Cartridge and Disc are on Their Way Out

Valve, the makers of first-person shooting games Counter Strike and Half-Life, shook things up in 2003 when it released digital distribution service Steam. Steam ushered in a new era where game discs are increasingly less relevant and most players download a game directly from the Internet.

One can even download games on home consoles like the Xbox 360 instead of buying a hard copy of a game (though the hard copy is still the more popular option for consoles). Digital distribution became even more popular when App Stores came out and made it even easier to get games.

Electronic Arts launched its own high-profile game digital distribution service called Origin. Discs and hard copies of games are basically over. With a time of 15 minutes, a player can create a hard drive that stores your entire library of games and carry it wherever he goes.