Gamer's Outpost LLC

by L.W. Barker aka ‘Sarge’

There are two types of gamers… those who embrace digital content, and those who tightly hold on to physical copies.

I for one is the latter who is quite aware that physical games for Xbox One, and PS4 are blu rays and cannot directly play content from the disc. And that these games are automatically installed on the console’s hard drive prior to playing. But, there is nothing like that feeling of actually holding that game in hand. Just being able to see and touch the game gives it value in my collection.

The fact is our Industry is going through changes that have transformed the  old “retail” formula into something new that promises to push it from its “tried and true” physical past to a “money making” digital future…like the Music Industry did a few years ago.

However, this does not bode well with some gamers. “Digital” to them means that games are not really owned.  And without that physical copy in hand, the thought of publishers and developers suddenly deciding to take back digital content is always on their minds. These gamers will collect physical copies of their games until they run out of storage space…and then they’ll make room for more.

Other gamers have embraced digital content. From music to movies and now games, they were born into a world that only knows digital content, and physical copies are obsolete. Armed with the knowledge that their hard drives will eventually get full, these gamers are “Masters of the Cloud” so to speak.

Thus, our changing Industry has made some gamers uncomfortable with the thought of not having that physical game in hand. And yet digital is where the Industry is going. Developers are leading the way with many bypassing publishers and retailers and presenting their games directly to gamers, who for the most part, have embraced it.

Now as our Industry moves toward an all digital future, there might not be a place for gamers like me. A fact made all too clear the other day when a young gamer asked me with astonishment in his voice, “You still have games on discs!?”

Visit our Official Website at http://www.gamersoutpost.net