Disc rot already affects your physical game collection

What a poorly deepshit written clickbait "article", I can't believe such disinformation spreading so easily: CD/DVD are VERY differently made from BluRay and BR are IMMUNE to rot that plague the chemical layer of CDs and DVDs.
Another urban legend (for BR only, CD/DVD rot is real) to put aside with the "discs are only keys nowadays" from current gen.

It's like everyone are trying to reassure themselves that digital is the way to go where you own nothing, also, if a DVD is rotting after 20/30 years, I doubt that current games will be downloadable is 20/30 years, servers costs a lot.

So ironically physical or digital, you will own nothing at the end except that you could buy another used copy of your physical game unlike digital if servers are down/closed (and to be fair, you will probably be able to go illegal and find a digital copy of your game too for emulation or modded consoles)

"Journalist", let me laugh, take this.
mister rogers middle finger GIF
 
Last edited:
Red Crayon Aristocrat said:
I can't day this makes any sense every game I've ever owned has been kept indoors the whole time and the discs are spotless.

I don't see how this can be a thing unless discs are stored in hot places like garages.
Click to expand...
You (and all the people hoarding physical games) are in for a surprise. It's not a matter of if, but when.
 
That read like some commie bullshit scare tactic propaganda to get you to buy digitally and not own your games. Disc rot is a thing but most of the time it will take 50 years+ I've never expiereced it on any pressed disc be it CD, DVD or Blu-Ray. Heck I never even experienced it on CD-Rs and DVD-Rs and I've had some for over 20 years.
 
Boss Mog said:
That read like some commie bullshit scare tactic propaganda to get you to buy digitally and not own your games. Disc rot is a thing but most of the time it will take 50 years+ I've never expiereced it on any pressed disc be it CD, DVD or Blu-Ray. Heck I never even experienced it on CD-Rs and DVD-Rs and I've had some for over 20 years.
Click to expand...
Hope you're right. Sounds insane if 20 years in ideal storage conditions is the limit. 20 years is nothing really.

But this could be a wake up call to start ripping discs. Then you can access them through emulators at least. I've done it for Amiga floppies. Not sure how much safer they are on hard drives but you can always spread out to multiple drives and cloud storage.
 
i can still emulate NES, GBA, PS1, PS2, Wii, Genesis etc games just fine from my hdd so no worries
 
Fess said:
Hope you're right. Sounds insane if 20 years in ideal storage conditions is the limit. 20 years is nothing really.

But this could be a wake up call to start ripping discs. Then you can access them through emulators at least. I've done it for Amiga floppies. Not sure how much safer they are on hard drives but you can always spread out to multiple drives and cloud storage.
Click to expand...
Disc rot is very visible on the discs so if your disc look normal, then I wouldn't worry too much.
 
Boss Mog said:
Disc rot is very visible on the discs so if your disc look normal, then I wouldn't worry too much.
Click to expand...
I have them in boxes so no idea how they look tbh. I ripped a couple PS1 games for use in Retroarch awhile back so I know those CDs work fine at least. But it sounds like Blu-rays are the first to go, so that would mean PS3 and 360. No idea how they are, especially PS3 discs haven't been touched since I bought the PS4 over a decade ago.

I've been hoping that Microsoft would make an official emulator for old consoles in the Xbox App. Mostly since they're pulling out of consoles so you might not have any hardware for BC to use soon, but it should be prio 1 to make sure legacy games can be played (and ripped!) considering there is disc rot on the horizon too.
 
I don't buy this at all. Why the fear mongering?

Ive been rebuying ps1 /ps2 and dvds at antique /retro stores. Haven't had a problem with them at all. So many are 20 to 30 years old.
 
I collect VHS tapes said:
VHS tapes last longer than discs, especially crappy discs like this thread is about.
Click to expand...
This thread isn't about crappy discs though. It's about all discs. The article is trying to say all physical game discs are rotting away toward becoming unplayable in a few decades.

The facts just don't support that. Even the other article this article used to suggest that pressed Bluray discs have a 20 year lifespan under ideal conditions didn't say that at all. It said "at least 20 years". The general consensus is that modern pressed optical media will last a century.

VHS tapes, no matter how well they were manufactured, suffer signal loss over time. Magnetic decay is an unavoidable aspect of the format. Against magnetic media, the Earth always wins.

Optical media doesn't have that problem.
 
Ovek said:
I had a huge dvd collection, when I realised I wasted many hours of my life and wanted to reclaim the entire room they filled I found out that about half of them were suffering from disc rot.
Click to expand...
Did Vivid entertainment replace your 'special' dvds?
 
Hunter 99 said:
Ghost Hunters Ghosts GIF by travelchannel
I have a ps1 ps2,ps3,dreamcast,xbox,xbox 360 collection and all of them work perfectly.
I do store them well but this is just scaremongering..
Never heard of a single person in my life who has has disc rot.
Not saying it doesn't happen at all but meh.
Click to expand...
Years ago I heard HD DVD discs had this issue. I was a collector back then. Not one of my discs have suffered disc rot. And now this. I checked a lot of my discs the other day, from Dreamcast to 360 and onwards and found no issues. I wonder how common this really is. It eventually happens to ALL they say? What about music CDs?
 
consoul said:
This thread isn't about crappy discs though. It's about all discs. The article is trying to say all physical game discs are rotting away toward becoming unplayable in a few decades.

The facts just don't support that. Even the other article this article used to suggest that pressed Bluray discs have a 20 year lifespan under ideal conditions didn't say that at all. It said "at least 20 years". The general consensus is that modern pressed optical media will last a century.

VHS tapes, no matter how well they were manufactured, suffer signal loss over time. Magnetic decay is an unavoidable aspect of the format. Against magnetic media, the Earth always wins.

Optical media doesn't have that problem.
Click to expand...
I can't remember the VHS documentary, maybe Rewind This or that Blockbuster one, but they stated something like VHS tapes decay 10% every 25 years. if that is accurate, VHS gives optical a media a run for its money, at the very least.

edit: I should add that my VHS tapes from the early 80s look fine. that's +40 years. this stat totally makes sense to me.

I'm sure my 70s tapes are fine I just never watch them because 70s content is super limited on VHS
 
Last edited:
I have a large collection and can't say that anything like this has happened to me yet. Goes back to SEGA CD so that's pretty old and all the discs play fine.
 
I would think that the laser diode in the console is far more likely to be the problem with retaining physical media for consoles - they definitely do have a lifespan. Not so much an issue for PCs I guess, as you can buy a new cd-rom drive.
 
Fuck off Gaymer for scaring people.

The only time I had problems with discs is when I tried the shitty quality ones from old 90s-2000s videogame magazines. My original PS1 or 360 games still run fine.
 
Having examined 100s of thousands of discs over the years, disc rot is very real. Storage has little to do with it. I've opened brand new Sega CD games that had disc rot.
 
And VHS was 10 to 25 years and here mine are sitting fine.
Your disks will be fine, just don't store them in a shed.
I read a saying somewhere, if you wouldn't store bread there then don't store your tapes there, same for disks.
 
The oldest physical game I own is nearly 40 years old and still works.


Aside from cheaply made copies, homemade discs we used to trade on the schoolyard, and empty batteries in modules, I haven't had any experience with defective games on physical media. However, I also can't and don't want to rule out that disc rot might become an issue in the future. But right now, I see no reason to panic.

But as mentioned in this thread, by the time this could become a problem, we will have hardware capable of emulating these games.

At least where I live, copies of games you own are somewhat legal. In other words, as long as the original is in my possession, whether with or without disc rot, I'm allowed to own and play a copy of it.
 
Only if you acknowledge the problem. As far as I'm concerned the 3-1/4 floppies for my Eye of the Beholder game still have no bad sectors.
 
I have 90s cds without a hint of it.
Blurays are way tougher.
I have floppies from 90s that I still use daily that work perfectly.
Nothing to worry about
 
Last edited:
I read somewhere that switch cartridges also have a lifespan of about 30-40 years if stored in the right conditions.

I remember seeing a lot of NDS cartridges with cold solder too.

Everything is made to make you buy it again and that's why they fear the emulator.
 
I have backup DVDs and they're kinda fucked up here and there

But I have original Dreamcast games that are damn fine

Lesson here: quality production talks
 
e8049ccd-537d-432f-b843-2774173f45fa_text.gif


*men = "physical game collection"
 
This looks like a push from major outlets to finish physical games market.

Maybe they rot, maybe not, maybe fax you.

My disks from yearly 2000th work like no time passed. Maybe Blue Ray is more promed to rot, maybe not. Sounds like bullcrap to me.
 
deriks said:
Lesson here: quality production talks
Click to expand...
Problem is you typically won't know if something had a quality production until years later when it doesn't work anymore.

I've taken to burning stuff on M-Discs for instance, which is supposed to be archival quality with a >100 years lifespan. But it's a relatively new tech and could easily be shit actually.
 
Disks getting fucked, but also the laser and other components needed to read the optical media deteriorate over time. The best is to keep all games backed up on cold storage and whenever needed just move them to an sd-card / ssd and play them from there.
 
It can happen, i have a ton of Xbox and Xbox 360 games that are starting to have delamination around the spindle hole. Very very common
 
My sega cd, ps1, ps2, and Dreamcast games are all mint. I store them in a climate controlled area however.

I do feel like my Japan imports feel like a better quality when holding them. Not sure if that's just imagination but they feel more sturdy if that makes sense.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

How big is your current gen physical collection?
2
95
1K
AutomaticPrince replied
Play physical N64 cartridges on your iphone
24
970
rabbity-thing replied
Disc rot and the Wii U
2
70
7K
LRKD replied
Switch 2 physical game box: ugly as sin
2
96
6K
SentientStone replied
  • Poll
Some Nintendo Switch 2 Physical and Digital Games Will be Priced at $80, what's your opinion?
Community  4 5 6 7 8
393
15K
Project EVE replied
Top Bottom