2023-11-05 13:31:32
More and more video game publishers are abandoning the physical format. Some of the biggest releases this year are only available for download. From the second-hand market to resellers, a whole section of the economy is affected by this development.
This year’s biggest video game titles, like Alan Wake, were not released in physical format, but only as downloads. A dematerialization that is increasingly worrying.
“It’s an income that disappears from our end-of-year balance sheet. There are customers who come to us asking for games which are not released in physical format, which are only available for download. But these customers want them in physics, rightly so, because they want to own what they buy”, explains Filippo Franzone, director of the Log on Games store, in the 12:45 p.m.
The second-hand market under threat
This development also threatens the entire second-hand market. “Second hand today represents a quarter of our turnover,” explains Filippo Franzone.
The disappearance of physical formats is also not without consequences for lending libraries. “From year to year, there will be fewer physical offerings and this will indeed have a serious impact on library offerings,” notes Yan Buchs, director of the Vevey municipal library.
“Part of the public is very disappointed not to have these big releases available. Spending 70 to 80 francs for a game is still a budget and the library’s objective is to offer video games to everyone. Scholarships.”
A problem for museums
The disappearance of physical outings also complicates the possibilities of conservation in museums. “For us, it’s obviously an issue, because what we’re used to keeping are physical objects,” observes Selim Krichane, director of the Swiss Games Museum.
“And there, we find ourselves in a situation where these objects no longer exist. They are distributed in millions of copies, but in a completely dematerialized manner. They arrive directly on the users’ consoles. And therefore in terms of conservation , this poses difficulties.”
Didier Bonvin/ash
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