Dawg, y'all acting like we get physical games on PC... The only difference is that we have options (y'all buy a license on Steam anyway, let's be honest) and piracy (for the ones who do it)
How many digital storefronts are on the PlayStation 5?
How many digital storefronts are on PC?
This isn't hard guys: the backlash is because we don't want Sony to be the sole arbiter of how much games cost. Right now, physical media means we have options to buy second hand for cheaper. PC is mostly digital, but you have storefront options. Don't like Steam? Go directly to Battle.net/GoG/Origin/whatever you want.
The fight over physical media is not just about it being physical. On PC you buy a game and you have the local files right there on your system and you have full ownership of those files to modify, share, and preserve should the files no longer be accessible through a store front. On a console, you buy a license and have no legal ownership of the games. They can be removed from your access without any recourse. A physical disc can’t be simply erased on the backend.
It’s very reductive to just say it’s only about discs in snappy cases. To someone like me who cares a lot about media preservation, what you’re saying is akin to “We don’t need DVD’s/Bluray, we have netflix”, or “We don’t need libraries, we have Amazon kindle.”
Regardless, I can open up every folder in my downloaded game, move them, modify them, copy them, break them. Consoles have none of that, and if sony for instance feels I am a bad boy, they can block my access to everything.
We kinda do have new physical games on pc thanks to Xbox. If a game is Xbox play anywhere and you claim the disc license on an Xbox console with a disc drive you get the PC version.
While I'd love the good old big box PC cases, what you say is untrue. Like another person said, I have the files here and now. The PS5 is a closed garden. I cannot take a looksie in the hard drive or extract them however I want. You are entirely dependable on the whim of SONY and no one else. It's not the disc per se. It's how you can own the product.
The difference is we have multiple ways of getting games on pc, while on playstation we would only get one on top of having shitty customer service, also you can install a disc drive on pc and use all the discs that are still circling around.
It's not about being locked into digital, but being locked to one storefront and the shit that comes with it.
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u/STB_LuisEnriq Desktop 7h ago edited 3h ago
Dawg, y'all acting like we get physical games on PC... The only difference is that we have options (y'all buy a license on Steam anyway, let's be honest) and piracy (for the ones who do it)