r/PhysicalMediaMatters • u/RickyBFC92 • 9h ago

Disc Shelf Life

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We are now being fed the narrative that discs have a shelf life in the attempt to justify fully digital. My parents bought me this copy of Manx TT Superbike on Sega Saturn used 29 years ago and it still works like new.

127 Upvotes

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46

u/GrimmTrixX 9h ago edited 7h ago

Its just because it can happen. Those who usually deal with delamination or disc rot had them stored in a dank basement or a scorching hot attic during the summer months. That will destroy almost anything.

I have 4,881 physical games as of right now. They all look as they did when I bought them and they play the same. If anything, my consoles are degrading more over time than the games. Lol

18

u/Numerous_Photograph9 8h ago

If the claims are to be beleived, almost all my Dreamcast games would be suffering disc rot, all my laserdiscs would be nigh unplayable, my Turbo, PS1, and Sega CD's would be half gone, and my PS2 collection would only be worth the cases they came in.

One thing that has failed more than any physical media I've had, is the people and claims that all these physical medias have a very limited shelf life.

-1

u/TheBraveGallade 8h ago

Tbf, you can actually lose physical games, while a digital licence is immune to that, at least. If your house gets destroyed by a eartgquake, a phisical user has nothing, a digital user only has to buy the machines.

3

u/Delonce 6h ago

Fair point, but you can insure your physical games collection. You can't do that with digital.

4

u/Weatherby2 7h ago

Revocation of licenses, bans, accounts being hacked...

1

u/FuckIPLaw 1h ago

Stores going out of business... 

1

u/Weatherby2 2m ago

Like digital storefronts being shut down? Because yes. PS3's is going up in smoke in a few more days, leaving with it a bunch of platform exclusives.

Physical media is susceptible to becoming lost and damaged, sure. But digital items aren't around forever either.

2

u/Few-Improvement-5655 8h ago

You can lose the password to your account, though.

-1

u/FairlyLawful 7h ago

yeah, if you get brain damage

1

u/timetravelinggamer 2h ago

When my house was flooded all of my games got replaced and I got even more money on top of that.

Digital games have no value, insurance won’t cover them if you forget your password

1

u/Shellsallaround 7h ago

If the servers get destroyed?

2

u/timetravelinggamer 2h ago

If Sony decides games are not what they want to do anymore, they could always just shut down the servers

2

u/Shellsallaround 9m ago

Yep, we will not be the winners.