Physical media today isn’t really much better though, increasingly frequently all a disk gets you is a license to activate a digital copy anyways, with a “must be online for first play” requirement.
I’m curious what recent games you’ve been able to purchase physical copies of that ran without updating or validating using the internet. I didn’t know any publishers still did that, at least not on PC.
I admittedly don’t buy many games lately, especially not from the big budget crowd. BG3 seems to run fine without internet, as do Sea of Stars and Noita.
Physical media today isn’t really much better though, increasingly frequently all a disk gets you is a license to activate a digital copy anyways, with a “must be online for first play” requirement.
That’s exactly how I ended up with a steam account. Bought a Civ V cd and the game isn’t on the cd, just an installer for steam and a key.
It’s sadly true. I have been lucky so far, but I know one day I’ll accidentally give money to a developer who does this
I’m curious what recent games you’ve been able to purchase physical copies of that ran without updating or validating using the internet. I didn’t know any publishers still did that, at least not on PC.
I admittedly don’t buy many games lately, especially not from the big budget crowd. BG3 seems to run fine without internet, as do Sea of Stars and Noita.