PC games ought to come with backup copies of the data.
PC games ought to come with backup copies of the data.
I understand too. I truly wish to have a Commodore 64 run games that aren't widely available on modern platforms.
I'm in a comparable situation to you, having moved to PC last year. I share your thoughts. I prefer physical copies mainly because I can trade or sell them after finishing the game. I spent £35 on Metro Exodus a while ago, and although I enjoyed it, I’m not sure I’ll play it again. If it were a disc, I might have used it to fund another purchase or sold it for a discount. Right now, it’s just sitting idle. It seems PC gamers have pushed digital formats, likely because they don’t own disc drives for their systems. This shift helped platforms like Steam thrive through digital sales—and here we are. Speaking of that, can PC CD ROM games still be bought? Do you have a disc available?
It's true, but it's hard to locate titles that provide that choice. Many PC games with "physical copies" simply include a digital license inside the case.
I don’t miss the days when games had to be reinstalled from 6 or more discs/DVDs. Even modern console titles aren’t completely disc-based anymore. Plus, the storage space is limited—I’ve got around 1,750 games on Steam.
I'm not suggesting all of the game be saved on a disk. Smaller titles work fine, but bigger ones wouldn't likely store the whole thing across multiple disks. They might use a system like Xbox One and PS4, where disks confirm ownership. Regarding physical space, I'm just mentioning disks as an alternative, not the only choice.
They don’t actually give a disc, they just have a code on a piece of paper. That means it’s not a real physical copy, right? I remember having some old PC games from back then, and all of them came with discs. One of the earlier Flight Simulator titles (the last before the new version) had four discs. I tried installing it on an old 2008 standard office computer, but it ran poorly. I’d love to experience it again, but my setup doesn’t have a drive. It just seemed unnecessary at the time.
So I mentioned "physical copy" because it refers to a tangible item with a cover and possibly a manual, though keeping it isn't really necessary. Back in the late 90s and early 2000s, PC disk games were popular. However, platforms like Steam became dominant and eventually faded away. You can purchase a USB DVD drive for around $20 to $30, which is what I own. I don’t use it much, but it’s handy when I need it.
My last physical PC game was Prey 2017. It was discounted, right? I received an installation disc and a Steam code. I could have installed it directly from the disc, but I chose to activate it through Steam because of my stable internet connection. I prefer not to deal with a spinning disc drive. It works well for people without fast internet, though that’s mostly my view. There’s a collectible element, but I only skip the digital version if it’s available in stores. Especially with library sharing, it’s simpler. My brother and I can play the same PlayStation game simultaneously via library sharing, as long as we’re using different accounts. I couldn’t do that with a disc, and I won’t suggest paying for a copy just to have something on my shelf. A collector’s edition would be a nice exception if I really wanted it, but it’s uncommon. I wish more PC titles had collector’s editions, though they’re becoming less common. New PS and Xbox releases also don’t require discs, so I expect even fewer, or they might come with a digital code, which would be great.