Xbox and PlayStation have been slowly and steadily crawling towards digitizing the entire gaming sphere for years now and from the looks of it, they are almost to the finish line. Of course, like frogs trapped in normal water set to boil, the gaming community didn’t pay too much heed to it until its too late, a.k.a. now.
Video games are seldom sold on DVDs anymore. Gone are the days when you could pop in a CD drive and play games like Return to Castle Wolfenstein, Rise of Nations, etc. With most games going up to 20-30 GB in size, physical copies of games haven’t been feasible for quite a while now.
However, gamers who still wanted the feel of physical purchase were allowed to do that in the form of purchasing digitally downloadable copies from retailers. But, it is all set to change with major retailers phasing themselves out of the physical copy-selling aspect of the entertainment business.
The Shift to Digital-Only and Fan Reaction to It
Every time a major shift happens or something goes out of fashion, there is always a group of people who will mourn it, and that is alright. But gamers are notorious for being resistant to the idea of any fundamental change. Hell, the new Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League game received much flak due to its treatment of the fan-favorite Arkham Batman, even though the game was pretty decent on its own.
But both Xbox and PlayStation have been amping up digital sales for quite a while now. Gone are the days when people used to flock to retail stores to get their hands on the latest copies of major game titles. With a number of online services like Steam, Epic Games, etc. fans can now purchase and download all titles on their consoles or PC, rendering physical purchases a mere redundancy.
Amidst this furor, there are some fans who think that going digital is the right way to go.
The Blockbuster analogy used by this commenter makes a lot of sense. It also explains the primary reason why Xbox and PlayStation are shifting towards the digital-only future for gaming.
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Like It or Not, the Future of Gaming Is Digital
There can be no doubt in the minds of avid gamers that going digital is the only way forward. With more and more extravagant graphics, features, and heavy-duty games running on new game engines, there is no way that anybody would want to go out of their way to get a physical copy when you can just buy the game online and play in any console after logging in to your account.
With the younger generation tending more towards digital purchases, physical copies are only used as gifts or by gamers with a preference for physical copies, whose numbers are dwindling.
Whether Xbox and PlayStation go completely digital, only time will tell. But if the latest trends are any indicator, then the near future of gaming looks completely digital. Do you think gaming is doomed? Do you like digital only? Let us know!
