Physical media in today's gen - how will it stack up?

[Retrogamer0001]

As an Atlus fan, I am patiently waiting for the new Etrian game to be released in October - in the past, Atlus games have generally been considered to be on "rare" side of collecting, with historically low print runs and niche titles that haven't really appealed to the mainstream audience. However, with the rise of digital distribution on the likes of PSN, VC, Arcade, and Steam, games that (in the past) would have been considered rare are now simply a download away.

It seems like every game has a release on some digital platform or other and that the idea of the "rare game" may possibly be a thing of the past. How do you guys think the value of new titles will hold up over the next five-ten years as a result of digital releases? Will this be the lost generation of "rare" games?

[AppleQueso]

Unlikely, digital re-releases of older titles haven't deterred the collector markets for them, and you won't have to look far on this forum to find die-hard fans of physical media who'd rather pay $100 to hunt down a disc than $20 to just get a game digitally.

[Gunstar Green]

I don't think he means the effect on the current collector's market and already existing games, but the future of all digital games where there's no longer physical copies to collect.

Sometimes I think about modern kids growing up with a specific game, say an Xbox Live exclusive, then in 20 or 30 years time they want to relive the experience. However, said game is no longer available for download anywhere anymore because maybe it was kind of a niche title or a small company that no longer exists and nobody knows who holds the rights to it.

Their old 360 is either gone or broken so they can't play it that way. Even if they found a working one somewhere else the 360 probably doesn't connect to any marketplace anymore. The game is gone outside of possibly illegally downloading/emulating, assuming the Internet will even still be such a wild west of copyright infringement by that point. Is this maybe the future of "rare" games?

[Menegrothx]

I'd be happy if that was the truth, but it's not likely. I'm way more interested in finding more games for cheap, than having my collection raise value.

It seems like every game has a release on some digital platform or other and that the idea of the "rare game" may possibly be a thing of the past. How do you guys think the value of new titles will hold up over the next five-ten years as a result of digital releases? Will this be the lost generation of "rare" games?

Steam and GOG aren't going anywhere, but PSN and XBLA for PS3/360 (and the original Wii) won't last forever though, so there will be a time when you cant log on to them and download games to your console that way, so you'll have to track down a physical copy (if it's even possible, which isn't the case with DL only titles)

Sometimes I think about modern kids growing up with a specific game, say an Xbox Live exclusive, then in 20 or 30 years time they want to relive the experience. However, said game is no longer available for download anywhere anymore because maybe it was kind of a niche title or a small company that no longer exists and nobody knows who holds the rights to it.

Their old 360 is either gone or broken so they can't play it that way. Even if they found a working one somewhere else the 360 probably doesn't connect to any marketplace anymore. The game is gone outside of possibly illegally downloading/emulating. Is this maybe the future of "rare" games?

I'm pretty sure you can torrent those games, and that put them on your hard drive if you have a modified console/handheld. But there's no legit way to find or play those games. Unless of course a service like Good old Games gets the rights to sell the game, which isn't all that unlikely. Most of these small indy studies are happy to get their game on new platforms, so when the 360 dies off commercially speaking, they'll probably port their games to PC, Xbone, PS4 etc.

[Retrogamer0001]

I don't think he means the effect on the current collector's market and already existing games, but the future of all digital games where there's no longer physical copies to collect.

Sometimes I think about modern kids growing up with a specific game, say an Xbox Live exclusive, then in 20 or 30 years time they want to relive the experience. However, said game is no longer available for download anywhere anymore because maybe it was kind of a niche title or a small company that no longer exists and nobody knows who holds the rights to it.

Their old 360 is either gone or broken so they can't play it that way. Even if they found a working one somewhere else the 360 probably doesn't connect to any marketplace anymore. The game is gone outside of possibly illegally downloading/emulating, assuming the Internet will even still be such a wild west of copyright infringement by that point. Is this maybe the future of "rare" games?

You paint a dark picture...

[Hazerd]

Im just waiting for PSN to be shutdown on the PS3, then ill modify it!

[Retrogamer0001]

One thing that I do think will be interesting are the limited and collector's editions of games - many of these seem to hold their value well and also seem like collector magnets. The PS3 has a plethora of rare CE's from NISA, Namco-Bandai, and Atlus.

[Forlorn Drifter]

I don't think he means the effect on the current collector's market and already existing games, but the future of all digital games where there's no longer physical copies to collect.

Sometimes I think about modern kids growing up with a specific game, say an Xbox Live exclusive, then in 20 or 30 years time they want to relive the experience. However, said game is no longer available for download anywhere anymore because maybe it was kind of a niche title or a small company that no longer exists and nobody knows who holds the rights to it.

Their old 360 is either gone or broken so they can't play it that way. Even if they found a working one somewhere else the 360 probably doesn't connect to any marketplace anymore. The game is gone outside of possibly illegally downloading/emulating, assuming the Internet will even still be such a wild west of copyright infringement by that point. Is this maybe the future of "rare" games?

That must be what cyberpunk is warning us about.

Really, I think it will just be a case of widespread piracy, similar to certain parts of retro-gaming, where emulation is their main way of playing games.