To be fair, no retail version of GTA 6 includes a copy of the game.

I’m not so sure. High price, longer crossgen support and no back compat don’t make this a sure success. And it’s not like the PS exclusive train has been laying eggs this generation. I’ve got a 4 and a 5, I’m skipping. Physical isn’t the only reason: multiplayer has been trending back towards PC, single player games have slowed. It all adds up. And It’s not like the Call of Duty or FIFA crowd will migrate while crossgen’s a thing. I don’t think we can count on the $699 PS3 and double Morbius release guys to know what they’re doing.

I agree with the bit about us accepting too much nanny state stuff but I don’t know if we think we’re better than everyone else. Just the poms, the yanks, our neighbours and… oh I see it now.

Steam is not open. It is literally DRM that locks down an open platform.

That’s what Valve says, yes, but those are the virtues of PC, an open platform, not Steam - which is just a storefront and license provisioning service. PC games have portable game files by default, Steam implements one way to manage them. It is worth making the distinction, especially in a thread where the discussion is about what owning hardware means in a service-driven world.