Temporary Beings and Our Temporary Things

Sony recently announced that they are planning on going digital only for the PlayStation platform and there were a lot of negative reactions to this. I would assume that those who oppose this move are PlayStation loyalists who have never played games on digital forward platforms like the Personal Computer because for me, at least, I thought this was a good announcement, with some reservations. For someone like me, it's all about access, not the delivery. And for someone who has moved places many times in a short period of time, I wish all of my games are in digital format because I am tired of hauling tons and tons of these things with me. When it comes to digital rights management of their gaming content, Sony has been a dependable publisher. I have heard about them cutting off access to movies purchased on the PlayStation platforms before, and that is problematic - of course, this should not occur. The more blatant problem with digital purchases on consoles is the fact that console gaming has abandoned backwards compatibility, which complicates things due to the conflict of access and playability - this has never been a factor in PC gaming. Still, Sony has always allowed us to redownload anything that we have purchased in the past so things are looking up perhaps?

I rather have my games readily downloadable via a gaming client...

Do people know that that physical gaming media doesn't last forever? I feel safer owning the right to download a game versus holding on to a Blu-ray disc. But here's the thing: For me, gaming is a hobby of diminishing returns. Sure, you get the satisfaction from the content but when one purchase a new title from large studios these days with that brand-spanking new price of $69.99, the value of the game immediately plummets as soon as it is purchased, physically or digitally. With how fast life moves these days, it is easy to see big releases get huge discounts after mere months of being in the market. Unless one is merely collecting physical games for the sake of reselling them as new, which may be difficult as time goes on with all the remakes and access to direct download, is there any reason to believe that partaking in this hobby can lead to financial success? But I know, I have heard a lot about people arguing that they want to be able to resell their physical games, but then why is it that I have also noticed that those who make this argument ended up keeping their games anyway?

...than having to go through these. They also occupy so much physical space.

This panic over a digital only future is funny to me because I have been living it for a long time and it has no negative impact in my gaming life. Sure, I still get games on my PlayStation 5 and the Nintendo Switch 2 in physical format because for the former, the price ended up being cheaper when I get the discs and for the latter, I am still wary of Nintendo's DRM practices, even though the way they handle digital ownership between the two Switch platforms was good, the whole "virtual game card" thing still irks me. Not to mention that I am still sour that Nintendo quickly abandoned the Wii U as I started supporting their digital release there. I have a feeling that these guys will eventually have to match the way that Steam, Epic Games, or Good Old Games handle their DRMs to be successful in an all-digital gaming future or they will certainly get lost in the shuffle. I know, we all want to be able to "own" everything and keep everything forever. Well, I am not sure that you are aware of this, but we are not forever. I wish I can have Yoshi forever, but she was gone not too long ago. I wish I could be here forever, but I won't be. As someone who is lacking in the forever juice, maybe it's half full at this point, all I want is convenience. It's not about wanting to "own" these games because I already know that I would only be purchasing the license to play the games, not owning them, even when I get them in physical formats. It is all about being able to access them at any time while I am still alive. I want the rights to have that, always and I urge those who are not willing to venture out into PC gaming to keep their eyes on that very point instead of worrying about what they could actually hold temporarily in their hands. I mean, they don't even bother printing pretty manuals anymore and people don't even complain about that as long as they get their discs or carts.

Saros (2026) with its one-page leaflet vs. Radiata Stories (2005) with its thick colorful manual.