With Sony announcing that it will stop producing physical game discs starting in 2028, this topic has triggered a larger discussion. This time, the focus turned to PC players - someone asked Steam users: If Valve also launched a physical game system, would they buy it? According to discussions on the forums, the answer from the vast majority of players is a clear "no."
The reason is not that players don’t like collector’s editions, but because of the characteristics of the PC platform itself. Today's desktops and laptops no longer have optical drives, and after years of development, Steam's digital game library has become extremely convenient: games can be automatically synchronized between multiple devices (including Steam Deck) without relying on physical media. Even the format of "boxed redemption codes" is considered meaningless by players - it is no different from a pure digital purchase.
At the same time, many participants emphasized that the situation of physical games on PC and consoles cannot be simply compared. On PlayStation, abandoning discs actually makes the PlayStation Store the only purchase channel; while PC is still an open ecosystem - in addition to Steam, there are multiple platforms such as GOG, Epic Games Store, and Microsoft Store, and some games are even released in DRM-free form. On GOG, users can run the game without launching the store client and create their own backups.
Players also pointed out that the PC market has long adapted to the digital model, mainly due to Steam's regular large-scale discount events. As a result, the second-hand disc market has almost ceased to exist on the PC side - and for console users, physical media is still an important way to save money on gaming.
This discussion once again shows that the loss of physical media means very different things for different platforms. Console users are worried about being constrained by a single digital store, but for Steam users, the convenience of the digital library and the openness of the PC are far more important than "putting games on the shelf."
What do you think about this? Do you support the cancellation of physical disks? Welcome to discuss in the comment area.