Gaming’s all-digital future doesn’t include “Sonic the Hedgehog 3” and “Pikmin 2”

Sony announced that all games from 2028 and onwards would be digital-only. It seems likely that Xbox will follow and that Nintendo will continue making “physical” releases for first-party games during the Switch 2 generation. In the all-digital gaming future, every game platform will be subject to the same problems and constraints as media streaming services like Netflix and Spotify. We can see hints of how this will affect future games and creative freedom in the medium by looking at re-releases of older games, in particular: Sonic the Hedgehog 3 and Pikmin 2. The core problem is that digital games are licenses, which forces an ongoing relationship between you and the owner of the media. And because there’s an ongoing relationship with you, any ongoing licensing relationships that the media owner has also affect you and your games. If a license for any media that is part of the game expires or is affected, then the developer must take action to remediate the “issue” in the game. This…