The Horrors of Digitization

You will own nothing

LUARDE MONTANO CANCEL

Digitization has been on the rise: streaming services instead of DVDs, music streaming instead of discs, and now game discs are being phased out in favor of a license that you don’t really own. It’s convenient yeah, but is it worth what we lose?

Starting January 2028, the overlords at Sony have decided that all games will become exclusively digital. Rockstar also decided that their most anticipated game, GTA VI, will only come out digitally. I take great issue with this because, firstly, I like having my game discs neatly organized and displayed, and secondly, I like owning what I purchase.

I don’t think that digital games are the worst thing ever. I have God knows how many, especially since I mostly play video games on computers; but when a console game is particularly anticipated or beloved to me, I want to be able to hold it and show it off in my room. Sony’s decision is a scary precedent, one that hopefully will not be followed by Microsoft and Nintendo. If it is, however, we risk losing those beautiful collections of games. We risk losing cool box art and the little game brochures they sometimes come with. We lose the ability to give a game we want to try out to our friends, and we also lose the opportunity to sell our old games or games we no longer want. Digitization is not just an issue for gamers’ collections, it’s these huge companies showing that they want control of how we use their products. Microsoft and Nintendo so far have had a much better approach to digitization, while Sony has doubled down on it.

This is an issue that cannot be ignored. We have rights to what we buy, these companies should not be able to tell us to be content with not owning our games.