I Hate to Say It, but PC Ditched Physical Media a While Ago

Consoles have always relied on physical media so I would expect that going into the future, but clearly not the case. It makes me reflect on the transition away from physical media for the PC. The thing with that was it simplified the entire process to a certain extent. PC games were multiple discs and had 25 character key codes. Set up was a PITA. With console gaming, you push a few buttons and eventually get going. I would like to keep it that way, but the world moves at its own pace. The core of it was the forced transition to pay for service versus owning in the computer world, so what is next for us, or are we already there with GP and PS Plus?

Ideally, I think a transition to something like Flexplay where I can download the content of the disc to my storage device/console /computer (and own it and make backup copies) will allow the greedy companies to shutdown media trading at the retail level is a good compromise... but they don't give AF about our side other than the money.

You’re like “we should go digital, but own it.”

The corps are like “sure, we are going digital, but you won’t own it…”

Classic reddit rage bait

I mean... you're not wrong. I haven't had a computer with a physical disc drive in a decade.

PC has no issues going full Digital since there's already competition and the option to make back ups of games.

Consoles dont have that. Once any of Sony/Xbox/Ninty decides to kill their services, all an owner would be left with would be paperweight.

PlayStation banned me years ago because PayPal gave me a refund that they took from me with permission so ya incredibly scum company

they did. but two things.

1. PC has a number of storefronts, so i can find the same game for a bargain in different places, or chose to hit itch.io and just play a bunch of free indie games.

Playstation has the ps-store, and you can't get games anywhere else, so if they chose to remove the game, or keep everything at $90, you're locked.

2. My PC does soooo much more, my ps5 is a box that plays games.. my pc lets me work, edit videos, chat to machines pretending to be human (i'm looking at you reddit). make video games, etc.

What people mean by physical media, is that you can actually own it. I buy media on my pc, I have the files on my pc, I can do whatever I want with that files. No one could take that files from me, even if they do, I can circumvent that.

PC never really got blu ray drives like consoles did and it also doesn't need physical because there are thousands of storefronts you can buy games off compared to the 1 store on each console. Because of this PC won't feel any of the consequences console players will it's not at all comparable.

The PC digital marketplace is fundamentally different because there are multiple viable stores on the platform, and the largest store actually allows its keys to be sold by competitors.

Playstation store is a true walled garden, all purchases on the platform go directly through Sony.

The difference is that PlayStation has a monopoly. You can't get the games for their console anywhere else. They can shut it off at anytime.

They can't do that with PC. You have the option to get a game from thousands of online shops.

Most services will ban you from their platform if you go outside their boundaries to get your money back. Probably went something like no option to refund and you went behind their back to PayPal. Why would they want to do business with you?

You still owned what you bought digitally when PC dropped physical media.

Sony wants you to NOT own what you buy at full price.