9 Crippling Problems With The Video Game Industry (And How To Fix Them)

8. Physical Vs. Digital Has Resulted In Paralysis

The Problem: Music and movies' primary delivery methods are almost completely digital these days, yet when Microsoft attempted to pull the trigger on a majority-digital Xbox One, we revolted.

It was with good reason (the pitch and convenience aspects were godawful), but have you noticed how every game has a 10+GB patch, a series of updates or a lengthy install time whenever you buy a disc?

That's all down to the need to support physical media.

The Solution: If we're keeping discs in the long run (and increased vinyl sales would show that physical media has its place, when done well), publishers need to relax their launch dates so devs can release fully-finished games, not those that went to print months prior and are reliant on a 'Day One Patch' to be what was advertised (looking at you, Assassin's Creed Unity, No Man's Sky, and pretty much everything under the sun).

If we're going all-digital, patches and game updates would already be included in the games themselves whilst they're downloading, but that requires FAR bigger hard drives, as both Sony and Microsoft drastically undershot both the average size of a game this generation (50GB), and how many the consumer would want to buy on any given month. Physical it is, for now, anyway.

Speaking of consoles...