I was wondering if say 10+ years from now I still wanted to play a ps4 game and need to redownload it. Will it be possible or will digital game support stop after a time on older consoles? If that is the case then I should buy the physical versions of my favorite games.
@Elodin I mean, people can still redownload their PS3 games, and that console is around 13 years old. Moreover, if Sony maintains digital BC going into future generations, that'll likely kick the ball forward another ten years or so with each successive console. Playstation games are all integrated into one storefront, so if you can't redownload your PS4 games, then something likely catastrophic happened with Sony.
Which is to say: I wouldn't worry about it. I think it's dramatically more likely that you'd lose your PS4 collection in a house fire or something. And, anyway, big games are so reliant on updates, patches, etc. now that so-called "physical games" are largely becoming a thing of the past anyway.
@Elodin I dunno, PS3 is built on early online infrastructure and it’s still online to redownload your games now. There’ll always be a date of death but PS4 should be able to last a good decade or two.
@nessisonett You can still purchase digital PS3 games too unlike Wii which is now in redownload mode only. Wii U and 3DS eShops are still fully opened as well.
I mean to be honest, the question affects physical games now as well. If you reinstall a physical game, you'll need to dwonload the latest version unless it is a GOTY edition or something. So if PS4 servers are turned off, you'll not be able to download your library or get the working version updated online either.
Now I may be an idiot, but there's one thing I am not sir, and that sir, is an idiot
I don't think so. I mean, there's a chance it could happen. But then most games are repeatedly patched these days - many are shipped basically broken. And as consoles become more complicated hardware-wise, with more moving parts, their life-span is likely to be shorter than older systems so owning the physical copies after the apocalypse might not matter anyway.
@Rudy_Manchego Well, you don't HAVE to. I mean, the game will work best with all of the updates, but if you have an offline PS4, you can still install and play the game at the default level. I didn't have broadband until two years ago, and lived this way just fine, only going online with my limited-bandwith satellite connection maybe once a month or so when I knew there was an update I wanted, and often less. You might not get the BEST version of the game this way, but if you have the disc, you can still play. I intend to continue to buy physical copies as long as I can.
@KisekiFan7 The Wii shop is completely offline AFAIK. No re-downloads either.
The main problem I have is that my library exceeds my storage capacity. I have more games than fit on my HDD (this will be the problem for all of us I presume). And so I rather have my games backed up on a disc than in a digital storefront.
@Octane You can redownload on the Wii Shop, just no new purchases can be made. The only two digital storefronts that have 100% shutdown so far are the one's on the original Xbox and PSP.
@Unlucky13 True but I mean, in some cases there are game breaking bugs for example. For example, try playing Assassin's Creed Unity without the various patches. Or the load times in Bloodborne before they were patched. I still collect physical but for some games, patches are sadly necessary for some games to even be playable.
Now I may be an idiot, but there's one thing I am not sir, and that sir, is an idiot
Yeah, playing things off disc nowadays means that your game might not be as "feature-rich" as its intended to be, with many things like Photo Modes being added via launch updates, but many games are still in an enjoyable state without a connection. It depends on the specific games you're interested in, I reckon; do some research, find out if a physical, un-patched copy would be worth it, and invest on a case-by-case basis.
@Rudy_Manchego If you play Shadow of the Tomb Raider off its disc without patching it, you get an entirely different final cutscene, one that many fans think is better!
"We want different things, Crosshair. That doesn't mean that we have to be enemies."
@Octane Yeah, the limited storage capacity of the PS4 has driven me nuts for a long time. I regularly find myself wanting to play a game, but not wanting to go through the hassle of deleting one game to install another one. And now that my kids are old enough to have their own games too, it only adds to it. And then if I delete one of theirs because they aren't playing it, they freak out, and I have to explain that I haven't deleted the saves, just the game, and I can put it back. Which they immediately insist that I do, and they play it for a few days and then forget about it again.
The still small HD on the PS5 is making me worry for all of the same reasons. Once the prices for the expandable ones come down, I'm certainly going to buy a much larger one to try and deal with the issue.
@Octane@Unlucky13 ...y'all know you can buy external hard drives for it, right? I recently bought a 4TB external for around $100. Not for PS4, but I could hook it up there, and it'd solve my storage issues, pretty much.
@Ralizah I know, but still quite expensive. Especially since HDDs don't last very long compared to SSDs. So I rather invest in a good quality SSD in the future to replace the HHD in the PS4. I'm not in a hurry at the moment though.
@nessisonett I play so rarely on my PS4 that I've always been cool with the 500GB hard drive, but if it's your main system, I imagine it's irritating constantly juggling installs.
It also helps that very few of the games I play are gigantic. Two Call of Duty games is enough to fill up one's hard drive these days. It's nuts.
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Topic: Should I worry that my digital library will digital library will disappear?
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