People want retail games and if the big 3 can’t cover that market a new and more sustainable subject will fill that space. Maybe it’s time to bring back physical media to PC, a more open system where publishers could make profit selling their retail games similarly to vinyls for music.
Personally, so long as it’s DRM-free, physical, installers or zipped files sound like a good idea.
And like with vinyl, if it comes back, it’s to be expected that it isn’t as big as it once was. But being there, it’s another option for the preservation and ownership folks.