I think I have a solution to the physical media vs digital future problem

This has been done, but it would be more depressing to get a generic thumb drive with maybe a label on it that will peel off just from looking at it, than just buying from Steam. Also cost and longevity are an issue, while 128 GB sticks are fairly cheap now, most sticks will just die before your PS1 discs start rotting.
 
That's what I mean though. If it's a complete game on a USB drive and doesn't require anything but the system/handheld/computer to run, then it doesn't need the internet. I meant an actual game, complete package. If it has any online vs, then let it be just a thing where you just log in with your own account. The entire game should be on the physical flash drive.
I understand what you mean and I also don't think USB stick idea is fundamentally nonsense, in a way it's "cool" in its own way and all but we still have disc technology at home lol. Well, these days people don't see a need to have disc drive anymore due to how internet is convenient but USB is still a common thing at least which why your idea makes sense more.

However when we think about real life aspect of the situation the number 1 "bad idea" is USB stick costs more than disc. This is why PlayStation using disc technology for example.

Then a person may question "why Nintendo doesn't use USB technology?". Well in a way we can simply say for them USB would increase the costs too lol.

Another "bad idea" issue is USB sticks are not durable. Not so common but there is always a risk that when you buy an USB stick it may doesn't work because during the transport USB stick was damaged due to too much shaking and all. Relatively even disc technology is way more durable. Another thing is over time USB stick stops working because laws of physics makes it degrade. Relatively disc technology is still durable on that too.

Yet, it's still not a bad idea to sell the game in a custom cool USB stick ideas as people here already pointed them out. But I would prefer to put my game into a disc instead because I'm stingy lolol.

However why I would use USB stick for a video game I developed:

Imagine a video game that require you to plug a particular USB stick just so you can load additional content the game requires to make some part of the game function similar to the amiibo idea. In a capitalist POV imagine people buy USB sticks that contains "characters" so to be able to use that character you gotta plug the USB to make the game load the data of the character. It would work in a turn-based kind of game. Then it would require its own special USB hub that can visually look like something out of the video game itself and thus you can break 4th wall in a good way like characters are "aware" they came from a "magical stick" and constantly talk to "players" by looking at camera by saying "thanks for summoning me, I know we can win this battle" and there can be certain dynamic between how X character saying the player that the player better summon partner of X character to fight better and constantly complains during the fight that player doesn't summon the partner. Thus it would make people wanna buy additional characters to complete the full group of characters that works better together!!!! lolol

Why people would wanna buy such USB sticks? When the USB stick looks like the character it contains it makes the USB a collectable item that's even cool to display. So the idea is BS which I personally wouldn't bother due to how money waster BS is it, but I know how it would be a "craze" at least in Japan lolol. It would make Pokemon logic matter IMO because what you collect is physically exists in real world and therefore people would form emotional connection to the characters they bought so we can also even sell "toy home" to contain these USB sticks by making it seem like characters' "living" inside of a house so it would make the whole situation so kawaii lolol.
 
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This is not, ultimately, all that different from game cartridges or discs; but there's something about it that I don't like that I can't really place a finger on. I dunno, I can easily picture getting an insignificant thumbdrive out of a bubble envelope and it feeling just depressing.

I think I'd still rather just download it on Steam, GOG, or itch.io, then maybe buy physical merch if I get really into it.
This is exactly my mindset when it comes to buying things digitally, If I get really into it, I'll buy merch, I just don't have the room for physical games. As for getting a thumb drive being a bit being depressing, I'd think it because you just feel like you got a bootleg, I know I would anyway.
 
Not really . Its just the step back to Cartridges like the NES , Snes , Neo Geo , Genesis and N64 did.

Could be very costly and dont forget that tripple AAA wanna add anti-piracy software on it which bloats the games immensly .

If we talking about indies then maybe its a viable strategy because the games aint so huge and piracy aint so horrible for them .

But if we talking about tripple AAA , its gonna be like the amiga that you need 20 USBs to play and install a game .

The idea aint that bad but it should be not so costly and being very reliable for preservations-sake . Amd thats hard to archieve nowadays .
 
But if we talking about tripple AAA , its gonna be like the amiga that you need 20 USBs to play and install a game .
I actually connect to this website in your world from a parallel universe so in my world we had to install Cyberpunk 2077 via 97,619 floppy discs back then in 90s part by part as you progress in the game so it took few years for me to install the game completly to finish the game when in your world the game released in 2020 so you just downloaded the game from internet lolol:

45g45g.jpg
 
I actually connect to this website in your world from a parallel universe so in my world we had to install Cyberpunk 2077 via 97,619 floppy discs back then in 90s part by part as you progress in the game so it took few years for me to install the game completly to finish the game when in your world the game released in 2020 so you just downloaded the game from internet lolol:

View attachment 95928
At this point , nobody would copy that floppy with that amount of discettes.
The true anti-piracy measure that actually works. ::thinking
 
This has been done, but it would be more depressing to get a generic thumb drive with maybe a label on it that will peel off just from looking at it, than just buying from Steam. Also cost and longevity are an issue, while 128 GB sticks are fairly cheap now, most sticks will just die before your PS1 discs start rotting.
not just a label, i mean something attached to it to indicate what's on it, like a keychain of the main character or the game's logo. It would double as a keychain you can carry around with you. I collect keychains so that's my thing. lol I still have the ToeJam and Earl one from Back in The Groove.
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This has been done, but it would be more depressing to get a generic thumb drive with maybe a label on it that will peel off just from looking at it, than just buying from Steam. Also cost and longevity are an issue, while 128 GB sticks are fairly cheap now, most sticks will just die before your PS1 discs start rotting.
everything dies or rots at some point, but digital rights keep expiring even faster than that. I think it's a decent alternative for the moment.
 
I collect keychains so that's my thing. lol I still have the ToeJam and Earl one from Back in The Groove.
I think the last time I ever saw a keychain for a video game was when for my job I had to go to a Microsoft building with a group of people from the company I worked for back then, and despite it wasn't why we came we suddenly found ourselves in a room that they were playing Quantum Break as play testing or something but I kinda remember it was before the game was released. Our company guide mentioned about the game in a way while walking to our destination our guide was like "oh yes, today they play Quantum Break, our new product if you didn't hear" and suddenly a random woman came to us with a box that has tons of Quantum Break keychains. To be polite I took one and after I left the company I just threw it into a garbage bin lolol.

Now keychains would get rarer due to how world's natural resources got too low and therefore things relatively rare to find and hard to get due to increased prices. Now we gotta really convert video game industry to digital age in forceful way, but before it we gotta destroy Nintendo because they make already relatively scarce natural resources wasted for worthless junk!!! lol
 
I think the last time I ever saw a keychain for a video game was when for my job I had to go to a Microsoft building with a group of people from the company I worked for back then, and despite it wasn't why we came we suddenly found ourselves in a room that they were playing Quantum Break as play testing or something but I kinda remember it was before the game was released. Our company guide mentioned about the game in a way while walking to our destination our guide was like "oh yes, today they play Quantum Break, our new product if you didn't hear" and suddenly a random woman came to us with a box that has tons of Quantum Break keychains. To be polite I took one and after I left the company I just threw it into a garbage bin lolol.

Now keychains would get rarer due to how world's natural resources got too low and therefore things relatively rare to find and hard to get due to increased prices. Now we gotta really convert video game industry to digital age in forceful way, but before it we gotta destroy Nintendo because they make already relatively scarce natural resources wasted for worthless junk!!! lol
what about conventions?
 
what about conventions?
Better stop with conventions that use natural resources for nothing!!!

<Potentially controversial part removed>
 
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Better stop with conventions that use natural resources for nothing!!!
<Potentially controversial part removed>
we better be getting USBs smuggled in filled with roms. I'll make sure those trucks get through. >:D
 
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everything dies or rots at some point, but digital rights keep expiring even faster than that. I think it's a decent alternative for the moment.
Yes, but compared to discs, that when stored properly last decades, a thumb drive might only last 2-3 years, especially if the chips are cheap. It's not a good physical alternative and terrible for the environment. Steam is being very fair about digitial ownership and GOG is doing a very good job at preserving games without drm.
 
Yes, but compared to discs, that when stored properly last decades, a thumb drive might only last 2-3 years, especially if the chips are cheap. It's not a good physical alternative and terrible for the environment. Steam is being very fair about digitial ownership and GOG is doing a very good job at preserving games without drm.
ok fine so make more discs
 
View attachment 95833
What if indie game developers and 3rd party game developers distribute their games via USB drives? Doesn't have to be Sandisk, I'm just using this image as an example. These things can hold plenty of storage space and are priced well and aren't too small where you can easily lose them like micro sd cards. You can also put keychains on some of them. Imagine each USB containing the data of the game and also coming with an exclusive keychain for each one indicating what game is on it? Just put those in boxes and sell them in stores or make them to order. Just an idea.

Here, they sell games on USB drives on e-commerce sites (pirated games :D), and people buy them for around $5 or $10.

vice city on usb xd.png


like that :loldog (around 6$ = 250 TL)
 
A few indie devs are starting to do this, as others have pointed out, but it's mostly popular with the type of groups that are already interested in doing physical print runs of some kind. I visited the Indiepocalypse booth at PAX East this past year, and they were selling pretty much their entire catalogue as usb drives in cassette cases with cover art and everything. A few other tables were doing the same thing. MangaGamer (Visual Novel publisher) I think has switched over to USB physical copies as well, over their original disc copies. I obviously can't speak to long-term storage or costs in comparison to disc media, but it seems to me that if you're already interested in niche physical media (ironically) and aren't going to use DRM, USB drives are a pretty good option. This is all from a PC gaming perspective.
The problem with the physical vs. digital debate is convienence, like all else. DRM has kneecapped the convience of physical game copies in frankly ridiculous ways, so in the end it's all neutral. More than anything, having options is the best solution, if a dev can manage it.
 

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