I fully support Valves digital distribution and wish I could get all my games on it.
I honestly don't see a difference between a CD that gets scratched thus becomes unusable or a company that folds up and prevents you from "activating" your CD game and a company that offered a digital only option.
The days of simple key codes are gone and with it, the need for physical media. It's a feel good exercise that offers no tangible benefits. The idea of having a CD with a game that you own has been crushed by unfounded paranoia and short sighted publishers who have signed on wholesale to the idea that the snake oil vendors to whom they give millions of dollars to every year actually save them money by "protecting" their investments. As if.
I honestly don't see a difference between a CD that gets scratched thus becomes unusable or a company that folds up and prevents you from "activating" your CD game and a company that offered a digital only option.
The days of simple key codes are gone and with it, the need for physical media. It's a feel good exercise that offers no tangible benefits. The idea of having a CD with a game that you own has been crushed by unfounded paranoia and short sighted publishers who have signed on wholesale to the idea that the snake oil vendors to whom they give millions of dollars to every year actually save them money by "protecting" their investments. As if.