I've never been a console gamer, nor owned any consoles. I greatly appreciate the existence of digital distribution platforms, and my ability to buy dozens of games for the price of a single physical copy of a game. But I also understand the downsides and risks of those platforms. I have over 1700 games on Steam, and if Valve goes out of business tomorrow, or decides to shut down Steam, I just instantly and permanently lose access to all those games. If the games have an average value of, say, $20, that would mean I'm suddenly out $34000 worth of games (though of course I didn't pay that much for them; the bulk of them are from Humble Bundles). Of course, a physical disc isn't necessarily better. It's vulnerable to disc rot and physical damage, and if it's damaged beyond readability, there's no way to get another copy without buying it again, if that's even an option. Of course, while you own the physical disc, you don't actually own its content; you only have a license to use it. And these days, a lot of physical discs basically just contain a download link, not the game itself.

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So, while both options are beneficial, neither is great on a long-term basis.

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