Physical games are dying, and digital-only gamers will miss these 4 things

It's no secret that physical media, from movies to video games, is seemingly on its way out, or at least becoming more of a luxury than a given. At the start of the latest Xbox and PlayStation console generations, both companies released versions without disc drives: the digital-only PS5 and the Xbox Series S. With the recent launch of the Nintendo Switch 2, it was revealed that most third-party physical games would be key cards, which just allow you to download a digital copy and doesn't actually have the game on the cartridge, leaving new consoles owners concerned about the future of these games. While there are some upsides to a digital-only library, no disc switching, no need to go to the store, and less stuff taking up room in your house, but is it worth the downsides?

4 Better preservation, personally and industry-wide

It's easier to keep physical copies working

There's a reason so many classic games, and even not-so-classic ones, are relatively easy to emulate on modern platforms. Partially it's the hard work of people creating emulators for those systems, but it's also the fact that all of those games were sold as digital only. That meant when the hardware was old and the games were no longer sold brand-new, there were still copies out in the world. When it comes to digital games, we haven't seen a console fully become unusable, with most examples closing the stores but still allowing players to download games they own.

But there will likely come a time when you can't even download the games you have purchased, and even if you already have them installed, the console might require an internet connection to allow you to play them. This makes it hard, not only for you personally, to keep your library playable, but it makes it that much harder for people trying to preserve these games as well, if everyone has to rely on these companies to keep servers up.

3 The ability to play games offline

PSN and Xbox Live outages have shown this could be a huge issue

While games like Call of Duty and other multiplayer-focused titles understandably require you to be connected to the internet, sometimes your digital library becomes inaccessible if not connected to the internet. While there are some systems in place, like making a console your home console, to avoid being unable to play digital games without a connection, there are plenty of people who don't have their systems set up that way. Whenever Xbox Live or PSN go down, there are always tons of people posting on social media about how they can't play their games. There may eventually come a point when those networks are no longer online, or when the version for an older console goes offline, people may no longer have access to their games. Companies seem focused on making it, so digital libraries move forward from each console generation, but the more console generations that come and go, the chances increase that some older titles might get left behind.

2 Resell value and used games

Not everybody wants to sell their collections, but digital-only gamers don't have the option

Some older video games have become quite rare, which increases their value to astronomical prices, especially on older systems like the PS1. Now, those are rare cases, but even if your older physical games aren't worth a small fortune, you might want to sell them. Growing up, getting new video games was restricted to birthday and holiday gifts, but, I could always trade in my older games to get something new. In an all-digital world, not only is that not something you can do, but it also means you can't pick up used games at cheap prices.

While sales do exist for digital games, and platforms like Steam are great at giving deep discounts, not having the option to pick up used copies at a cheaper price means that you are always at the mercy of the digital storefronts. This makes gaming as a hobby more expensive to get into, and even more expensive to try and play multiple new games each year.

1 Cool gaming collections and physical instructions

Not everybody wants to have a gaming collection, but that option is going away

Not everybody wants to have a bookshelf filled with video games. I personally don't, but so many people want everything physical, and it's getting harder and harder to make that happen. Not only are there tons of games that skip out on physical editions entirely, but some are only available through companies like Limited Run Games. While those companies are making it so some games that wouldn't be physical still get physical copies, they tend to cost more than a standard physical game. Even if we are still years away from no physical games at all, and maybe we will never reach a true all-digital future, the number of games that you can get physical will continue to get smaller and smaller. That also ignores some of the physical aspects we've already lost, like a lack of instruction manuals or other physical booklets in the games.

The slow march towards all digital

Regardless of how much love people who want physical games have for those discs, the digital future is coming. When companies like Capcom are reporting that 90% of its game sales are digital (via VGC) it's hard to think that physical games will stick around. There will be companies making physical games, and luxury third-party companies printing discs, the major gaming companies will likely see physical copies as not worth producing, and eventually stop, resulting in some beloved aspects of physical games being lost to time.