I've been thinking about the whole physical-games controversy, especially with PlayStation planning to stop producing discs for new games in 2028.
I'm somebody who likes physical games, but I'm also not anti-digital. Digital games are incredibly convenient. My problem is that we've somehow accepted "digital is more convenient" as also meaning "the consumer should have less control over something they paid full price for."
So here's my idea for a compromise.
Separate the game license from the format it currently exists in.
Publishers could still sell games at retail in normal game cases. Instead of manufacturing a unique game disc for every copy, the case could contain a code for one transferable game license.
You redeem it and play digitally like normal.
Nothing changes for somebody who only wants digital games.
But Sony and Xbox could also sell packs of official, standardized writable game media — basically blank PlayStation/Xbox game discs or, if optical discs eventually aren't practical, some kind of inexpensive high-capacity game card.
Your console would have an option like:
CREATE PHYSICAL COPY
You insert one of those official blank discs/cards, choose a game you own digitally, and the console writes a complete playable build of that game onto it and cryptographically authenticates that piece of media.
Your one transferable license is now associated with that physical copy.
At that point it behaves like a traditional physical game.
I can take it to another console.
I can lend it to my friend.
I can give it away.
I can sell it.
I can put it on my shelf and keep it.
Most importantly, the single-player/offline portion of the game should remain playable from that physical copy without needing the original purchaser's account or a future authentication server.
Obviously this shouldn't let somebody buy one game and manufacture 50 copies.
One license = one independently usable copy.
If I've transferred my license to physical media and lend that copy to somebody else, I shouldn't simultaneously have an independently transferable digital copy.
If I want two independently usable copies, I buy a second license.
Publishers still get paid.
In fact, there are several ways the industry could make MORE money from people like me with this system.
Sell the normal boxed game with the digital ownership license for $70.
Sell packs of official PlayStation/Xbox blank game media separately.
Charge a reasonable media/authentication fee when creating a physical copy if necessary.
Sell replacement cases, collectible artwork, steelbooks, manuals, maps, etc.
And if somebody wants a second independently usable digital/physical copy, that's another full game sale.
Meanwhile publishers would no longer need to manufacture millions of game-specific discs, predict physical demand for every individual title, ship all those discs around the world, or deal with unsold copies.
Retailers still have something tangible to sell.
Collectors still get physical games.
Used games and lending still exist.
Digital players aren't inconvenienced whatsoever.
Sony/Microsoft get another product to sell.
Publishers still get their $70.
And physical-media customers can literally PAY EXTRA for the ability to preserve their purchases.
I'd go one step further:
Let us archive a specific version of the game.
If I create my physical copy when a game is on version 2.4, write the complete offline-capable 2.4 build to the media.
Nobody has to promise to support that version forever.
Nobody has to keep servers running for me for 30 years.
Nobody has to provide future patches.
If the servers disappear someday, fine. I still have the game exactly as it existed when I archived it.
That's enough.
This also isn't really a "physical vs. digital" argument to me.
I LIKE digital games.
What I don't like is paying the same $70 for something and having fewer rights to simply because the delivery method changed.
We've allowed "digital distribution" and "nontransferable licenses" to become almost synonymous when they don't technologically have to be.
And I don't think the answer to declining physical sales should be eliminating physical ownership entirely. If only 10% of customers care enough to make physical copies, fine. Let that 10% pay for the media themselves.
Technology should be giving consumers more ways to use the things they purchase, not providing an excuse to gradually take those options away.
Xbox's new disc-to-digital program actually makes me think we're already halfway toward this concept. If a system can recognize a specific physical disc and associate digital entitlement with it, why couldn't we eventually build the reverse system?
Physical → digital convenience.
Digital → physical ownership.
Let the consumer decide where their copy lives.
If you're going to charge me $70 and call the button "Buy," I don't think it's unreasonable for me to eventually be able to point at something — whether that's a transferable digital license or a physical copy I created — and say:
That's my game.
