PC Gaming

So, just to be clear, with a PC you can:

• Use whatever input(s) you want, even mix and match if some parts of a game are better with a controller or KBM!
• Install mods and get assloads of free, community made additional content for loads of games.
• Run most any old game outside of the current and previous console generation with emulators.

Steam allows (but notably does not require) DRM but has Proton integration, Steam Input and Steam Family Sharing. The refund policy is also reasonable and makes me far more likely to try games I might not otherwise.

GOG is also an option for true digital ownership of games, if they're sold there. The refund policy there is even better!

Meanwhile, Sony's refund policy is laughably bad (no refunds once you start the download) and they're about to force everyone to fucking deal with it. What is the point of owning one of these locked down, shitty boxes at this point?

That's the case with DRM. I do own my games, on a big fat HDD. While optical media literally rusts and still has DRM.

That is the real issue. Physical media is just a waste of resources, we should be past that by now.

But most people use Steam anyway, I hear you say. That's true, but you can still own your games on Steam. Very easily, in fact! Steam doesn't apply a hard DRM for games on their platform, you can bypass it and play your games offline without the launcher if you know what you're doing.

Because PC is an open platform, people have figured this out and will continue to figure out bypasses in case things go south (which they haven't so far, thankfully). All you need is to get something called the Goldberg Emulator, replace the SteamAPI file, then add an app_id.txt file. Done. You can play any Steam game offline (assuming the publisher didn't put their own DRM like Denuvo). I've done this a lot, and it is legal as long as you don't share your game to other people.

This part bears repeating anytime someone says "Valve killed ownership". They can break the trust that is formed with their customers at any time, but so far they have not.