physical games are in a weird spot right now, they're still thriving but in a weird position, caught in an industry that for the most part seemingly does not want them and specific companies trying their best to kill them off, especially with rumours of an all digital industry in the future and the ps5 making its disc drive fully detachable, where does that leave us right now? first is microsoft, MS are easily the most physical hostile of the big 3 (or 4 as ill get to). their major releases are almost always either digital only as was the case with hifi rush (no real loss there) and pentament (this one does sting a little) or with the very few that do get them on the series consoles are really not much better. games like halo infinite and forza are stub discs, with very little of the actual content being on disc, halo was even unplayable for days up until launch for even people that had it because of this, which is a sign for the future of that game when the servers die and even more recent games like starfield still have this even though we were told it would be physical on disc, even games like redfall fail here by being always online, even though they're solo games. this shows a direct hostility to physical games, not helped at all by all xboxes requiring that online check during your first sign-in effectively making them eventual e-waste anyway. xbox does do weird in one way though, while the companies required copy amount for physical is absurdly high and prices most smaller companies out of releasing games, they along with night dive on the bathesda HD remasters do go through companies like limited run, which sony and nintendo generally, with the exception of the jak collections, do not. quake 2 for a recent example is released physically on all platforms via LRG and does show at least, something, it's really the best you can expect from them, though the doom relese even physically requiring a net connection does show that even this feels performative at best. this is mostly because the company is pivoting hard to the gamepass model, a model ive had longstanding issues with and is part of why i stopped caring for the company at all, i'm not an outright xbox hater, i liked their games up until midway through the xbox one era but now it just feels like they arent making games for me anymore, especially with the delivery method they chose with these games. the xbox one gen was generally good for physicals though, up until roughly gears tactics in 2020 which was the last "complete" physical product they released on disc, though even this had some missing postgame content.an issue also is the lack of any real transparency, microsofts more common stub discs are just not communicated as well being stubs, where the switch and the ps5 have banners denoting a necessary download, xbox's is on the back in fine print, out of the way where no one will really notice and i think this is just sleazy and shows a real lack of care for the people for who this does matter. all this taken into account xbox i'd give a 3/10 for physical products, brought up only by the fact they do work occasionally with LRG, who have been doing more and more xbox physicals in addition to the bathesda ones and the fact they do still release a few, albiet useless, discs occasionally.

nintendo is in a good place however, all of their games are complete and playable on cart, while some are digital only most do tend to get releases either in japan or abroad, though some like famicom detective club do stay in japan. they do have an issue with delisting (which microsoft has also gotten very bad with recently with cases like omori and enchanted arms) older titles like fire emblem after anniversery has ended, leaving games like mario all stars extremely rare, or cases like the bayonetta 1 physical where they vastly underestimated demand, but beyond these they're doing fine, solid releases that sometimes even get versions with dlc on cart! and they support third parties well, with the third party and limited game scenes both thriving with games all complete on cart! though it is still an issue with many games not being complete, mostly AAA products or collections like the megaman x one which is a big detriment, leaving me getting some games like life is strange true colours or the MMX collection on playstation just to have the whole thing on disc. them being so friendly with physical has left them in a great place though, with those markets easily acessable and booming there's no real end sign in sight, you could even argue that it's doing too well with too many cool games getting releases, it's a lot to keep up with, though there has been an issue with the switch just not being able to keep up as a console, games not being able to fit on a cart and games having to be ported via cloud versions (kingdom hearts, control, resi, its all gross) does bring them down a little. overall i'd give nintendo a solid 8/10 here, someitmes games get physical copies here that don't elsewhere, like moon and koumajou remilia and it is the effective only home of otome games now outside of indie projects so i do hold a lot of affinity for it, but the often times lack of complete games on cart for many projects does harm the platform a lot, as well as the fact many releases can be overpriced or rarer, which is just annoying.

playstation is arguably in the best position of them, at least for now, almost all of their first party games get complete physical copies, sometimes with dlc on disc like with ghost of tsushima and horizon zero dawn (and hopefully with forbidden west) and beyond one game they haven't had microsofts issue of stub games. gran turismo 7 is one such game though, and seemingly the only one, this one is also saddled with an always online connection as well as an incomplete disc, though where microsoft never would, i do believe sony could one day make good and undo this, but its hard to say. ps5 in general has less stub discs, while there are a good few, it's less common than the switch and usually only with AAA games that have a forced connection, though this forced connection is an issue they have that the switch is usually able to avoid outside of its issues with cloud games the ps5 is much worse for it, though these games do still get their physical copies so its a mixed bag, but a big downgrade from the vita and the ps3 especially. a lot of the issues with stub discs can also come down to missing dlc though rather than missing games, some like metro exodus and greedfall are on disc fully, though lacking dlc and so not being complete on disc, but they are still on disc so it's something at least, if not ideal, but real stubs are becoming more common like with jedi survivor and hogwarts legacy (not that either is seemingly worth playing). the limited scene here is also booming, the ps5 gave many games reprints and it's still very good for both normal physical copies and for limited releases with its low copy requirement which i think is even lower than nintendos, though i can't say for sure. i'd personally give sony an 8 though just like nintendo, they have their own set of issues but the lack of certain games getting them vs the switch (another example would be many square games like some of the saga titles and various daylife) and the fact stub games as well as always online singple player is sadly becoming more common, and likely will continue to where the switch i feel is at much less of an issue here, adding to this is the fact their portable solution is a not-cloud cloud gaming machine and sony has more signs of a worrying future than nintendo, but only time will tell there, for now things are fine though, not as good as it used to be but still a fine position where 95% of games are perfectly playable off the disc right away!.

there is also one last one, PC. yes believe it or not the pc does still get some physical games, just not many. PC is a platform i don't use for this very reason, i dislike steam immensley and refuse to use it, GOG also has some moral issues for me and i just don't like paying for downloads, this leaves basically just the few stray discs that come out. for the most part you only see these with small games like nitro+chiral games from places like JAST, of who i have slow damage on preorder, and you may occasionally get something from a big publisher that will only have a steam code inside, it's dire and well beyond any kind of hope, for physical users the PC might as well be a dead platform and that really sucks

i'd say that were in a mixed position overall, weather next gen still has physical copies is kind of up in the air, and more big games are going digital only like with LAD gaiden in the west and alan wake 2, but for now i remain slightly hopeful, two of the three consoles are in a good space and i really don't think nintendo will give up boxed copies quite yet, so i think we'll have them for a long time, which as an otome fan makes me very thankful, i do mostly worry for sony as i do believe ps plus could push them in a certain direction, but with the backlash to the price increase i don't think we're there and wont be for a long time. microsoft is however a lost cause, starfield was proof of this for me and is a big reason why i have no intention on buying a series console, and sadly i don't think i ever will, i don't hate them, i'm just apathetic at this point. of note is that i want to thank the website https://www.doesitplay.org/ for being the best resource on this topic right now, they do great work cataloging all of the info needed on physical releases and i'm glad they do the work they do, someone needs to now more than ever.