Hey, all. I was just reading a few topics here on forums. One was how downloading game installer from GOG vs Steam client was too slow; though downloading through GOG client would be similar as with Steam one. Conversation expanded into question of owning the game vs renting by buying and a user pointed out how you don't own the game from GOG until you actually download and save the game installer. All very good points, all serve their purpose.

Then I remembered another topic of someone saying they bought a new game (Avowed), physical copy. Yet, instead of game cd in the box, there was just a download code. I both understand the reasons behind it from creators, sellers. And I also think it absurd to buy such a version of the game, when all you get is a potentially sentimental box to gather dust.

As the tendency is now, new laptops are mostly being sold without disc readers. Meaning, even if I had a physical cd of the game, I could not effectively use it. And this is case for many people nowadays, not by choice, but by given supply.
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It's a shame...

An idea though! What if, physical copies of the games, in regard of today's tendencies of eliminating cds altogether, included a USB flash drive in the box, with an offline game installer and perhaps some cool game related skin on the drive itself?

What are your thoughts on this?

Flash has both the highest cost per GB and the lowest (unpowered) data retention lifespan of all storage types. Even premium SSD's are only guarantee to hold data for 1 year lifespan (some QLC drives as low as 4 months) before cell charge leak starts to degrade data. Brand new (unused) flash drives may hold more than this, but create a physical game stored on a flash drive, play it, shove it in the back of a cupboard for 10 years before deciding to replay it, and a high percentage of those will have errors (unlike pressed discs or even HDD's). It's fine for regular backups, moving data between PC's, etc, but a poor choice for long-term unpowered storage of static data.

I see. Wasn't aware they deteriorate so quickly. While not guaranteed to become unreadable so fast, potential would indeed be very high. Not to mention a potential corruption through a virus, bugs in software or something similar.

There's the fact that just by the form factor, flash drives are more expensive than just a disc with the data printed on the back and the label on top. But you know, if there's a will, there's a way, and the games industry at large has not shown a willingness to treat physical copies as anything more than an afterthought at this point.

Figure I'd be pedantic a bit and check this:
* USB Flash Drive: 64GB for $11; let's say that's $0.16 or so per gigabyte
* 10-pack of floppy disks: $12.95 for 14.4 MB, or $1295 per 1.44GB. That's something like $800 per GB.

Perhaps it's more correct to say they have the highest cost per GB of all *modern* storage types (and excluding things like EEPROM and other things you normally find only in embedded devices).

It looks like you can get 100 CD-Rs (700 MB each) for $26, which means $26 for 70 GB, which is around double the cost of the USB flash drive.

(There's also the practicality issue; a typical modern game will not fit on a single CD-R, and even games from the floppy disk era wouldn't fit on a single floppy disk.)

Not nitpicking, seriously.

Then we have the failure rate. RW cd or dvd media sold to the general public, is so crap quality. At least 30 out of every 100 I used to buy would fail. Not even over time. Just dead from the start.

USB sticks are sketchy from year to year as well. PNY right now has a very high failure rate.

If you got a game on a flash drive and it was a large game, then you would be paying a premium price, especially to get one that is quick enough. And how happy would you be to pay that on top of the price for the game itself?

And then all that money spent on something that doesn't come across as a safe long term storage medium.

Pre-recorded CD or DVD or Blu-ray discs tend to be cheaper and better quality, than recordable discs, as well as longer lasting. So I wouldn't compare a CD-R or DVD-R to a flash drive price wise.

If you really want your data to last a while, carve it in a rock. No, really. We've got clay tablets that are still just fine aside from a few mishandling issues.

I back up to hard drives and also keep copies of most on flash drives. I've never had an issue.

But where I have had an issue with flash drives is...

... when I've used them for media connected to a smart TV. After a year of constant connection, I have had two become corrupted, but if you aren't keeping flash drives constantly connected, I suspect they'd have a much longer lifespan.

Any and all consumer-level storage is temporary. IMHO the key is to know what you want to keep (not everything is worth keeping) and understand that keeping working copies will be a process, not a single download and done.

PS -- I'm almost certain I remember one or two games that indeed shipped on flash drives (maybe early 2000's?) but I can't remember their names.

Some good points here, and it makes me wonder about the longevity of Switch cartridges, since they presumably use a similar technology to flash? Although, if they are read-only, then perhaps they are expected to be more stable? I mean, NES, Gameboy carts also use 'chip-based' memory, and many of those seem to still be going strong after some 30 years.

But yeah, pretty much every USB flash drive I have had has crapped out after a few years. They are certainly not a good option for long-term storage of anything.

With the size of files increasing across all mediums, you would think larger more reliable storage devices would be a higher priority.

Plenty of external optical drives are still being made. Personally I don't see it as a problem. External DVD drives are pretty cheap nowadays.

Or copy the code into a book, and type it into your PC when you're ready to play. :-)

I like HDDs for long term.

Results will of course vary, but I've still got my very first PC from 1993 on a desk in my spare room with its original 170 MB hard drive along with another 420 MB hard drive I added a few months later.

Last time I fired it up (granted it was about a year ago), both drives still worked just fine. "Frontier: Elite 2" was still installed from back then, and still works fine. "Tristan" pinball as well.

Now part of their long life could very well be because I only heavily used that rig for 3 years before retiring it for a new one in 1996, so the drives didn't get used much after that. And also, I do fire up that rig from time to time just to keep those physical platter drives from freezing up from disuse. I don't know if that's even a thing that can happen, but that's why I do it. Plus it's nice to play those games on legacy hardware sometimes. :-)

You can't use tablets. Someone will store them in an Ark, and then the Nazis will steal it.

Thor has a hammer and that hammer is called mjolnir. This data is thousands of years old because it was written on rocks.