What do you think about bringing back physical games for the PC.

[TheGlitch]

I'm really surprised that there isn't a company making DVD or USB versions of games.

 

[ChibiMofo]

I have a high-end PC. I doesn't have an optical drive. I am not alone. They just aren't important anymore (I skipped the whole Bluray thing entirely) and no one buys PC games on physical media anymore. That ship has sailed and won't be coming back.

And Sony just made it clear that the future for consoles is disc-less (Nintendo abandoned the format first).

 

[TheGlitch]

I have a high-end PC. I doesn't have an optical drive. I am not alone. They just aren't important anymore (I skipped the whole Bluray thing entirely) and no one buys PC games on physical media anymore. That ship has sailed and won't be coming back.

And Sony just made it clear that the future for consoles is disc-less (Nintendo abandoned the format first).

Am I missing something? Nintendo DIDN'T abandon physical media.

While optical drives don't exist anymore, USB is still a good option, and with the size of games now I wouldn't find it unreasonable to ship entire hard drives.

 

[Faust03]

How do I put the cd into my computer though
edit: posted this at the same time the answer was posted lmao

 

[TheGlitch]

Sony just made it clear that the future for consoles is disc-less

Could you extrapolate this a little for me?

 

[sKoMo]

The future is *sadly* digital. Roughly 10 years ago i thought steam was the biggest thing happened in pc gaming. I bought all my games digitally and bla bla bla..... Now i'm a little older, with family, works and (a lot of) chores, i watch my game library and i realize i don't have a collection, i onle have a "list"....

My collection sit on my library, with all boxes of various platforms. Pc, Psp, Ds , Gamecube, Wii, 3ds, Psone, Gba and Psvita.

Now i don't buy anithing digital that cost more than 2.50€ and i'm not interested in collecting...

Edit: digital games worth literally nothing: if you wait enough they will give you for free.....

 

[linuxares]

Bluray are about 25gb and dl are 50gb. So there is no point unless they ship them on USB sticks.

 

[console]

I had old PC desktop with disc drives and new middle-high range PC don't have disc drive. About my new middle-high range PC without disc drive then I will force to buy USB external disc drive for myself. Reason why I love physical games more because I can play PC game offline without internet. StarCraft, Warcraft 3, Age of Empires 2+3, Age of Mythology, SpellForce 1+2 are my favorite all of times. Own them on physical games on disc.

I end up buy few games without DRM from GOG website is one best ever than all other lousy like Steam, etc have problems with DRM. What if internet broke down or company abandon support digital games can be very worse and damaged to our and people feelings. But right now is sad news for PC physical games on disc are now dead.



But one good news. Company work to make world's first 200 TB disc is coming soon. It can store tons of our PC games, Nintendo games, Xbox games, PlayStation games and much more on 200 TB disc to burn them on physical disc for our backups. New 200 TB disc size will be same like CD, DVD and Blu-Ray discs. I will have force to buy new disc drive and 200 TB disc for to store all my massive collection of PC games, console games (Nintendo, PlayStation, etc) and more on it in near future.


Here news:

This DVD-style optical disc could store 200 TB of storage, enough for 2000 x PS5 game discs

https://www.tweaktown.com/news/9637...age-enough-for-2000-ps5-game-discs/index.html


Researchers develop an optical disc with 1.6 petabits of data, equivalent to 200TB of storage, blowing the 100GB of four-layer Blu-rays out of the water.

A new paper published by researchers at the University of Shanghai for Science and Technology teases that they've developed an optical disc that's capable of storing up to 1.6 petabits of data, which works out to around 200GB... or enough storage to hold over 2000 x PlayStation 5 games and many, many more PC games.

The scientists increased the capacity by leaps and bounds using an optical disc with a 3D planar recording architecture, which uses a highly transparent, uniform photoresist film doped with aggregation-induced emission dye and stimulated by femtosecond lasers. It sounds like a lot of scientific jargon -- and it is -- but this allows hundreds and hundreds of layers to be crammed into a single micrometer apart on the disc at the same thickness as a DVD or Blu-ray disc.

The highest-density Blu-ray disc on the market is a 4-layer Blu-ray, which holds around 100GB of data, but the University of Shanghai for Science and Technology researchers claim this new format could record 100 layers on both sides of the disc for a total capacity of 1.6 petabits, or around 200TB.

Not only are the super-advanced new discs capable of holding up to 200TB of data, but the researchers claim the petabit discs could last between 50 and 100 years.

So, what's holding us up from 200GB discs? Well, the developers could make the new storage with current optical disc technology, but they haven't created a fast, and affordable drive for it. Holding 200TB of data on a single disc would be an absolute game-changer for every industry and person on this planet.

People could hold 200TB of data per disc, capable of seeing families have their own data center in their house, all on some optical discs that we've been using for decades now. You could store every bit and byte of data, every photo and video, any data you might have... on a few, or even a single 200TB optical disc.

Moving into the world of AI the way we are, having your own AI data center at home with 200TB of data per optical disc sounds like a very interesting road to visit over the years. The storage industry would be upended overnight, why are 20TB mechanical HDDs costing so much when 200TB single optical discs are on the market?

The University of Shanghai for Science and Technology researchers aren't the first to tease of next-gen optical disc usage, with researchers from the University of Southampton proposing a "5D" method of storing data on glass discs. This interesting technology used an energy-efficient laser, cramming 500TB onto a DVD-sized disc, but there needed to be improvements in both read and write speeds on this drive (and the new 200TB drive).

Still, very interesting to see that this type of technology is in development.



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I not sure if Windows 10 maybe support 200 TB disc or not. If Microsoft don't add 200 TB disc support to Windows 10 then too bad. Time to move on Windows 11 and later (Windows 12) will able to support 200 TB disc without worry about it.

About Windows 11 and Windows 12 will support 200 TB disc when Microsoft add driver support built in operating system like example Windows 11 version 25H2 and later, Windows 12 version 25H2 and later. Not sure if Linux operating system maybe support 200 TB in later for new kernel to update add support later on.

 

[lurkerer]

And Sony just made it clear that the future for consoles is disc-less.

Sony just made it clear that the future for consoles is in serious trouble compared to PC /Nintendo.

 

[JustABadger]

The only reason people still buy physical media is for the resale value. PC games never had that sort of luxury for some reason.

 

[impeeza]

I have a high-end PC. I doesn't have an optical drive. I am not alone. They just aren't important anymore (I skipped the whole Bluray thing entirely) and no one buys PC games on physical media anymore. That ship has sailed and won't be coming back.

And Sony just made it clear that the future for consoles is disc-less (Nintendo abandoned the format first).

I just rebuilt my PC and find a case with 5.25 optical drive was a nightmare and only found one with only one bay. I have 3 units and external cases are so high priced I can not afford one.

 

[console]

One biggest problem about disc will rot over 15 years - 100 years. Get M-Disc is one best ever will last 1,000 years and more strong for longest term storage than old current technology dye (this will fade over years then become massive failure rate). That's sad news about disc become rot means we can't get their files back means corrupt then no way to backup then end up go to landfill or recycle.

Make backup on many external hard drive / SSD to keep our PC games collection, etc safe from disc going to rot later anytime without warning. Backup is one very important for us and people. Time to move on.

Forget all old PC games disc from Amazon, ebay, etc because they can going to rot anytime soon. Same go with Nintendo GameCube, Wii, Wii U, PlayStation 1 to 6, Xbox to Xbox X|S, etc disc games can go to rot so bad. Same for music CDs and movies disc (DVD and Blu-Ray) can go to rot too.



Look up about "Disc rot" on internet and everyone will understand.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Disc_rot


Disc rot is the tendency of CD, DVD, or other optical discs to become unreadable because of chemical deterioration. The causes include oxidation of the reflective layer, reactions with contaminants, ultra-violet light damage, and de-bonding of the adhesive used to adhere the layers of the disc together.



Disc Rot - A Collector's Nightmare!!! (YouTube)

 

[CMDreamer]

Am I missing something? Nintendo DIDN'T abandon physical media.

While optical drives don't exist anymore, USB is still a good option, and with the size of games now I wouldn't find it unreasonable to ship entire hard drives.

Nintendo was the first to abandon physical disks, not physical media. While making digital games part of their -very successful- Switch E-Shop, they still use physical media for their games, and that's a very clever business model.

Instead of hard drives, I'd say SSD's and/or M.2 drives as they are way faster. Digital games are not -imho- going to become the only way to provide games to the masses, they will still exist, but as soon as a better and faster storage media becomes available, it will be used for selling games, unless internet services become cheaper, reliable, faster and more accesible for everyone.

Myself, I still prefer physical games instead of digital ones, unless they will never become available in physical media.

 

[Veho]

I think that games on physical media is going the way of the vinyl record. They will come as limited "collectors' edition" releases, but by and large the world is moving away from them and towards digital distribution only.

 

[zxr750j]

I salvaged an dvd drive from an old laptop and put it in a usb-casing, very handy ones every couply of years...
I don't mind the digital versions but what if the company where you bought goes out of business.
I do prefer physical media, think it's because I'm old.

 

[Level_1_the_IIIrd]

Playing strictly offline is the way to go.
SD cards should come back so I could have something on my shelf.

In labs the most robust digital storage remains the magnetic tape, not exposed to "migration issues" of compact disks or hard drives, but definitely sensible to temperature, moisture and EM fields.

So many books were lost, disinterest, looters, fires...Even the book of Enoch was miraculously rediscovered in an ethiopian copist monastery. All unwritten civilization left very few marks in history, invaders like Romans burnt everything when taking revenge over Gauls (Vae victis). Only stones are permanent in a way.

How did humanity survived ? It made babies.
How gaming can do so ? Gamers have to make copies, and also babies to play GoldenEye64 with them.

 

[KleinesSinchen]

The majority accepted the "modern" and "cool" and "convenient" and (you get the idea) rubbish of digital only distribution. BDs never saw a wide distribution such as DVDs and to my knowledge have never been used for PC games.
Asking for a BD pressing requires a license for AACS which is nonsense when not wanting to produce a movie disc. Getting rid of any physical media was a self-fulfilling prophecy. And people are happy with being limited. Software bloat is one of the nails in that coffin as well. I've heard some games wouldn't fit on a single BDXL, which is limited to 128GB (I omit the countless vaporware announcements for groundbreaking optical discs with [insert insane number of terabytes] capacity)
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The eternal talk about disc rot is something I can't confirm. With thousands of CDs/DVDs/BDs I've not a single unreadable pressed disc. Two CDs from the same pressing are problematic due to SafeDisc rejecting the originals as copies, one DVD I got used is barely readable (I suspect heat damage) and finally one CD with a strange dark mark in the data layer. Those four are already copied.

It can happen when on bad pressings and on physical damage. They surely outlasted how long servers for online games are available normally.
Seems it is en-vouge to bash on discs screaming "Disc rot!!" over and over again. Besides: Ever heard of a super cool idea called "creating backups" of physical media?
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Well. There would be a possibility to create physical media for those saying: "Modern PCs don't even have a drive bay! Lol. Lmao. Rofl. Who even uses discs in [current year date]?"
While NAND/Flash doesn't seem to be as long lived as high quality pressed discs, see for example 3DS carts already failing requiring refresh), SD cards could be used for distributing games. All the producer would have to do is send the command for "Go read only forever!" after copying the game data.

 

[tech3475]

I don't think this will work.

My physical copy of GTA V is 7 DVDs and that's from near launch, so would probably require a large download anyway for updates. BD never saw wide adoption and publishers will likely want to go with the widest possible audience..

SD can't be relied on because not all computers have SD card slots.

USB, maybe, but even then you'd need to use two types of connectors for Type-A and Type-C increasing costs. I wouldn't also be surprised to see these also implement some kind of cryptography so these wont be normal USB sticks in RO mode.

Both would also likely induce a higher cost like with the Switch and allot of the cheaper games now are just a 'code in the box'.

On top of this, you also have people with laptops and ultra portables like the Steam Deck, which could potentially make it a hassle.

Also, is this just for distribution or DRM like with consoles?

The latter would likely then require an OS driver and I wouldn't be surprised if you also still need a CD Key/activation like e.g. HL1. I wouldn't be surprised if this also breaks/limits Linux support.

The last two physical PC games I recall buying wouldn't even install because they used a driver based DRM which wouldn't install on my system due to OS incompatibility.

I think comparisons between console physical media and PC physical media are flawed for this reason, because on the latter it was not always the same experience as on console (i.e. you pop it in, update, play and that's your DRM).

 

[Technicmaster0]

I think that physical media doesn't work for 99% of the PC games because it can't be updated.
There are physical versions of some newer games and if you're lucky they even come with the game data on the disk, but they also come with a code that you have to register with Steam/Uplay. You can't play the disk without an account.
Modern games will always need an account for the updates. You don't want to play the first PC release of Spider-Man, Anno 1800 or Baldurs gate. They can have bad performance and are lacking content. It might make sense to do a physical release for the "definitive edition" with all of the updates and DLC but then the market is much smaller because most people already own the game. It wouldn't be worth it.
The same issue already exists with nintendo switch games. Almost all of them get updates during their lifespan so that the original cartridges are outdated. You might be lucky and an updated cartridge can exist, but then you have to hunt them specifically and many resellers don't list the cartridge version in the listing. Without the latest updates, the game is simply incomplete (think of the Mario Kart 8 Deluxe DLCs, the VR support and DLCs for Breath of the Wild and the added players and balacing updates in smash).
What's even worse is that you won't be able to get the "proper full game" after the servers shut down. Your physical switch collection is incomplete and it will always be incomplete. Good luck if your SD card breaks down or if your system breaks and you want to play the games with another system. The only real way to preserve these games is to pirate the "digital" data. Backups of the physical media simply isn't enough with modern games.

The only legal solution to this problem is GOG where you can download the (ideally latest version of the) game without DRM and store/install it however you want. But physical media isn't the solution for this problem. It's DRM free downloads

 

[KleinesSinchen]

I think that physical media doesn't work for 99% of the PC games because it can't be updated.

That's just wrong.
Mostly* true for the old approach with pressed discs, but false for flash memory. It is possible to write protect the part with the base game and allow updates to be installed on a writable part.

Requires more than a standard SD, but can be handled without high costs. Having gigantic updates making the base medium largely obsolete is a garbage approach anyway. Having to download multiple GB each time makes no sense.

Games shouldn't be green bananas that ripe at home. Alas people accepted this as normal, modern and good long ago -- just like the whole digital distribution.



Including sophisticated hardware DRM would be a different problem regarding costs, but there is no need to include such. Right now they rely on software methods that would work equally with physical distribution.






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CDs with a fixed pressed part and an empty CD-R part have been specified, but probably not used much.