A few weeks ago I wrote an article about how much more is needed to be done about game preservation and better protecting consumers as we move more and more into the all digital future.

Today via Windows Central it has been revealed Xbox President Sarah Bond has talked to the team at Xbox about how important game preservation is and that plans are in motion to ensure Xbox holds up their end of the bargain when it comes to game preservation.

First off, this is excellent news. Consumers need more protection in an all digital world, and the art that is video games needs to be preserved. So kudos to Xbox for seeing this and addressing it even more than they already have. BUT, and everyone that knows me knows where this is headed, Xbox and frankly everyone in the industry needs to continue its efforts on the physical side of things as well.

I know there’s already been some eye rolls after reading that. The dinosaur wants to talk physical games, get with the times old man. And I know, physical isn’t the be all end all when it comes to game preservation. Between always online and full games not being on discs anymore (while both these are certainly true a lot there is a lot of misinformation spread about both those things when it comes to physical) and disc rot/general wear and tear plenty can and does go wrong with physical game preservation. But it still needs to be an option.

Hellblade 2 not having a physical release at launch is a damn shame. Alan Wake 2 not having a physical copy is a damn shame. And as both PlayStation and Xbox push digital only consoles my fear is this will become the norm more and more. But it doesn’t need to be.

I get it, physical game sales, and physical media in general is but a small part of revenue these days. Depending on who you wanna listen to and what day it is it’s somewhere between 10-30%. That’s still a significant amount of money when we’re talking billions of dollars. The days where you had to ship retailers hundreds of copies to sit on the shelf for months is gone. You can print much more limited amounts. Hell you can only sell on your own storefront, count up your pre orders and just print that + a few extra copies. Just give fans the option.

And if it’s a cost thing both from a hardware and software stand point, simply leave the disc drive out of your next box and allow people the option to plug in a disc drive. And while I’d much rather pay the same amount for a physical game as I would a digital, if it’s needed charge an extra $10 for the disc. I promise you physical gamers will pay it. Hell I just paid $60 for a copy of Pentiment that I already have with Game Pass and can buy digitally for $25. Us physical gamers are passionate about it and will support it.

Do whatever needs to be done to help preserve games, I 100% stand by that thinking, but make sure you include physical when you do so. Old man rant over.