Can’t use the word “buy” if you can’t actually buy the thing.

  • dragonlover@lemmy.zip
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    14 days ago

    Except it does. Because owning a digital copy legally speaking means you own a licence to a software, but not the software. Physical discs / flash drive / cartridges are owned, licenses can be revoked and are not owned in the same sense.

    • LwL@lemmy.world
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      14 days ago

      The data on that is worthless with online DRM, and I’d bet that GTA 6 would require online activation regardless. The real enemy is DRM, disks being gone is just a symptom.

      Games have also always been tied to licenses, the details are what matters really. A license to use a program that can no longer launch because a server is down isn’t any more useful if you have the program on a disk.

    • kshade@lemmy.world
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      14 days ago

      In most jurisdictions you are always just buying a license, physical media or not. Except now you have a physical thing that you need to protect from damage/loss because it’s tied to your license. Depending on where you are you might not even be legally allowed to create a backup, especially if there’s DRM involved.

      The only advantage I see with physical media is the used market. Digital kills that, and I’m sure that that’s the big reason Sony is doing it. They don’t want to take your games, they want to stop you from buying someone else’s.