Nowadays, do you mostly buy physical or digital?

[danielmann861]

Inspired by an ongoing conversation in the Kickstarter 103 thread. I figured this would be an interesting question to ask the users here.

Nowadays, do you mostly buy games physical or digital? Also, as per your answer; why?

Me? I'm split between Physical and Digital. There is still a part of me that loves going to my local game store and picking up a physical copy and I like having that stuff on my shelf. I like knowing that it's there and won't just disappear due to licensing issues and stuff (which is the constant threat that plagues digital)


But I got to admit, recently I feel like I've been making the switch more to Digital. I sometimes look at it and think "what's the point of buying a disc when the whole game gets installed to the hard drive? The disc is kind of useless after that" also, it's just kinda convenient sometimes to have the game ready to start without having to insert the disc and such. Also sometimes you can find stuff on sale in the store (PSN, Steam, XBL) and grab it on a whim.

I can't really commit to one or the other so I tend to float between both. But how about the rest of you? How do you buy your games these days?

 

[Kintor]

I try to buy physical when I can as a collector but that's becoming increasingly difficult. Especially on PC which is further along towards a digital only marketplace.

I mean, take a look at Cyberpunk 2077 - the PC box clearly states 'digital download' at the top. Not much point in buying physical then, if I decided to get Cyberpunk 2077 for PC it'll be directly from a digital store.

It's just a question of whether the next generation of consoles go the same way. Microsoft seems to be pushing more towards digital but I'm not quite what Sony has planned next. As for Nintendo? They're an anomaly at this point and don't really factor into my decision making.

 

[Jigen]

I go for both but I prefer owning physical goods. Unfortunately we are moving towards a digital only future.

 

[9dragons]

Most times physical only. I will Support physical media as Long as they exist. The next gen consoles still have Disc drives fortunately, so the pyhsical media have some years left before it goes digital. I do not trust the digital technolgy. Downloading takes longer than going the shop and just buy the game and if my console breaks my games are gone for good. Such Things cannot happen with physical media.


Once in a while I buy digtal too, but I try to avoid it at all cost if possible.

 

[xatruio]

Always digitasl unless required like yakuza 5 up until last year. Digital extra copy for top favorites for an extra sale, but also to play Shenmue/Yakuza/MGSHD/Ico HD while another game/movie disc is in the drive.

 

[ShenmueTree]

100% physical now. Only time I get digital games is when people buy me digital gift cards, which the only time Ive ever used one was for Persona 5 on PS4. I own digital games on Steam and GOG, that I got years ago but most were acquired for free, also I dont play them since my PC isnt good enough. xD

 

[Tsukuyomimagi99]

When it comes to all forms of media I heavily lean (80/20) physical ownership to digital. There’s a much more satisfactory feeling of actually owning something tangible. A certain kind of satisfaction of taking a look at your collection and thinking “That’s Mine”. I only buy digital when I really don’t have a choice.

 

[Dietsoap]

Digital now that I'm mostly playing on PC. Used to be all physical on Vita and some PS4, though.

 

[Nathanial Essex]

Since I had my PS4, which has been a very long time, I've only purchased one physical game and that was Spiderman. The two reasons for this is that you can game share on the PlayStation so a lot of the games I get, my brother does also, so we just split the cost. The reason I got Spiderman physically because it was a game my brother did not want, I had a voucher and could then sell it after I was done.

The second and main reason is that it saves the hassle switching disc when changing games. Yes, I'm that lazy.

The obvious downside to digital is that you can't trade the games back in. With the Switch I stopped buying digitally. Bought a bunch of games digitally initially and regretted it when I finished with the games. Main reason being I played the switch in handheld mode mostly and you're always getting up to dock or undock the thing or charge the controllers; might as well swap out the game whilst you're there. Nintendo or rip you off when it comes to prices, another reason why my Switch is mainly collecting dust at the moment.

 

[spud1897]

Inspired by an ongoing conversation in the Kickstarter 103 thread.

That's a dangerous game!

I tend to buy physical games on the whole. I love having the disc in hand. Digital games tend to get bought if they are dirt cheap in a sale for me. Having said that I've just bought a gaming PC so will be getting a lot more digital copies of games.

 

[red]

new games are really quite expensive so i buy physical games because i normally sell them after im done with them. also i very rarely re-play games and im not a completionist, so no point keeping them after playing the main game. ( god, i wish blockbusters was still around)

..having said that, i have a selection of ps3/xbox games but they are pretty worthless.

 

[Truck_1_0_1_]

I only own one digital game and it is Yakuza 5 for the PS3. **** Digital.

I own Yakuza 5 in Japanese, anyways :)

 

[That Guy.]

Digital with PC, but then I back them up if I can to a hard drive so it feels almost like I have a physical copy in that case or I make an image of that hard drive full of games and back them up instead. With console games, Physical when possible. It is just too bad that modern games make physical copies of games not what they should be due to needing patches to fix things in many cases. One game (Just Cause 3) I needed to patch because it kept getting stuck on a black screen at the same spot until I updated it, so annoying.

I'm just bothered with this digital only push that is slowly creeping up more and more since I feel like this is a push to make people have to rent out everything instead of actually owning it when it comes to these attempts at streaming services like Stadia and whatnot, but that is another story and bigger than this topic itself.

 

[punkmanced]

I tend to buy physical games on the whole. I love having the disc in hand. Digital games tend to get bought if they are dirt cheap in a sale for me.

Pretty much the same for me.
I keep an eye open for digital deals (some are just too good to pass up), but on the whole, I go with physical discs.

 

[Vivi-gamer]

I still prefer to buy games Physical when I can, though these days that is more irrelevant than ever. The problem is that all games tend to have updates, so the content on the disc is usually outdated before it even arrives. Secondly, games also now have DLC, which if they don't release a Complete Edition by the end of it leaves my Physical Edition incomplete.

I find that games I have bought he Season Pass too are holding my HDD Hostage, as I don't want to download them again. On the PS3, you could, usually seperate Update Data and DLC Data, but on the PS4 you have to have the game installed before you can install DLC or Updates.

The benefit I do find in buying games Physical is that I can install 50GB games within a few minutes, downloading a 50GB+ game isn't very appealing. Should these games go offline in time though it's going to be quite distressing compared to the previous generation of games - It's already happening to DriveClub next year!

When it comes to Digital, I just feel I don't own them, I don't mind it on titles with PS+ like shorter 3-4 titles that I'd not buy, but main titles, I always want on disc.I've bought things like Star Ocean 4K off the store, but had that had a disc release... which I am bitter that it didn't... I would have happily bought it that way instead.

 

[Alexey]

Only physical copy and i don't consider DLC. But i bought one digital game and it is Shenmue 1&2 because I want support Shenmue as I could (I got physical and digital versions, and limited edition).

When I own physical copy, I feel that it will be no problem to play game in the future. There is a problem when PSN down sometimes and you can't download what you paid for.

 

[Stiz]

I buy physical but there are games when on the ps store that I get if I have no collectors vibe from them or the collection or edition as a whole makes sense to get digital. Especially if there is a sale.

 

[Mittens2317]

Digital. I detest clutter, and love the convenience of downloading whatever game I want to play (I have a top Internet connection atm, so it doesn't take too long)

Discs can get lost or ruined too. Lost my copy of Batman Begins for PS2, an accident rendered Power Stone unplayable, and I had to get my copy of Shenmue 2X cleaned twice. Not had a physical game since the 360, and I've been rebuying what I can in digital format so I can get rid.

 

[Stiz]

Only physical copy and i don't consider DLC. But i bought one digital game and it is Shenmue 1&2 because I want support Shenmue as I could (I got physical and digital versions, and limited edition).

When I own physical copy, I feel that it will be no problem to play game in the future. There is a problem when PSN down sometimes and you can't download what you paid for.

some DLC extend and add to stories though you are missing out. An example would be a game like kingdom heart's III is getting Kingdom Hearts: Remind. While I am still in the beginning because I knew of DLC coming and other reasons I halted play.

But this is an example and I see where you are coming from. Just that there are cases where DLC makes things better or adds to the story.

then the fact updates may make game disks obsolete or a few games may come with less than 800mb and require a 40GB update...