"The Future Is Now, Old Man": A Brief Discussion On Video Game Cover Art

Content originally posted to Instagram on December 15, 2022.

(FYI, I am the old man)

With all the talk surrounding Street Fighter 6’s polarizing box art, it’s made me think about my relationship with games as a form of physical media. For context, here’s the cover that’s been the talk of the town in online fighting game circles:

Between:

1) pre-order bonuses often being for digital editions only,
2) collector’s editions (outside of Japan) usually being bundled with physical goods that are seemingly not worth the price you’re paying for, and
3) standard edition copies still being what they are while typically offering nothing new to replace what’s been lost (like reversible covers as the norm to replace the loss of booklets),

it’s *been* feeling like there’s even less incentive to go physical nowadays. This is especially the case if you only buy standard editions. And TBH, as someone who has posted about the appeal of games in their physical form…I’m starting to feel more open to going digital completely.

#hottake? There can be debates about good and bad covers, but it matters less to me when the way the art looks after being printed isn’t anything special, and it’s displayed by a cheap plastic case. Let’s not kid ourselves on a lot of cover art these days too — they ain’t hitting Criterion Collection levels of design 🤷🏻‍♀️ (I bring this last point up because this sort of thing has been made before. In some alternate timeline, such a wonderful thing exists officially)

Of course, I’m not knocking anyone who prefers their games physical. There are good reasons for sticking with such. And there will always be a place for games of the olden days in all their tangible glory. But after considering the points above, maybe it’s better for me not to take up the remaining shelf space.

PS. Capcom, don’t change the SF6 cover 😈