I think if the industry does go digital only, only two entities will exist as main storefronts as that's all they'll be in this new landscape:
Steam and Nintendo.
Steam has the great reputation, Nintendo has the loyal fanbase. As wtf has Sony got to justify being digital only? They ruined past loved franchises either going woke, sitting on them like with Killzone, they euthanasied any future franchises with their push for live service or their management pissing off the studio to go solo as with Stellar Blade.
More importantly, Sony don't have the TRUST to be digital only especially with their lack of digital security, whereas people make jokes of Steam Support having access to drone strikes with how good they are.
I'm fully willing to have some giant data centre built if we can make it into a digital 'Golden Throne' for Lord Gabe.
Though with how the competition is CONSTANTLY fucking up, he might just decide to not buy another ship and buyout one of these companies instead since it'd be cheaper.
Nintendo is entering the Jew phase of remaking remasters
I bought a lot of first-party physical titles for the Switch 1. I think the only game I bought for the Switch 2 is Terminator 2D. And I don't think I've bought any Switch 2 games digitally. Almost everything on the Switch 2 seems to be a remaster or remake, but then again, I haven't been keeping up to date with their announcements, so maybe there's something special I missed?
With Steam, however.... the only reason it's any good is because Gabe doesn't do anything. Just makes games available and stays out of the way.
But we all know that when he passes whoever takes over is not going to do that... they will fold. Gaben is an old-head like many of us here, and he grew up in a time where innovative was rife throughout the industry in the 80s and 90s, and saw all the burgeoning tech, the downfall of the dot com era, and the rise and fall of ownership amongst consumers as the gaming market went digital.
Some new-head is not going to understand the of being pro-consumer, about retaining software history, or preserving content. Heck, talk to most millennials and Gen Z'ers and they will argue to their dying breah that "you never owned anything anyways". All they have to spout is pro-corpo-slop bollocks they picked up from astroturfed reddit threads.
But you're absolutely right that Xbox and Sony are FUBAR. There is nothing else left. Hopefully everyone does the right proper thing and buy up all their physical PS3 and PS4 games before it's too late and dump the ISOs for emulation purposes, because the PlayStation brand is going to go extinct sooner rather than later.
I've noticed that for the Switch 2. I was just recently almost trying to justify buying one, i.e. talking myself into it. I still can't. They are just offering nothing I want, and the best shot they had is just a remake of an old Zelda game. It's one of those things I'd buy for $10 but Nintendo games will never be that.
It's also turning into why I quit the Xbox/PS already. I don't want game license on disc. I want to have the games so I can play them later, and I will play them later, and that could be 20 years from now when they've shut everything down for cloud slop only. So, I'll just keep my modded Switch. Nintendo has likely lost me too, and they had the best shot. Microsoft really screwed it up, I was all in on Xbox platforms going back a long, long time and I doubt I ever even buy another game for Xbox, and certainly not from the digital store.
The Switch 2 is sorely lacking any kind of killer apps. DK Bananza was neat, but it's no 3D Mario title. Mario Kart World is dragged down by its Open World design. Kirby Air Riders is niche and lacks replay value outside of couch co-op. There's just no big "Wow!" Title to pull people in. Everything is niche, a rehash, or otherwise too unimpressive to be a major system seller.
I think if the industry does go digital only, only two entities will exist as main storefronts as that's all they'll be in this new landscape:
Steam and Nintendo.
Steam has the great reputation, Nintendo has the loyal fanbase. As wtf has Sony got to justify being digital only? They ruined past loved franchises either going woke, sitting on them like with Killzone, they euthanasied any future franchises with their push for live service or their management pissing off the studio to go solo as with Stellar Blade.
More importantly, Sony don't have the TRUST to be digital only especially with their lack of digital security, whereas people make jokes of Steam Support having access to drone strikes with how good they are.
Announcing a shift to digital only while also deleting paid digital content from customer accounts is an interesting choice.
https://scored.co/c/Gaming/p/1ATBhKALT9/if-buying-isnt-owningthen-pirac/c
They REALLY need to level their Californian headquarters with every executive inside, their retardedness is sinking the company..
PC gaming hinges on the life of one man, like Atlas bearing the weight of the entire world.
I'm fully willing to have some giant data centre built if we can make it into a digital 'Golden Throne' for Lord Gabe.
Though with how the competition is CONSTANTLY fucking up, he might just decide to not buy another ship and buyout one of these companies instead since it'd be cheaper.
when he dies, kikerosoft will take over and enshittify steam like never before
daily reminder to digitally archive (i.e pirate) repacks of all your legally purchased games when the inevitable happens
GOG is still lurking in the shadows providing me with equivalent deals and offline installers that will live on after its servers go dark.
The problem, however, is twofold:
I bought a lot of first-party physical titles for the Switch 1. I think the only game I bought for the Switch 2 is Terminator 2D. And I don't think I've bought any Switch 2 games digitally. Almost everything on the Switch 2 seems to be a remaster or remake, but then again, I haven't been keeping up to date with their announcements, so maybe there's something special I missed?
With Steam, however.... the only reason it's any good is because Gabe doesn't do anything. Just makes games available and stays out of the way.
But we all know that when he passes whoever takes over is not going to do that... they will fold. Gaben is an old-head like many of us here, and he grew up in a time where innovative was rife throughout the industry in the 80s and 90s, and saw all the burgeoning tech, the downfall of the dot com era, and the rise and fall of ownership amongst consumers as the gaming market went digital.
Some new-head is not going to understand the of being pro-consumer, about retaining software history, or preserving content. Heck, talk to most millennials and Gen Z'ers and they will argue to their dying breah that "you never owned anything anyways". All they have to spout is pro-corpo-slop bollocks they picked up from astroturfed reddit threads.
But you're absolutely right that Xbox and Sony are FUBAR. There is nothing else left. Hopefully everyone does the right proper thing and buy up all their physical PS3 and PS4 games before it's too late and dump the ISOs for emulation purposes, because the PlayStation brand is going to go extinct sooner rather than later.
I've noticed that for the Switch 2. I was just recently almost trying to justify buying one, i.e. talking myself into it. I still can't. They are just offering nothing I want, and the best shot they had is just a remake of an old Zelda game. It's one of those things I'd buy for $10 but Nintendo games will never be that.
It's also turning into why I quit the Xbox/PS already. I don't want game license on disc. I want to have the games so I can play them later, and I will play them later, and that could be 20 years from now when they've shut everything down for cloud slop only. So, I'll just keep my modded Switch. Nintendo has likely lost me too, and they had the best shot. Microsoft really screwed it up, I was all in on Xbox platforms going back a long, long time and I doubt I ever even buy another game for Xbox, and certainly not from the digital store.
The Switch 2 is sorely lacking any kind of killer apps. DK Bananza was neat, but it's no 3D Mario title. Mario Kart World is dragged down by its Open World design. Kirby Air Riders is niche and lacks replay value outside of couch co-op. There's just no big "Wow!" Title to pull people in. Everything is niche, a rehash, or otherwise too unimpressive to be a major system seller.
The Switch 2 supposedly is lacking in game titles thanks to Nintendo treating the dev kit like the nuclear codes prior to it's release.