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for print publication. Address and phone details will not be published.C
onversationsarounddigital
goods,andwhether
consumers“own”thedigital
productstheypurchaseornot,
havebeenragingforyears.Butin
2019 they’reespeciallypertinent,
withthegrowingencroachment
ofcloud-everythingoccurring
alongsidethesteadydeclineof
physicaldistribution.
Therearefewareaswherethisshift
isfeltmorethaninvideogames.When
TelltaleGamesshutdownin 2018 a big
questionmarkhoveredoverthefuture
oftheirserialised,narrativedriven
games,inparticularTheWalkingDead,
MinecraftStoryModeandTalesofthe
Borderlands(amongothers).Thefateof
eachhasvaried.Forexample,The
WalkingDeadwaswrappedupby
SkyboundGames,ratherthanTelltale,
andisstillavailabletopurchase
digitally.Bycontrast,MinecraftStory
Modehashada curiousandalarming
fate.MinecraftstudioMojang
announcedinJunethatthegamewas
soontobedelistedfromalldigital
storefronts,whichisn’tthatrare.What
israre,isthatuserswho“owned”the
gameonanystorefrontwerewarnedto
downloadthegamebeforetheJune 25
deadline,becauseitwouldnolongerbe
availabletodownloadafterwards.
Traditionally,consumerswhoown
thedigitallicensestovideogameshave
continuedtohaveaccesstothatgame,
whetherit’savailableforpurchaseor
not.See:Deadpool,Tra n sfo r mers :
Devastation, anda slewofothers.But
thegameconsumerspurchasedwith
realmoneyonlyfouryearsagoisgone
forever,unlesstheyhaveitinstalledon
oneoftheirdevices.
Thisiscauseforextremeconcernfor
anyoneundertheimpressionthat
they’llforeverhaveaccesstothe
digitalproductstheypurchase.Butit’s
alsoa problemforthepreservationof
themedium.It’sfeasiblethatinten
yearsbasicallynoonewillhaveaccess
toStoryMode,andforpeoplewho
considergamestobeanartform
ratherthana consumercommodity
designedtobechewedandspatback
outbyaninsatiablemarket,that’sa
terriblethought.
Buttechnologyisveeringinevitably
inthatdirection.GoogleStadiaisa
caseinpoint:it’sa cloudstreaming
serviceforvideogames,andyet,
unlikeNetflixorXboxGamePass,
userswillpurchasegamesindividually
forit.Inotherwords,itwillfunction
likeeveryothergamesconsole,only
thedigitalassetsyou’re“purchasing”
arenotstoredlocally.Puttingaside
qualmsaboutwhetherStadiawilleven
workinAustraliagivenourgimped
infrastructure,thismeansyourgames
librarywillonlysurviveforaslongas
Stadiadoes.
Whenaskedduringa recentReddit
AMAwhatwouldhappenifStadia
“wentunder”,Google’sAndrey
Doronichevwrotethatthecompanyis
“supercommitted”.
“Wehavehundredsofpassionateenduser
» SHAUNPRESCOTTDIGSINTOTHEBIGTECHISSUES.people who have spent years building
it,” he wrote. “We’ve invested a ton in
tech, infrastructure and content.” And
there’s no doubt they have. But no one
can be certain that it will last forever- that’s just a quiet existential truth
and hardly Google’s fault, as fun as it
would be to blame them. As it stands,
if you purchase a game on Steam and
download it to your device, you’ll
still be able to access it (maybe with
some fiddling) if and when Valve goes
under. But when the cloud goes,
everything does.
There’s no telling how successful
Stadia will be or whether it lasts, just
as there’s no telling whether any game
you digitally “own” will suddenly
become unavailable. And physical
media, in the games space, is pretty
much obsolete thanks to always-online
requirements and substantial day one
updates. Increasingly, the likeliness of
games surviving the rise and fall of
platforms seems ever more remote. If
you’ve got any interest in preserving a
library of games, your only real option
is to vote with your wallet and hope for
the best.
Forever yours?
The brave new digital age is eliminating ownership
and history, writes Shaun Prescott.