It's a general standpoint from which I speak (because this will affect everything from films to TV shows to video games over
all platforms, so consideration of such things should be taken into account when formulating a counter-argument), because that's what this is ultimately about. The PC market is the smallest of the gaming markets by a massively significant difference (Source:
http://www.steamgifts.com/forum/YAKms/2005-2012-pc-vs-console-gaming-population-growth-rates), so to respond purely from a purely PC POV would be a bit silly. It's true that the PC gaming market is far more user-friendly than consoles, but the reason for this is that it's the weakest of all the markets - They wouldn't make anything from it if they didn't slash the prices and throw in some smiley faces to keep the PC guys happy.
I've been in computer technology for ten years now (I started in a computer shop at late-13 as an apprentice to the guy that designed the entire PA and consultancy system for the UK head of HSBC banking in Canary Wharf), and I'm giving you my full assurances that digitisation is
not the answer you want. It will simply make everything worse for the designers/modders (because digitising games makes game modding significantly more difficult due to the copyright and licensing system in digitised downloads (ie, you have
NO right to access the actual game files themselves)) and the end user (because you won't be able to reliably test a game before buying it, and as you aptly pointed out a review of something is entirely subjective), whilst making it significantly more profitable for the middlemen (the distributors, etc). All-in-all, it's a no. And whilst you guys might not have seen some of the stuff I've seen in the IT and gaming sector, I do sort of expect you to want to do some research into what they ideally want the end result to be - A system where you pay out even more for even less. If these games were
always offered at a stupidly low cost, then I would obviously support this - But the fact is this is only to lure people away from loyalty to the hard copy, and once they have you in digital download territory they will amp the prices up to the hard copy prices (if not even more) for less actual product.
Next, for the job losses: Sure, this happens in all aspects of advancing technology - But you have to genuinely consider that we are a country and a world where employment is grinding to a total standstill as it is, let alone before we happily allow greed to axe human beings from being able to support families, households, etc. The human effect of these changes is enormous - So to simply brush it off could at best be perceived as a little inhuman.
If you can't tell, this is a subject I'm extremely passionate about. I've been predicting this ever since the release of Steam and iTunes (has anybody actually researched the company that technically owns the Steam system and distributes the mother company's games by any chance?). And the fact is, when I buy a disc copy of Fallout: New Vegas and all I get is a prompt to connect to the internet (which at the time I was one of those very few people to not have the internet at home on my PC) to download my allowance to access the game (and to additionally install Steam to be allowed to play it) I'd paid £40 for - How do you justify that? Seriously? Then on top of that, I have to wait five hours on a mobile internet signal to download updates for the game (which wouldn't play until I'd installed these updates - Curiously these updates were fixes to stop access to the core files of the game, not actual game changes) - I get even more wtf'd. Below, I'll stick one paragraph that sums up what the Steam device is made for:
"Valve announced it's games platform Steam in 2002. At the time it looked merely to be a method of streamlining the patch process common in online video games, but was later revealed as a replacement for much of the framework of the World Opponent Network service and also as a distribution/digital rights management system for entire games." Source:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steam_%28software%29#Beginnings
That's right. It was projected as something
far nicer than it in fact was. Why? Because nobody would have any of it had they known it's true purpose from the get-go.
Simply put - This system is both damaging long-term, and short-term. And there will come a time where I guarantee you will look back and say "ah crap, Dax was actually right about something". You have been warned.