appiah4 wrote on Yesterday, 09:44:

I feel like a happily vindicated Steam gamer. That said, while I trust Steam to do the right thing *now* I don't expect Gaben to live forever. At the same time, I am also going to acknowledge that 90% of my library has been bought at $10 or below so there is also that. Regardless, I have been moving over to GOG for the last few years for most of my purchases. I can at least download and backup my entire library on GOG, which is an amazing benefit I only recently came to appreciate.

IIRC Gabe has said that when he passes his position at Valve will go to his Son who has the same mindset he does so Steam will be just fine.

Aui wrote on 2026-07-24, 02:41:

Here is an interesting read...
https://arstechnica.com/gaming/2026/07/the-pl … ulled-the-plug/

This data is incredibly flawed as it includes sales of games that had no physical release anyway.

The data for games that had both physical and digital releases shows physical releases account for a vast majority of sales IIRC.

appiah4 wrote on Yesterday, 09:53:

The data for games that had both physical and digital releases shows physical releases account for a vast majority of sales IIRC.

Yup. Here are some examples from Sony's own internal sales data:

• God of War Ragnarök: ~76% physical
• Marvel’s Spider-Man 2: ~54% physical
• Ghost of Tsushima: ~51% physical
• Uncharted 4: an estimated ~83% physical

Source: Sony’s 85% digital sales figure misleading. Gamers still buy physical discs

From the same article:

msn.com wrote:

That 85% counts every full-game sale, including the thousands of games that are digital-only in the first place, indie titles, back-catalog re-releases, smaller download-only games, and yes, plenty of shovelware. The PS5’s library has thousands more digital-only titles than disc releases. If a game was never sold on a disc, of course it sells “100% digital”, but that tells you nothing about whether players would’ve bought a disc if offered one. In other words, the number is padded by a huge volume of games that never had a physical option.

appiah4 wrote on Yesterday, 09:44:

I feel like a happily vindicated Steam gamer. That said, while I trust Steam to do the right thing *now* I don't expect Gaben to live forever. At the same time, I am also going to acknowledge that 90% of my library has been bought at $10 or below so there is also that. Regardless, I have been moving over to GOG for the last few years for most of my purchases. I can at least download and backup my entire library on GOG, which is an amazing benefit I only recently came to appreciate.

yey but gaben was the one who pioneered all this back in 2003, why are we giving him a pass, you cant play half life 2 day one back in 2004 anymore.. theres the xbox port but its not the same. Buying a used copy of Counter Strike Source argh if i stopped there and took it back and never touched steam id be richer

appiah4 wrote on Yesterday, 09:44:

I feel like a happily vindicated Steam gamer. That said, while I trust Steam to do the right thing *now* I don't expect Gaben to live forever. At the same time, I am also going to acknowledge that 90% of my library has been bought at $10 or below so there is also that. Regardless, I have been moving over to GOG for the last few years for most of my purchases. I can at least download and backup my entire library on GOG, which is an amazing benefit I only recently came to appreciate.

Same here, 100%. I feel pretty safe with Steam, and completely safe with GOG. It's something a lot of people seem to be missing about the physical vs. digital argument. Digital can work just fine, as long as the consumer actually has options. Once you're in a situation where a single company controls the hardware, OS, software, and market, you're fucked.

newtmonkey wrote on Yesterday, 13:39:

Same here, 100%. I feel pretty safe with Steam, and completely safe with GOG. It's something a lot of people seem to be missing about the physical vs. digital argument.

GOG offering completely DRM-free games on PC is really awesome. I can burn a game's offline installer to a disc, or store it on securely on a local NAS if I so choose, which is great for preservation purposes. But what I can't do is resell or trade the game. And I'll say it again, the GOG and Steam refund policy is leagues above PlayStation, which is much appreciated. So that helps in the case of "this game is too buggy/runs slow on my system".

But what if someone plays a game for a good while (e.g. 10 hours) only to realize that it's not a great fit for them? With a physical disc of a console game, you can resell it or trade it in for a different game. Not so with digital releases.

I'll provide a personal example. A while back, I bought Metaphor: ReFantazio on Steam. As a big fan of the Persona series, I was convinced by many trusted reviewers that I would like it. But I played it for about 10 hours and it just wouldn't click. To me, it seemed inferior to Persona 5 in every possible way. Now, were this a physical disc, I would resell or trade it with no further thought. But since I don't own a PS5 or Xbox Series console, I had to get it on PC, so I'm stuck with it now. Technically, I could have gotten the PS4 disc, but I didn't know that at the time. There's a small chance that I might revisit this game at some later point, but it just bored me so much that I don't think I'll bother.

newtmonkey wrote on Yesterday, 13:39:

appiah4 wrote on Yesterday, 09:44:

I feel like a happily vindicated Steam gamer. That said, while I trust Steam to do the right thing *now* I don't expect Gaben to live forever. At the same time, I am also going to acknowledge that 90% of my library has been bought at $10 or below so there is also that. Regardless, I have been moving over to GOG for the last few years for most of my purchases. I can at least download and backup my entire library on GOG, which is an amazing benefit I only recently came to appreciate.

Same here, 100%. I feel pretty safe with Steam, and completely safe with GOG. It's something a lot of people seem to be missing about the physical vs. digital argument. Digital can work just fine, as long as the consumer actually has options. Once you're in a situation where a single company controls the hardware, OS, software, and market, you're fucked.

There is a difference between an “always online” streaming/App Store cloud gaming and a downloadable offline installable experience .

When you get into the physical vrs digital we have to remember that the truly offline version of digital is also under threat
As it’s an offshoot of physical with a different distribution and licensing method.

Lack of resale sucks but you don’t loose complete access when the server goes dark.

Gotta remember that the volume of “downloadables” is almost 100% older games with a smaller fraction of new content going that route, tons of software be it mobile or console App Store is at least not intended to be possible to conserve or extract meaning the amount of new content for a service like GOG will start shrinking without activism at least.

Joseph_Joestar wrote on Yesterday, 14:44:

But what if someone plays a game for a good while (e.g. 10 hours) only to realize that it's not a great fit for them? With a physical disc of a console game, you can resell it or trade it in for a different game. Not so with digital releases.

This is a really good point, and I agree. In fact, I think the reason why Sony is so desperate to switch to digital only is precisely because they don't want people to resell or trade games.

I think what they are trying to do is extremely short-sighted. This will lock out many younger people from the market... and these companies need kids and young adults, because these are people that become lifelong customers. When I was a kid (and teenager, and young adult straight out of college), I relied on the fact that I could sell or trade my games in order to buy new ones. If the option to trade in a game or sell it on Ebay after finishing it wasn't available, I simply would have been priced out and stopped playing games entirely.

I actually did stop playing games in my late 20s, since I got married and was focused on my career. But then, on a whim one day, I had nothing to do on a long weekend and went down to the local game store and bought a new PS3 and a couple of used games, because I wanted to see what modern (at that time) games were like. This was when the "slim" version was first released, and it was just under 30,000 yen. The used games were older, and they were 2,000 yen each or so. So I got out that shop with a new console and a couple of games for less than 35,000 yen. It really reignited my passion for games, and I went on to buy dozens upon dozens of (mostly new) games over the years.

That's simply not an option these days. A new PS5 (with disc drive) costs 112,000 yen. I'm (thankfully) much more financially stable now than I was back then, but I took one look at that price, laughed, and put the money into a new PC. From time to time I look at the Sony store and cannot believe what they are charging for digital games... they're not only more expensive than Steam/GOG/Epic, but are often more expensive than a new copy of the physical release!

newtmonkey wrote on Yesterday, 16:04:

Joseph_Joestar wrote on Yesterday, 14:44:

But what if someone plays a game for a good while (e.g. 10 hours) only to realize that it's not a great fit for them? With a physical disc of a console game, you can resell it or trade it in for a different game. Not so with digital releases.

This is a really good point, and I agree. In fact, I think the reason why Sony is so desperate to switch to digital only is precisely because they don't want people to resell or trade games.

I think what they are trying to do is extremely short-sighted. This will lock out many younger people from the market... and these companies need kids and young adults, because these are people that become lifelong customers. When I was a kid (and teenager, and young adult straight out of college), I relied on the fact that I could sell or trade my games in order to buy new ones. If the option to trade in a game or sell it on Ebay after finishing it wasn't available, I simply would have been priced out and stopped playing games entirely. I believe that if I had completely stopped playing games from, I dunno, 13 to 22 or so, I would have just never bothered with games again.

This is sort of what the us car market is doing.

They think they can only sell new extremely expensive disposable cars in low volumes destroying the used market, forgetting that without a healthy used market, everything else implodes going into a feedback loop of collapse.

Lots of younger adults think cars ownership is stupid and pointless

Joseph_Joestar wrote on Yesterday, 14:44:

But what if someone plays a game for a good while (e.g. 10 hours) only to realize that it's not a great fit for them? With a physical disc of a console game, you can resell it or trade it in for a different game. Not so with digital releases.

While Steam has that max 2 hours of playtime, GOG has no playtime restriction at all. You can get a full refund as long you apply for it within 30 days from purchase, no questions asked. I've done it myself with Kingdom Come: Deliverance after realizing it wasn't for me, got my money back even though I had downloaded the offline installer and played it a bunch.

They have had that system for a good while now, so I don't think it's costing them as a whole. On the contrary it's probably encouraging people to buy stuff they otherwise wouldn't.

I imagine the entire board of directors at Sony would get a stroke if someone were to suggest a system like that to them.

Sombrero wrote on Yesterday, 16:46:

While Steam has that max 2 hours of playtime, GOG has no playtime restriction at all. You can get a full refund as long you apply for it within 30 days from purchase, no questions asked.

Yup, that and being DRM-free is why GOG is the best digital game storefront.

Sadly, the game I mentioned isn't available there... yet. But GOG has been making good progress with their game catalog, and hopefully, they will keep expanding it further. On one of their recent sales, I bought the Tomb Raider Survivor trilogy, despite already owning those games on Steam. I simply wanted the DRM-free versions.

Joseph_Joestar wrote on Yesterday, 14:44:

But what if someone plays a game for a good while (e.g. 10 hours) only to realize that it's not a great fit for them? With a physical disc of a console game, you can resell it or trade it in for a different game. Not so with digital releases.

I understand the argument but I think it is ultimately a non issue. Considering a physical console game retails for $60 and has maybe a $20-$40 resale value depending on when you want to sell it off, that means your net cost is $20-$40. I get games from Steam way cheaper than this anyway, so the effect of having no resale value does not change the value proposition for me..

Also, you CAN refund the games on Steam if you try them for a short period and find they are not your cup of tea, so that really helps.