Anyone remember the old days of going to a brick-and-mortar store and buying box editions of games, including posters, manuals, bonus art, and demos of other games?

Then around the year 2002-2006, a lot of games went from box editions to disc-only packages - a package that contained only a disc, with manuals and bonus art in electronic PDFs or similar.

With the rise of digital distribution, the box has largely been scrapped entirely, with few exceptions.

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So here's my suggestion:
GOG game boxes in brick-and-mortar stores such as EB Games and GameStop.

-Anyone who wanted to relive the old days of boxed editions and bonus content included could do so. Game boxes should attempt to replicate the original ones and their contents as much as they can (of course with the publisher/developer's permission).

-Prices of boxed editions would be significantly higher than digital-only purchases to cover cost of printing, production, and transportation. Perhaps $15 for the boxed edition of a game that is normally $6 as a digital purchase only, and $20 for the boxed edition of a $10 game. Any games with a base price above $10 could have boxed editions priced at original price plus $12. If you just want a cheap game, wait for a sale and buy it online - boxed editions are a premium product for people who like to collect them or relive the old days.

-This would put PC games back in brick-and-mortar stores. In recent years, GameStop has been moving towards console-only, now that Steam has a half-monopoly on publishing. The last time I was at GameStop, their PC games section was just 1 shelf. GOG boxed editions would make these types of stores more relevant in PC gaming and contribute towards continued employment of people who work in them.

-Boxed editions would offer access to GOG games to people who are unable to use the online payment options.

tl;dr; people could relive the old days of boxed editions/bonus content, this would put PC gaming back in EB Games/GameStop/similar stores, and expand GOG's customer base. A big win for everyone.

Or just buy them on the website and make your own discs and cases, and then be happy.

While it is a beautiful thought, I'm quite sure it is not economically viable.

It sounds like all trouble and no profit.

I can not see them doing this, but hey, McWorld.

EDIT: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=24QXGz0k7Ak

There's a thread around here where people have been contributing CD and DVD case covers, so you can burn your own disks and print your own covers. Short of Amazon, eBay, etc., that might be as close as you're going to get.

Pretty much this. And a whole mess of legal issues, probably.

Why are people going to buy boxed versions when they can get it digitally? Why is Gamestop of all places going to sell boxed versions of PC games when in the shelf right next to them they are selling Steam game cards?

I am part of the reason for the change in pc buying. I prefer digital distribution. I like my games cheaper not more expensive. And while I do remember fondly boxes, art, maps, manuals, etc. -- I like my digital-only collection much better. I do not want to go to a store, keep discs from getting scratched, organize and move my physical collection, try to keep my kids from tearing pages, etc.

Putting the physical games in a physical store won't change any of that for me. I didn't change to digital because the stores stopped carrying games. The stores stopped carrying games because I changed to digital.

Heck, the main reason I got into GOG was so I could finally get rid of my deteriorating physical copies of Fallout, Planescape, Baldur's Gate, and the like.

Since Barnes and Noble started carrying vinyl albums again, I think just about anything is possible. At least, when boxed copies of PC games become en mode?