Buy it, but can’t own it: How gaming is evolving in an all-digital future

There was a time when buying a video game came with a satisfying little ritual You tear open the plastic pull out the disc admire the artwork on the box and slide the game onto your shelf You could point at a game and say ldquominerdquo Quite romantic Now that feeling is becoming harder to hold on toAs gaming moves further into an alldigital future the idea of owning a game is beginning to look less straightforward GTA VI one of the most anticipated games in history is set to arrive on November 19 but its ldquophysicalrdquo edition will initially come as a box containing a download code rather than a disc Sony meanwhile has reminded PlayStation users that digital games are licensed to them rather than technically owned by themA lot of passionate fans and gamers are left asking what does it mean to own something you cannot physically hold A digital library may be faster cheaper and infinitely more convenient But a physical copy can be collected lent traded resold and preserved It can survive long after a server goes offline or a game disappears from a digital storefrontSo when gamers say ldquoI bought itrdquo do they still get to say ldquoI own itrdquo Not anymoreThe CPU components built by Jonathan Braganza specifically for gamingFor Abhinav Roy 30 gaming has been around since childhood He started playing on CDs at eight back when digital downloads were not an option and over the years gaming grew from a pastime into a personal space where he could switch off Today he mainly games on his PC but still owns physical discs and the attachment is not merely nostalgicldquoPhysical copies of games are nice Itrsquos like how you open a photo bookrdquo Roy says For him a game sitting on a shelf can become a marker of a particular period in his life ldquoIt is a reminder of my history or past or a memoryrdquo he says Much like old posters from his childhood that he has kept despite no longer having them on his walls physical games carry an emotional value that goes beyond their practical useAbhinav Roy PicSayyed Sameer AbediThere is also a question of trust Roy says his preference for physical copies particularly when it comes to Sony is partly shaped by concerns about whether a digital purchase will remain accessible indefinitely Sonyrsquos current terms explicitly state that software is licensed rather than sold meaning a digital purchase does not amount to ownership of the software itselfThat distinction has made the physical copy more important to Roy And when it comes to GTA VI the difference is enough to affect how he plans to play the game He says he would have gone out of his way to buy a disc because of the gamersquos cultural significance Instead with the physical edition initially coming without a disc he plans to play it on PC rather than buy a PS5 specifically for the release ldquoI would have probably gone out of my way and gotten a disc if GTA VI was coming out in physical copiesrdquo he says ldquoItrsquos a trendsetting game Even if itrsquos a massive fail it would still be a major moment in industry historyrdquoPiciStockHiraj Lajjanirsquos relationship with physical games is different He began gaming with a Nintendo console and later built a gaming PC during an era when piracy and pirated CDs were commonplace Yet for games he particularly loved he would still buy the original physical copiesToday he plays on an Xbox Series S which has no disc drive meaning his gaming has largely shifted online The convenience has its advantages but Lajjani compares buying a game to buying a book A book can be returned to years later kept on a shelf or lent to someone Digital games he argues take away much of that permanence ldquoIf I really love it if I want to lend it to someone and be like lsquoThis is a very good game you should definitely give it a shotrsquo that is something that we are no longer able to dordquo he saysHiraj Lajjani and Jonathan BraganzaThe larger concern is what happens when the company controlling the digital storefront decides a game should no longer be available Lajjani believes gamers have traditionally understood a purchase as permanent but digital licensing complicates that assumption Jonathan Braganza takes the argument furtherA longtime gamer who has moved from Nintendo to PlayStation and PC he sees physical media as an important safeguard against both corporate control and rising costs ldquoToday is just a bad time to be a gamerrdquo he says pointing to the rising cost of hardware and games Physical copies he argues at least give players an aftermarket mdash a game can be bought secondhand or sold once it has been played A digitalonly ecosystem removes that option and leaves consumers dependent on the platformrsquos pricingBraganza is also a collector of physical media from books to vinyl records and still has games from the PlayStation 2 era ldquoI like owning physical books I collect vinyl records Irsquove had old games from the PS2 era I love having a physical connection I can actually interact with thisrdquoThe debate is not about whether a disc is more convenient than a download It is about whether paying for something should give you the right to keep it and do whatever you wish with it As gaming moves towards a digitalonly future and a more capitalistic regime that oldfashioned idea of ownership may become one of the things gamers miss mostpopcorn numberNov19 descThe date set for the longest awaited game GTA VI to arrive for which there will be no physical discs available much to the disappointment of the entire gaming community classDefault