> An extreme example is Fortnite. This is free (with paid cosmetics) but imagine if it cost $20. Do you own it?

You should.

> If they shut down the Fortnite servers, the game is pretty much worthless. What do you "own" exactly?

You should also own a copy of the server software so you can host your own Fortnite lobby.

> Even for an offline game that's bought online, there will have been patches. If your console dies or you buy a new one, where do you download it from once the service shuts down?

The real-world solution for this is 'jailbreak your console and download the game from the web'. There could also be sanctioned backup solutions which negate that issue. So long as the user is given a chance to back up and thus keep the game, you don't need a download server to be maintained.

> Years ago I had tried to install GTA4 on a PC and it basically didn't work. It relied on some infrastructure ("Games for Windows"?) that had since been discontinued. I think if I persisted I could've patched it to work but I just gave up.

The real world solution are patches made by people who care, and those usually work. The better solution would be that that connectivity doesn't break the whole game. If it's just for the online half of a game, it should degrade gracefully.

> What about when it requires an OS that no longer exists?

VMs exist.

> What about DRM (for TV shows/movies as well as games)? There are DRM servers. Do these need to be maintained?

Provide a DRM-free copy if you shut down the servers.

> You might take the purist approach of "no DRM" but that's really a losing battle.

A battle worth fighting [pirate flag emoji].

> part of the distribution model for physical media is that the media doesn't last forever (liek a digital copy does). Disks scratch, get broken, get lost, etc. Electronics in cartridges fail. SD cards fail.

Is this a significant part of the model? How many resales were they expecting per 1000 normal sales? It can't be many. This to me seems like it could be rounded down to 0.