The vast majority of indie games make nothing. The price locking you out isn’t really a valid argument. If the developer lives in an expensive place and needs to charge X to break even, then that’s what they need to do to have a commercially viable product.

New games on GOG often have DRM, because it’s the only way they can compete with Steam.

I hardly see DRM as authoritarianism. No one compels you to play a game, its a luxury. Games are products and need to turn a profit so their creators can eat and create new games.

Yeah, but many modern games only work after a day 1 patch anyway, so what’s on the disc won’t count for much. Not to mention you still need a working console, and those stop being sold long before digital storefronts are closed.

I don’t think DRM free is realistic either, piracy is just too big of a problem on the release of a new game. Eventually the cracks will arrive, but that window before is important for making a profit. Most consumers are as amoral as corporations. They don’t care about who makes what they are using, nor do they care about the ethics behind where they got it from.

From a comparison I saw, you can buy two complete laptops with the same specs as one framework. Its hard to justify an upgradable laptop at that point.

To my understanding, some games just don’t work with SD cards because they need the faster loading off of the SSD. Also games over 64gb don’t fit on the cards.

Virtual Game Key Cards are actually better than digital in most ways. Rather than the game code being tied to your account, it’s tied to the card. So you can still easily sell or lend it. It also does not require a Nintendo account to use (if that matters), just an internet connection.

Tip jars have been a thing in small stores for a long time. Its usually where people drop their pennies and nickles.