Why cannot they go the old (boxed-CD era) model of selling games for marginally more and not tying a sale to their services? I've always viewed Steam as an app

Why cannot they go the old (boxed-CD era) model of selling games for marginally more and not tying a sale to their services? I've always viewed Steam as an app store that comes pre-loaded with malware (since I don't use any features other than buying and updating games, yet I've had games be unplayable many times due to various Steam issues or internet glitches that broke Steam). I'd be super happy (for the French if no-one else) if they go back to just being an app store and have an additional fee for their other pointless "services". The reason people don't infinitely resell a physical copy is not degradation - I still have CDs from probably 1996 that work fine. It's because people generally want to buy new games.