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GameStop CEO Says Disc Drives Should Be Required On Game Consoles

Magic Carpet

Gold Member
optical discs can have multi-TB capacities... if sony really wants to move forward with discs, they can.

sloth no GIF

Switch would not be the same with a disc drive
If optical discs can have multi-TB of capacity, then maybe a tiny disk can have a hundred GB and fit in the Switch 2.
Nintendo can still charge the super high Nintendo price for the tiny disk.
 

Solidus_T

Banned
So it has a non optical disc drive? Weird
That is literally what an SD card is. It's a storage drive (disc) that does not read using a laser.
SD means Secure Digital, but the abbreviation was previously used to called it "Super density disc" or something like that. It's been a while but you get the idea.
 

midnightAI

Member
That is literally what an SD card is. It's a storage drive (disc) that does not read using a laser.
SD means Secure Digital, but the abbreviation was previously used to called it "Super density disc" or something like that. It's been a while but you get the idea.
When was an SD card ever called a disc? Honestly curious, because it isn't a disc whether digital or otherwise and I have never heard it ever being called one.

But basically I was being sarcastic, the assumption that a disc drive must exist is being talked about in this sense because of used games and for that you need physical media, he was leaving out (most likely unintentionally) the Switch by making the statement they must have a disc drive as that simply doesn't have one (neither do most handhelds other than PSP)
 

Solidus_T

Banned
When was an SD card ever called a disc? Honestly curious, because it isn't a disc whether digital or otherwise and I have never heard it ever being called one.

But basically I was being sarcastic, the assumption that a disc drive must exist is being talked about in this sense because of used games and for that you need physical media, he was leaving out (most likely unintentionally) the Switch by making the statement they must have a disc drive as that simply doesn't have one (neither do most handhelds other than PSP)
Yeah of course he would even unintentionally leave out the Switch, since people still buy and sell physical media for it all the time. It's pretty funny how Cohen is basically defending his source of income while ironically advocating for physical media. We all know what is really behind his "big win for consumers" posturing, even if it is a big win.

But yeah any form of storage media is referred to as a disc. Mount it to your computer with any operating system, and it will refer to it this way. This is one of those computer science factoids that goes back to the beginning of computers. Interestingly, most OS's will use "Disk" with a K, even for flash storage or compact SD cards, which properly refers to magnetic drives, vs disc with a C which is more general for any storage media upon mounting.
 

midnightAI

Member
Yeah of course he would even unintentionally leave out the Switch, since people still buy and sell physical media for it all the time. It's pretty funny how Cohen is basically defending his source of income while ironically advocating for physical media. We all know what is really behind his "big win for consumers" posturing, even if it is a big win.

But yeah any form of storage media is referred to as a disc. Mount it to your computer with any operating system, and it will refer to it this way. This is one of those computer science factoids that goes back to the beginning of computers. Interestingly, most OS's will use "Disk" with a K, even for flash storage or compact SD cards, which properly refers to magnetic drives, vs disc with a C which is more general for any storage media upon mounting.
I mean, I may have heard it being referred to as a disc(k) drive long ago when they were new because, well, solid state drives were new. But I've always known them as Drives. Disc(k) infers it's shape, Compact Disc, Hard Disk Drive, Laser Disc, Digital Versatile Disc, Blue Ray Disc, Floppy Disk, Zip Disk etc. all disc(k) shaped.
 

UnNamed

Banned
They want discs, not physical games.
Ad long as they can sell disks with 50MB of data and the entire game and patches to download, they don't care.
 

Edgelord79

Gold Member
Disk drives shouldn’t be mandatory. That’s ridiculous.

However, if they get removed though, companies should be made to honour the license that comes with the disk for digital conversion.
 
When Sony released the PS4 Uncharted console bundle, GameStop’s console boxes had the actual disc inside. Every other store only had a download code. It was glorious.
 

Thick Thighs Save Lives

NeoGAF's Physical Games Advocate Extraordinaire
Wrong - There are significantly better ways to provide consumers access to their "owned" games and media outside of continued reliance on an aging medium that promotes extensive waste to our environment...
Let me guess all the server farms used as content network delivery for MS, Sony, Nintendo, Steam, Epic have no carbon expenditure?I also wonder from which war-torn countries the rare metals used in the manufacture of these servers are sourced from? Yeah, sure, physical media promotes extensive waste to our environment, but huge data-centers that consume as much power as small sized towns are perfectly environmentally friendly. 🙄
 
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There should always be an option for a disc drive, yes. Nothing wrong with a digital only console for those that dont care about discs anymore but there should always give us the option. Not everyone wants to be stuck paying ridiculous digital prices. Some people might want to buy games cheaper, or share with a relative or friend, or have the option to sell or trade instead of being stuck with a digital copy they'll never do anything with. There's nothing good in less options. So if they ever tried taking away options, we should make noise about it so they know its unacceptable and we won't be having it.
 
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SmokedMeat

Gamer™
It's so depressing what GameStop turned into once Babbages and FuncoLand ceased to exist. I can't be bothered to step foot in a GameStop. Plastic crap everywhere, clerks trying to upsell you on everything. It's a truly miserable experience.

Funcoland was the shit. I used to like stepping in to grab their “newspaper” with all the used game prices on it.
 

tr1p1ex

Member
.
gaben GIF

Gabe says hello.


We haven't had physical games on pc in eons.

And newsflash to the Gamestop CEO, physical game sales have gone way down despite all 3 consoles still offering discs/carts.
 
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.
gaben GIF

Gabe says hello.


We haven't had physical games on pc in eons.

And newsflash to the Gamestop CEO, physical game sales have gone way down despite all 3 consoles still offering discs/carts.
And? You’re against choice and preservation of gaming? Why be anti consumer? No used games. No trading In games, no letting your friend borrow a game, no trading games with friends, what happens if download servers die in the future. No resell value.
 
Dont forget console will eventually deteriorate too, not to mention incompatibility with the TV or cables in the future. And out of print 2nd hand disc will be very expensive to buy.

Which means you’ll have to invest with adapters and converters which is pretty clanky.
And??
 

tr1p1ex

Member
And? You’re against choice and preservation of gaming? Why be anti consumer? No used games. No trading In games, no letting your friend borrow a game, no trading games with friends, what happens if download servers die in the future. No resell value.
And what? I didn't say I was against anything. Why be anti-social?

Reality is consoles have largely gone digital despite consumer choice. Deal with it!
 
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Moments like this should be seen a gigantic, massive red button death flag for physical games. Whenever you have the out of touch company advocating for something and you find yourself agreeing, both you and that company will be just as blindsided as blockbuster and blackberry, in a decade’s time.
 

kiphalfton

Member
GameStop as a business has somehow gotten worse since he came on board. To a lot of you, I'm sure you would be like "is that even possible", but it didn't used to suck that bad before COVID. LOTS of deals on pre-owned games (i.e. B2G2, 50% off, etc.).

So fuck that dude.
 
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ArtHands

Thinks buying more servers can fix a bad patch

And that means in the long run it’ll be even more inconvenient and not feasible to play current gen physical games in the future.

just sail the high sea if the retro games ain’t feasible to buy and play physically or digitally by then. For a price of a Rule of Rose physical disc now, you can easily buy a laptop or even multiple retro emulation handheld to play countless retro game roms.
 

Arsic

Loves his juicy stink trail scent
So many of these games are leaning towards always online even for single player. So no, fuck your physical media hard on .

Embrace digital.

If I wanted to get into the console space though I would make a console that is physical only and the requirement for a game to be on it would be it’s available to play on that device until the end of time. That way it would cater to specific die hards to have a place to gather.
 

ArtHands

Thinks buying more servers can fix a bad patch
There should always be an option for a disc drive, yes. Nothing wrong with a digital only console for those that dont care about discs anymore but there should always give us the option. Not everyone wants to be stuck paying ridiculous digital prices. Some people might want to buy games cheaper, or share with a relative or friend, or have the option to sell or trade instead of being stuck with a digital copy they'll never do anything with. There's nothing good in less options. So if they ever tried taking away options, we should make noise about it so they know its unacceptable and we won't be having it.
If its stays at 60% physical - 40% digital split then maybe you have a chance for a fight.

But a 28% physical - 72% digital split? Its too late man.

Its not a secret that retail shops are struggling to sell enough physical games to sustain the rental cost right now.
 

YeulEmeralda

Linux User
Wrong - There are significantly better ways to provide consumers access to their "owned" games and media outside of continued reliance on an aging medium that promotes extensive waste to our environment...
Sony should give everyone access to a private torrent tracker.

If you really care having access to old or obscure media nothing beats piracy in my experience.
 

0neAnd0nly

Member
Just like they are required on Pc right?
...
..
.
Right!?

See how pc gaming crumbled after the removal of phisical disk readers?

Oh wait.

Not really the same thing.

PC doesn’t have *one* forced store front to force a monopoly.

Console absolutely DOES. Each manufacturer offers their store only, without physical competition there is extreme danger to consumers with prices and/or sales.
 

Sorcerer

Member
Funcoland was the shit. I used to like stepping in to grab their “newspaper” with all the used game prices on it.
For me there I remember some of the games on that glorious list, but then when you went to the counter to inquire about the game it was always, "Nope, don't have it".
I came to believe the list was just an alphabetical listing of known games and not relevant to stock on hand.
Oddly, when I ordered games through a phone call to the company, the list was totally on the money.
 
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HoofHearted

Member
Let me guess all the server farms used as content network delivery for MS, Sony, Nintendo, Steam, Epic have no carbon expenditure?I also wonder from which war-torn countries the rare metals used in the manufacture of these servers are sourced from? Yeah, sure, physical media promotes extensive waste to our environment, but huge data-centers that consume as much power as small sized towns are perfectly environmentally friendly. 🙄
Eh - Ok… sure… let’s shut it all down then? As that’s the only viable solution to completely mitigate the impact… ;)

But that wasn’t my point to my response to the GS CEO statement.

My point? When was the last time you installed a new game from a disc that you “own” that didn’t require a day one patch? Heck - when was the last time you were able to install a new game that actually installed everything from the disc that didn’t require an Internet connection? For me it’s be a very long time…

The only reason he made that statement is because of the impact to GameStop’s core business model - and that model is inherently flawed because it’s directly attached to an aging medium… they will need to pivot sooner than later…

I agree with him that consumers need to have choices and options with respect to purchasing and accessing their media content … but there are significantly better ways to do that without a continued dependency on constrained hardware/medium…

If he wants to jump on the consumer bandwagon, then he should actually lead and advocate core changes in the industry that is truly on behalf of the consumer instead of a half hearted attempt to protect the interests specific to his company…
 
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