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by jerf8 hours ago |
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upvoteby altmanaltman7 hours ago|
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With the planned death of physical media for games, it will soon become impossible to do so. Like, Sony literally plans to stop making discs starting in 2028, and all games you buy will have to be digital only. GTA 6 is just giving a code in a box. It's really the end of times for physical media in a few years, maybe something can change if consumers push back but they likely will not if we are being realistic.

https://blog.playstation.com/2026/07/01/physical-disc-produc...

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upvoteby jerf6 hours ago|
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I don't think you're quite getting it. I'm saying, don't get in the box.

"But the bait looks so nice!"

Yes. Yes it does.

Yes, you may have to sacrifice and not get some things you want in the moment. Our capitalistic overlords have demonstrated that they will absolutely abuse you to the maximum extent you permit. If you are willing to give everything to play GTA 6, then they will take it.

The compensation is that there is already more than you could possibly do available in spaces where they are not locking you in a box, or you can break out of the box with minimal moral quandaries and technical difficulties.

This isn't really news. Control your desires or they will control you is not new wisdom. Though the modern ability to exploit other's inability to control their desires certainly does have some new twists on it.

"Each man's master is the person who has the authority over what the man wishes or does not wish, so as to secure it, or take it away. Whoever, therefore, wants to be free, let him neither wish for anything, nor avoid anything, that is under the control of others; or else he is necessarily a slave." - The Encheridion Of Epictetus, second century AD

https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Page%3ADiscourses_of_Epictetu...

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upvoteby cogman102 hours ago|
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I generally agree, but I don't think it's wrong to mourn what is lost or to try and advocate politicians regulate and restore what was lost. Especially since the policy of "the customers own nothing" has been extending past video games in ways that are unavoidable. For example, John Deere locking down their tractors. Car manufacturers increasingly trying to turn everything into a subscription.

I agree, the right action as a consumer is boycotting rent seeking products and pestering politicians. But it does feel hopeless as too few of our politicians seem to care about these sorts of seemingly minor grievances.

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upvoteby everdrive5 hours ago|
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How many games do you need in your life, though? I'd say the top 500 games on the GoG catalog would be more than a lifetime of gaming. That's not even including open source or rom sets.
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upvoteby inigyou5 hours ago|
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Then if you really want to do something yourself instead of waiting for leet hackers to do it, buy one, reverse engineer it thoroughly, write a protocol emulator so you can buy the game from the store and download the bits to your PC, and then develop a method to store those bits to as many compatible consoles as you want.
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upvoteby lesostep6 hours ago|
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Not the OP, but when the physical media for games dies, I will still be playing games I already own.

That's what collection is for.

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upvoteby nkrisc6 hours ago|
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Then just stop playing games if that happens. They’re not necessary, it’s not worth getting fucked over by the corpos.

Or make your own games or play ones made by indies that you can actually own.

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upvoteby rc51506 hours ago|
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Oh no! GTA6, the 2026 simulator, may not be accessible?

If the death of physical media locks me into playing whatver is forcefed to me by AAA studios, I will reject that bargain and engage in the decades of backlogged media I haven't gotten to yet. If every studio stopped making music, movies, and TV today, there is still so much I haven't seen/listened to/played that it won't even move the needle.

Lastly, going against the grain here, but GTA 6 looks about as unappealing as it possibly could. I don't want to play 2026 Simulator, no matter how good it looks. Really it just looks like parody version of current politics and society and that's what games are helping me escape from.

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upvoteby elzbardico4 hours ago|
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Read a book instead. It is not like you have to consume audiovisual media to survive.
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