I don’t disagree. In fact I agree fully. But when the industry promotes early access games (digital only) and digital day 1 with physical to follow 3 or 6 months later, it is pushing consumers to digital. So its irrelevant if they do or do not have an optical drive on the console.

They talked about doing it this way at launch, which they should have. The drive is available as a peripheral, at the cost difference (actually cheaper) of the digital vs disc console. It simplifies manufacturing and distribution, which helps get more consoles on shelves. Now when it doesn’t matter as much, they implement it. Go figure.

As far as killing off physical media, yes it pushes further that way, but honestly the game industry has been not favorable to retail stores for some time. This is the least of the offenses.

Thanks for sharing. Great read and points.

As others have said, it’s all about your threat model.

For me, I keep mic and camera off at all times until I need it. Its a slight nuisance, but I’m nearly sure that it covers all the bases.

I could go hardcore and physically disable the mic in my phone, then only use earbuds for my mic. That’s a bit much for me, and maybe my situation is a bit much for you.

I don’t know specifically, but you can look at blocking Steam’s telemetry.

I think you’re looking for an IR blocking solution like this: https://github.com/nickbild/freedom_shield

use Netiquette

Wow, I haven’t heard that in long time.