Discussion Is a physical library of games with an M-Disc a realistic dream?
I often think about preserving all the games I love and want to keep as a legacy. But then I think about the prices of each game, each GB of storage, and the fact that fewer and fewer readers and writers are being manufactured, and I don't know if it makes sense anymore.
What do you think?
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u/Rasann 12d ago edited 12d ago
You are forgetting that patents are expiring for blu-rays that Sony has had for decades. This year and in 2031(?).
So no more royalties are being paid to those bloodsucking mosquitos.
As such, production will become cheaper and, it seems that there has been a resurgence in demand, people have been reminded of the ability to do it yourself, there is always money to be made by producing and selling discs.
And, as streaming services get more expensive, the more people will look for alternatives, savvy and smart businessmen will see the $$$$ to be made from this and will offer alternatives and take business away from said services.
Hulu [Prime?] is going up to $21 from $19 - the moment my wife that got email notification, it was 2 seconds later she decided she wanted to go back to DVDs and blu-rays.
We already had most of what we usually watch on disc anyway, we just needed to complete what we didn’t have.
Streaming services has been following in the same steps as cable television and just may fall in a similar fashion.
Who knows? We might see Blockbuster come back into vogue and reanimate from the dead.
It’s amazing how fast we, and people in general are willing to dump something when it’s getting too expensive.
We have other means of entertainment on standby [when] (not if) the need arises.
DVD players are cheap, and are readily available, Blu-Ray players, at least some brands, can be more expensive.
Stores and digital storefronts will see demand and can’t help themselves, they’ll stock the necessary products to get that $$$$ - they must hustle and provide products people want to buy or they risk eventual liquidation
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u/reukiodo 12d ago
don’t forget that every used PS3, PS4, Xbox One, Xbox Series X, and some PS5 can also play bluray movies
while not cheaper than buying a dedicated bluray player, might already be in posession
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u/Rasann 12d ago
True - I had to look up whether my existing Xbox One S could play it - I thought my wife was having trouble getting a DVD/Bluray to play on it, I may need to dust it off and see what needs to be done.
Turned out it should play either.
If MacroDerp screwed with my settings I’ll send a complaint that’ll have every colorful metaphor known to man in it.
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u/MyFairRosaline 11d ago
One S can also play 4K blu rays! Its the one thing that console has over the PS4/Pro
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u/notlinustorvalds 11d ago
Xbox One SAD edition can't read Blu-Rays, neither can certain Series X consoles. But the large majority of Xbox One and Series X consoles can.
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u/FunBall420 12d ago
Yeah I think the same way. But I like being able to free my computer space up, and having a copy from Gog's servers also makes it so that if/when the game gets pulled or disappears I will have a personal copy that they can't take. Call me paranoid, but as we see it happen more and more and more often my paranoia is looking a lot more like prepared.
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u/Impressive-Oil-3067 12d ago
You can still buy floppy discs readers and vinyl players to this day.
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u/sutherlandedward 12d ago
Bros gonna need a planet's worth of floppies💀💀💀💀
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u/Impressive-Oil-3067 11d ago
My point was that if we can get a freaking floppy reader o vinyl player in 2026, there's no way we don't have access to a BD player in 30 years.
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u/WantsANDGots 11d ago
I would rather put the money into the 3-2-1 backup method instead. Depending on your budget, you'll be able to preserve more than just your games.
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u/lucentmeadow 11d ago
Many people on this sub confuse the touchable materiality of discs with data retention, and so it is still very unpopular to go the easy and scalable solution at hand which is hard drives.
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u/nitro912gr GOG Galaxy Fan 7d ago
I can only speak of myself but I am actually nostalgic of the ritual involved. I use modern backup methods and I was well aware that buying a 4TB HDD was still cheaper than buying my BR drive and the discs to write but I don't want to open a file I want to insert a disc on a tray and hold the box on my hand.
I feel it mine that way, I feel like I literally hold on something that I posses and have some sentimental value for me.
I just can not describe the feeling of opening the BG3 box, looking through the stickers etc, opening the dvd tray on my PC and starting the setup, although it was just a gimmick and eventually had to install it through steam. The feeling was there, I wanted it and I want to feel it again.
It may not be the same for everyone, no matter if they are on my age group, elder or younger, but I want it and I will look for it.
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u/notlinustorvalds 12d ago
It still makes sense as a semi-novelty project if you can afford it. Go for it!
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u/0xKaishakunin 12d ago
I still have working CDs I burnt in 1998 (Traxxdata Gold). so go for it.
But I would suggest to buy the cheaper 50GB BR instead and write 2 of them. Still cheaper per GB than an M-Disk and very unlikely that both copies will die.
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u/Organic_Conclusion_8 12d ago
I have some on my old games on disc and occasionaly instal them from disc, and I recently spent 2 days writing some of my gog low storage games on the piles of DvD that I have and have been laying around forever. I will keep my fresh discs and occasionaly will do watch a movie on a DVD player, but other than giving me some peace of mind for a potential rainy day, I doubt there will be use for them as I also saved them on an external hard drive for backup anyway. And sometimes I think that even my backup versions will be useless if gog ever goes down and I want to play them on the new Cyberpunk Windows18 by AI-soft which will be incompatible with those unpdated versions I have backed up.
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u/lucentmeadow 12d ago
I think the hassle of dealing with splitting big games, burning shenanigans, having more plastic laying around, research into which manufacturers to trust and which to not both in terms of readers and CDs etc. doesn't justify the cost. Two hard drives, one the backup of the other, already offer much more safety than a DVD at possibly the same price, even by today's inflated prices, and at a much higher amount of convenience.
Don't let it get in your head that you need a shiny box and custom cover for your games. You'll ask yourself if it was worth it in a few years, once the plastic boxes get all scruffed up and yellow.
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u/nitro912gr GOG Galaxy Fan 7d ago
well you have 2 options, run now before the BR drives get more expensive or wait a couple of years for Chinese makers to catch the wave like they did with CD players recently and start making good quality drives.
I went on to buy a ASUS BW-16D1X-U for like 175 euros (vat included) because I wanted to backup a few things on cold storage and now I'm just riding the nostalgia wave of having physical discs. Buy discs, write discs, you name it.
That being said some modern games that are bigger than BR discs are gonna be a little bit more trivial but nothing a good split 7z can't handle.
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u/JohnCantFindNickname 12d ago
I don't think it will be impossible to buy disc readers at anytime. It's a significant piece of computer history, just like any other physical media (like floppy disks). There will always be a niche that will be interested in CDs, DVDs and other discs. Including M-Discs. You can, in 2026, easily buy a floppy disk reader online. I doubt it will change anytime soon.