With the way the games industry is approaching physical media releases recently, it flags a worrying prospect for the future of physical media. Whether it’s the rumours that the next generation of consoles will not have a disc tray, or Nintendo’s bizarre idea of ‘physical media’, there is dwindling hope for how long physical media will be sought out and actually cared for. In Nintendo’s Switch 2 announcement, they stated that buying games physically will give the owner a usual box but instead of the game being on the cartridge, the cartridge only has a digital game download key on it. It will just unlock the game from the Nintendo eShop and you download it meaning there is nothing really physical about it. On top of that, they will be more expensive to buy than digital games so it really feels like physical media is being drowned out. This is an issue for films as well as games and the ongoing by battle people who love physical media is slowly being lost, purely due to ease of use and it not giving people the same magic anymore.

Subscription services are the crux of the problem and as silly as it sounds to say that the problem is the convenience, in relation to physical media, it certainly is that case. Even something as impeccable in value as Game Pass is an unfortunate culprit and people that sign up to that are going to be buying less physical games. Because of them and the need for an additional purchase, the need for physical media is becoming negated. Other than collectors or just people who like the decoration prospects of physical media, there is becoming less and less support or even a need for game discs, DVDs, Blu-rays and 4k UHDs. People still go to book shops and buy those but that same sentiment does not fully transfer to game discs and DVDs. There are of course people that will strive to keep buying them but it is far from the norm. It is rather unlikely that the desire to collect something or having a preference for being able to tangibly own these boxes is strong enough a push to hold back the overall convenience of digital copies. Without a doubt, it is easier to get digital copies and although people are stern on the idea of physical copies disappearing now, with passing generations, things may change. Also, there is the looming reality of studios and subscription services just making films and games completely digital without warning and eventually, they could just cease production. This would make sense from a business perspective as it would force people to spend money on services and seeing as many films and games are coming out nowadays that do not have a physical release, they could slowly fizzle out of circulation and eventually, it will be all digital, whether people like it or not.

Many people do not know that even if you were to buy something off a streaming service or a digital storefront like the Nintendo eShop, you have not bought it technically. You only have the license to watch it or play it, but even this can be fleeting. There is no ownership and should you digitally buy a film or game, it is not a forever pass to use it. Merely, you are signing up to use it so long as the service you bought it on owns the rights to the product. This will waste people’s money and it just shows that nothing online is truly permanent. Buying physical releases is much more definitive as you physically can hold them and say you own them which is great for preservation, so long as you keep the disc safe, of course. Unfortunately, for many films and games, there may not even be the option of physical releases anymore and that can be dangerous for art preservation if they go off of services altogether. A recent example of this actually happening was with Mike Flanagan’s Hush (2016). This was not a Netflix Original film but was still a Netflix exclusive because they bought the license. However, the license ran out. As a result, the film was removed from Netflix, and with no physical release to fall back on, for a time, there was no legal way to be able to watch this great film. Thankfully, horror streaming service ‘Shudder’ have picked it up within the last year so it is once again available. Even still, those that enjoyed it on Netflix will now have to get a Shudder subcription just to watch it again. This just leads people into piracy because if they cannot watch it the way they have been able to before, they will default to an easier option. Flanagan campaigned to get a physical release and thankfully in November of last year, it got one. A film like this could be somebody’s favourite film because, within its niche, it is a very competent slasher horror film with a unique twist so, of course, it is going to have fans. Them fans have been messed about trying to watch this film that sets a bad precedent for how streaming services respect cinema as an art form.

Though its fall may not be now, all signs point to physical media’s relatively imminent demise. The fact that the next console generation will potentially have no disc tray means that people will have to go even more out their way to support physical media. The PS5 Pro releasing at its ridiculous price and yet still not including the disc tray really does not help because not many people are going to want to pay an additional £70 for it. They won’t do it now and they certainly won’t do it in the future because costs are going up of everything more and more. People will be worked into a corner not being able to buy physical releases unless they buy a Blu-ray player externally and to stop the bother, they will turn to digital. Any normal person would if we are being realistic and that is already the direction many are going. Only the few people that want to support it will do so and as costs go up, that small number of people will only get smaller. It seems in this day and age, everything is working against physical media and unfortunately, that comes with the times. The world is going digital and although it seems unlikely, we can only hope that those still passionate for physical keep up their fight for the idea of a good, pretty collection but also the importance of art preservation.