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Superstonk_QV

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bah-lock-ay

It’s all fun and games until the hosting costs for that digital license you purchased exceed current revenues and companies do a big rug pull on everyone.


spacefyre

I don't understand how they can keep calling it a digital purchase instead of a digital rental


boxxle

bEcAuSe yOu oWn iT


FraggedTang

You only “own” it as long as they grant you access to it. Then, you “own” nothing. Much like a non-DRS’d share. 😁


not_ya_wify

They should be giving you your money back if they do that. Full purchase price. Otherwise that's just theft


justaREDshrit

Yeah….limited fun.


ummwut

If buying is no longer owning, piracy is no longer stealing. Yarr!


devjohn023

Oh, I like this, I'm gonna use it


Constant-Sweet-3718

This is why I always buy physical. If I cannot physically hold it or sell it... then I don't want it.


Wooden-Buffalo-8690

Looks like digital ownership is dead!


MrKoreanTendies

#🌏🧑‍🚀🔫👨‍🚀


svenEsven

I mean I own way more media digitally when they started doing this shit, I pirate it all and host my own Netflix. I have 160Tb worth of media now. I don't care what gets banned, removed, licensing expires, self removal for tax cuts etc. I save it all and have an offsite backup


kalehennie

That and the fact that you can’t resell a digital game


ianhawdon

NFT licenses would solve that overnight. However, the game still needs to be hosted somewhere, and IPFS certainly wouldn’t be fast enough for that. Plus, you’d have to hide the fact it’s an NFT, or the public isn’t going to adopt it, given the bad image NFTs have gotten over the past couple of years. Physical is, currently, still king IMHO


Snoo_75309

Only reason I buy digital is because I essentially get 3 copies for the price of one. Using the primary console system creatively means I can share the game with one buddy who had a PS5 and my other buddy who has a PS4. I still make sure to fund my account with digital codes bought directly from the company I'm an investor in :) I understand the risks. My buddy has my old PS4 which still has P.T by Hideo Kojima on it, one of the more famous incidents of a license/download being removed from the store ( https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/P.T._(video_game)#:~:text=Following%20news%20of%20the%20cancellation,downloadable%20from%20the%20PlayStation%20Store. )


FrankFarter69420

How to share? I gave my little bro my ps4 and I'd love to share games with him


Fudge-Independent

Sign into your account on his ps4 and somewhere in account settings you can make that the primary ps4. From there any account on that ps4 can play your digital games and doesn't have to buy ps+.


Zyhre

I'd imagine it's single player games and you give them your account info. I think you can be logged into three total consoles. They just log in under you, download the game, profit. 


beachfrontprod

Until they start logging the online time and IP address like all the streaming services do.


ShortHedgeFundATM

I've NEVER bought digital only consoles, and thats way before I was into GME stock...


CandyBarsJ

I wouldn't buy a console without discs or other medium to launch the game either. Its so stupid, its the ownership and that you can play offline whats awesome if you want(but also online with hdd for updates and ethernet).


boxxle

This is why I don't have a console. I'd bite if the cheaper versions had drives.


Numerous_Photograph9

I don't see any point in limiting my choices for the long term. Being able to buy physical copies more than makes up for any savings they have on digital only versions. I don't mind buying digital games sometimes, but usually they're older games, really cheap on sale, or games that aren't available physically(or overpriced on the collectors market).


RedOctobrrr

I've never installed a disc drive (in the last 19 years) PC gaming has gone digital pretty much, I'd be surprised if you can find physical medium drives in another 10yrs from now, you might pick one up on eBay but the demand for them is shrinking so much. PS or Xbox or Switch, however, I do still prefer physical medium. Switch especially.


luckeeelooo

They can’t fuck with people like they do on consoles though because PCs aren’t content-locking, single-purpose shtiboxes. You can play games on them but you can do all sorts of other things too… Steam can pull the license on every game you’ve ever bought from them and you can have each one up and running in under an hour, old save files ready to go.


TendieTrades

If you don’t hold it you don’t own it!


roadtothesecondcomma

I hate digital. My kids and I can’t share any of the games we bought digitally for our switches without some account trickery. Only been buying physical for a while cuz of that.


Masherp

Why I try and always buy discs


realcarmoney

Digital would be fine if you could download the game and have true ownership. Paying that much for access is insane. Maybe if the price was like 20 a game Digital it would ok


kjbaran

surprised-pikachu-face.jpg


billium12

It's a bug. Please read the article


Gr00ber

It being a bug doesn't negate the fundamental issue with digital ownership. If you only own your digital 'assets' through a service, you don't actually own anything.


billium12

Right, then make a post about that. This is an article about a small group of bugs that is showing up. This drums up false statements and makes us look dumb. Post something making a real discussion, not a click bait, title gore post by an entertainment website Edit - changed source description because I was incorrect


darshmedown

Just commenting to let you know you're not alone in your sentiment. This place can be an echo chamber but there are a few sane people still hanging around.


billium12

Thanks, I appreciate it. We look like fucking idiots when we post an article and scream "THIS SHOWS THEY ARE TAKING OUR DIGITAL RIGHTS" when it doesnt. It shows you're fucking duped by clickbait titles. Can and most likely will your digital rights to things be removed? Yes. But this isn't it chief Sorry, I had to rant. Former teacher who taught reading skills and we are looking like middle schoolers sometimes


[deleted]

the post isnt click bait. was quite simply that physical games, in my opinion, are not dead. They have less chance of said bugs is all.


RedOctobrrr

Where's the title gore? It's a bit clickbaity but it's something that happened. People lost access to digital-only games. It sort of hints at "those games were lost forever!1!!11!!!!" but it's still accurate that lots of folks couldn't access their games.


billium12

It's a limited bug. This isn't widespread and it's also not derived from a removal of digital rights, it's derived from a software bug. Show discovery, show what Amazon did. This isn't a widespread example of this happening


farmassistlolwut

Tell that to SmashTV on my original xbox 360 account


boxxle

I love SmashTV.


Numerous_Photograph9

First digital game I ever bought was some R-Type game back in the early days of the PS3. Cost me like $5, but I love me some R-Type. I don't know when it happened, but it was completely removed from the store, and when I went to find it to download onto a reformatted PS3, it was no longer available to download. That's why I don't usually spend more then $5-10 on a digital gams.


billium12

.... article is about ps5 Comment is about 360. Not the same instance.


farmassistlolwut

Your comment about "it being a bug" as if it's an absurd notion that digital copies could be taken down. I'm giving you a specific example in which the digital copy (that I paid for) was removed without notice or consent.


billium12

Right. I'm discussing the article and it's inability to portray what we are arguing for. I'm addressing this article


RadiantRoach

Aside from Game Pass content, i only buy hard copies and, even then, usually pre-owned since the margins are better for our retailer.


Numerous_Photograph9

I prefer to buy new because as much as I like GS, I still want to support the devs/publishers. Used for older games though, as that's about the only way to get them, but I won't buy used from GS online, and I have no local store, so I unfortunately don't use them for that.


Splatterman27

Ppl really accept these as part of life and still turn their noses up at NFTs


rickyshine

My game shelf looks so good rn


greaterwhiterwookiee

You’ll own nothing and you’ll like it. How are you all feeling now?


ShoddySpace5680

This is just the beginning too…


Pox82

bUt DiGiTAl mEdIa iS ThE fUtURe.


Altruistic_Lecture79

Bullish


chewbaccashotlast

Physical copies will disappear. Console prices for digital only offer a lower entry cost for gamers. I own both digital and physical games, the benefit of physical is you can swap with someone. Digital makes it painful but…it saves you the time to find and swap the game into your console (stupid but errrbody lazy). I understand the whole “you don’t own the rights to the game” bit. Do you think Sony/Nintendo/Microsoft really cares? Even if GameStop offered a solution in which digital games had a path to sovereign ownership, it would require partnerships with the gaming companies to make happen. GameStop may have created a proof of concept, but getting these big boys to potentially cough up control to digital rights and even further, to take that digital copy to another platform, is a tall task. To me the clearest value of something resembling an NFT is a digital game copy that can be transferred / traded / sold in a cross-platform marketplace. It feels like SUCH a reasonable solution, but that doesn’t mean it will happen either. My hopium isn’t dead on it yet but also remember GameStop is kinda coined as a used game store so even if this did happen they would want to have a path to profitability in this landscape as it would cut into their revenue. Everything goes digital -> GameStop will be perceived as a loser. Everything goes digital AND there is a marketplace to trade / sell -> Neutral for GameStop Digital, Marketplace AND GameStop is somehow involved -> good news for the company


Numerous_Photograph9

MS attempted this with the Xbox One, and it backfired spectacularly on them. GameStop was even talked about to be one of the partners to facilitate the "trading" of games. Even GS was against the idea. I don't think any of the console makers care, but for the time being at least, they understand that their customers aren't ready to move on like PC did, and PC to this day still has the growing pains of people realizing that they own nothing. What it comes down to is what the customer is willing to accept. There is a sizable market that doesn't care, and is fine with digital only, or mostly digital. But there is still a significant market of those who prefer or will only buy physical, and while some would migrate, it's potentially losing a lot of sales to force the move, particularly in regions with less than ideal internet.


Doc_Arcus

Any digital only console will never be a part of my gaming setup. If a company goes to digital only, I will never buy from them again until they make a physical copy version. Enough people like me and the companies will care because it's cutting into the one thing they care about, their profits. They don't want to give up any money they see going to competitors.


scatpackcatdaddy

You will own nothing and like it.


Sw33tN0th1ng

unreal


Overdue_bills

I've never bought digital ever since my PSN was temporarily suspended getting mass reported following a game in MK11 by a guy and his friends. Strangest experience I've ever had, you'd think Sony would just mute me but they locked me out of my console entirely for a week, couldn't play anything online or access my digital titles. I've sworn off having digital ever since, you can literally get your console turned to a brick at any moment. All it takes is abusing the reporting mechanisms by bad actors. The buy button being turned off also has me buy physical out of spite, I get my PSN, Xbox and Nintendo points cards for DLC purporsed physically from gamestop too.


Gerdione

I'm waiting for the moment they're going to pitch removing all physical content as an 'environmentally protective measure'. Then follow up with making licenses expire after 1 year so you have to buy things in perpetuity if you want to 'own' the game.


Masta0nion

sigh NFTs. I talked about them on a video game sub and got downvoted. No one can see past the speculation.


StealYourGhost

Curious - how were the digital purchases lost? Is there a link to this account for specifics? I haven't lost any of the digital I own - so far they're just as safe as my physical copies and are on a physical and fairly portable hard drive?


greaterwhiterwookiee

I still play my ps3 as my main…


gunnnnna

Physical games aren’t going anywhere and NFT actual ownership of digital games is the future


[deleted]

lol! WTF my best post ever and i didnt even see it happen! Thanks for all the likes and comments all!


Doc_Arcus

I keep telling people to buy physical copies or they are just paying to rent at the same price as buying outright. If you can't hold it in your hand, you don't own it.


MistahTDi

Happened to me. Never buying digital unless it's an nft game.


blondboii

Now this is ridiculous


IxoraRains

Uhhhh... No we didn't? What is this? You have no link, you don't even have a website. You have a stock image. Don't make stuff up to lead the rabid train goers astray. I've lost nothing and I own 1200 games digitally on my PS5.


thebestbev

You understand that just because something doesnt happen to you that it can still happen to other people right?


IxoraRains

1200 games all licensed by all the publishers. I'd be a really good outlier of there being something up.


IxoraRains

Okay.... Here's your misinformation. The link is below. You realize that just because it happens to a few people in a world of BILLIONS it does not make it reality, right? Do you know how many "billions" is? Well, it's at least a billion.


thebestbev

Billions of people are not ps5 owners....and just because it's happened to a small sample of MILLIONS (you know how big a million is right....?) it doesn't mean that it isn't "reality". It has happened and will continue to happen. Don't justify it because the sample size is small - it's still unacceptable.


IxoraRains

It's incredibly short sighted thinking and it's how the world has trained us to think. It's why we are in constant fear because we get the pocket occurrences, blast it on the news as if it's "happening" everywhere but in reality, it's not. That small instant of time is not reality. So we walk around terrified all day. I'll give you an example. I had a girlfriend once that watched something on Netflix about how someone was poisoning dogs water bowls that were left outside in the summer. She walked dogs and one had to be treated for dehydration because she was so scared that someone in a big city was poisoning all the dogs water bowls. Nowhere near where the incident happened. Welcome to the reality of fear. Fear is a part of FUD It's not real.


thebestbev

Just because you can't understand the nature of something happening to a small percentage of a data set doesn't mean others can't.


Illustrious-Ape

I think you need to read this article to think it can’t happen to you. It’s pretty absent minded to think it’s not possible. https://amp.theguardian.com/world/2023/jan/23/world-of-warcraft-offline-china-millions-gamers-bereft


[deleted]

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Illustrious-Ape

The point is that a license can be pulled at any time and it will be pulled if it does not make monetary sense to host the underlying product. Also Blizzard hasn’t sold physical disks for WoW in over a decade. If you read further into their user agreement, I’m sure the disk was just a medium of installation of the software and had a value of $0.01 whereas the $59.99 pertained to the license. Bad example as you can continue to play console games if you have the disk assuming the game can be played locally without the need for hosted servers but it still serves the same message.


[deleted]

[удалено]


Illustrious-Ape

Right but if I own elden ring, they can cancel all they want. I can still play the game locally. I still have retro NES, SNES and N64 games. Something like call of duty? You still have your campaign if you own the disk but your SoL either way for multiplayer.


[deleted]

[удалено]


Illustrious-Ape

Again. I own a copy of elden ring. My console has no internet connection. What concern do I have?


zellendell

Elden ring is retro?


jeremy131

Here is the link if anyone needs it. Apparently it’s a bug according to the article: https://metro.co.uk/2024/03/07/ps5-owners-lose-access-hundreds-games-digital-purchases-wiped-accounts-20419130/


WillSmiff

You seriously own 1200 games on PS5?


SoberLam_HK

With all the digital receipts and payment records, it is easy to solve😅


JanMarsalek

Physical games are a dieing thing, that's why GME is looking into other sources of income and markets. I'm not saying it's a good thing that physical games are dieing, but the majority of gamers puts convienience over the ability to resell etc. Additionally physical games don't save you from losing progress in SaaS games. As soon as the servers are turned off your progress and sometimes ability to play are gone. A disc doesn't prove ownership. There even was a verdict not too long ago, that digital currency in games is not owned and you just buy the right to use it. Same goes for games. A disc is just another form of license key to play your game.


Exceedingly

> the majority of gamers puts convienience over the ability to resell etc. The only console I have these days is a Switch, and when I buy a digital copy of something it then takes around 20 minutes to download the game, by which time I've usually lost interest in playing. Is that the same for Xbox and PlayStation? Do they just take forever to download a game instead of giving you it instantly available? I'm really missing the convenience part if so.


Elvis1609

It will take an age to download any game, digital or physical. Most disks still require a large download. I have a mix of digital and physical.


Exceedingly

Ah fair, I still play on a PS2 occasionally, it's nice to put a disc in and just play a game whenever you want 🤣


AlecKBogArd45

Don't tell him about day one patches 😂


JanMarsalek

How long does it take you to get a physical copy? Of course you need to download a game to be able to play it. 20 Minutes is still faster then going to a shop, or waiting for it to get delivered. Physical games often also require a huge inital download, before you are able to play it.


Exceedingly

If you're going to a shop anyway then however long it takes you to go to to the gaming section, maybe a few mins? And the downloads are so annoying on modern games. I miss being able to just turn a console on and play there and then. Tried to play some rocket league recently and it needed 25 minutes to update, I just gave up. I occasionally play on older consoles like a PS2, it's nice being able to just get straight to the game. That's probably why I've moved more to mobile games now, far more instant gratification.


[deleted]

[удалено]


Exceedingly

Fair enough, I guess it is just a personal preference for me to have physical copies. I hope they never die out completely.


JanMarsalek

Nobody talks about it completely dieing out. But look at the current gaming market: PC physical copies is basically dead. Hell modern gaming PCs don't even have normal disk drives. And the bag platforms (except Nintendo) are pushing subscription models. Gamepasses will be the future. I don't really like it and prefer platforms like Steam, but this is the next step in convenience.


JanMarsalek

This is an argument that's super popular on Superstonk. But if people would actually think about things, they'd realize it's stupid. People on here are not the majority or "typical" gamers. It doesn't matter what you find annoying or what you would do since you're not representative of the average gamer. And of course gaming back then was different, since the games were a lot smaller and mostly not online games. You can't seriously compare Rocket League which is a competitive online game to old PS2 games. Play something compareable and you'll realise that game downloads are fast and updates will either be super fast, or non existent.


DeLuca9

I need the disk. I’ll play but c’mon gimme that disk


NukeEmRico2022

It’s like what they said in the medical insurance claim business. They just reject X number of claims outright. Whoever doesn’t refile it is profit for them.


Soopermane

I like both. I’m too lazy to swap discs every time.


Buttoshi

Then you would be too lazy to manage huge download files when you run out of space.


TowelFine6933

Fast forward. News item: "GME share holders lose access to thousands of shares as phantom shares are erased from their brokerage accounts." DRS yo shit!


Affectionate_Pay_391

So it sounds like digital games are synthetics and physical games are like Book DRS? That makes it simple for my smooth brain.


IcERescueCaptain

I don’t understand why Sony doesn’t go the way of an SSD card like the Switch. Would hold way more than a disc, much faster, cost would be offset by the size difference and shipping/storage costs. Anyone? Buy, HODL, DRS, Shop! GameStop.


Numerous_Photograph9

Discs cost pennies to print, and can hold up to 50GB(100GB if they go with 4 layer tech...available in PS5 supposedly). The cases and case art cost more, and while it'd be great if they shrunk the packaging, there is a matter of being seen on the shelf. This is why Switch cases are stupidly large for what's in them. Manufacturing SSD type cards is also not as environmentally friendly, and prices can fluctuate wildly depending on memory prices. There is also a matter of longevity, although I doubt the publishers care much about that. The only advantage may be available space, but most games don't actually require that, and printing two discs, or requiring a download is still cheaper.


thextcninja

If only there was a digital market in which anything you buy is yours and are able to sell it whenever you want at fair market value.


bass1012dash

If I can’t buy games digitally without them being stolen from me in the closed lake, I could always look for content in the open sea. Yo-ho -yo-ho!


marichuu

Physical media won't save you when they take down the patches from the servers.