It died from matchmaking. Skill based MM helps a little but you still get people with different goals in the same game. Back when multiplayer was predominantly player hosted lobbies/servers, it was easy enough to find others that want to play the same way you do. And the same player could easily hop between servers depending on current mood. Now you get matched with some randoms and have to just deal with it.

They cannot if you back it up to a folder outside of the steam directory. Provided of course the game doesn’t use Steam’s DRM.

I don’t think I can think of a software where I find the menu more confusing than in MS office products. But then again I’m probably not using computers like the average person.

Ok, maybe blender, but that also has so many more options that it’s not a fair comparison

The data on that is worthless with online DRM, and I’d bet that GTA 6 would require online activation regardless. The real enemy is DRM, disks being gone is just a symptom.

Games have also always been tied to licenses, the details are what matters really. A license to use a program that can no longer launch because a server is down isn’t any more useful if you have the program on a disk.

Online activation requirements. Physical media going away is really just a symptom, DRM is the actual issue. Games have always been just a license, what changed is that the licenses are no longer transferable and irrevokable. (They might even still be legally irrevokable, not sure, but they can just shut down drm servers and you can’t install).

Ofc DRM-free steam games or GOG games etc. aren’t transferable either, but the main issue for most people is clearly that they might lose access.

Consoles could just include a feature to back up game install files to USB storage or NAS and losing disks becomes irrelevant, but DRM will always fuck the customer in the ass.