Image credit: Nguyen Vinh Nam

This article came up on my feed about how game publishers may abandon physical games, as tariffs in the US would probably make it completely unprofitable. Gaming in general has been moving toward what people might say is an “All Digital Future”, and I dislike it heavily. We don’t really own digital purchases.

I like collecting games. My game collection currently includes Game Boy, Game Boy Color, Game Boy Advance, DS, 3DS, and Nintendo Switch Games¹.

I appreciate the artwork on the cover, the mini booklets/manuals, and all the little extra goodies, such as stickers. I love pre-ordering games from Japan, as there’s usually an extra little something they include. One time, I even got the full soundtrack as a pre-order bonus with 2064: Read Only Memories! I ended up loving the music for that game, so being able to rip it to flac and listen to it on-the-go in high definition quality was awesome.

There’s something magical about popping in a little cartridge and just starting the game. This doesn’t always work out, since some games are horribly incomplete on launch, but it isn’t always this way. There are many games that are feature complete. Otherwise, there are “complete” editions that you can wait to buy.

I have a gaming PC as well, which is currently being used to play Monster Hunter Wilds. While I’ve been enjoying the game, it just doesn’t feel as fun as the day I opened the Monster Hunter Rise deluxe edition, and added the included Kamura pin to my itabag. I proudly displayed the Magnamalo amiibo, and stuck the stickers everywhere. And once I was done with the game, I got to put it next to Monster Hunter Generations Ultimate, the game that started my love for this series.

With Wilds, I simply paid ahead of time, and downloaded the game the day before. The day of, I was able to load in my save game from the beta, and start playing. While I am enjoying the game, this experience is just missing the “specialness” that I had with the previous games in the franchise.

Even the extra goodies in the PC Collector’s Edition of Metaphor Refantazio doesn’t make a difference, the game is just a steam code!

There’s no fun in collecting digital games. If gaming moves towards becoming completely digital, then I will simply wait for sales. There’s no incentive at all to buy a game full price at launch. I will simply buy a game right before I intend to play it.

I’ve been eagerly awaiting the Switch 2, since it’s looking to be the last bastion of physical games. Once that console cycle is over, if everything is completely digital, then I will wait. I have such a large collection of physical games in my backlog, that I might abstain from buying new games at the pace that I have been currently.

I have a lot of games to beat anyways.