Have you ever had a shelf full of games?
My siblings and I can walk over, grab a game, pop it in the console, and play. I can lend games to friends and cousins, trade them for another game, revisit them years later, and build a collection I’m proud of.
Maybe one day my kids can pick a game off that shelf and experience it for themselves.
With digital, it just doesn’t feel the same.
I understand why we’re moving in that direction. It’s convenient, it’s instant, and for a lot of people it’s easier.
But we’re losing something. Gaming is more fun when the experience is shared. Borrowing a game from a friend after you beat it, lending one to a cousin, swapping games at school, building a collection in your room.
And we’re losing some of that sense of ownership too. More and more of gaming is tied to accounts, subscriptions, digital storefronts, licenses, and internet connectivity.
I know that’s where the industry is headed, but I’ll miss when you could just buy a game, bring it home, pop it into your console, and play. No logins, no subscriptions, no worrying about whether a service still exists years later.
Maybe I’m too much of an unc, but there’s a lot of value in physically owning the things you pay for.