The Downfall of Physical PC Games

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Күн бұрын

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@DoughnutMasterStudios 10 ай бұрын

Towards the end of the video I mentionned Cyberpunk 2077 not having a true physical release, as the retail box seem to only contain a digital download. However, as +RandomName45 in the comments mentionned, the full game is available on GOG without DRM, meaning that anyone who has all the game files (from the GOG purchase) will forever be able to play the game without any online service required. Many games are available without online DRM even today, so if you wish to not be tied to an online service, it may be a good idea to look for games on platforms such as GOG. They may not come with a disc, but at least they will be preserved for years to come

@CODKraken7000 16 күн бұрын

that is why I got an old x box one for $60, just for physical games 🤣

@CODKraken7000 16 күн бұрын

you do not need an optical drive, just an external DVD player, I have one and I can play physical games on my laptop 👍

@MizterHunter 10 ай бұрын

I miss those good old days when everything was physical, just with video games, but music and movies as well

@babbisp1 5 ай бұрын

You miss when music was physical? Nuts

@jubiladoatope 10 ай бұрын

The downfall for me was when I bought COD:GHOSTS and the included download code was faster than installing the 4 DVDs the game came with. If PC adopted bluray(and then 4k blurays which are 100gbs) physical would be alive and well on PC.

@radicalcentrist4990 8 ай бұрын

Even before Steam was mandatory, some other games were asking you for Games for Windows Live since 2007, which was way worse. That was the actual beginning of the end for physical PC games. And sure, it wasn't that many games that required GFWL, but they were some of the bigger and popular titles.

@Ralphunreal 5 ай бұрын

steam is drm and ruined pc gaming.

@radicalcentrist4990 5 ай бұрын

@@Ralphunreal you mean, it made PC gaming more popular than it ever was.

@sentrysapper45 4 ай бұрын

@@radicalcentrist4990 Popular and accessible, yes (Lord knows I use it quite often for those reasons), but it does have major drawbacks, including not allowing users to truly own their copies of games (read the fine print in the TOS) and lack of support for legacy software. I recently bought a refurbished laptop running Windows XP from Ebay for retro PC gaming, but anything that requires Steam is unplayable due to Valve discontinuing support for the OS a while back.

@RandomName45 10 ай бұрын

A bit weird that you talked about Cyberpunk 2077 but didn't mention GOG at all? Yes, it's an online service, and its servers can eventually be shut down, the thing is, you can download and save your Cyberpunk 2077 installer to a disk/flashdrive/sd card, essentially preserving your game forever because installing it doesn't require internet connection. The only problem is that most big publishers completely ignore GOG, probably trying to avoid piracy. Funny enough, Sony (!!!) released a couple of important titles on GOG, such as Uncharted 4 and God of War (2018).

@DoughnutMasterStudios 10 ай бұрын

Wow, I had no idea about Cyberpunk being on GOG (in retrospect, I should have talked about GOG and other platforms for DRM free games, but for some reason it never got on my mind...) Thanks for letting me know! I would put an annotation on the video if it weren't for KZbin removing the feature. I will put a pinned comment with this correction. Thanks again

@bobzeepl 3 ай бұрын

@@DoughnutMasterStudios lol GOG is owned by CDPR, of course it is there :D

@Misfu88 8 ай бұрын

Imo Steam is the worst thing that happened to gaming. Sharing games is fucked, offline play is needlessly difficult. Yea man, you have sales and shit, but I really strongly prefer buying stuff on GoG.

@Ffffvfvjjytvvsxveee 2 ай бұрын

Steam smokes lots of doodle worse thing ever to happen to PC games

@TeamMuggi 10 ай бұрын

The last time I bought a physical PC game disk was two weeks ago at an op-shop (Charity/Thrift store), and it was a chance find of NFS Most Wanted 2005: Black Edition. I skip every modern game I see there, or at other similar places like trash and treasure markets. The biggest recent example was Ghost Recon Wildlands and many others all being sold for AU$1 each. A great price, but for something that couldn't be played at all. I am often reminded that this was the main reason why I preferred console games and pre-DRM games, aside from not having a GPU until 2018 or so. Having a box copy of Half-Life 2 for most of my life but not being able to use it because of Steam's single use codes might have contributed to this mentality too. Speaking of Angry Birds, I got a disk of Bad Piggies from a market. It could be played, but only the initial content was available. Any updates to the game were not available for download, and support only suggested buying their new games instead. There has been only one exception that I've ever seen, which was Arma 2 and it's expansions. It could be played in it's entirety from disk without DRM, but later gained the option of redeeming a digital version on Steam using the original CD Key after Gamespy was shut down.

@TeamMuggi Ай бұрын

An update: I recently bought a disk copy of The Witcher 3 at a secondhand charity store. Seeing GOG on the box instead of Steam is what made me consider looking further into it at all, and the disks (four of them) worked as an offline installer. I was also able to link the installed game to GOG Galaxy afterwards too. I paid AU$10 for the game and physical bonus stuff, and later found out the game was on a big discount on the GOG store to around AU$12 (Edit: normally AU$60).

@Larry 10 ай бұрын

Last physical PC game I bought at launch was probably Half-Life 2: Episode 1. But, not being able to play games with a one time code? Quick trip to Game Copy World for the crack will sort that bad boy out :D Quite a staple when you wouldn't be bothered to put the disc in as proof every time you wanted to play it too!

@vadnegru 10 ай бұрын

On PS, most people prefer disks for single player games and they just reselling them after finishing. Some games doesn't have full playable game on disc, but that's quite rare. On modern Windows older disk DRM is not able to run at all. As long as there are online piracy scene we are safe. Don't get me started on stealing or something, by getting legit game from some guy, original developers doesn't get a penny.

@pine1780 10 ай бұрын

I love pc gaming,I been playing pc for over a decade but this is the reason why I also hate it. I bought a xbox 360, I have been collecting for it now and I love I just throw my game in the disc. It runs and I play it.

@Jake-l7q8w 3 ай бұрын

Don’t know why Blu-ray or 4K Blu-ray never took off on PC. Steam ruined everything.

@shadowaussie1012 Ай бұрын

I think publishers went cheap and down have brain's so they eventually got hot headed and gave up on physical games even though console games still continues

@arandomkaz 6 ай бұрын

04:17 the problem is not that ppl don't add optical drives, the problem is that modern cases do not have trays to add optical drives in the first place and accommodating one will be a pain in the ass...with that being said there is an even easier and cheaper alternative to that, external disk drives via USB. They also burn disks and have a good range of speeds on them so that solves the issue.

@JacksonTheSkylanderDude67 3 ай бұрын

2:44 there's a Code online that you can use without the servers

@rayphoenix7296 10 ай бұрын

I don't trust online games or services for reasons like this. What if I invest a lot in these games and the servers get shut down? What if I want to play them and the internet is not working?

@MKnife 10 ай бұрын

I bought Microsoft Flight Simulator 2020 back in september of that same year on DVD (many, many disks that took forever to install), because online wasn't a viable for me option at that time. It still looks for the first game disk whenever I start up the sim. Last year I also bought a used copy of Command&Conquer Generals with the Zero Hour expansion on DVD. It doesn't need online access at all, and was activated with the code in the package.

@skivvywaver 4 ай бұрын

It wouldn't cost shit to put the game on a USB stick and sell it. I have recently been screwed out of 5 games by Rockstar because I forgot their precious login. I jumped through hoops trying to get them to let go of the games I paid for. I sent them receipts proving purchase. I sent them my steam account information via screenshot. At the end of the whole 3 days of back and forth they flipped the middle bird at me. I am still highly upset at them. I will never give them another dime.

@xXRealXx 10 ай бұрын

A "relatively" recent good physical release of a PC game is Minecraft: Story Mode. If you get the Season 1 The Complete Adventure and the Season 2 Season Pass discs you can play all episodes without an Internet connection and install it too fully offline. It's completely DRM free, you don't even need the disc in your disc drive. It also had a GOG release, so maybe that's why it doesn't have any DRM

@bar7381 10 ай бұрын

at least we have multiple game stores, third party key sellers for those stores and piracy, so the situation isnt as dire as all digital consoles

@niplob 10 ай бұрын

Keys are worse than piracy, please don't use keys... They are made with stolen credit cards and fraud, there's whole hour long videos of interviews from companies explaining why it's worse than piracy

@Jake-l7q8w 3 ай бұрын

Once consoles go all digital, a lot of people will fully abandon them. I think a lot of people have held off on PC simply because consoles give them the physical option..

@someone7272 5 ай бұрын

Another thing you forgot to mention is “installer rot”. This is where the on-disc installer for the online service is no longer supported by the current version of said online service. For example, I have many Steam games that the current version of Steam refuses to install from disc, because the content data structure on the disc is no longer supported. This forces me to download the entire game. Another example, GTA V, the Rockstar Games Launcher no longer allows installing from the 7 discs it came with, so again you have to download all of it. This is made even worse because broadband in the UK sucks for areas that don’t have FTTP yet.

@communistpootisbirb Ай бұрын

Are you serious about the GTA 5 thing? Can I not just turn off internet and install a basic 1.0 copy?

@someone7272 Ай бұрын

Yeah try it and it will force installed the Rockstar Games Launcher (which will force update the game). It then downloads the entire game. Even after making me “install” from all 7 discs. Now I keep the latest game files on a NAS for quick installation on different PCs. On the back of the game box it states internet connection and online activation required

@omegaman2767 10 ай бұрын

I have a GREAT collection of physical PC games! Still got my Windows NT, Windows 7, and old MAC computer to play them all. I have every SIMS game & extentions made physically! LOVE SimCity 4 Deluxe!!

@demonprincess5634 3 ай бұрын

That is exactly how I feel about it as well. Frustrates me to know in. And so in fact, what I'm trying to find out all the box games that I can and along with. What were some of the last games. To have a disc in them? I came across one. It wasn't released with a disc in North America, but in Europe they had the disks and the game came out and 2016. I was pretty surprised about that. Up until today. The newest games that I could find. Were around 2014. I also know a little bit about GOG. But it wasn't until today that I read that. You could copy the game on there to a flash drive. So that made me wonder. What couldn't you? Even burn the game on a disc? If that's possible. I thought about doing that for Cyberpunk 2077, might not be. Official but it's a whole lot closer than just having a digital code. Great video, by the way, thank you very much.

@RandomBSOD 2 ай бұрын

I will not name studios in particular, but a big part of marketing indicates that the lack of "working physical releases" is directly correlated to the age of "target demographics" .... or in simpler terms, a person playing a AAA right now wont care about game replayability on 30+ years (or wont even be alive) 🙃

@Macspongelister 8 ай бұрын

Awesome video man 🔥

@SomeCanine 5 ай бұрын

The last physical media game I bought for PC was The Witcher 3. That was 9 years ago. Back then, games companies were still hit or miss with quality. In fact, I went and bought the GOTY version again on steam rather than dealing with trying to purchase just the DLC on gog. It was on sale and most of my games are already on steam. I was happy to do it. Sadly CDPR embraced political ideology I very much disagree with and their quality has taken a steep nosedive since then. I haven't bought any new AAA games for about 6 years. All of them either have strongly offensive political ideology, buggy releases, excessive monetization, or other major problems

@BrandonSmith-ru8wl Ай бұрын

To answer the question at the start December of 2009 when I bought Left 4 Dead 2 from GameStop

@MichaelATri 2 ай бұрын

I totally agree with you man, its frustrating how physical pc games is basically dead now. And I just started collecting PC games too. Right now, I'm already planning on getting a printer to make my own physical copies even if they're just for show or backup discs lol it is very pointless but I don't mind it. Great video.

@fakkel321 6 күн бұрын

That is why i buy games on GOG if that site ever close i still have the installation files

@tricouleur9689 4 күн бұрын

My only physical PC game is Dead Space 2 and Left 4 Dead 2, I still have that flip 2010 calendar that came with my L4D2 copy.

@tommy6742 2 күн бұрын

The last time I ever bought physical was for ps3 and I will never ever buy physical again when I can store all my games from any gaming platform onto a portable external ssd.

@WinspearUltima 4 ай бұрын

I wish this was still around because I love physical media on everything including PC

@joshquade7453 8 ай бұрын

gotta love that old Canadian fiver. Reminds me of my childhood a bit

@Furry_Wall 10 ай бұрын

Last PC disc I bought was Spongebob the Cosmic Shake in mid 2023

@demonprincess5634 3 ай бұрын

Really Wow! I didn't think there was any game that came a disk that recent.

@LuisPerez-5 5 күн бұрын

0:21 not pretty much. They are dead

@deebocj 4 ай бұрын

Love the old-school music 😂

@DorminatorX Ай бұрын

imagine what will happen to us if valve will get into trouble, we are doomed, we are all doomed

@Ralphunreal 5 ай бұрын

i dont like steam since its drm, you dont own the games.

@Heyzairi 7 ай бұрын

This is why GOG is a win!

@MrStrangermoon Ай бұрын

some countries physcal pc games not end after 2013s. it goes to 2020 . all ea games reasled full dvds. last one jedi fallen order and battlefield 2042 was 7dvd. ea stop physcal pc disc in dead space remake nfs unbound jedi survivors. they are first time code in box 30 years of ea games. capcom last game was resdient evil 2 reamke and devil may cry 5. ubisoft last game was ac origins and oddessy. only some countries see this relases for example ac origins dvd version germany spain turkey etc. on germany still some aaa games relsed pc dvd 2024 thq games outcast 2 and alone in dark remake out full dvds. of course between 2010 and 2020 some games out only 1 dvd pyhscal pc such as doom 2016 fallout 4 etc. same company bethesd game prey 2017 out full dvd. 7dvd games only for ea ones and microsfot flighy sim 2020 have 10dvd physcal dvd rlease. all other ones mostly 3 4 5 dvds. 7 dvd ea games start witn battlefront 2 2017 for ı aware. they fit 7dvd on single dvd case perfectly no adjustment only disc hold on stick longer. after ea drop this dvd relse ea goes steam too. some physca games even they removed from steam you can stil activate with physcal copy such as dark souls 1 and skyrim first version. they removerd when remasterd version relased which remastered verstion bad coloring. bascily steam lost two iconic game dark souls and skyrim orginal versions. ı think 2018 the year this start to happen bcouse big game red dead 2 not out pc that year and in 2019 it out only digital not even code in box. then elden ring followed another big game not out elden ring was only code in box. dark souls 3 goty was 4 dvd on 2017 realse but sekiro 12gb game not out pyhscaly on pc was last joke bcouse 12gb can fit 1 dual layer dvds. steam have abilty split games ad dvd size but its do nothing to compress size .even rar make little shrnk size. cracked games uses smaller setup size. gog also not use this suggest you to downlaod 20 file to 20 dvds. 7 dvds was limit to hold single dvd area ea was nailed but steam users not aware this. usa and uk not see this ea relases and for them idea of pc physcal long gone bubble contune. rest of world diffrent story. there are some games only see one coutry rleases such as star wars squadrons and shadow of tombrider from india.

@Syphonpsx 6 ай бұрын

Steam is drm. I dont like it

@zxc930213 10 ай бұрын

I just bought some physical pc games online for cheap steam keys lol

@gentlemanjoker1777 4 ай бұрын

i'm seeiing more n more videos like these, i know this is abit late/old to be mentioning this but it seems like this trend pops up every few months or years lately and there seems to be a general rising concern from people for the preservation of games and i myself have been lamenting how 20-30yrs from now what will even be left from my generation? if any of the games i played are even still around surely due to the content vomit and update n "rebalancing" spam they will not even be a shadow of the game i remember/played. hell my bro got me into MC when it released and i hated on that game, but came to love tinkering with redstone. but now? i won't even play it, it's not the same game. so much so i let my acc transfer to microsoft lapse n lost access to it. anyway rambling aside. will there even be anything to remember our generation of gaming in the future? it certainly doesn't seem so. but with the rise of ppl doing more to fight for preserving games and to rid us of these anti consumer practices i certainly hope we can fix the system so that we CAN have some stuff from our generation survive into the future.