Physical games coming to an end

The possible end to an era

Do you remember a time when you wanted to buy a new game that you actually had to go to a physical store? Whether it was EB Games, GameStop, Toys R Us, etc. There was something special about it. Walking into a store especially like EB Games and GameStop were something every young gamer looked forward to. It was something that allowed us to escape reality and join other likeminded gamers. No, it wasn't just shopping around. It was also socializing and talking to one another about the games we wanted, were most excited about, and even played.

The thing I think about as well were the deals, as well as the ability to trade in older games and get the funds needed for newer games. Building a collection, trading games with a friend even if your parents told you not to. It was honestly a time to live. A time to enjoy not only the process of buying a game. But appreciating every part of it. I understand that now we have gone to a more modern digital way of buying games. Which understandably is super convenient. Also, you can sometimes find some great deals from the comfort of your own home. 

Still, it isn't comparable to the feeling I used to get walking to GameStop. Physical games wasn't just a game it was a way of life and a way of being. I know you're probably thinking, "What a drama queen!". So what?! Just being sarcastic. Yet, it was. There was something about walking with my friends to the Aramingo GameStop. It wasn't close by any means. But we took that hike to find new games and deals! See, I didn't grow up with much. So, I never really bought any new games. I always tried to stay in the ten dollars range. Which allowed me to get as many games as I could. But also buy a game or two for my friends that accompanied me. 

The digital age

However, now when looking at the gaming industry. I think we can all agree it has drastically changed compared to those golden age years. Again, there's nothing wrong with digital purchases. Not everyone has a way around their town or city. So, the convenience of opening up the PlayStation store, Xbox store, or even the Nintendo store makes sense. But there's something we can't dismiss though. Since digital sales started becoming the more popular option to buy a game. We've seen shifts in the gaming industry. GameStop was no longer prevalent. Which, some may say is due to their own doing. We had the disappearance of EB Games. And Toys R Us went downhill as well. 

Yes, I know Toys R Us wasn't a gaming store. Well not completely, they did however sell games. I remember my mom buying my Nintendo Gameboy Advance and Metroid Prime in that store. And if my memory serves me right, they had plenty of options when it came to video games and had a whole section dedicated to it as well. Still, with this age in digital we started to see other things as well. Like the saying of "You don't own the game, you're just buying a temporary license.", maybe not those exact words but close enough.

On top of that craziness, we have the fact that games weren't really completely on their physical copy. Only a portion of that game was on the disk, and the rest had to be downloaded and installed onto the console. Which eventually led to storage starting to be an issue for consoles. Yes, we still had more space then than now. Still, we can see the trend here. The sad part of everything is that we were just going along with it all. Yes, there are still people out there that have always been collectors buying the physical version of the games. To you I tip my hat to. 

The cost of this shift

But now looking at where we stand in the gaming industry. It scares me for the future of gaming. Not only the cost of consoles has gone up. Licensing has been the talk of the town as well. The crazier thing though too is that we have a company like Sony that is looking and has already made known they are killing the physical games for their future console. And their excuse is mainly based on digital sales that has genuinely no sustenance. With games having so many micro transactions it's easy to state that sales are mainly booming in the digital market. 

It's easy to dilute their claims and many people in social media has done it. For those of us that love the ease of console gaming we're going to miss that. I know a lot of people are like, "Well I buy all my games digitally anyways." to you I say this. Wait and see what's going to come next! See, being able to find games physically still helps the market for a game. How? Well imagine this. If the consoles stores were the only ones able to sell the games, they can adjust and keep the price how they want it and for as long as they want it. Yes, there's more to it than just that. 

But when you look at the physical media side of it and find a game for a fraction of the price that changes things. Game companies see these things, and they have to fight to make sure they can truly compete with the used market every now and again. Why do you think you see so many sales? Why would I buy a Call of Duty game for $60 digitally that is 5+ years old. When I can go to a local game store and find it for a fraction of the price. And sometimes even cheaper than the sale price digitally. 

Bringing it all in

I'm going to leave it here; there's pros and cons to both physical and digital games. But seeing one actually fading away is removing the option in how we as consumers want to purchase and enjoy our games. Yes, physical games are now more like digital keys. I wish we could go back to those disks actually having the games on them to help with storage. But with how large games are today that isn't truly ideal. For those that at least enjoyed the collecting part of it, it sucks. For those that enjoyed finding the best deal, it sucks as well. Still, not all is lost. There is some sort of hope and it's coming from a company that surprisingly still kicking even with all their past mistakes.

I may type something about that some other day. But for now, I will be leaving it here. Share with me your thoughts in the comments. Let's have a conversation and agree to disagree respectfully of course.