Experience has shown me it's always worse than I expected.but it is likely prices of graphics cards will go up by less than you expect.
Ditto, my friend. Case in point, memory. And it's not like they need an excuse to increase prices anyway.Experience has shown me it's always worse than I expected.
Aaand thats not happening.Watch how fast millions of us jump ship if they try to force us to use subscription cloud gaming. Indie games will absolutely explode in popularity and sales. They will make games to run on the hardware we are already using. The quantity and quality will skyrocket. Do you want indie to take over? Because that's how you get indie takeover.
Temporary shortages of select modelsPrice increases or straight up shortages?
Of couse price increases are due to scarcity, obvious, but are we to the point of no availability no matter the price?
It's already happening. It is not a major shift, yet. The number of new games playtime by Steam users was around 14% in 2025. I expect it will be single digits in 2026 the way things are going. Some of that is due to game length, more of it is gamers not buying the titles.Aaand thats not happening.
Different dynamics. Nor will I contend all PCMR will reject a monthly fee.I see the death of physical media as a more significant step than the death of hardware, yet it was embraced without a fight, but a lot of hot air online.
For the filthy casuals, yes it does. They have King Kong sized hurdles to clear if they want to win over the rest of PCMR.Cloud gaming works and its convinient.
I welcomed the death of physical media, do you realize how much I hated disc based DRMs? That every freaking time you wanted to play a game you had to find its disc insert it into your drive and wait 60-120 seconds while starforce or securom tried to break your CD-ROM drive and if it fails to physically break it it might let you start the game. Digital distribution was a benefit to PC gamers, even installation times improved vastly. I suffered no drawbacks from it. On the contrary, most games I own on physical media no longer function when trying to install them from discs. Steam games work still, and I'm confident they will continue to work till the day I die.I see the death of physical media as a more significant step than the death of hardware, yet it was enbraced without a fight, but a lot of hot air online.
Cloud gaming works and its convinient.
Me too. Digital has its own set of issues, and I do miss physical media being available — but by and large I also prefer digital distribution.I welcomed the death of physical media, do you realize how much I hated disc based DRMs? That every freaking time you wanted to play a game you had to find its disc insert it into your drive and wait 60-120 seconds while starforce or securom tried to break your CD-ROM drive and if it fails to physically break it it might let you start the game.
I welcomed the death of physical media, do you realize how much I hated disc based DRMs? That every freaking time you wanted to play a game you had to find its disc insert it into your drive and wait 60-120 seconds while starforce or securom tried to break your CD-ROM drive and if it fails to physically break it it might let you start the game. Digital distribution was a benefit to PC gamers, even installation times improved vastly. I suffered no drawbacks from it. On the contrary, most games I own on physical media no longer function when trying to install them from discs. Steam games work still, and I'm confident they will continue to work till the day I die.
Cloud gaming has no benefits to me, only drawbacks. It might attract those who are not already dedicated PC gamers.
Who wants
cloud, more like a puff of hot air indeed.
- restricted play times, (gives me ptsd about dial-up internet)
- outages during peak hours, when demand is high
- waitlists to play the newest game
- randomly assigned HW, you might get a 4080 if you're lucky or pay premium or get a 3060.
- renting instead of owning games
- paying a monthly fee whether you play anything or not just to not loose access to "your" library and saves
Me too. Digital has its own set of issues, and I do miss physical media being available — but by and large I also prefer digital distribution.
Cloud computing should be the next logical extension of that - but it’s been well covered here; the shortfalls are too steep with current technology