€. And she was like, "It's dirt cheap, if you want, I can deliver it to your address!".

And I was like that's very touching! Thank you, I really do appreciate it. What's the game by the way?

So she looked it up in her emails... Oh, it's a game called...

FALLOUT 76.

I bursted out laughing. I told her that this was like, the worst fucking game she could have told me and that it was no wonder she got such a special discount. Because this was just at release, when the game was such a train wreck, that retail stores and like, were slashing the prices just to get rid of the damn thing.

(I hear it's good now? I played it for literally 10 minutes, and the game was so horrendously bad looking and so buggy, I never touched it again.)

We laughed about it, and I said, send it anyway, just for fun, might as well.

Two days passes, and there it is. Fallout 76, in my own hands. How jolly. So I open my package, get the game out and... you know what? It felt good! It was exciting, you don't get that many physical releases on PC nowadays. They exist, but there is almost never a reason to buy them, because usually, you can get the game much cheaper on a digital platform. So having a physical game in your hands, for your PC, it's a very rare thing and kind of nostalgic too. Even if it was that game out of all of them, I was still happy to get that physical thing in my hand.

So anyway, I get my PC already, open the box, and to my utter dismay...

...it was a fucking cardboard disc! With a product key on it!

To this day, I don't know how to feel about it. Because on one hand it sucks and is wasteful but on the other hand... nah it just sucks, but I don't know, there is something that I find really funny about having a whole plastic box, just to hold a disc shaped piece of cardboard in it. It's not just a sheet of paper, no, there was some effort put in.

But hey! At least it was not a total waste from stop because this wasn't just fallout 76 come on this was the S.P.E.C.I.A.L. Amazon Edition of the game. So I got some cool official Vault Boy pins!

Thanks mom! :D

...makes me wonder if Starfield will come with a cardboard disc too. It would be a shame, because I really love the steelbook for this game. It's so clean and beautiful. But to house a cardboard disc? One which you can basically throw away as soon as you use the key? :/

Microsoft tried to kill borrowing and lending, and this just seems like ankther attempt. Someone with a real presence on other sites (and is good at social media) should stir up a backlash.

I hate digital-only media. :/

If it’s just a code in a box, does that mean it can’t be resold?

I love physical media because it's so easy to get rid of it whenever you want. Are you sick of a game or don't want to touch it ever again? Resell on the used market for a few bucks or give it to a friend or a young neighbor that might appreciate it. I like to keep a lean collection of games that I actually care about and might replay eventually.

No matter where you look in Media, digital copies have outpaced physical. And it´s not even close! So the step is not really a surprise. Also, some games are already essentially a digital copy, even if "some" game files get delivered on a disc. But the lack of a physical medium is not what sucks about this. It´s the fact that you link the purchase to your own account of whatever store it´s in and that´s it. No lending, selling or gifting once you activated the code. I actually prefer to buy cartridges for the switch because of that very reason.

But with digital downloads being so much more convenient and instantly available, I don´t see how any market forces would ever change this. Also, people pre order digital copies as if they worry the store wouldn´t have enough copies on launch day, which is also quite telling.

Look around and realize how you got here to Lemmy/kbin/beehaw/etc - you were betrayed by a few VC-captured executives that made profit-blinded, consumer-hostile decisions about an important product you used frequently. They ruined it.

Anyone here defending digital media or saying it's not that bad or they should have done a digital lending system, you're not remembering the recent past.

The only acceptable ground to give here is NONE. Physical media needs to start mandatory, or your purchases are never owned and you're always at risk and at the whims of someone like Spez.

Why even sell a physical box if it has absolutely no benefit over a digital download? I wonder if it's at all driven by desire to trick people who want a physical disk copy (ie, a copy that can be resold or traded)?

I mean, who would expect Starfield to fit on a disk?

This may have been an error, either the employee mistook the special edition with the regular, or Microsoft saw how angry people were.

Would be a terrible decision during their Activision legal battle, turning Bethesda into a worse company for the consumer.

Edit: It's looking more like miscommunication

CDs in current gen physical copies aren't really much more than a license to download anyway considering many require a gigantic day 1 patch to play. So the CD doesn't really give you anything anymore (except I guess you could lend it to a friend).

I mean, even the Skyrim disc for PC just ran a script to download it via Steam. This has been coming for a long time.

I’m disappointed that there isn’t a consumer protection law against this.