2 or 3 years remaining for physical game retailers in South Africa - BT Games

[Dan C]

Half-Life Alyx was over 70gb

I really hope you don't work for a ISP who throttles its customers without realising the average data consumption in modern times.

No. I still play Tetris.

 

[D.B.Cooper]

In my time I've seen games go from cassettes to 5.25" floppies to 3.5" stiffies, then to CD, and finally to DVD. Blu-ray never took off on PC so I imagined that maybe the software industry would move to some form of cheap read-only version of flash drives. But then Steam took off, and later all the other digital download platforms. So much cheaper for publishers to distribute games this way.

It's then that I realised physical media was dead. I guess you'll still get overpriced low volume run collecters editions (that come without the actual game - that you'll have to download) but the days of boxed games are now over.

 

[Peon]

One day I *might* sell my 1997 StarCraft1 cd for $100,000.00

Ive kept all my cd's. I dont know about all you other collectors but I keep my games for the memories attached. Same for you all?

 

[Progenix Oj101]

One day I *might* sell my 1997 StarCraft1 cd for $100,000.00

Ive kept all my cd's. I dont know about all you other collectors but I keep my games for the memories attached. Same for you all?

I collect for the sake of collecting. Much of what I've purchased from the late 2000s onwards is still sealed. I've probably played in the region of 10% of the ~400 (physical) games in my collection. Just yesterday I added a big box copy of Red Baron to my collection, and recently added the Myst Collection, Command & Conquer Generals Ultimate Warfare, a big box copy of Kingpin Life of Crime, a sealed copy of System Shock 2, a bix box copy of Croc 2, etc.

 

[Lord Flacko]

I’ve become accustomed to the digital only edition lifestyle. The last time I bought a physical copy of a game was in 2018.

 

[Peon]

I collect for the sake of collecting. Much of what I've purchased from the late 2000s onwards is still sealed. I've probably played in the region of 10% of the ~400 (physical) games in my collection. Just yesterday I added a big box copy of Red Baron to my collection, and recently added the Myst Collection, Command & Conquer Generals Ultimate Warfare, a big box copy of Kingpin Life of Crime, a sealed copy of System Shock 2, a bix box copy of Croc 2, etc.

Yea, we just wired like this I suppose.

 

[crack2483]

It's always been that way though.
Patches used to be anything from a few Mb to a few hundred.
These days fixes are gigs in size.
Fitgirl has my support. I don't even update games.
Edit: can't stop the rock. Stop the rock. Aaaarrrggghh

Back in the day PCF had updates and fixes on their demo disks

 

[RazedInBlack]

I showed my 9 year old this the other day



I got a very confused look from her.

 

[Progenix Oj101]

Yea, we just wired like this I suppose.

Indeed. Some people collect coins, others collect stamps, etc. I collect PC games, physical copies only. I don't care what happens to my Steam/Origin/uPlay/etc libraries, but my games are holy

I showed my 9 year old this the other day

View attachment 926591

I got a very confused look from her.

Show her a floppy disk and wait for her to ask why you 3D printed a save button

 

[CataclysmZA]

It kuk, anyone else remember going to IC or CNA and playing the latest games on the machines they had setup? 1999 - Tiberian Sun

Even as recently as 2018 I was able to go to CNA and purchase a game and pay for it over 6 months. Physical retailers might be dying out, but they're doing nothing to stem the losses by making buying a physical copy more attractive.

As it is, Game Pass will be the service that does them in.

So when Steam goes down/bankrupt, what happens to your digital downloaded games?

Valve's promise to gamers is that if the company ever folds it will release the licenses that are secured by Steam's DRM and allow for archives to be mirrored/games downloaded so that no-one is left hanging without their purchased games.

 

[Herr der Verboten]

So when Steam goes down/bankrupt, what happens to your digital downloaded games?

I'm not so sure I'd be happy that my games are actually only being rented, not owned..

Steam is down, so you’ll need to work through your backlog another time

Steam is down for most PC players around the world. The issue is preventing users from logging in, buying games, and launching games from their library.

venturebeat.com

Back to world of warcraft

Dinosaurs will dinosaur

 

[stefan9]

Been dead for a long long time on pc. Haven't bought a physical pc game in 7 years.
Vastly superior service from both steam and gog compared to the service received from the SA retailers. Never see either miss a release date unlike the SA retailers.

 

[|tera|]

Back in the day PCF had updates and fixes on their demo disks

NAG did it as well. PCF International and local did the same, as you've said.
Today they'd have to supply a few Blu-ray discs at a time to do the same.

 

[Moosedrool]

No. I still play Tetris.

Hell even tetris mobile will be more than R127 oob shark rates. That hidden extortion no one talks about. It's the most extreme opportunistic rubbish I've seen in society today.

 

[Swa]

Couldnt BT Games offer buyers high speed connectivity to download the game quicker than their 10Mb fibre at home? Come buy the game and dl it in store to an external quickly. Or some type of delivery mechanism where feet still enter the store? Increase the value added proposition by including novelties and merchandise?

200GB dl hurts on a 10Mb connection. How many 4G/5G users are gamers and the 200GB download hurts?

Imagine on a mobile connection. Most of my GOG games will cost more to download than their purchase price. I remember when people traded Steam files. Seems we'll need to go back to the days of internet cafes because of digital games until the internet providers wake up.

 

[Cray]

Miss the days of cool game boxes with thick manuals and extras but those days are been long past anyway, can't remember the last time I bought a physical game.

 

[RVQ]

They could attempt to transition into board gaming, setup their shops for events, meetups and comps, with WFH becoming the default people could seek entertainment that supports social interaction

 

[Forum Reader]

Even if you buy a physical disk to avoid needing data, you'll probably still need to download a huge amount for patches/updates. I remember even back in 2011 when I bought a physical version of Skyrim on release, I still needed to download a few GB before I could play it. That was quite annoying because back then all I had was a 2GB pm 3G contract and I needed to download around 2GB.

These days with games being rushed out even more, and the physical disks being shipped out to stores around the world months before release, you still will have to download a huge amount to play because of day 1 patches and updates. So it's better to just go full digital from the start.

 

[Progenix Oj101]

Even if you buy a physical disk to avoid needing data, you'll probably still need to download a huge amount for patches/updates. I remember even back in 2011 when I bought a physical version of Skyrim on release, I still needed to download a few GB before I could play it. That was quite annoying because back then all I had was a 2GB pm 3G contract and I needed to download around 2GB.

These days with games being rushed out even more, and the physical disks being shipped out to stores around the world months before release, you still will have to download a huge amount to play because of day 1 patches and updates. So it's better to just go full digital from the start.

The day I can’t buy a box is the day I stop buying games altogether. I have waaaaay more fun replaying a 20 year old game than something from the last ten years anyway.

 

[Forum Reader]

The day I can’t buy a box is the day I stop buying games altogether. I have waaaaay more fun replaying a 20 year old game than something from the last ten years anyway.

I have a lot of old games on disks from 2000 - 2010 years. The problem is that they are mostly the original release. Not the game of the year editions with all updates. So those disks are pretty much worthless since if I ever play those games again, I want to play them with all updates and DLC, etc. So will get again them through GoG or elsewhere.

Games are no longer a once off buy with a complete product and full experience at launch.