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by CodesInChaos 2 hours ago
Unfortunately many game disks only contain a downloader nowadays and you often need to bind them to an account to play. Plus the version on disk without updates is probably buggy. Baldur's Gate 3 Collector's edition is an example that has a disk, but isn't really any better than a Steam key.

On the other hand you can back up a DRM free download, like the games on GOG, despite these being a purely digital download.

So overall I don't think the physical form matters that much compared to DRM.
1 comments
add-sub-mul-div 1 hour ago
It's disgusting how a previously open platform for gaming (PC) was turned into what it's become with Steam. Young people either don't know or don't care that it used to be the norm to buy and install a game without a middleman "service".
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doginasuit 1 hour ago
That argument has been harder to make with time. A couple years ago I made the difficult decision to get rid of some old game copies. I wasn't realistically going to use them ever again, and the sentimental value for me is entirely about the memory, not the media. Part of my steam collection is nearly as old and it is on track to greatly outlast. It is also significantly easier to own and use in just about every aspect, even if it is technically just a revocable license.

Beyond that, Steam and the digital media model allowed a great many people to publish games that wouldn't otherwise have been able to publish games. It made the indie world of games possible. It also did more than anyone to bridge the platform gap between windows and linux.

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cube00 43 minutes ago
I'm really worried about what will happen to Valve when Gabe retires.

I can see a bean counter making a very convincing case that it's cheaper to go back to Windows and avoid all this Linux reverse engineering gubbins which isn't bringing in an immediate profit, especially when they're giving away all theirs efforts by open sourcing Proton.

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cube00 45 minutes ago
Considering the thousands of positive comments you see when an influencer posts a "collab", "gifted" or "invited" post I'm going to go with "don't care"
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