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I don't cling to physical - that suggest hopeless aberration. I consume games using physical media and prefer them due to the many benefits it provides me as a consumer of licensed games - specially true when I was young and engaged in the practice of trading games, or reselling my old unwanted games, and thus retaining some value, or even my later in life hobby of collecting, which I gave up. All of that revolves around physical formats, and it still does for the many million of consumers who still enjoy and buy games in a physical format and engage in all those practices - it's a cultural aspect of console gaming.
The terminology and framing of the argument using the word cling is used to support the narrative that physical is dying, will die and thus the proponents of physical formats should accept the inevitable future, and do so now, as opposed to late. And this specially applies when fanboys of any platform want to fend off potential attacks against whatever plastic box they prefer, and the corporation behind it. The urge is to defend from perceived negative criticism of policies that further enhance the push toward an all-digital future, which appear or are in fact inorganic in nature, and more like nudges by the corps towards that direction. The Xbox fanboys have been doing it for ages, the PC fanboys did as well, and bat for Valve and Steam like crazy, and the Sony fanboys do so to, cause as long as humans are involved in the equation, the same psychological behaviors will apply. It should not surprise that all of this usually lines up with particular corporate interests, and the framing inserted by these companies into the commentariat through media, marketing and policy decisions in the engineering process of the products etc, etc. The bottomline wins in the end - by hook or crook, funny that. Nintendo is not in the spotlight because Nintendo does not push an all-digital console. Clear as day the true core and issue of the matter.
When it comes to consoles I have made strong arguments before as to why consoles thrive with physical format and it's one of the main defenses Sony and Nintendo have in making sure giants all-in on the digital "future" like Amazon, Microsoft, Google, Steam or Facebook don't overtake them and steal the hundreds of millions of loyal consumers that they have - it's the cultural gaming aspect revolving around the concept of ownership. MS has tried to completely erase that cultural advantage of its rivals through its many attempts to shape the market in an all-digital direction with Xbox, some strategies more successful than others - PC already being conquered. The less successful MS strategies in this push we all know about.... which allowed Sony during the lead-up and launch of the PS4 to exploit it to an immense degree and PROFIT from it, MS went from Xbox's 360 momentum™ with EA's strategic partnership to an idiotic out-of-touch dictatorial bum overnight - losing the generation soundly.
To see the fanboy chorus of: "Just accept the inevitable future", as the Xbox fanboys were chanting back then and still do so today, but this time from Sony fanboys is the ultimate coup. But that is the plague of fanboism, it's irrational in nature, and against self-interests in nature as well in many ways.
Obviously there are those individuals who prefer digital and don't care at all about ownership of a gaming license that can be traded or otherwise, or those who rather rationalize on a forum the argument of the impending death of physical formats and fold like a thin piece of paper to their corporate mandated future. Whatever the case of those in the digital future camp - feel free to be happy about how you feel. Those who prefer physical formats and its inclusion on the consoles, who still vouch for its benefits etc, the cultural aspect of it all have a right to their voice like anyone else, for as long as they can have it and they don't have to compromise their views just cause the all-digital camp sees it their way. The chips will fall where they may.
As long as physical hardware exists as a means to deliver and process games, so can there be the option and a market for physical formats, like discs, sd memory cards, or whatever shape or form they take in the future. The inclusion or exclusion of such being completely a business appraisal of the corporation in question with the product in question. The push by Xbox and MS is completely inorganic, and they're phasing out physical with their Xbox revision, even willing to leave million of potential consumers from the addressable market OUT as long as they can impose, in a dictatorial fashion, the operating and distribution standard going forward. If Sony tomorrow went along with Microsoft's plan step by step would anyone call the all-digital future organic? Or would it be called what it really is, an inorganic push by the corps to fatten their bottomline, abusing their market position and leverage.
The line of thinking that the all-digital future proponents often spouse, from those that do not care, or those that display defeatism to mask their abhorrent fanaticism with a particular brand are not too far off from folding like cards when the all-cloud future, no physical console hardware "inevitable future" push comes knocking - the push is already immense and billions are being thrown to the dust bin of wasteful corporate spending to turn something inorganic to something that "feels" and gives the impression that is "organic" and how it "was meant to be". The cloud push is, and will continue to be presented the same way the all-digital future is... marketed the same way, the insidious propaganda pushed unconsciously to the sheep the same way and thus the inevitability of it will become real, not because it was inevitable, but because the sheep were easily guided by corps to that end-point, and the sheep allowed it. Same rationale and sales pitches: "It's more convenient" "You don't have to own the physical hardware" "It's easy to do" "it will be "cheaper"" etc etc... like lambs to the slaughter.
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