[nemetroid]

I don't think "taking off" is the best way to describe Steam's current position. I don't think there's been any major game in the last few years that required a disc for playing. Perhaps a couple required it for installing, but not many there either.

[patrickk]

The point I was trying to make was that many people still choose to buy the physical disc from a high-street or online retailer. Just because the disc isn't strictly necessary, doesn't mean they're going away. A friend works at GameStop, and every now and again has to work for midnight launches for the likes of World of Warcraft where people will be queued around the corner to get their copy of the game.

[nemetroid]

Right, I can agree with you on that. Your example is very fitting though since at least for the WoW expansions, probably every single one of those queuing already had the game preloaded and just needed a product key to upgrade their account, furthering the notion that the drive itself is not necessary.