Decline The state of physical gaming libraries

[ds]

It would take a company that specializes in fulfilling bespoke orders for boxed versions of various games with willing cooperation from the developers/publishers. I know for certain I would rebuy certain old Big-box titles if some company went to the trouble of putting them together with all the bells and whistles for a reasonable price, for no more than $80-100 say. Likewise, there are plenty of games that I'd pay for on disc that were never before released on disc, just so I'd have a proper physical backup if anything ever happened to Steam or whatever other company was selling them. Primordia for example.

It exists but the company is run by literally faggots and don't deserve your money.

Which one is that? There was IndieBox but iirc they stopped making new boxes and are just selling the remaining stock now. They were also really trying to push a subscription model which never made sense to me - who the fuck wants physical boxes that take up real space of random games rather than games you actually like.

The Kickstarter era was pretty great for boxes from indie games. Great for me anyway, most developers seem to have underestimated the cost and effort required for offering physical crap.

 

[Hell Swarm]

Limited run games were doing it. But they're fully pozzed up trannies so don't give them money for bath tub HRT

 

[Saint_Proverbius]

Limited run games were doing it. But they're fully pozzed up trannies so don't give them money for bath tub HRT

They fired their social media manager when they found out she was following a few right leaning people on Twitter. Some crazy tranny complained about her once they discovered who she was following. It wasn't anyone super out there either, fairly mainstream people.

 

[Hell Swarm]

https://nichegamer.com/limited-run-games-fires-cm-over-twitter/


Games distributor Limited Run Games has fired their community manager, seemingly over public outcry for who they follow on Twitter.


“LRG respects all personal opinions, however we remain committed to supporting an inclusive culture,” the company said. “Upon investigating a situation, an employee was terminated. Our goal as a company is to continue to foster a positive and safe environment for everyone.”





One of the users the ex-employee Kara Lynne followed, Ian Miles Cheong, claims it was due to her following both him and the other notable account LibsofTikTok. Both accounts are kind of notorious online for stirring the pot yes, but a fire-able offense to follow them?


Absolutely not. From the looks of it, it all started after a witch-hunt of sorts started a pressure campaign that caused the company to cave and remove the employee from their roster.


There are other claims that Lynne was fired for publicly expressing her excitement to play the upcoming Hogwarts Legacy, which some users now consider “transphobic” due to Harry Potter creator J.K. Rowling taking a hard stance in favor of biological women.


Limited Run Games removing their community manager is a mistake and will only embolden these types of people. They see the blood in the water and will never stop, and will never be satisfied enough to leave you alone.


The same kind of outrage campaign on social media from the same people that led to Kara Lynne being fired also led to Night in the Woods developer Alec Holowka seemingly killing himself. Limited Run Games is ironically selling his game right now, years after his death.


Another recent outrage campaign was directed at this year’s MAGFest where organizers posted “Kotaku’s Journalistic Integrity” on a floor sign, noting it’s in “404”, a joke that their journalistic integrity is missing. Limited Run Games contributor Frank Cifaldi and others kept screaming about GamerGate, for some reason. The sign has since been removed.


Here’s hoping that cooler heads will prevail and that maybe taking crazy people who are constantly online, at their word, might have been a bad idea to entertain in the first place.

 

[taxalot]

So I googled her and I can understand the real reason why angry LGBTQ gamers are mad at her.

She's kind of OK looking. Maybe even hot. This is why this crowd hates her.


You know it's true.

 

[Hell Swarm]

So I googled her and I can understand the real reason why angry LGBTQ gamers are mad at her.


View attachment 49120

She's kind of OK looking. Maybe even hot. This is why this crowd hates her.


You know it's true.

You find that okay looking? She's built like a fridge, has a squinting lions face with a kike nose glued on. Wrist tattoo to boot.

If you find this okay , I would hope you neck yourself before you attempt to breed more of these hideous things.

 

[taxalot]

So I googled her and I can understand the real reason why angry LGBTQ gamers are mad at her.


View attachment 49120

She's kind of OK looking. Maybe even hot. This is why this crowd hates her.


You know it's true.

You find that okay looking? She's built like a fridge, has a squinting lions face with a kike nose glued on. Wrist tattoo to boot.

If you find this okay , I would hope you neck yourself before you attempt to breed more of these hideous things.

Pic of your girlfriend.

 

[Saint_Proverbius]

She's built like a fridge, has a squinting lions face with a kike nose glued on. Wrist tattoo to boot.

She's in her mid30s if I remember right, and married. I'm not sure if she has kids already. I've seen video interviews with her, and she was okay looking. She wasn't dolled up in the interviews like in that picture, either. I agree on the tattoo, though.

 

[Hell Swarm]

So I googled her and I can understand the real reason why angry LGBTQ gamers are mad at her.


View attachment 49120

She's kind of OK looking. Maybe even hot. This is why this crowd hates her.


You know it's true.

You find that okay looking? She's built like a fridge, has a squinting lions face with a kike nose glued on. Wrist tattoo to boot.

If you find this okay , I would hope you neck yourself before you attempt to breed more of these hideous things.

Pic of your girlfriend.

 

[lycanwarrior]

Not specifically physical games in this case but only a matter of time:

https://gamerant.com/sony-250-job-jobs-cut-report-recordable-media/

Unfortunately, it seems that these layoffs aren't ending anytime soon, as a report from The Mainichi — a major Japanese newspaper — alleges that Sony Group Corp. is gearing up to eliminate around 250 positions, or 37% of the 670 staff members, "from its recordable media business' key manufacturing hub in northeastern Japan." Essentially, this suggests that Sony is cutting down on its in-house production of physical media, likely in regard to movies and TV shows. The Mainichi purports these "planned job cuts come amid a decline in demand for traditional storage formats, such as Blu-ray discs, with streaming services now the norm." Considering that rumors have recently swirled around major retailers like Target abandoning the distribution of physical media altogether, this doesn't come as much of a surprise.

These Alleged Sony Layoffs Don't Paint a Good Picture for the Future of Physical Media​

The Mainichi's report also claims that Sony will "gradually cease production of optical disc storage media products, including Blu-ray discs," according to its sources. Although the tech giant's gaming division isn't outright mentioned here, one has to wonder if these alleged plans will also impact the distribution of physical PS5 titles. After all, every physical PlayStation game is printed on a Blu-ray disc, so if Sony is indeed looking to abandon internal production efforts for the media format altogether, then that could suggest that physical discs might have to face the reaper in the future.

Recent reports from analysts have suggested that physical game sales have been declining year-over-year, so Sony's potential decision to sunset its Blu-ray manufacturing division, including the in-house production of PS5 discs, would make more sense in this context. Regardless of whether this ends up happening or not, these job cuts at Sony, combined with the recent layoffs at Xbox's physical retail teams, seem to point towards the all-digital future inching closer and closer to becoming a reality.

Redbox, the physical movie rental company is going bankrupt:

 

[KeighnMcDeath]

Well that sucks.

 

[Morpheus Kitami]

How the hell does a company that basically just rents out vending machines have $1b in debt?

Either way, less discs being printed is a bad thing. Streaming services are nice when there's no other way to get a product, but you're at the mercy of a ton of things. Be it things getting pulled for controversial content to just no apparent reason. I still haven't seen all the One Foot in the Grave specials simply because Britbox randomly doesn't have them for some reason. DVDs don't have this problem, sure, some are made poorly, but that's generally a rare issue in the grand scheme of things.

 

[mondblut]

Redbox, the physical movie rental company is going bankrupt:

I do understand the charm of owning a collection of physical memorabilia, but physical movie rental? In 2024? Did they use horse-driven carriages to deliver the goods, too?

 

[lycanwarrior]

Redbox, the physical movie rental company is going bankrupt:

I do understand the charm of owning a collection of physical memorabilia, but physical movie rental? In 2024? Did they use horse-driven carriages to deliver the goods, too?

Yeah I haven't seen a Redbox kiosk in nearly a decade. Probably why it is isn't all too surprising that they are going under.

 

[mondblut]

Probably why it is isn't all too surprising that they are going under.

They should've seen the writing on the wall and bowed out graciously a decade ago, instead of bleeding money for years. What were they even hoping for? Governments banning broadband internet?

 

[KeighnMcDeath]

My Albertsons store has several redboxes. There used to be one at Ray's. I don't recall if walmart has one. Maybe this Tuesday I'll go looking if I dare venture into Eugene (which I fucking hate as bad as rats).

Maybe people are just destroying or keeping the discs contributing to the RB bankruptcy.

 

[DemonKing]

My new computer that I bought during Black Friday last year does not even have a CD/DVD drive. So I keep my older PC for just that purpose.

USB DVD drives are dirt cheap - no need to keep an entire PC just to access DVD content. Also means you can easily connect the drive to laptops and other devices away from your desktop PC if you need to.

How long will the physical discs themselves last before deteriorating?

In theory if kept in a dry, clean environment, they should last up to 20 years. In practice I have DVDs older than that that still play fine and most of those have been sitting in my garage in cardboard boxes. The main problem is when DRM prevents you playing games rather than physical deterioration of the disc itself (although I've only found a couple of games with this issue out of hundreds to be honest).

When I retire I'll probably get a NAS and take the time to rip everything worth keeping - mainly music and movies, since some of what I own on disc can't be purchased digitally.

 

[KeighnMcDeath]

So while physical is in decline you can still try to emulate that feel. Recall i mentioned this..

We should be like this Chinese dude.

Grab Atari Game Station Pro consoles for $50: Play 'Asteroids,' 'Centipede,' and 'Pong' limited tine $49​

PONG! OMG!!!

FUCKING PONG!!!

Well now you can have more atari fun in the form of the Atari400.

There's a sale right now; only $102 (normally $120)

Just look at that fucking awesome keyboard!

You know you want one. Chuck that PS5, SWITCH, and XBOX into the trash. This will rock your world. 4 players can jack their sticks in at one time.