PC games sold in Physical format, that is to say, not on digital platforms, but in traditional game stores, they are fewer and fewer and it is a clearly marginal way of acquiring titles for PC today. Meanwhile, there has been a trend in consoles to defend this form of traditional distribution of games, especially by PlayStation fans due to the push of the Game Pass service by Xbox. Is the box format still worth it on computers? Why has it almost disappeared?
The main reason why the distribution of games over the Internet has come to replace the sale of boxed titles is due to several factors. The main one is technical, since the networks are already fast enough to award you a game. Which is ideal if you live in a rural area. The other reason is the specific offers to which a physical store cannot respond. However, there is a technical element that has led to the demise of boxed games on PC.
Why aren’t physical PC games sold anymore?
Well, the answer to that has a very simple answer and it boils down to the fact that Blu-Ray is too slow, it is an ideal format to play movies, but random data searches that are continuous in any software are disastrous. Not in vain SONY in the days of PS3 was forced to put a hard drive on its console due to the limitations of the format, as for the PC, it was never standardized as a format, neither for games nor for applications.
However, the digitization process wasn’t just because the physical format was no longer good enough, as publishers switched to selling download codes. Which led to many users ending up downloading Steam or similar platforms to be able to purchase their games. To later discover that it was not necessary to go to the store to acquire the game.
Farewell to big boxes was a huge mistake
Although what nobody comments, and deep down is sad, is the disappearance of the big boxes for PC, which used to bring a lot of extras apart from the game. Which was an incentive to buy that version. To this day, these versions continue to exist, but with a scandalous overprice, in limited runs and, to top it off, on consoles.
Although it seems incredible today, the games in physical format did not come only with the game discs and the sheet on how to install it. If you have acquired any other game through GOG, you will see how many of them bring a series of extras. Well, they are digitizations of the games of the extras in the games of yesteryear. If these were still in the games sold in physical format then there would be an incentive for many people to buy in physical stores, despite the disappearance of the physical format.
The real right, the only reason for which the physical format is justified
By this we mean that the large number of games that you can play on your PC are a usufruct, but you do not have the rights to buy and sell them. Precisely the second-hand market is a headache for game publishers, since they do not earn money from it. On the other hand, it is an indicator that a game is really bad and has not been liked. Many times we have seen how titles for PlayStation, Xbox and Nintendo end up in second-hand baskets in a short time due to the fact that they do not meet the user’s expectations.
