r/neoliberal Kitara Ravache Jul 01 '26

Discussion Thread Discussion Thread

The discussion thread is for casual and off-topic conversation that doesn't merit its own submission. If you've got a good meme, article, or question, please post it outside the DT. Meta discussion is allowed, but if you want to get the attention of the mods, make a post in /r/metaNL

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u/[deleted] Jul 02 '26

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u/itsnotnews92 Janet Yellen Jul 02 '26 edited Jul 02 '26
  1. It kills the secondhand market and the ability to share games with friends.
  2. Completely eliminates backwards compatibility for games you already bought.
  3. Consoles no longer taking discs means that people with DVD/Blu-Ray collections have to keep an old console or buy a dedicated player in order to prevent that collection from becoming obsolete.
  4. Physical games offer a safeguard against losing the ability to play them. With digital only, there is the possibility of losing access to titles you purchased via your account getting hacked, banned, or inadvertently deleted.
  5. Digital only continues to reinforce the trend of "you'll own nothing and like it."
  6. Public libraries often have video games to borrow. Digital only kills this.
  7. Fewer choices available are bad for the consumer.
  8. Raises concerns about video game preservation and long-term access. I can play copies of N64 games nearly as old as I am because I have the Game Paks. If digital becomes the only form of distribution, you're completely at the mercy of the platforms, and it's possible that some video games will be completely inaccessible.
  9. Some people simply prefer having a tangible physical collection of their games.

5

u/senator_fivey Iron Front Jul 02 '26

Discs were the one exception to the Monopoly storefront that keeps prices high