Sure, but you can rip it, save it, backup it, restore it from a backup, "download the backup from a torrent site", etc. It stays available. Even other media, li

Sure, but you can rip it, save it, backup it, restore it from a backup, "download the backup from a torrent site", etc. It stays available. Even other media, like gameboy/nes/snes/... cartridges can be ripped and stored for eternity, and full game collections are easy to store on current storage mediums. Most people will play the game when they buy it, for some time... in modernish times, the cd/dvd will be used only once (no one expects you to keep the cd in the drive anymore when playing), so the disc should be good for a decade+, much more than most of the modern game services stay online, and requiring them even for single player games is a scam.