Second Wind [Intro Music] In the red corner, standing
at over 3 inches with a quiff, 2.4 pounds soaking wet but don't
get it wet or it won't work ever again. A monolith of gaming discontinued in 2002
whose reach is still felt to this day, the Nintendo 64. In the blue corner, a light-footed contender
born of the digital age having no discernible weight or height but virtually all the stamina
available to endure forever, the My Nintendo Store. Come on kid, get up, stop trying
to go the distance with them, look at you. Look at me, you passed 20, you
pushed your prime, you ain't made for this. Digital's got all the
advantages in longevity, one day your cartridges are gonna
rot, you're gonna cease to function. Meanwhile the storage space on that
guy is minimal, the games can never break. I warned you, you got no hope against
digital, I bet a million years from now my descendants playing on their government
mandated Disney Entertainment Consoles, they're gonna have the Legend of
Time, the Zelda, Ocarina, ported over. Alright here's the
plan, we go for the preservation paradox, we just hope
that the future owners don't wanna. One too many Rocky movies,
perhaps but not too far-fetched. Nintendo could decide tomorrow that they
don't want me to have Ocarina of time as it is. The next time I receive an
online update for the Switch, the game could be changed, it
could be tweaked, it could be removed. And the only way I could
still play is by turning my Switch into a fugitive and going
off-grid to live out the rest of its days, forfeiting the ability to ever play
another game that doesn't come with a physical copy. Actually you have to
check into Nintendo Switch Online every 7 days, so the
rest of its days is about a week. Consider the fact that 87% of
all the games ever made are no longer available, and physical games
have been slowly going out of style. It's estimated only 10.5% of
game purchases are physical nowadays. Within a few more generations I can see consoles with slots for discs
turning into collector's items. We're more than halfway there, we already
have Xboxes and PlayStations that are digital only. And when digital's the only thing left, the
expiration date of every digital item you've ever purchased will be at the
whims of the companies that sold it. It ain't fear-mongering and
ain't a future dystopian prospect for your descendants to deal with,
it's a creeping occurrence at present. The Wii U and Nintendo 3DS
eShop were discontinued in March 2023. The Xbox 360
marketplace will shut down in July 2024. Sure, I don't expect them to continue
selling the same old games hardly anyone's buying. That was common when physical gaming was
king, and these older games can still be played if you bought them on older systems, or
they're being ported over to newer systems. But here's what they didn't do. Sony announced that it was taking away
the PS5-PS Plus collection after May 9th, 2023. It was reshuffling older, popular games you
could claim for free with an original subscription like Batman Arkham Knight, and The Last
Guardian into the game, catalog, and classics catalog. Each needing more expensive
subscriptions. You can no longer claim these games for free. Now, if you did claim one
of those games for free, but you don't have a subscription
plan, well, you can't play the game. And as of December 31st, 2023, PlayStation
will be removing 1,318 films and seasons of TV shows. Anyone who paid for discovery content
through the PlayStation Store will no longer be able to access it in any way, shape, or form that
includes your Mythbusters, your River Monsters. Oof, you were better off buying the Blu-ray. Ubisoft has taken down The Crew after 10 years in 2024. Even if you have a
disc, you won't be able to use it. You see, games have always
come with small print, known as the end-user license agreement
that says you don't own your games. But rather, you purchase a license to play
that can be taken away at any point for any reason. It was just harder to
enforce before the days of online gaming, Nintendo would
have to show up to your house. The most common misconception
is that the EULA is unenforceable. The reality, upheld by
different courts around the world, is that digital purchasers have made
these contracts even more rock-solid. Some games don't let
you play until you click accept. Others make you scroll through the
contract before allowing you to press accept. This is known as click-wrap. The contract doesn't disappear,
so you can read it at your own pace. You ain't forced to accept it. You own a license to play your games held
up by good faith, and it could disappear tomorrow. However, there's a wildcard in the deck. How many people, who
haven't broken the rules of a game, have had their games taken away
from them, be it physical or digital? Have you, or someone you know and
love, been exposed to a revoked gaming license? Yes, I know I purchased a revocable license. I always read the terms and services. I'm not a thoroughly
paranoid man, but a thorough paranoid man. Even then, I've never known someone to lose
a license without cause, be it digital or physical. I've only recently come to terms with
online multiplayer games being more ephemeral, and single-player games being in a constant
state of flux is an even more recent phenomenon. I genuinely believe it's
a reasonable assumption to make that digital sells itself on
its compact nature and durability. Am I wrong in thinking that the
average law-abiding citizen who buys video games digitally assumes it
will last longer than a physical purchase? The average gamer doesn't
understand that they don't own their games, and that's
because a lack of due diligence. Fine, I'll concede that gamers
need to take that one to the chin. But the revocable license,
traditionally used to fight copyright infringement, being used to revoke
access to content before the natural expiration of a physical
system, is essentially unheard of, and that's not something the average customer is considering when
deciding between digital or physical. It's far from a common practice in the industry. It goes against our reasonable assumptions
from the 1980s when the media was only physical. It goes against our reasonable
assumptions from when things started shifting to digital. This is a fairly new issue well into the
streaming age with no measures to prevent it, and now that digital's the dominant
format, there is no foreseeable way to turn back. Let's not kid ourselves, we're
now going back to brick and mortar. This PC doesn't even have a disc tray. But the silver lining is that I
believe change is easier after people get burned. It's unfortunate that most
change is only possible after the fact, but it's better than change
being impossible before and after. When PC was having its
growing pains with an online marketplace is when Steam
implemented the refund policy, and the window of
opportunity has only grown wider since then. Right now is the best time to bring this up
and be heard to establish better consumer practices. I know, I know, there's someone that's been
screaming at me since the beginning of this video, and others are admiring my fortitude for
lasting this long without bringing up piracy. That's a different topic and
I've already used up my 40 minute slot. It can be considered an
ethical or moral discussion, but in the end I think it's an
issue of finance and accessibility, or as Gabe Newell put it in 2011, "Piracy is not a
pricing issue, it's a service issue. The easiest way to stop piracy is not
by putting N-type piracy technology to work, it's by giving those people a service that's
better than what they're receiving from the pirates. Due to the preservation, Paradox is
the quality of service from Sony's in question, so I wouldn't be surprised if there were more people blowing the dust
off of their swashbuckling hats. For people who don't like breaking
laws, but you want to be involved as well. You prefer your lawful compliance on the
malicious side, if you're in the market for a console. I'd recommend an Xbox." Not because I think it's
genuinely better than a PlayStation or a Switch, I think console wars are petty
tribalism for people who don't like regular sports. But I've been scouring the web for hours and
I can't find any solid stance from Sony or Nintendo saying that swapping to digital
will provide customers with longevity. They both claim ease
of access and transferability, but neither has gone on record saying
digital increases the life expectancy of games. Meanwhile, Phil Spencer, the head of
the Xbox brand, has gone on record to say "Xbox designs with preservation in mind." Does it mean I believe
they won't pull licenses away? The hopeful in me says yes, the
cynic in me is laughing at the hopeful in me. But I believe a reasonable
person would take Phil Spencer on his word. Because of his
official statement that preservation is front and center when
all these decisions are made. There's a reasonable
assumption to believe that digital Xbox products will last
longer than physical products. And if they don't, well then that means
Xbox will be easier to sue than Sony or Nintendo. Support Cold Take at
PATREON.COM/SECONDWINDGROUP THIS VIDEO WAS MADE POSSIBLE BY Closed Captions by @willcblogs
