Why do video game console discs now require installation, when we could just put them in and play instantly before? Why did PC discs always require installation

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Answer 1

CDs and DVDs are much slower than hard drives. You *could* play a game directly from a DVD, but it would pause a lot to load new areas and stuff (even more than they do now.)

PC discs required installation for much the same reason when the game was designed to play from the hard drive. Older games would run directly from very slow floppy discs, but that was because the entire game would fit into memory at once.