@Persei8 having a steam key in the box doesn't cut anyone off, only if the devs/publisher wants it to. obviously if they are gonna put a key in it, it's gonna be a gog key, but technically there is no difference between the two. you get an extra copy of the game in both cases.
The whole world is not connected to the internet. There are many, many houses that are still not connected to the internet, by choice, even not by choice, most of the time not by choice.
So a very simple experiment. Buy Batman at retail for the PC. Take it to a household with no internet and try to install and play Batman. Then buy The Witcher 3 and take it to the same household who doesn't have internet and try to install and play The Witcher 3. If there is a gamer in that household, will that gamer be buying PC games or is that gamer cut off from buying PC games.
My small bubble, friends and family, lot's of PC users, lots of gamers, 3 has internet installed to the house including me. My small bubble is a big number. There is a computer in every household and more than one gamer in every household. How many are buying PC games regularly, none of us. How many of us are buying The Witcher 3, a lot of us because the Witcher 3 doesn't cut anyone off from buying it.
This is just my small bubble and not even accounting the communities, towns, cities.
I know you Steam people can only focus on your own personal bubble and judge the world from that personal bubble experience. It is time for you Steam people to only buy your games at Steam and leave the retail market clear of Steam codes. And when I say your own personal bubble, I mean a bubble where it's just you in it buying PC games and reflect that onto the rest of the world.
Steam doesn't cut off people. lol. Why were people upset that Xbox One needed constant internet. Steam is fine or so you Steam people like to say. But there was a big outcry against Microsoft. Why was that. Is it that most people don't have internet. Maybe people don't like handing over their gaming rights to Microsoft. Xbox One still needs an initial update from the internet before it can work and play game, so the console itself is the same as buying a PC game right. PS4 works and plays games out of the box. PS4 is selling way more. Is it because people are cut off from the Microsoft console.
Steam doesn't cut anyone off. lol.