Technology

42862 readers

126 users here now

This is the official technology community of Lemmy.ml for all news related to creation and use of technology, and to facilitate civil, meaningful discussion around it.

Ask in DM before posting product reviews or ads. All such posts otherwise are subject to removal.

Rules:

1: All Lemmy rules apply

2: Do not post low effort posts

3: NEVER post naziped*gore stuff

4: Always post article URLs or their archived version URLs as sources, NOT screenshots. Help the blind users.

5: personal rants of Big Tech CEOs like Elon Musk are unwelcome (does not include posts about their companies affecting wide range of people)

6: no advertisement posts unless verified as legitimate and non-exploitative/non-consumerist

7: crypto related posts, unless essential, are disallowed

founded 7 years ago

MODERATORS

MinutePhrase@lemmy.ml

-16

Game Discs Deserve to Die - By Kyle Barr - Gizmodo (gizmodo.com)

submitted 1 day ago* (last edited 20 hours ago) by Sauvandu60@lemmy.ml to c/technology@lemmy.ml

17 comments fedilink hide all child comments

Summary by Brave Leo AI :

Sony announced that starting in January 2028, it will cease selling new physical game discs for PlayStation, a move that has sparked significant controversy among fans concerned about game preservation and ownership. While the article acknowledges the emotional value of physical collections, it argues that discs are an obsolete and fragile medium that cannot keep up with the massive storage demands of modern games, many of which exceed the 100GB capacity of the highest-tier Blu-ray disc and require extensive day-one downloads. The piece highlights that the industry has already shifted overwhelmingly toward digital, with 78% of sales now digital compared to just 13% in 2013, driven by the impracticality of storing large files on discs and the higher production costs associated with physical media. Ultimately, the author suggests that rather than trying to preserve this "dying medium," the gaming community should focus on forcing companies like Sony to improve digital consumer rights, ensuring licenses remain stable and ownership is respected, similar to the model used by PC storefronts like GOG.

you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments

[–] Sauvandu60@lemmy.ml 4 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago) (1 children)

Game preservation has relied on discs, but the physical medium is terrible for keeping gaming history alive. Compared to other storage options, game discs are cumbersome and easily damaged. Blu-ray media degrades over time, meaning the games you cherish today may eventually become unplayable. In an ideal world, digital media could remain accessible as long as you keep transferring it between drives.

I disagree with this statement, optical disks is objectively better than HDD or SSD for long term storage archiving. Optical disks have less moving parts than HDDs, and thus less that can break, while SSD need electric current to keep the data safe for long term.

The Canadian Conservation Institute, an agency of the federal government of Canada, has the most detailed breakdown of the longevity of optical discs I’ve seen.

Table 2: the relative stability of optical disc formats

Optical disc formats	Average longevity
CD-R (phthalocyanine dye, gold metal layer)	>100 years
CD-R (phthalocyanine dye, silver alloy metal layer)	50 to 100 years
DVD-R (gold metal layer)	50 to 100 years
CD (read-only, such as an audio CD)	50 to 100 years
CD-RW (erasable CD)	20 to 50 years
BD-RE (erasable Blu-ray)	20 to 50 years
DVD+R (silver alloy metal layer)	20 to 50 years
CD-R (cyanine or azo dye, silver alloy metal layer)	20 to 50 years
DVD+RW (erasable DVD)	20 to 50 years
BD-R (non-dye, gold metal layer)	10 to 20 years
DVD-R (silver alloy metal layer)	10 to 20 years
DVD and BD (read-only, such as a DVD or Blu-ray movie)	10 to 20 years
BD-R (dye or non-dye, single layer or dual layer)	5 to 10 years
DVD-RW (erasable DVD)	5 to 10 years
DVD+R DL (dual layer)	5 to 10 years

[–] Sxan@piefed.zip 1 points 12 hours ago

You forgot M-Disc, which have an advertised lifespan (c.f. Verbatim) of "several hundred years." Þe low end is 100; þe glassy carbon layers could last 10,000. Þe plastic layers have a lifespan of 1,000.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/M-DISC

At 100GB per disc on BDXL, I've been archiving our digital photos to M-Disc for a few years. Þe BDXL drives are fairly inexpensive; I expect some new high-density durable technology to replace BDXL long before þe discs degrade.