If buying digitally isn't owning the game. Then piracy isn't theft

KEEP COLLECTING PHYSICAL MEDIA PEOPLE!

If your Internet is out, you wouldn't be able to stream your favorite movies. It's actually important to own your favorite movies on DVD.

I think Ubisoft needs to get "comfortable" with people not purchasing their products.

I buy physical media all the time. I don't want to see it go away.

I remember GameStop being loaded with physical media in the 2000s. Then in the 2010s, the shift started and now when I walk by it, it's very toy heavy.

The problem I have with buying digitally is that you are often paying more or the same price as buying the physical game.

I am not a collector it's just the fact that I like holding the product in my hands, no matter if its a CD, DVD, physical copy of a video game or heck even a Vinyl. I am already upset that buying CDs at concerts are no longer a thing (at least in the US).

Game ownership matters!!! Let’s keep physical games alive!!!!

When we own nothing, we pay nothing.

People didn’t count on physical media being as big as it was when Oppenheimer came out on dvd. Places were sold out of the 4K version for weeks and months

Its like if you went to the grocery store and bought a bunch of food And the grocery clerk comes to your house and says we have the right to take this food back because you dont really own it

I will always support physical media

Time to sail the high seas, folks. I don't normally advocate piracy, but if they're advoctaing we don't own our games? Well... they can bugger off.

Nothing beats the 90s and early 2000s era, where innovation was key and there was less predatory business practices among gaming companies.

Are we just going to ignore the vinyl resurgence and the boutique Blu-ray industry? Physical media as a whole isn't dying

It sucks so badly that physical media discs for video games especially for this generation are dying out. 😥

Say NO to anti consumer always online drm😡👊.

90% of the games I buy are still physical. Only time I buy digital is when there is when the price is 1/10th the price.

I’m a physical guy so it just gives me less reason to go into those stores if they’re gone.

I always buy physical stuff, CDs, DVDs, games no matter what. I would always choose to buy the DVD over paying a month for multiple subscription services just to watch/play multiple games or movies for the company to remove it. The good thing in the UK we have CEX which is brilliant

I still support physical media whenever I can whether it be a Game, CD, or Blu-ray. As convenient as digital can be at times, though there are cons to owning either form of media when it comes to digital

After news about EA Games permanently banning one persons account for swearing in a M rated game chat window, and a glitch that perma-banned random Playstation users for many days, I would think more people will see that an all digital future is a bad idea.

I hate this shift to digital. I'm in the UK and buying physical copies, completing the game and then trading it back in keeps gaming cost effective for me. Case in point would most recently be Spiderman 2. Paid £70, completed it and traded it for £43 so I essentially paid £27 for a triple A experience. I can't do that with Digital...

Buying physical releases of stuff felt like being a collector, which is what a lot of us live for to show we were faithful to the things we like, but if everything is only available behind a constant monthly paywall to watch or play content then you're just paying to keep in the trend which isn't easy for people depending on their real life circumstances that affect their income. Not to mention older versions of games, movies and TV shows may be better than the current versions if changes were made that get rejected by the fandom because arguably we respect original cuts to things.

F for respect of Physical Media.

If this is the case.... Then, by all means. We must fight for DRM-FREE downloadable media.

If they want us to get comfortable not owning then they need to get comfortable not earning.

I think it is possible for games to be ready to go on disc on day one, our acceptance of the bullshit these companies have been pulling for the last three generations has just emboldened them to put out crap. Idgaf if every game needs to come on a 200gb SD card for that to be the case I'd still prefer that and the necessary price increase then having broken garbage nonstop

1984 was a warning!

I think part of this is, people now buy the physical games and get them delivered from Amazon. Usually cheaper than in any local store.

The thing I hate the most about this is retro game collecting will get all the more expensive because of this. Essentially ALL physical media will get way more expensive because of this. I don't think physical media will phase out completely, but it is definitely going to turn into a niche collectors market. Prepare for things to double and triple in price if not more. I pray in 10 to 20 years, we will begin to go backwards. I truly believe the masses will begin to yearn for actually owning physical media again one day. It will just take it going away to get back there.

Well, I guess my days of buying video games are coming to an end. It’s been nice knowing you guys I will just stick to my retro physical and emulated games I already own.

Nothing will stop Me from buying physical media. My Music, Videos and Games. They stop making them okay, but I will get the older stuff then. I'll go to Goodwills, DiscReplays, Pawn Shops and so on. There so much stuff out there and Arrow Video is still doing physical media. Companies that do will get My business. I hate the downloading and not owning physical media. I know I'm all over the place with this but I will die on the hill of owning what I buy. END OF STORY! Signed Jimmy

I think Ubisoft might be doing a good thing here because now I can boycott their games in protest of what that executive said.

It is so sad man. I literally just started investing in audio CDs from my favorite bands (mostly metal) but omg the quality of getting a WAV File and playing it through USB stick in my car or anything that supports HD audio was a massive game changer. I am literally trying to get rid of streaming services just so I can acquire the physical copy. Same thing with 4K/Blu-ray movies. The quality of a Blu-ray feels much more cleaner than trying to stream anything through 4K. Just seeing the native resolution of physical content just makes me want to collect them all and it really makes you admire the hard work an artist goes through to get the best quality you can possibly get. The fact that physical media is going away is going to make it much harder to preserve content and it is going to make physical copies of things skyrocket in price in decades to come. And now I should just trust all of these companies that they themselves will preserve the content? Or just randomly take it away from me? I dont blame people trying to pirate things now (ESPECIALLY NINTENDO). Streaming is renting, not owning, and I feel as a consumer you should really ask yourself what is more valuable to you: Convenience or Ownership.

Gonna become a premium service. Get ready for $120 for physical.

We shall pay nothing

The birth of me not buying video games is basically here too.

The phrase is "you will own nothing and you will be happy" and it's about a lot more than games...

I feel like it's only a matter of time before you have to subscribe to a video game company to play their games period.

The age of me pirating games I buy so I always own them has begun

What’s insane is that these companies save money by not having a physical copy to sell but charge the same price to not own a game you paid for.

We’re returning to the world of radio, vinyl, and arcade games.

I will own nothing, for I will pirate everything 😂

Well, I’m already used to not giving Ubisoft money. Last game I bought from them was AC Valhalla on PS5 because it was on sale at Best Buy for $20. I’ll wait hunt for physical long before I’ll go digital. I only buy digital if the game is like 70% off. Anything more than that is a waste. So when they finally decide to kill off physical, I wonder how much my discs will be worth? Especially when they start taking digital games off their stores.

The moment I cant purchase anything physically I will go back to pirating and it will be permanent.

We won't even be guaranteed access to the games we'll paying subscriptions for.

Gaming is going the way of tv now where every single publisher has its own service that is locked behind a monthly subscription. And like most streaming services the subscription cost isn’t justified if you’re only using it to stream a handful of specific games you want to play and you ignore the rest

Rich has been preaching this for years!! It’s very saddening to see it’s starting to happen now.

There will probably always be companies like Arrow Video and Shout Factory, but it REALLY SUCKS that physical media is dying 😢

Rich: I don't want to see physical media go away. Also Rich: I don't think I've bought a single physical copy of a game in the 9th generation. Rich, we speak loudest with our wallets. If you don't want to see physical media go away, then start buying it instead of digital. It's because of people like you that this is happening.

And this is why I prefer buying games on GOG whenever possible. DRM free.

the future they want is that everything is a subscription. we might even need to subscribe to food stores to order lol

I used to have a large collection of physical media, classic games, movies, music and a huge library of vintage gaming magazines. Then I gave it all to charity shop, it was so freeing to rid myself of all that baggage that had been following me around everywhere, as you grow up its important to remember the past and be grateful for it but at the same time you need to leave space in your life for new experiences and interests, that’s what helps you grow and develop.

I will buy physical media to the end!!!!

I honestly start pirating when a console dies and when I can't have access to shops. It's the right thing to do.

It won’t go away completely, that’s why publishers like limited run games exist, may be awhile for a physical but will keep companies like them in business

I just thought of something scary, imagine a world where having storage mediums is a thing of the past and they push you to the cloud. Like imagine Apple or Samsung selling a phone with no storage and to be able to have the “right” to store personal files you must pay for a subscription to iCloud or Google Drive

Physical media ended many years ago when updates and fixes became more common. If I decide to buy a game in 10 years and it turns out that it had a bug that made it very difficult or impossible to play the title and to remedy it I need to download an update that can no longer be downloaded then it is of no use that it appears to be a physical game.

They Can get fucked if they think am buying all digital with zero resell value and charging stupid amounts of money.

Well I've definitely noticed over the past several years now that when you install a game on your console that only small percentage of the game is being installed off the disc and the rest is via network, so it's almost like your game disc has already been reduced to being a coaster for your beverages. I do still try to get physical copies of any game I can and thankfully companies like Limited Run are advocates of the physical format, so I put my money on them to maintain a physical library. Sadly, everything is geared towards going full streaming, so eventually digital downloads for games will disappear and you'll just be paying a monthly subscription to play the latest game release off of some remote server that exists god knows where on Earth.

I don't understand why companies would cease production on physical copies. Tons of customers prefer having physical collections and they despise that you don't technically own digital copies and that they can be delisted or altered in any way at any time (hard to find old copies of the original trilogy star wars that haven't been marred by George lucas' weird and terrible cgi revisions for example, streaming services don't have them and you need to dig through torrents to find them since the newer garbage versions are more common and widespread on torrent sites.) I think most customers would gladly pay a small extra fee to cover the cost of the disc and plastic and the general cost of physical production.

If I will own nothing, then I will buy nothing. Simple as that.

I don't understand why people still buy these games from these companies with comments and practices they are very open about

Here in Ireland we have seen the closure of GameStop. One of the other places I buy my physical games at, Argos (basically a dumbed down Amazon also closed up during the summer. Now I’m only left with Smyths (a toy retailer) and Amazon to get my brand new physical games :(

I've gone through my large collection of physical media, DVDs, Blu-Rays, comics of the Simpsons and Futurama and manga, and got rid of the vast majority of them, either by selling mainly or just outright giving them away. I've been an avid collector of DVDs and manga for the longest time, but seeing the digital-only direction we're heading into it made me box up my stuff and recoup while I could. 10 years or 20 years now, everything will be digital and physical media will be a thing of the past. Just like with VCR tapes. I didn't want to be left with a bunch of declining discs and boxes that I would ultimately just end boxing up and putting away in the attic to be forgotten about until I'm an old lady fondly looking back at her youth. I wanted to avoid that so I've chosen to sell everything now while I can. Honestly, it feels nice decluttering and having more space

If that's the case I own nothing than I will stop buying stuff day one and wait till it's dirt cheap on sale.

Over the years Those physical games will have more nostalgia then they do now, which is why I buy physical copies I love the feeling

Get comfortable not owning my games?! *NO!* No. This is why I don't buy Ubisoft games anymore because of a mindset like this.

I'm definitely a physical media enthusiast. From CD's to VHS to DVD's, Blu rays and 4K blu rays to video games. Thank you for this video. I have a plethora of reasons for why I insist on collecting physical media as opposed to digital collecting. Granted I own over 500 movies and shows digitally thru Vudu / movies anywhere but majority of it was due to digital codes being supplied with my physical media purchase.

I don't think "game" is a good example of physical media dying because that is more on the company because of its bad practices than physical media dying. Also, in the uk they are other stores to trade physical games that had a better options than what game was offering.

Once video games stop being released physically, I’m done with purchasing new games! I hate how games have to be downloaded and you’re just technically renting games, like a Netflix subscription! Also screw expensive gaming subscriptions, it’s just a cash grab for companies!

That’s crazy. I was in Walmart a few days ago here in Edmonton Canada, there’s more physical video games dvds and blu ray discs then ever. Maybe this is only in the United States? The only section lacking is the CD section which has for the most part changed to vinyl. Tons of physical vinyl media in stock.

That being said, you’re the first one to say you haven’t bought a physical Nintendo Switch game in ages

I love physical media but the problem for Walmart isn't just floorspace. You have to keep flagging down somebody with a key and then they have to walk it to the front of the store as well. In many stores the electronics sections isn't even near the registers. They used to at least just hand it to you.

The sad truth is that even buying a game physically doesn’t even mean you can play it forever. With the rise of online only single player games, all they have to do is shut down the servers and then your physical copy is deemed worthless. Look what happened to THPS5 and Friday the 13th. Watch when it happens to all 2k and ea golf games and gran turismo and so on.

They still don't even have the technology to take away my SNES, NES, NEO-GEO, Dreamcast, N64, PS1 and PS2 games. They can do literally nothing, those games will always be worth money, always. I don't need to trade it in, just sell them. People told me collecting physical copies was bad, but I could sell my collection and get a new car and a down payment on a house. Can you do that with the downloads on your Steam Library? No? I didn't think so.

I had read that best buy would continue selling physical games despite the fact that they're going to stop selling movies. But I just went to my store and I didn't see a physical game in sight. I was shocked. 😢

Sadly, once this all digital future shows itself, I will be done with any future gaming. I will still have plenty of games to play for the rest of my life.

I'm about to just start buying all my games on GOG and just watch playthroughs of all these AAA games. It might not be exactly the same as playing myself, but I can soak up a good story just fine by watching someone else play. Heck, I did just that with The Last of Us 2, and to this day, I still feel like I actually played that game just by watching it on YT. I'm not comfortable with pirating anything, but I'm in full support of anyone else who does if these companies want to play like this.

It's not just video games, the owner class and investors want everything to be a subscription service.

Every month here it’s another “physical media is dead as of right now oh god it’s gone goodbye guys” and then a skibidi baa do baba *explosion*

If you didn’t buy a single physical game last gen then you’re causing the actual problem you’re upset about. I buy ALL my games on physical unless that option isn’t available, because I want physical media to last as long as possible. I support physical media with my wallet and if you want it to stay around as long as possible, then you should too.

Regarding Game as I live in the UK. There competitor CEX basically killed GAME. As they give a better trade in value and also they do retro. Which GAME stupidly could of done years ago, with a company called Gamestation for which they actually bought out. However, they killed it off. In my opinion the writing has been on the wall for years that they were dying but this confirms it.

I first encountered this problem years ago, not with games, but with virtual instruments used in digital audio. The fear of piracy led to awkward 'product activation' procedures, back in an era when not every PC was online. Some people got to like certain obscure instruments from developers who later went out of business due to the intense competition. And then couldn't re-activate them on new PC installs. Or had to repurchase them from whoever bought out their IP. The niche nature of the market meant the outside world didn't hear this - but gamers are a much bigger, much louder collective. I'm sensing the will for a tooth-and-nail battle on this one.

Sounds about right. People now pay 10x more for an update to software (which they dont actually possess), compared to years ago when one had something physical they could actually touch and hold.

I hope this doesn't happen it's just nice to have options on whether or not you want digital or physical

This is why I started buying my favorite 3ds games physically. I want to go back to dvds but streaming is convenient.

I remember opening a brand new game and smelling the inside of the case and the cool little booklet that came with it then the little click as you remove the disc from the case and get ready to insert into the disc tray... oh yeah. Those were the days.

Edit: I just discovered that the Winter Olympics DLC I bought for the game Steep has been removed and unavailable to play. I thought I had bought it on disk only to find it was just a redeemable code so wouldn't have mattered if I had bought the game as a disk or online. I'm not buying anymore Ubisoft DLCs from now on. Surprisingly for me I have only bought 12 PS4 physical disk games since 2021 but have over 200 that I've bought digitally. I thought I'd be making regular trips to CEX and Game to buy my games but I found that most of the games I bought were cheaper online. I don't buy games as they are released, I don't have to have the latest games as soon as they come out and I'd rather wait a year or two for them to come down in price, which they always do and PS Store always has sales going on. Besides, how many physical disk games won't work now until you have downloaded the latest updates or require you to be online to play (The Crew 2 is an obvious example), which makes it pretty pointless to buy them physically? I started with saying surprisingly because I have over a thousand physical games from previous gaming systems and all they are doing is just taking up lots of space compared to the 400 plus digital PS4 games that are taking up no more than a small external hard drive.

11:30 Just wanna list some big businesses that are not here anymore (maybe not content related but relative I think): Toys R Us, Radio Shack, Nokia, Blackberry, AOL, Kodak, Circuit City, Block Buster, Half of GM vehicles after 2008, and im sure people can name many more Some of those companies have been around for decades, but people thought theyd stay around.

I always buy premium 4k blu-ray steelbook and lenticular slips for my favorite movies

Nintendo seems to be able to ship a finished and polish game on physical

I went to Japan a few weeks ago and one thing I noticed is they have LOTS of physical copies from Famicom to switch etc. It was really impressive, not to mention, they take care of their games waaaay better! Lots of them had, not only instructions, maps, manuals....but also like, the little advertising single pieces of.....Anyway yep...bought a switch and 2 games there and boy do I miss it already!

Backing up on SSD is ESSENTIAL at this point. Especially on console.

It's been here for a while already, difference now is companies are being more vocal about it. GOG and physical games ftw. GOG isn't perfect but at least I can install most of my library DRM-free on my rigs without restrictions.

The thing is there becones a limitation to a disc based game as games get more and more complex vs a movie or a show which is maybe more complex in a cgi sense but it doesn't take up that much more data than usual. You can press play on the modernest of bluray movies vs the 12 hour download on a 3 disc game before you can press start.

Once upon a time, people used to pirate things. Movies, music, games. Then the companies said "what if instead of that, we make things more affordable by offering you a cheap monthly fee instead of making you pay full price for your items?" And the people rejoiced in their own piss, having drank the koolaid, they paid these people more money out of their wallets every month to be allowed temporary access to these things instead of owning them. It would be cheaper in the short-term, and these fools believed that it made the most sense. So they got rid of their CDs, vinyl, DVDs, games, and all their lavish items, for they no longer needed them. But because of this, the companies had them exactly where they wanted them. They then changed it up, with different things like increased monthly fees, limiting how many people could be on one plan, or removing access to certain things altogether. This made the people upset, but since they no longer had all their items, and gaining them back now would cost thousands of dollars, they settled on giving these companies whatever they wanted. What else could they do? And now, they're tightening that noose even more. And more. Having a hard time finding air yet? Yeah? Get used to it. It's the mindset most people allowed to happen

I don't support the all digital future, physical media is still relevant