Video games, like movies and music, have increasingly become a digital medium in recent years.
The rise of the internet has resulted in amazing convenience for consumers, who are now able to download films, albums and games without having to leave the comfort of their homes.
However, digital purchases come with risks; you don't actually "own" the content you're downloading, and it can be forcibly removed by the copyright owner at any point – something that Steam has recently made abundantly clear.
As a result, we've seen physical gaming hold on for longer than you'd perhaps expect, with dedicated players supporting the work of companies who strive to ensure that boxed products still remain part of the conversation. In the world of retro gaming, physical releases are arguably even more important, as it's often the only way we can own and experience many titles legally. If physical gaming dies out completely, then game preservation might be harder in the years to come.
You can see, then, why digital code retailer CDKeys might have caused some upset with its recent advertising campaign, which claims that "only zombies buy physical games."
The company has also run a second commercial, which shows a knight in armour attempting to pick up a boxed game, with the line "only people from the medieval times buy physical games."
Both commercials were commissioned in July of this year but are still showing up in people's Facebook feeds as sponsored posts.
Now, in CDKeys' defence, it's a retailer that deals exclusively in digital games, so it is bound to be biased against physical products – a sale of a boxed game is one less sale for CDKeys, effectively. Unsurprisingly, such a store isn't promoting the positive side of physical distribution.
Even so, as you can see from Mike Diver's comment above, the campaign isn't finding favour with everyone and could well harm CDKeys' reputation in the eyes of some customers.
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