This means you can’t pass the game around to your friends or sell it afterwards, which completely ruins the purpose of physical media imo. I mostly play PC these days so this doesn’t affect me, but it’s a disappointing direction for console games. At least they could’ve used an empty disc that has proof of ownership.

  • cyberic@discuss.tchncs.deEnglish
    3·
    1 year ago

    Image Transcription: Twitter Post and Replies

    Züm, @its_zum

    Hey @BethesdaSupport. Will the physical standard edition of Starfield for Series X include a disc?

    Bethesda Support, @BethesdaSupport

    Hello! All physical editions include a code for the chosen platform. There are no physical discs.

    I’m a human volunteer content transcriber and you could be too!

  • SophismaCognoscente@lemmy.worldEnglish
    1·
    1 year ago

    I’m a huge proponent of physical media, but this is entirely unsurprising given Microsoft’s acquisition of Bethesda. Compared to Switch and especially Playstation, the Xbox has a much higher rate of digital game sales.

    If Starfield were on PS5, it would get a disc release for sure, and Xbox would probably get one too for the sake of parity. But discs aren’t terribly important to the Xbox crowd, and that goes double for PC gamers.

    Moreover, digital games are good for the publisher’s bottom line, so physical media is only going to exist as long as customers demand it. And PC and Xbox gamers simply don’t.

    • InEnduringGrowStrong@sh.itjust.works@sh.itjust.worksEnglish
      1·
      1 year ago

      What I don’t get is why even release a physical edition if it doesn’t have the physical media.
      I own a lot of digital games through Steam, but releasing a physical copy of a game that only has a key in it is just weird.
      Might as well be a gift card.

  • AlataOrange@lemmy.worldEnglish
    0·
    1 year ago

    What’s the point of even having a console at this point? I understood when they were easier to set up then computers and cheaper than computers, but now they are just as hard and just as pricy. They had the benefit of being able to share and resell games, but even that’s gone away. What’s left other than exclusives and momentum?

    • abraham_linksys@sh.itjust.worksEnglish
      0·
      1 year ago

      Now that I have a Steam Deck I just don’t see me ever owning another console or even gaming PC. It has one of the main advantages of consoles (a single hardware profile to support) and it’s light years ahead. I have yet to find anything I want to play that I can’t play.

        • anguo@sh.itjust.worksEnglish
          1·
          1 year ago

          It does. But any decent USB C hub will work too. It’s a PC! The main downside compared to the Switch, is that the transition between handheld and TV isn’t as smooth, due to the different screen aspect ratio (Steam Deck is 16:10, most TVs are 16:9). From my own experience, I usually have to restart the game for it to fill the screen properly.

    • ClarkZuckerberg@lemmy.worldEnglish
      01·
      1 year ago

      You can’t build an equivalent PC for the price of a PS5. That’s the benefit of consoles. They’re a singular spec that developers can optimize for. So they’re always going to run better than a PC that costs hundreds more.