Senua’s Saga: Hellbade II is Xbox’s next major console-exclusive video game coming this year. We learned a lot about the upcoming action game along the way Developer Direct from Thursday. We learned that later too Hellblade II will not get a physical releaseThis continues the trend of foregoing discs for major AAA console games and only playing digitally. And that’s not great.
For a long, long time, console games big and small (PC is another story) have always released physical editions of games because there was no other option. But around the Xbox 360 era (almost 20 years ago), some smaller games or indie titles began skipping physical releases and releasing exclusively digitally, often at a cheaper price. Some feared that this could result in games becoming unavailable once the servers hosting the content were shut down –what happened and is still happening. However, over the past two decades, aside from smaller games or indie titles, most games have still been released physically on all platforms.
And then Alan Wake II happened.
While I love Alan Wake II (It is my personal game of the year 2023) One strange and depressing little thing about the game is that it may be the first-ever major AAA blockbuster GOTY competitive game from a major publisher that doesn’t skip a physical release on any platform, even consoles. Remedy Entertainment explained in an FAQ that the decision not to release a CD was the price to pay Alan Wake II could stay at $60 instead of $70. The studio also wanted to avoid sending out a CD but still forcing people to download a major update, which is certainly annoying, but it’s so bad that it’s justified Alan Wake II Does it only exist as a $60 digital game? I’m not sure.
What’s so bad about purely digital games?
There are some problems with purely digital games. They’re harder to preserve on consoles, people with limited internet options get screwed, and digital games can’t be resold or traded. And let’s not forget: digital games will only exist as long as the companies running digital businesses allow them. Of course, on all major platforms you can re-download previously purchased games, even if they have been removed from the store for licensing reasons. But that’s only true as long as the people who run the store see it that way. (And in some cases it’s not true at all.)
So it’s not great when a big game skips a physical release. Certainly not every The single-disc game can be played offline or without Day 1 patches, but most are actually playable. as documented by fans on this great website.
That’s why it was so disappointing to see Hellblade II confirmed by Xbox as a $50 digital-only video game. Some might argue that many will play this Hellblade Buy the sequel on Game Pass and never own it anyway, which is probably true. But it’s still not ideal for another AAA console game to cost so much compared to other, cheaper, digital-only titles while also removing the option to purchase physically. This means that people cannot trade Hellblade II Or you can keep it and play it years after servers fail and businesses close.
The video game industry has long been poor at preserving its own history. They are often fans, modders, and even, yes, pirates who do the hard work Publisher and developer should do to ensure that as many games as possible are playable in 30 years. And if this new trend of AAA console games ditching the disc and becoming digital only continues to grow, tThe state of wildlife conservation is already worrying will get worse.
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