Their competition (Nintendo and Steam) already don’t have physical media. Nintendo is moving towards 100% Game Key cards, and Steam is all downloads. Playstation could have used physical media as a competitive advantage, but decided against it for cost reasons. So now this is the end of gaming physical media. The game sizes are just way too large.
Just to be fair, the Nintendo Switch 2 does support “Game Key Card” games. Such that you still must download the game and use the card to authenticate your game.
However there are zero first party* Nintendo games that are “Game Key Card” games. If you buy Mario or Zelda you do get the game on the card.
I do expect that will change in the future and follow the trend Sony is taking to be 100% digital. So you’re right to be concerned that they are heading in the same direction.in fact with Sony already heading that direction it’s even more certain.
*(Pokemon, which feels like a first party and Nintendo owns a large portion of, is technically third party.)
I think it was a CoD that big but it might have been some other AAA perennial. Either way, 4K textures are huge when unoptimized and in the era of gigabit internet and digital distribution, devs don’t feel much pressure to optimize.
To the manufacturer? Pennies. It’s made of the same stuff DVDs are. They’re only expensive to the consumer because the entire industry hates the idea of them.
Nintendo is beyond the event horizon at this point.
And that’s alright. Like, if you can afford a Switch and you get it so your family can play Pokopia and Animal Crossing, all their nonsense doesn’t really matter to your lifestyle.
…But if it does matter, “Nintendo Fans” are in waaay too deep to plausibly defend them anyway.
I had no idea “game key cards” were a thing until this comment sent me down a rabbit hole. What a total scam! Clearly deceptive and anti-consumer. I’m surprised there hasn’t been a class action lawsuit yet. Maybe most are ignorant like myself.
The box and packaging makes it look like you are buying a physical game that will play for years after Nintendo turns off their servers. If someone wanted to buy a download key, they could buy the little cardboard scratch off things. Packaging it as if you were actually buying physical media is intentionally misleading.
How am I as a regular consumer supposed to know what a game key card is? And yes, the non-standardized one off example of a company using a non-plain language description completely destroys the argument that this is anti-consumer and intentionally deceptive. Clearly everyone wants a game keycard inserted in order to play a digital game that if they had bought with an explicit code or completely online wouldn’t be required. It’s also great that completely digital download that takes many gigabytes of storage on my device becomes unplayable the moment I lose the game key. That way, I get the worst of both worlds! I have to be responsible with keeping track with physical media, and I have a massive drain on my devices storage space.
Just look at this Game Key Pass game sold through target. Note how the description says that it is a physical copy, and the specification notes that it is a physical copy. The only reason you may even suspect that this is game-key card that requires a download is if you happen to look at one of the cover art screenshots without alternative text. The fast food industry has been getting wrecked by that sort of oversight for a couple of years now.(Links available on request, but currently on mobile, so lazy)
How is it deceptive? It’s clearly stated on the box in unambiguous terms. In fact, the warning banner for key cards is bigger than the banner for codes in a box. Nintendo isn’t responsible for your inability to read.
How am I as a regular consumer supposed to know what a game key card is? And yes, the non-standardized one off example of a company using a non-plain language description completely destroys the argument that this is anti-consumer and intentionally deceptive. Clearly everyone wants a game keycard inserted in order to play a digital game that if they had bought with an explicit code or completely online wouldn’t be required. It’s also great that completely digital download that takes many gigabytes of storage on my device becomes unplayable the moment I lose the game key. That way, I get the worst of both worlds! I have to be responsible with keeping track with physical media, and I have a massive drain on my devices storage space.
Just look at this Game Key Pass game sold through target. Note how the description says that it is a physical copy, and the specification notes that it is a physical copy. The only reason you may even suspect that this is game-key card that requires a download is if you happen to look at one of the cover art screenshots without alternative text. The fast food industry has been getting wrecked by that sort of oversight for a couple of years now.(Links available on request, but currently on mobile, so lazy)
the cost to produce and distribute (or rather, the lower profits), was secondary… waaaay tf under the top 5 reasons for dumping physical media: control, control, control. control, and control… control over your “purchases”
Their competition (Nintendo and Steam) already don’t have physical media. Nintendo is moving towards 100% Game Key cards, and Steam is all downloads. Playstation could have used physical media as a competitive advantage, but decided against it for cost reasons. So now this is the end of gaming physical media. The game sizes are just way too large.
Just to be fair, the Nintendo Switch 2 does support “Game Key Card” games. Such that you still must download the game and use the card to authenticate your game.
However there are zero first party* Nintendo games that are “Game Key Card” games. If you buy Mario or Zelda you do get the game on the card.
I do expect that will change in the future and follow the trend Sony is taking to be 100% digital. So you’re right to be concerned that they are heading in the same direction.in fact with Sony already heading that direction it’s even more certain.
*(Pokemon, which feels like a first party and Nintendo owns a large portion of, is technically third party.)
Dual layer Blu-Ray is 100GB, old PS1 games used to ship on many disks (looking at you FF7 and FF8).
Single layer 25GB, Dual 50GB, Tri 100GB, Quad 128GB.
Oh, thank you! :)
And CoD is 250GB or something.
Holy crap really? That’s freakin comically huge
I think it was a CoD that big but it might have been some other AAA perennial. Either way, 4K textures are huge when unoptimized and in the era of gigabit internet and digital distribution, devs don’t feel much pressure to optimize.
How much would 2-3 dual-later BDs cost?
The issue isn’t the technical possibility, but whether people are willing to pay the premium for installation media.
Of course I would pay an extra few dollars tohave media and guarantee a game will install and run even if the internet goes away.
This isn’t about convienence for the users, its about killing the secondary market
To the manufacturer? Pennies. It’s made of the same stuff DVDs are. They’re only expensive to the consumer because the entire industry hates the idea of them.
Sorta annoyed Nintendo didn’t receive as much flak as this with hoards of people trying to justify game cards by pointing at Microsoft and Sony.
Nintendo is beyond the event horizon at this point.
And that’s alright. Like, if you can afford a Switch and you get it so your family can play Pokopia and Animal Crossing, all their nonsense doesn’t really matter to your lifestyle.
…But if it does matter, “Nintendo Fans” are in waaay too deep to plausibly defend them anyway.
I had no idea “game key cards” were a thing until this comment sent me down a rabbit hole. What a total scam! Clearly deceptive and anti-consumer. I’m surprised there hasn’t been a class action lawsuit yet. Maybe most are ignorant like myself.
How is it a scam? It is exactlly what is printed on the box. Not everything you dislike is a scam.
The box and packaging makes it look like you are buying a physical game that will play for years after Nintendo turns off their servers. If someone wanted to buy a download key, they could buy the little cardboard scratch off things. Packaging it as if you were actually buying physical media is intentionally misleading.
There is a huge banner at the bottom of the cover art that clearly states that a download is required. It’s only misleading if you can’t read.
How am I as a regular consumer supposed to know what a game key card is? And yes, the non-standardized one off example of a company using a non-plain language description completely destroys the argument that this is anti-consumer and intentionally deceptive. Clearly everyone wants a game keycard inserted in order to play a digital game that if they had bought with an explicit code or completely online wouldn’t be required. It’s also great that completely digital download that takes many gigabytes of storage on my device becomes unplayable the moment I lose the game key. That way, I get the worst of both worlds! I have to be responsible with keeping track with physical media, and I have a massive drain on my devices storage space.
Just look at this Game Key Pass game sold through target. Note how the description says that it is a physical copy, and the specification notes that it is a physical copy. The only reason you may even suspect that this is game-key card that requires a download is if you happen to look at one of the cover art screenshots without alternative text. The fast food industry has been getting wrecked by that sort of oversight for a couple of years now.(Links available on request, but currently on mobile, so lazy)
How is it deceptive? It’s clearly stated on the box in unambiguous terms. In fact, the warning banner for key cards is bigger than the banner for codes in a box. Nintendo isn’t responsible for your inability to read.
How am I as a regular consumer supposed to know what a game key card is? And yes, the non-standardized one off example of a company using a non-plain language description completely destroys the argument that this is anti-consumer and intentionally deceptive. Clearly everyone wants a game keycard inserted in order to play a digital game that if they had bought with an explicit code or completely online wouldn’t be required. It’s also great that completely digital download that takes many gigabytes of storage on my device becomes unplayable the moment I lose the game key. That way, I get the worst of both worlds! I have to be responsible with keeping track with physical media, and I have a massive drain on my devices storage space.
Just look at this Game Key Pass game sold through target. Note how the description says that it is a physical copy, and the specification notes that it is a physical copy. The only reason you may even suspect that this is game-key card that requires a download is if you happen to look at one of the cover art screenshots without alternative text. The fast food industry has been getting wrecked by that sort of oversight for a couple of years now.(Links available on request, but currently on mobile, so lazy)
You know. Store agnostic game key cards would be so cool.
I’m fine with archiving downloads I’d want + keeping keycards.
the cost to produce and distribute (or rather, the lower profits), was secondary… waaaay tf under the top 5 reasons for dumping physical media: control, control, control. control, and control… control over your “purchases”