Video Games - Physical vs Digital?

[Daltonio]

Didn't see a thread on this so figured it might be interesting.
When buying games, do you tend to stick to physical copies or have you gone full digital?

As for me personally, my answer has changed over the years some so I'm not even sure how I'd vote. I used to be a strict physical only person, only buying digital when it was the only option available. But as the years have gone on and the PSN sales have gotten much better, I tend to buy a lot digitally just because of how big the discounts have gotten. I also play a bigger variety of games, which is easier to switch back and forth when you don't have to worry about changing discs.

 

[MessiahDecoy123]

Physical.

I like the option to re-sell or re-gift or pass games down to my kids/nieces/nephews.

Plus I got that collector gene. I love looking at my personal library sitting on a shelf.

 

[psylockolussus]

For me everything is digital now. TV series, movies (well I still go to movie theaters but not like in 2019), music and comics.

Videogames are eXception though. If I'm paying 20 to 70 dollars, I will want a physical copy. And downloading a 30Gb or higher will take hours with my internet provider and I always uninstall games.

 

[Silvermoth]

I’ve come round to digital. It’s quicker, easier and saves me space in the home.

just worried about the future when all games are digital only and how we stop companies raising prices for no reason

 

[Primal Slayer]

I'm still very much about physical.

If anything were to happen to my console, the games are pretty much gone if I DLed them. Not to mention that there's only so much space and I don't like them trying to force people to upgrade to a bigger model.

Until I know that a game I pay for and DL is 100% mine, can be DLed to a new console, and accessed with no internet...i'll stay with the physical purchases.

 

[Iceman]

The one thing that sucks about being a collector is that you get older and unless you live in a museum you start running out of space after collecting things for decades. I’m moved to digital for most new things now.

 

[Snow Queen]

Physical preferred in all cases, but if a digital copy drops to like $30 or less CAD on the Playstation Store, then I'll go digital. Hard to beat prices like that.

 

[Teelie]

Physical whenever possible but I will get digital when it is convienent or necessary. Physical discs mean I'm not merely "licensing" games I buy, I actually own them. They won't get remotely deleted or become impossible to play when (not if) their downloads are removed at some point in the future.

Of course that means things like patches and DLC might be lost but by that point there will probably be ways to patch that up.

What really irks me are the "always on" requirements which is true of physical or digital but that's another problem entirely.

 

[Primal Slayer]

The one thing that sucks about being a collector is that you get older and unless you live in a museum you start running out of space after collecting things for decades. I’m moved to digital for most new things now.

That is a pain lol. Whenever I move, majority of my boxes come from my media collection lol and they are VERY annoying AND HEAVY to box up and move. This alone has made me very picky about what I buy nowadays lol.

 

[Snow Queen]

One of the things with digital games for me is, because it's almost always a price thing, is that if I really like the game, I always plan to pick up a physical copy at some point once it's cheap. A Black Friday or two down the line, when it finally reaches that $20 or less range, just in case anything ever happens. But in the meantime, the deals that come through the Playstation store let me play a lot more games than I would otherwise. With each game costing $80-90 new, it's not a cheap market. Plus, for some of these games, it allowed me to have both PS4 and PS5 copies so that when I recently got my hands on a PS5, I was able to jump right in with upgraded versions.

That is a pain lol. Whenever I move, majority of my boxes come from my media collection lol and they are VERY annoying AND HEAVY to box up and move. This alone has made me very picky about what I buy nowadays lol.

Since 2018, I've moved five times so I'm really feeling this one.

 

[Slick]

Physical mostly always but digital on certain games.

 

[Slick]

Physical whenever possible but I will get digital when it is convienent or necessary. Physical discs mean I'm not merely "licensing" games I buy, I actually own them. They won't get remotely deleted or become impossible to play when (not if) their downloads are removed at some point in the future.

Of course that means things like patches and DLC might be lost but by that point there will probably be ways to patch that up.

What really irks me are the "always on" requirements which is true of physical or digital but that's another problem entirely.

Pretty much for the reasons you stated.

 

[BrollySupersj]

Physical as much as I possibly can. I'm not gonna let these greedy **** game publishers make it so I own nothing.

Which is also why I won't play online only games either. I will only do digital if it's free, like the monthly free PS Plus games.

 

[henzINNIT]

Physical where possible. Second hand mostly too. The average game studio is pretty disgusting so it's rare I'll want to support them financially. It'll be a sad day when we shift to digital only.

 

[Gee]

PC player here, so been digital since the mid-2000s.

 

[BrollySupersj]

PC player here, so been digital since the mid-2000s.

Ah ****...forgot all about that. And here I am slightly interested in a Steam Deck to play games....ugh.

 

[Daltonio]

Of course that means things like patches and DLC might be lost but by that point there will probably be ways to patch that up.

That's one other advantage of having a disc! My go to example is Grand Theft Auto IV. On the ten year anniversary of the game, Rockstar went back and patched a huge amount of songs (most of the best ones tbh) out of the game when their licensing contracts ran out. Since I have the PS3 disc, if I want to play it, I'll just pop it in and stop it from downloading the update. If it was nowadays and you were to buy it digitally, it would just auto-download the latest version and all of that would be lost.

Anyways, I'd so overall I PREFER physical copies but more often than not lately, I actually buy digital. But for me it's mostly because of digital exclusive content, I'm a sucker for stuff like that even if it's just extra outfits or some PSN themes or avatars or something. It sucks but they know how to get ya.

 

[Drizzle]

My game collection is about 90% physical, 10% digital. I always go for physical copies when buying most new games, but on the rare occasion I'll see a good deal on the Playstation Store for a game I want I'll go for digital.

 

[spiderman2]

Always physical because with digital you dont truly own the game and also games tend to be cheaper compared to digital. I dont ever trade games in though has I still like to go back and play older games from time to time. The one advantage like someone else already said is the amount of space in your hours/apartment that physical takes up. The only time I get digital is if its digital only. I got Kena bridge of spirts digital but only because the physical version was like only announced the day that the digital game came out. Another wise I would have waited and gotten physical.

 

[Gee]

Ah ****...forgot all about that. And here I am slightly interested in a Steam Deck to play games....ugh.

On PC you have the luxury of DRM-free games. Yes, Steam runs on DRM, but some devs/publishers release their games with no DRM on the platform (CDPR is one). Itch.io, for indie games, and GOG, owned by CD Projekt, are both 100% DRM-free digital stores.

Buy the game, download the offline installer, install on all and any computers at home, make backups of said installer for safe keeping. Can't beat that.

 

[Joe Von Zombie]

Digital, but I'm primarily a PC gamer these days.

 

[Joe Von Zombie]

Physical whenever possible but I will get digital when it is convienent or necessary. Physical discs mean I'm not merely "licensing" games I buy, I actually own them. They won't get remotely deleted or become impossible to play when (not if) their downloads are removed at some point in the future.

Of course that means things like patches and DLC might be lost but by that point there will probably be ways to patch that up.

What really irks me are the "always on" requirements which is true of physical or digital but that's another problem entirely.

You're licencing a game regardless of how you buy it. Furthermore, just because a game is delisted doesn't mean it isn't available to download anymore. Finding a valid steam key in the wild will still give you a license for the delisted games. I've acquired a lot of delisted game's over the years. The latest being an Amazon code for Manhunt 2.

 

[Teelie]

That is true as of right now but ten years from now? Twenty? Those games might not be so easy to find a download for whereas a disc will last decades. And a disc imparts ownership more than something digital that can be remotely deleted from your console or PC.

 

[henzINNIT]

You're licencing a game regardless of how you buy it. Furthermore, just because a game is delisted doesn't mean it isn't available to download anymore. Finding a valid steam key in the wild will still give you a license for the delisted games. I've acquired a lot of delisted game's over the years. The latest being an Amazon code for Manhunt 2.

True to an extent. Owning a physical means you have something of value for re-selling though.

 

[Joe Von Zombie]

That is true as of right now but ten years from now? Twenty? Those games might not be so easy to find a download for whereas a disc will last decades. And a disc imparts ownership more than something digital that can be remotely deleted from your console or PC.

When the majority of a game isn't even on the disc anymore, the disc becomes irrelevant. I've also been using Steam since 2005. It's not going anywhere. Not to mention, the scenario your painting hasn't really happened and won't in our lifetime. The only completely deleted product I've ever seen on a digital storefront is PT and there are still ways to play that if you're so inclined. There would have to a full apocalyptic economic collapse and at that point, we got bigger problems than accessing our video game libraries.