As PlayStation and Xbox move toward a more digital future, Nintendo could become the last major platform where physical games still truly matter.
As PlayStation and Xbox move toward a more digital future, Nintendo could become the last major platform where physical games still truly matter.
Yeah right. Nintendo was the one who came up with “virtual game key cards.”
Xbox and Playstation were already making discs that purely just triggered a download long before Nintendo. Nintendo just made this explicit, which is at least commendable.
Virtual Game Key Cards are actually better than digital in most ways. Rather than the game code being tied to your account, it’s tied to the card. So you can still easily sell or lend it. It also does not require a Nintendo account to use (if that matters), just an internet connection.
Until Nintendo inevitably shuts down the switch 2 eShop in the future
Yes. It allows selling and trading for however long the eshop is up. Bad that it has a time limit, but better than not having the option at all. Once they announce its shutdown collectors can buy the (presumably) cheap game key cards to install the games on their consoles. Hope they have a lot of microsd express cards!
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Yeah, but many modern games only work after a day 1 patch anyway, so what’s on the disc won’t count for much. Not to mention you still need a working console, and those stop being sold long before digital storefronts are closed.
I don’t think DRM free is realistic either, piracy is just too big of a problem on the release of a new game. Eventually the cracks will arrive, but that window before is important for making a profit. Most consumers are as amoral as corporations. They don’t care about who makes what they are using, nor do they care about the ethics behind where they got it from.
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The vast majority of indie games make nothing. The price locking you out isn’t really a valid argument. If the developer lives in an expensive place and needs to charge X to break even, then that’s what they need to do to have a commercially viable product.
New games on GOG often have DRM, because it’s the only way they can compete with Steam.
I hardly see DRM as authoritarianism. No one compels you to play a game, its a luxury. Games are products and need to turn a profit so their creators can eat and create new games.
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