>>715943528There's a lot of misunderstanding and (purposeful) misinformation around Game Key Cards.
GKC are a direct step up over digital games, and specially those code-in-a-box releases.
Think of GKC as those games that require an update when you buy them (like FUCKING ALL OF THEM in these days), only that the update is the whole game. This is better than digital (and CIAB) because you can resell GKC, lend them to a friend, etc.
It has the shared downside that being a digital game actually, once the servers shut down, you can't download it (but you can still play it if you downloaded it) but the game isn't tied to your account, but to the card. And you can do whatever you want with it.
This is not that different from games like Hogwarts Legacy on PS4/PS5/Xbox which only include the tutorial on disc, and once you get to the title card you're required to download a 30GB "patch".
That said, I'm not buying GKC at full price, ever. As I don't ever buy digital games at 60+. They have intrinsically less value than a full game in a physical support, so don't expect me to pay the same.
But all people demonizing GKC just for the format itself are real faggots. Pretty sure they buy the latest releases on Steam at full price like good goy- I mean good boys