When it comes to games (at least when the box even contains physical media anymore) I want the physical versions so I can sell them or borrow them to friends. I do not have a PlayStation right now, but I do have an account floating around.
Can I do the digital equivalent yet, or are purchases still permanently tied to your account?
In Switzerland we pay a premium on every bit of storage sold (devices, disks etc.) and have the right to make a private copy. So you are allowed to copy any media you bought or rented. This law also makes it legal to download any media from the internet. But you aren't allowed to distribute it so torrents and upload the media, but you are allowed to give a copy to friends and family.
While it has its problems like why do I pay this on a HDD, SSD, computer or smartphone that I exclusively use for work? It definitely has its upsides as in making a backup copy of your media and circumventing copy protection isn't in some legal gray area or straight up illegal.
Edit: There are attempts to make this law more restrictive and they succeeded in offering products to circumvent copy protection illegal. But you are allowed to use them to exercise the rights above.
You cannot transfer digital purchases on any platform. Ironically enough you can at least still buy/sell discs on locked-down consoles, but that option has disappeared completely from the PC.
On Steam you can kind of borrow to friends by enabling family sharing (which gives them access to your whole library). You have to log in on their computer to enable it, and if they play a game from your library you can't play it at the same time (same as with a physical disk).
I believe some of the consoles also have limited sharing features, or at least had them.
> You have to log in on their computer to enable it, and if they play a game from your library you can't play it at the same time (same as with a physical disk).
If you are family sharing then you cannot play ANY other game if someone else is playing.
If they are playing CS:GO from your library and you try to launch a game in your library you see a notice telling you that the other person will be booted. The player sees similar.
No, and it seems like something that will need to come through legislation unfortunately, imho.
Imagine if books (historically) couldn’t be lent or libraries created. It’s time to tip the scales toward the buy side for a while. I’m sure the most profitable companies in history can stand a few decades of slightly lower profit.
While I 100% agree and support having physical copies, it's very frustrating that doing so (at least with a PS4; no personal experience with other recent consoles) means that you can't play the game without the disc in the system, even if 100% of the data is installed on the internal hard drive. Hell, even if the half that data has been changed by post-release updates.
Can I do the digital equivalent yet, or are purchases still permanently tied to your account?