Microsoft airs an anti-phsyical media Twitter Game Pass ad. It backfires.

How does it backfire? Besides angering preservationists (such as Does It Play? below), it shows off games not even BC (such as Jet Set Radio Future) and likely won't be because of both licensing issues of several games (like EA sports titles), and Phil killing the BC team.

Like I keep saying, until there is something better. Physical media is the best we got when it comes to media preservation. The fact that even emulation uses it too says a LOT here.

GamePass or bust!! :P

I like giving everyone a choice. To me that’s the best option.

And when you think people on this forum think less options are good (there is a lot of hate for physical media here). Like it makes no sense.

So which intern is getting fired for this X - formerly known as Twitter - ad/post?

Eventually the majority makes the choice, no? Get enough people to go digital only, then there's no reason to stay with the physical option. Then you force everyone to jump aboard or ditch the ship. :3

I'm almost completely a digital buyer. There are some games I will buy physical, such as nostalgic games like Spyro reignited trilogy, Kingdom Hearts Ultimate Collection, etc.

Game preservation with physical media? I didn't know that discs cannot be broken, scratched or become unusable at all. Even more so when you still have to download 51,000 patches on top of it or worse when the game is only partially on the media and you still have to download.

And it's not like our world isn't getting filled already with plastic/e-waste.

A large chunk of that is to blame on humanity being humanity. Mistreating their own stuff, ignoring recycling guidelines, etc. Like come on! Name something better for preservation readily available.

Nothing. Not for games anyway. More effort was done with film.

Making something out of nothing.

And PC gamers went digital only a LONG time ago.

This isn't really a MS thing either. It's a corporate thing. Ultimately they want complete control of all their licences, and that goes for everything in entertainment outside of video games too.

Also, MS has gone further with BC and transferring licences to new devices. In contrast if Nintendo had their way, you'd re-buy all your games every gen.

I remember when I got the Wii U. In the store they were like "We know you bought these games before on the Wii... So you can re-buy them again at a discount", wow, thanks Nintendo. Some tone deaf bs.

I just don't understand why Lems are so against physical media all of sudden. I guess MS has brainwashed them well.

Bad PR move there. Game Pass is a fantastic service in its own right. No need to turn it into a “vs physical” angle. Just creates needless friction.

When it comes to sub services, they're fine for rentals and such, but I don't spend much money on digital games unless they're dirt cheap. Most of my purchases are for Switch cartridges and Sony/MS discs.

When the inevitable shift to all-digital comes sooner, rather than later, my game spending will decrease by at least 95%.

Imagine some clown trying to show off their cd collection in 2023.

Discs are trash, I agree, but unfortunately Sony and MS won't offer a better physical media system.

Dumb because GamePass doesn't have many BC games.

Physical media is dying, bro - get with the times.

20 years ago, a 1/2 of a brick and mortar store like Best Buy would be dedicated to DVDs, DVD players, CD/Cassettes, and CD players.. Now, there are a few racks here and there that still have Blu-Rays and maybe one shelf that has Blu-Ray players; same with CDs and CD players.

20-30 years ago, there were stores all over America that did one thing - sold physical copies of music. Practically none exist today. Digital is so big with music that the determination of a successful album or single release has fundamentally changed because "gold" and "platinum" physical sales are not a good enough metric.

The only industry where physical media is still a thing is video games for Sony and Nintendo: Movies, Music, Computer Software, Xbox/PC games - all have moved to digital.

The people who are brainwashed are you- cows who can't think for themselves and only do and say what their Sony Overlords want them to do and say.

@HalcyonScarlet: "PC went digital only a long time ago." Like that hasn't had issues...

Lol poor Microsoft, has such a huge crowd with a hate boner for them that even the most harmless post in social media will somehow turn against them. Got to love the outrage culture generation.

More games? Less space? How dare they! 🧐😤

Sony reported back in 2022 that they were 80/20 in favor of digital purchases so its where the industry is going despite the SW vocal minority

https://www.resetera.com/threads/sony-reports-a-20-physical-80-digital-split-for-ps4-game-spending.587630/

Such as?

@navyguy21: But what percentage of games sold on PlayStation have a physical option? If 90% of the games are digital only, how could physical sell as much? If it did, that would be damning for digital. Also, do those numbers include mtx's, subscriptions, f2p, etc, with the digital numbers?

Both forms have pros and cons, but I can't get past the idea of giving someone else control over what I can play as a good thing. There have been plenty of times where a game, album or movie I want to watch isn't available digitally, and my physical version is the only option. But I don't even know if that matters with modern consoles and games. Do the discs actually have the game on there, or is it just a download code? If it's the latter, they would probably just kill that access, and force you to whatever streaming/subscription offering. Plus, I can't think of more than a couple games in the past decade that I would want to own.

The one takeaway I'm sure of is that I don't like the digital future.

I know it will never happen, but there needs to be some sort of legislation passed that after a certain amount of time (I don't know...10-20 years), games become public domain or whatever you call it.

Like...you can still sell it if you're the IP holder, but you can't dictate what people do with it after that point. So essentially if people want to take old games and reproduce them in order to archive (for historical/collection purposes) or even distribute for people wanting physical media.

I mean, how many people are still buying physical copies of Halo 1? Madden 2006? Just let the world have it.

I don't much see the point in physical media these days, but I am not against it and I think it still serves some purpose. I don't want to see it totally abolished.

It's almost like people hate convenience, efficiency, choice, and accessibility! RABBLE RABBLE RABBLE! 😋

People just don't like to compromise, I think. All they see is what is being taken away and they can't temper it with what is being given.

Of course some people might feel that physical is their only option and while that is unreasonable, I suppose they have a right to feel strongly about this.

I just don't like the bandwagoning is all, the outrage culture as you said.

It's especially hilarious when you figure you can probably load the top selling 200 games of any year of the 1990's onto a modestly-sized, 20-dollar USB drive. Or various other backup means.

Truth be told these people so concerned with their older games really should just make the jump to PC gaming. There are so many ways to both access, store, and preserve physical and digital copies of games.

*Woops triple post, sorry

First lets pass a law that after 20 years your possessions become public domain. Congratulations, your house is now mine.

@nintendoboy16: uncle Phil is right, people need to step into the future and embrace digital.

@mesome713: there is a difference between ip which isn’t really property, something that should be free speech versus real physical property. You need to stop slobbering over that government/corporate knob

That was quite an escalation from what I proposed lol 🙄 And a really silly one, to be frank 😋

But I get it, you're a defender of capitalism and the tyrants that manipulate it at our expense; you'd sacrifice your wellbeing and our common interests to preserve the status quo and your precious, precious...Nintendo, iirc?

Sony didnt really break down all of that, only saying that their split has gradually shifted to digital over the years and is why they have been pushing the PS Store so much (and not selling codes elsewhere)

Haha, I love my cds. I don't go parading them around, but I love having personal agency over my entertainment. I can't tell you the amount of times I've seen people go "I wish this was on" whatever streaming platform, while I'm sitting there enjoying my physical copy. I've said it before, when you sacrifice control for convenience, you get what deserve.

You're right, and that's why I haven't been to a Best Buy in years. We used to go almost every weekend and grab some new release or random classic. I would regularly pick $100 in cds every few months. What's the point of even going there now... routers? I loved going to music stores as well. These stores were wonderlands of colors, sounds and entertainment. It was something fun to do, and a great reason to leave the house. Now everything is geared to keep at home, or attached to some device that THEY control. It's not more fun. It's not a better experience. It doesn't create better memories. It's just not for me.

@navyguy21: Yeah. It just reminds me of people going "most lottery winners let the machine pick", and then extrapolate that to mean that you have better odds with it picking. When it just means more people let it pick, instead of filling out their own numbers.

Between COVID and convenience, I'm sure plenty of people prefer digital, but not me. Losing access to my PS3 library isn't life ending, but it does suck not having the ability to play what I bought. I like to own, lend, smell, touch, sell, protect, organize, etc. But I also don't have to own everything. Most stuff isn't worth owning, and renting is good enough to find out if it is or not. Maybe this is nonsense, but it feels like when people undervalue the entertainment, we get underwhelming entertainment.

I just don't understand lems these days. here they are talking about Physical media is dead and I should get with the times, but at the same time yell that gamers should of options when it comes to controllers that uses double A batteries. I just dont get their arguments, are they for choice or against it?

Should lems get with the time and recharge their controllers like modern gamers do, or stick with replacing batteries when their controller dies. /shrug

Yeah, I think as humans we're all fallible and subject to our biases, and that's why I try to remain consistent. But sometimes we all should probably talk less and listen more... me included.

With the battery argument, I can see both sides. I understand the convenience of built-in rechargeable batteries, but when they go bad, or they just suck, like in Sony controllers, that's a problem. And I get being able to swap disposable/rechargeable batteries is convenient, but frequently swapping them out sounds annoying. I wouldn't know as I've never owned a non-wired Xbox controller, but it sounds just as bad.

I recently bought a Gamesir g7 se, which has Hall Effect joysticks and is wired. It's just for our once every three months Halo lan, so I haven't put it through it's paces yet to see if it holds up, but I absolutely love that it's wired. No batteries, low latency, swappable magnetic faceplate that makes switching thumbsticks super easy. My only concerns are the deadzones need a little tweaking in the free software (Gamesir Nexus), and doing so issues a warning that doing so could cause drift (the whole point of Hall Effect sensors). It's also a little light, but that doesn't really bother me.

I don't know if you've seen my ramblings in a few other posts about convenience vs control, or are we walking down a worse road because no one questions it, but this fits right in. We were all sold on wireless controllers, and they definitely have benefits, but are they really better overall than wired? I would much rather replace a generic usb-c cable, take apart the controller and swap the battery, or constantly swapping disposable/rechargeable batteries? I would rather erase the idea of batteries from my mind, where I can.

I own Fable 2&3 and when I activated Game Pass the first game I looked for on the service was Fable: anniversary...

So yeah huge was my surprise that I couldn't find it. It is a Microsoft game after all, it should be on there.

If Netflix, Disney and the likes are any thing to go by it's that nothing stays on the service forever, and content gets removed for the dumbest reasons.

I'll continue to buy my console games on physical media.

LOL, not all plastic is recyclable and great for d*ck riding companies by blaming the problem they created on the consumers. It's consumers fault for ruining the world.

What's better for preservation? I don't know, may be something what a certain site did that Nintendo then send their lawyers after to sued them into oblivion and a lifetime of debt. Pretty sure they preserved lot better than what Nintendo themselves could. But hey, corporate d*ck riders and all.

@HalcyonScarlet: Well, for one. What if you wanted to buy a game and it was only digital? Worse, it was delisted. No physical option that you could still buy USED ruins this.

Mortal Kombat 9 is still delisted for instance. And I'm only able to play that with my 360 physical disc on Xbox One. Prey 2006 can't be bought on Steam. And don't get me started on damn near every SoulCalibur game that ever had a digital release of any sort. And with SoulCalibur, if it's not the licensing issues (Nintendo and Todd McFarlane over SC II, Disney with SC IV, Ubisoft with SC V, And soon SCVI with CDPR, SNK, and Square Enix), it's the fact that Bandai Namco higher ups hate that IP (SC1 HD was quietly taken down alongside SC II) for not making the money Tekken and Shonen Jump IPs make them.

Xbox/MS Store deleted that tweet? LOL

The twilight of gaming as we know it. Sadly that some fandom is cheering for it.

@daredevils2k: You will use ANYTHING to try and attack lems. I bet you're all digital right?

I will always buy physical where possible. Digital is a scam. In my country digital is on average $20 dearer, and in other countries the same price and yet you're just downloading a game, total scam.

Gamers are without question the dumbest people on the planet.

MS just being a dumbarse here. I will never join gamepass. now they can count my gold as a gamepass member if they want, but im not a gamepass subscriber.

PC I am all digital due to Steam

PS5 its a 60/40 greater on the physical

and for the Switch I am 100 percent physical for 1st party games, but for indies I'm 100 percent digital.

As for attacking lems, I am not sure what you mean by that. I understand that you're butthurt over me pointing out the hypocrisy of lems today. Saying hey we are for choices (Double AA batteries for controllers) to hey we don't like choices when it comes to physical media vs digital. You have to ask yourself, why is it so easy to point out lems hypocrisy these days.

Your 1.0 version (if you're lucky) on a disc is NOT a form of preservation in the modern games industry. You need a hacked console from which you can dump the game and updates in a re-usable form.

As with the console generations that have come before, games are preserved by enthusiasts who look for ways to exploit the hardware they have. You call them pirates, but in the end they are the reason we still have access to pretty much everything that has come before. You'll thank them when the time comes.

@daredevils2k: Dude all you do is attack lems, you can't help yourself. I'm considered a lem here and I buy physical, and yet all lems are hypocrites to you, no you're just a butthurt ex lem who has a cross to bear and feel the need to tell us all about it.

So you yourself are a hypocrite, attacking lems for digital where you accept digital yourself 🤦‍♂️

if you're just now figuring out that I love making fun of lems on a daily basis, then yah I don't know what else to say you.

"So you yourself are a hypocrite, attacking lems for digital where you accept digital yourself 🤦‍♂️'

okay I am not going to argue with you, because its pretty obvious that I AM A MORON . I am not the one who stated physical media is dead, your fellow lems did. anyways I am done talking on this matter

Who honestly uses Twitter that isn't a social media influencer or celebrity? Woke hippies. Let them cry.

@daredevils2k: Oh I know how you post which is why I called you out on it.

Yes some lems are all for digital just like some cows are. The only fanbase that is 100% all for digital is the one fanbase that gave away its right to choose, the Hermits.

So I will go head to head with hermits, lems, cows or sheep who think digital is the only way to go.

I'm not against digital, if people want to go that way then that's up to them. I'm against 100% digital, people should ALWAYS have a right to choose the option that they want. And for me that's mostly physical.

I only buy digital if there is no other option, and in some cases (see Alan Wake 2) I decide not to purchase at all.

There I've had my say now also.

@R4gn4r0k: No doubt! The fact that Halo CE (I don't care, but Halo 2 as well), the literal reason Xbox exists, isn't backwards compatible. And I'm sure that's just to force you to MCC. Now they have done a fair amount of work to improve that version, but the fact that you can't play their biggest franchise in its original form it mind-boggling. And how it clearly was least important to them pisses me off to no end. When they celebrated the 20 year anniversary of one of the best games of all time by offering Duke shoulder pads in Halo infinite... I almost punched a baby.

@daredevils2k: "I am not going to argue with you, because its pretty obvious that I AM A MORON"

So true.

@daredevils2k: What does one have to do with the other?

Besides, I have rechargeable batteries in my controller right now.