Summary
It seems like yesterday that big-box PC games were in every store, but the day finally came when I would buy my last physical PC game ever, and that game,Skyrim, would definitively put the nail in my physical PC gaming history.
I Queued for Skyrim
If you’re on the younger side, you may not remember a time before people bought games digitally, or simply ordered them online. When a new game launched, and you really wanted to play it, you’d have to physically go to a store and hope there were enough copies of the game.
Even when this was the norm, I rarely did that. Skyrim was an exception. In November of 2011, shortly after I’d moved out of my parent’s place and into my own apartment, I high-tailed it to the store after my half-day job. The mall was on my way home and the game would be going on sale that afternoon. I queued for about two hours, which is pretty tame all things considered, but I had reserved a copy at least, and it was fun talking to other folks waiting to buy the same game.
My wife is just as much anElder Scrollsfan as I am, and so we were both keen to get the game installed so that we could play. With DVD case in hand, I headed home to start my Skyrim adventure.
To My Shock, the Disc Was a Coaster
Skyrim was the first ever Steam game I bought, and it’s the first game in my Steam purchase history. Which is why my Steam account is exactly as old as the game.
While I knew Steam was a digital storefront, I had only got broadband recently. Specifically, I got a 4Mbps ADSL connection, good enough for basic Netflix too, but that’s a story for another day.
I created a Steam account, and then started installing the game, only to realize that this copy of the game was now permanently linked to my Steam account. In other words, I could never sell or lend this game to anyone else. It also turned out that my brand-new copy of Skyrim had a damaged disc, which ironically was a non-issue, since Steam simply downloaded the files from the internet.
I took the disc and case, removed the nice map that was included, and threw it in the trash.
PC Gaming Has Thrived in a Digital-Only World
Back then, I felt pretty ambivalent about the whole digital-only thing, but it turns out my PC at the time would also be the last computer I owned with a built-in optical drive. PC gaming dropped physical media fast, and once I had broadband and a Steam account, I started buying games in earnest. I have something like 750 titles on Steam alone now, not counting other platforms.
Unlike consoles, digital downloadable games are now the only option, and perhaps PC gamers were ready for it even earlier than it became a reality. Rather than a doom-and-gloom outcome, gaming has thrived on the PC and, while I am sad that the days of boxed PC games are over, having easy access to games at very reasonable prices has been pretty grand.
Digital-Only Gaming Works, Because PC Gaming Is Open
All-digital PC gaming has been a huge success story, and thanks to developments like the Steam Deck, improvements in the basic specs of non-gaming computers, and a lowering of the complexity of PC gaming, the platform is bigger than ever.
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But, I think this largely positive outcome is something you canonlydo on a platform like the PC. I’ve long argued that the end of physical games on consoles would beterrible for console gamers.
The open-market nature of PCs means that no single retail channel can dominate, and there will always be an alternative way to find and buy games.
The Ownership Debate Is Coming to a Head
At this point, I think we can say that the all-digital revolution for PC gaming has been a success. However, that doesn’t mean it will remain a success, and there are still some unresolved issues. A big one is the rights that you have as someone who buys a license to play a digital game. It would be nice to have the option toresell our digital gamesfor one thing.
This is still a major advantage of console games on disc, one which I’m sure publishers would like to take away as Microsoft attempted with the Xbox One.
Steam, along with other online sellers, havemade the reality of game ownership clear, but the issue is far from settled. Not to mention that there are online stores, likeGOG.comthat put no copy protection on their games, which means you can make your own physical media.
While I hardly ever use it, I still own an optical drive for my computers, and I still collect physical media, but overall, I feel pretty good about my time so far in the all-digital PC gaming world.
