Article is from Jul 14, 2026
So why are our video games slipping out of our hands now more than ever? To understand that, we need to understand DRM.
Ackshually, we need to understand the internet and our general preference for convenience. First, people stopped listening to their CDs and were listening to their ripped MP3 files. File sharing programs like Napster and Kazaa made acquiring new songs extremely easy and convenient. Some time later, people stopped bothering with downloading the songs and just went with listening to Spotify.
It was similar with videogames, starting with the X360’s Xbox Live Arcade. The games you bought there were digital only, some can now be considered “lost media”. Yet, it was extremely convenient, you’re just sitting there, you just select the game, pay and boom, done. The writing was on the wall even back then, more people with faster internet meant more digital sales.
Regarding DRM proper, there was also the case of Capcom putting shit Enigma DRM in several games of theirs post release
the only format those aforementioned games can currently be found in if you didn’t purchase them digitally during their available window
Many games still live on in 🏴☠️ seas. Thank ye, me mateys!!
IO Interactive shipped a physical disc [of 007 First Light] containing only the first mission, requiring players to download a hefty day one patch to actually make the game they purchased playable.
Not the first time a company pulled that shit, either. Activision pulled the same shit in 2015 with Tony Hawk 5, the day-1 patch was larger (7.7GB) than the entire fucking game (4.6GB).
In this current day and age, I think the ideal moment to release a physical copy is at least 6 months after the digital release, so a good amount of patches have already been released.
An online hub filled with individual user storefronts operated by players themselves – like a digital yard sale, players could browse one another’s wares, combing through for a good deal or a brand-new gem they’ve never heard of.
No. Just no. The first problem that will happen is NFT 2.0, “asserting digital ownership” that can be accepted anywhere and transferred to any 3rd party. The second problem is ensuring said hub doesn’t devolve into another Amazon, because you can’t just pop up “digitalgameyardsale.com” and tell people to sell their existing Steam or GOG games there - you need to integrate with Steam and GOG for them to validate the users and their games.
publishers and developers could take a percentage of each sale in exchange for ensuring that ownership exchange of each digital title begins with the player handing it over and ends with the player purchasing it.
Small publishers and devs might accept that. The big ones won’t, because “why accept spare change when I can force people to buy new and profit more?”
Another problem with this is about expired or unknown rights holders. For instance, who currently owns the rights to Crazy Drake? Or Mig Alley? This isn’t as simple as finding the author of a book
An online hub filled with individual user storefronts operated by players themselves – like a digital yard sale, players could browse one another’s wares, combing through for a good deal or a brand-new gem they’ve never heard of.No. Just no. The first problem that will happen is NFT 2.0, “asserting digital ownership” that can be accepted anywhere and transferred to any 3rd party. The second problem is ensuring said hub doesn’t devolve into another Amazon, because you can’t just pop up “digitalgameyardsale.com” and tell people to sell their existing Steam or GOG games there - you need to integrate with Steam and GOG for them to validate the users and their games.
I think the way I’ve put this to others is; it’s cute to imagine the sorts of things people could do ad-hoc in the Geocities style, like with the old web. But anything that can be done by software-based means now must contend with the possibility: What if a Russian script kiddy with a python script does this 10,000 times a second, seeking profit.
Very likely, the moment anyone puts up their copy of Zelda for $45, it will be immediately grabbed by a bot seeking to sell it for N-$2, where N is the price Nintendo is currently selling it for.
