Digital vs physical: What do you see yourself leaning towards?

[BradenPickering]

Physical, for all media, not just games. I understand that at the end of the day the game/song/show/whatever IS the product, but for some reason it just doesn't feel right to spend money on something and not have an actual "thing" in my hands in return. I'm sure eventually I will have to enter the digital age, kicking and screaming no doubt, but not today.

 

[Tron Bonne]

Physical.

As it stands, right now, I see so no real reason to go digital. Most of the reasons people give I don't really understand. The only one that seems legitimate to me is the one sited the least: it's more environment friendly.

 

[TX85]

You don't have to understand them because the true reason is just preference, either way has its pros&cons but in the end it really is mostly a preference thing.

 

[terry78]

You don't have to understand them because the true reason is just preference, either way has its pros&cons but in the end it really is mostly a preference thing.

We don't allow that type of thinking in here.

 

[Tron Bonne]

You don't have to understand them because the true reason is just preference, either way has its pros&cons but in the end it really is mostly a preference thing.

Well, of course, but just because someone has a preference or opinion doesn't make that opinion or preference above disagreement, or above reproach.

 

[Havok83]

Buy physical first. Sell and get same game digital if price is good. I appreciate a world now in 2016 where everything is digital

 

[SpideyVille]

Buy physical first. Sell and get same game digital if price is good. I appreciate a world now in 2016 where everything is digital

My same strategy.

I'm just beating myself up because I've been too lazy to head to the store that usually pays more for games, so instead of getting $50 for some of my games, I might only get $30 now. But I need to head there this weekend while I can still get $30 back from Homefront before they drop the price.

 

[Havok83]

Physical is dead to me. Can't wait for a digital only future where the middle man is cut out and games get cheaper.

See I dont get this. I dont understand why people assume games will be cheaper if they become digital only. Game development has only gotten more expensive and will continue to be so as time goes on. $60 is the standard and with inflation, that doesnt even mean as much as $60 did 10 years ago. Publishers will keep prices as is and/or raise them to compensate for the development cost and the changing value of the dollar.

Considering how both Sony and MS want gamers going digital, Im surprised the standard is still just 500 gigs.

bc the fact of the matter is most gamers still purchase physical media and dont need more than 500gb. Both have 1tb bundles though for those that want additional space.

 

[XtremelyBaneful]

Considering how both Sony and MS want gamers going digital, Im surprised the standard is still just 500 gigs.

that's not true at all. if this were the case then we wouldn't still be getting special/deluxe/collector's edition boxes

EDIT: and not only that but you have to install your game on the hard drive whether you buy it digitally or not. so your post doesn't make sense

 

[Gee]

Physical always I hate digital. The day games ae all digital is the day I may be done with video games.

1. If your system breaks then you have to redownload ever thing
2. Downloading games take a long time. I find it takes a long time to even download some patches. and demos. So if it takes so long to down load just a patch then games are really going to take a long time.
3. Kind of going back to 1 if you have to get a new system and the services has went away there is no way to redown load it.
4. Kind of goes with 1 and 3 but you really don't own a digital game like you do with physical. With physical you always have the game.

When it comes to physical the only bad thing is how much space it takes up. I keep my old games and systems have them all hocked up to my TV at once so I can go back and play a game I havnt played for a while if I feel like it. That is 6 systems has I have SNES, Gamecube, Wii, Wii u, PS3 and PS4. Between all of those I have like 200+ games it takes up a lot of space. Then you have DVD and blurays and the space it takes up.

I'm strictly speaking for PC games but:

1. Make a backup. Storage is cheap nowadays.
2. See #1. As for patches, well you can always make another backup after downloading/installing a large patch.
3. Sure, if Valve decides to close down Steam there's no way to play our games unless they give us an alternative or a solution to play them without the service.
4. Not necessarily true. I've bought physical games but they still require a service like Steam.

When it comes to console, yeah I understand the whole physical vs digital thing and especially the storage issue. That is why if a game is also available on PC, then I'm getting it for PC. If it's console exclusive, then I'll get the game for that system.

 

[SwordOfAzrael]

Physical.
It's actually much more of a convenience than digital, currently.

I, literally, only buy digital if there's a sale going on. With the download
times and the space that these games take up, it's much easier to just
run out to the store and pick up whatever game I'm eyeing. The closest
GameStop to me is, virtually, right around the corner.

 

[Tron Bonne]

See I dont get this. I dont understand why people assume games will be cheaper if they become digital only. Game development has only gotten more expensive and will continue to be so as time goes on. $60 is the standard and with inflation, that doesnt even mean as much as $60 did 10 years ago. Publishers will keep prices as is and/or raise them to compensate for the development cost and the changing value of the dollar.

A lot of people assume this because they think that fees associated with physical being gone (printing, shipping, making boxes, etc.) means that prices will go down. What they tend to not understand is that other fees rise up to replace that, such as hosting bandwidth, paying service providers, etc. More importantly, people are showing they are willing to pay full price for digital now, even with a physical option perfectly viable. Now companies have any less reason to want to charge less when physical is less viable.

To be fair, PC is larger a digital only medium at this point and prices do tend to be a lot cheaper, so maybe I'm wrong. Of course, the PC market and console market and how they function are so different and have evolved in such different ways that I'm not sure you can compare them directly, even if the games themselves have a lot of cross bleed over.