The gaming industry has had a difficult year in 2024,fraught with layoffs, cancellations, and studio closures.
According to data published by the UK’s Entertainment Retailers Associationvia VGC, the annual revenue from games fell to £4.6 billion (approximately $5.7 billion) compared to 2023’s £4.8 billion (around $5.9 billion).
While the 4.4% drop in UK sales is unwelcome, the most alarming statistic published in the report concernsphysical copies.Sales of boxed games went down by almost 35%, a staggering decrease that bodes ill for the ownership of games.
Your Games Are Not Yours
Physical media has been steadily declining over the years. Major gaming storefronts,led by Steam, have sold players the idea of clutter-free convenience, where all of your games are one click away wherever you go.
The convenience appeal has led gamers to sleepwalk into a new standard where the money you own goes toward games that you have no ownership of.
No Ubisoft, I’ll Never ‘Feel Comfortable With Not Owning My Games’
The modern gaming contract makes your access to your purchases conditional. Installing a PlayStation 5 game for example requires an internet connection, a functional PlayStation Network account, and healthy servers from the PlayStation Store.
A breakdown in any of these points means that you are functionally out of $70 and unable to touch that shiny AAA game you’ve been saving up for. In many cases, physical copies are no longer a valid workaround for this either.
In Sony’s example, since the PlayStation 4 the company has transitioned to a model where the Blu-Ray discs serve as a license check.
Inserting the disc allows you to download and play the game, but it is functionally a digital format, especially since day-one patches have become the norm for having something resembling a playable title.
Over at the Microsoft camp, things are not as cut and dry.Most games for Xbox One and Series X/S still ship as complete packageswith the Gold version on the disc. The same applies to PC gaming, though most modern computers ship out without optical drives.
Games with major live service components like modernCall of Dutytitles stand out from the norm here, with the discs serving as licenses much like in the PlayStation.
For all of the complaints about anti-consumer behavior, it is Nintendo that holds the best track record for physical ownership.Nintendo Switch cartridges almost universally have the game in fulland do not require anything beyond a working console to run.
Gaming In The Future
Physical titles are not the be-all and end-all of consumer agency, but such a sharp drop over one calendar year is extreme.
As the dawn of an all-digital era draws near, the debate over what rights players have over their games intensifies.
Black Myth Wukong’s PS5 Physical Version Will Have Everything On Disc With No Internet Required
Black Myth Wukong’s PS5 physical version will have the actual game data on disc, and won’t require an internet connection to download anything.
In 2024,California adopted the AB 2426 law, which requires companies to disclose that customers are not purchasing a copy but rather a license to access digital media.The law does not address the practical problems of this model, but it gives some transparency to the process.
In June of that same year, a group ofEuropean activists filed a citizen’s initiativewithin the EU called “Stop Destroying Videogames”. The project calls on regulations requiring publishers selling games within the bloc to keep them in a playable state.
The authors specifically saythis is not a demand for ownership, but rather legally enforceable guarantees so that the licenses purchased remain functionally valid.
There is no doubt that digital media is the future, but how manySpec Ops: The Line(permanently pulled over expired music licenses),Battlefield 3(shut down on consoledespite having a solid player base), orThe Crew(fully disabled remotely) scenarios will gamers need to endure before something is done about great games dying?
Firewalk Studios Shutdown Crushes All Hopes For Sony Concord’s Revival
Months after it’s embarrassing shutdown, Concord is finally no more as Sony announces the shutdown of Firewalk Studios along with another project.
