Disney & Fox Confirm Alien Series Remains In Development Under New Ownership!

[SuperiorIronman]

Physical media isn't going anywhere but it's definitely going to change shape.
Streaming is all fine and good but you don't really own anything you buy as when the service shuts down, so does your content unless you back it up on an external system. But the discs themselves are cheap and more often than not we're paying for the software on them rather than the price of the disc.

If it's anything to go off of, Marvel's Netflix offerings eventually did make its way to Blu-ray.

[Voodoo Magic]

Some said the same thing about music physical media a couple decades ago.

I don't know the future, none of us do. But Samsung pays an army to analyze the data and predict the future, and when the #1 Blu-Ray Player Manufacter reads the tea leaves and announced this year they are discontinuing all their blu-ray and 4k players, not that I want it to happen, but that's where my money is betting on.

[SuperiorIronman]

There's always going to be a place for it. Videogames have been trying it for years but physical media keeps chugging along since once the streaming service is gone, there is no game. Downloadable and steaming services are all fine and good, but if you can't back it up it's just buying a license and you loose the product if the service goes down for any reason.

Like I said, you're paying more for the software and license than the actual disc. The same situation occurs online (sometimes with slightly less pricey options), but not all locations are good for streaming nor are they suitable for downloads. Always online products constantly fail for that reason since the infrastructure to support its business model just isn't there. When people have to go to brick and mortar stores anyways you can always reliably pick up a disk close to the counter or if you pass by an electronics section.

[razeak]

Games as a streaming service are not great where I live. Once we hit 250gb in a month its an additional $10 per 50 gb. I'm not paying to update a game if I'm on the verge of going over. It's not a big issue in the summer hardly, but once winter comes that data goes up.

[Voodoo Magic]

Yeah, from Music, to Movies, and now to Games, the larger file content often has to wait for surrounding infrastructure to improve in technology and price point before streaming it is practical. I think one day though consoles like the disc-less Xbox One will be the norm.

[The Old One]

Yeah, I don't see it going anywhere.
Especially because I buy 4K and  Vinyl even today because of the quality, a market for the guaranteed ownership/highest quality/DRM free digital service always exists.
And streaming a videogame itself is nothing more than a brief interest, it's going to crash and burn because the infrastructure to support itself doesn't exist.

https://youtu.be/_74M_asgBAQ

[Voodoo Magic]

Vinyl is niche market with a limited new catalog though. CDs are pretty much the same.

Gone are the days...



There was a time when Music MP3s were on fire and the Napster generation said that no one would be able to stream movies. The files were just too big.  Now people stream 4k, even 8k.

Games will get there eventually too. It's just a question of when.

[The Old One]

No it really isn't, and every song I want is available as a physical or digital permanent purchase. Anyway.
According to the research, not for a long time. I'm talking a millennia because when considering a game, you're not just streaming a single file as with film, or really anything else. Because an ISP isn't going to change. lol

[Voodoo Magic]

Definitely a long time. I'm thinking at least 10-20 years. But I do think it's inevitable.

[Samhain13]

PC gaming is pretty much already without anything physical. Steam and all. Only PC game I still use a disc to play is AVP2.

For consoles people still buy physical copies, if that ends they will lose quite a fortune, some people won't pay the same price to just download it, even now they don't, not when they can download things through cheaper ways. So its better for them to keep that option for those that like the boxes, the gaming industry would probably increase microtransations even more if physical copies go to hell.

[HuDaFuK]

I'm not sure physical media will go anywhere until they actually start allowing streaming packages that include special features. As far as I'm aware, none of the bonus stuff on the Anthology is available outside of the Blu-ray discs, and there's definitely people who want that stuff.

[Voodoo Magic]

Disney has already been doing that.

[razeak]

It also depends on what the market will accept. Surely the market is already drifting toward digital, but there will be stalwarts that lean toward owning physical media. If there is a market for it, it will be there.

[JungleHunter87]

I'm not sure physical media will go anywhere until they actually start allowing streaming packages that include special features. As far as I'm aware, none of the bonus stuff on the Anthology is available outside of the Blu-ray discs, and there's definitely people who want that stuff.

I have the Anthology on ITunes and the extras are on there. I can't say that's the case everywhere else though?

[Huggs]

The best we can get out here is 10 gigs per month. The speed is too slow to hardly load a 3 minute youtube video in 20 minutes. If you go past 10 gigs, the signal gets hard throttled to the point of uselessness for the remainder of the month. It's going to be this way for the foreseeable future.

And you wonder why I'm a physical media man.