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[Shadowstar39]

I've always defended physical in these discussions. I buy a lot of physical games on sale or used and the resell them, usually recouping most or all of my money. I actually came out ahead with Demon's Souls and Miles Morales recently, reselling them and selling the code for OG Spider-man separately.

That being said, I decided to take the all digital plunge. I just sold my disc PS5 and ordered a Digital PS5. I mostly play Destiny, and I also have a huge digital backlog, and figured I'd tackle that for the next year or so, as many games play better and are enhanced on PS5. I just don't plan on buying many new games for a long time, especially anything single player.

I guess, if I find I miss discs much, I'll get the disc version when a PS5 pro comes out. I have a feeling I'll never go back though.

Wait you just sold a disk ps5 for a digital. You do realize these consoles are neigh on impossible to get unless you have an "in".
I spent days trying to get one on wallmart and amzon websites. Was there at preorder day, launch day and countless other days and nada.
You get one and you are able to sell it and buy a new one? How who do you know?

 

[Griffon]

I mostly play on PC

Physical is already a distant memory. And I have yet to lose access to any game I bought (even if that shit happens someday, we have the mean to make backups run).

 

[Concern]

Im probably like 60/40 in digital to physical purchases. But still like collecting some physical copies.

Digital is also just much cheaper with a gameshare partner.

 

[Liar]

The only thing that interests me about PS5 is what DS controller feels like.

Other than that, I can live without a few of exclusives.

 

[Guilty_AI]

It seems that we will never go back to the before times where a game was feature complete like DS era and before that.
Games now sold as physical releases are hardly complete at all.
When you have a base copy of the game you still have to connect to the internet to access the patches, hotfixes, DLC bonuses, preorders, access game servers, free updates, expansions, etc.

I see that as a good thing honestly. We can glorify the notion of having a "this is what you get" software on release but this can be a huge hurdle for the developers.
Games getting released in broken state or filled with bugs, it isn't just because of corporate interference or lazyness or because devs today are worse than in the past, its also a result of modern games requiring far more quality control. Not just because the games themselves are more complex but also because players are becoming more demanding on that front too. There was outrage because of cyberpunk 2077's state on last gen consoles, but i can think of similar cases where the game didn't get nowhere near as much flak, like Far cry 3 performing at sub 20 fps on ps360.

So when the servers shut down or it's no longer supported by the publisher or the system itself, everything disappears along with it. The game is wholly reliant on it.

That isn't necessarely true. Games are just piece of software regardless of it being stored on a disc or a HDD. A digital copy of an offline game can (or should) work perfectly well w/o internet.
Your stuff disappearing is largely related to the DRM measures the company might take, rather than the fact that is digital. I think hitting on that front is far more important than complaining about digital. We have stores like GOG on PC where you can download installers and keep them forever with you regardless of what happens with the store or your account, or even steam where many games don't require the launcher to run.
There's no reason why it can't be like that on console too. Players should just keep kicking Sony's, MS's and Nintendo's door until they listen instead of worshipping them or blaming everything on digital.


I think the only issue with digital (aside from the companies that still implement online DRM) is the matter of re-selling games (though that might change in the future with NFTs). You could also argue that you want to display your games on a shelf or something, but that honestly feels like a pretty superfluous complaint.

 

[The Hamburglar]

Yes. I bought ghosts new for 35 and sold it on eBay for 35.

Imagine paying 60 for a digital single player game you have no intention of playing again.

 

[Fbh]

As a form of game conservation, sure. They've lost some of their value with the abundance of critical updates and day 1 patches we have now.

As a form of physical DRM that can be resold, traded and borrowed, they still hold a ton of value and benefits over digital games.

If you don't replay games much, if you are interested in a game but not at the inflated price being asked for (cough Nintendo) or simply if you didn't like the game, being able to resell it and get most of your money back is great.

Hell, I've played most major Switch released of the past few years for virtually $0 by buying used in the $45-50 range and then reselling them after I'm done for pretty much the same price

 

[Damigos]

I used to like having a physical collection very much. Seeing all my games sorted alphabetically was so wholesome.
But the reality is that having to move 3-4 times made it very hard to pack and unpack everything. Also, the amount of dust that is gathered is phenomenal and the space they occupy. Plus i am now married so no chance 300-400 games games can make their way to the living room.
Being all digital is a lot convenient but we must be careful, not to overdo it.
If the closing of digital stores and cancellation of licences are to come then i prefer an all physical future, but for now being all digital has worked wonders for me

 

[Bryank75]

If you support consumer rights, autonomy, ownership over goods paid for etc. then you probably understand the value of physical media games.

It also allows for competition against online stores via physical stores, creates retail jobs in the industry that can lead onto other higher level ones.

I don't understand this attitude of people saying 'now that we have an online store, there's no point in having any others' ..... if you had one online clothes store, would you be advocating to shut down all the other clothes stores?

It's a ridiculous sentiment, very narrow minded and negative for the industry.

Of course the people advocating for this want to degrade gaming into the quality of bubblegum bullshit, filled with dlc, mtx and drm, no ownership..... same people who said digital would make games way less expensive due to no distribution or production costs..... that turned out to be bullshit, didn't it!

Before someone says 'but you don't own the physical games'..... yes, you do. If the entire game is printed on the disc and it is in your house, no company is going to enter your house and get it.

 

[FStubbs]

And in other topics, we discuss how these digital games get pulled, eshops get shut down, and in some cases, consoles have built in obsolescence.

Give me physical whenever possible.

 

[sw0mp_d0nk3y]

Wait you just sold a disk ps5 for a digital. You do realize these consoles are neigh on impossible to get unless you have an "in".
I spent days trying to get one on wallmart and amzon websites. Was there at preorder day, launch day and countless other days and nada.
You get one and you are able to sell it and buy a new one? How who do you know?

Ha. Yeah, I don't know anyone, but I seem to have better luck than most on buying them. I've probably bought a dozen by now, 2 just walking in stores and buying them in stock. I've been selling them for about $100 profit, which I consider a service fee, for a valuable favor. Speak of the devil though, my digital PS5 just arrived this morning from Fedex. Just about to take it out of the box.

 

[sunnysideup]

If you support consumer rights, autonomy, ownership over goods paid for etc. then you probably understand the value of physical media games.

It also allows for competition against online stores via physical stores, creates retail jobs in the industry that can lead onto other higher level ones.

I don't understand this attitude of people saying 'now that we have an online store, there's no point in having any others' ..... if you had one online clothes store, would you be advocating to shut down all the other clothes stores?

It's a ridiculous sentiment, very narrow minded and negative for the industry.

Of course the people advocating for this want to degrade gaming into the quality of bubblegum bullshit, filled with dlc, mtx and drm, no ownership..... same people who said digital would make games way less expensive due to no distribution or production costs..... that turned out to be bullshit, didn't it!

Before someone says 'but you don't own the physical games'..... yes, you do. If the entire game is printed on the disc and it is in your house, no company is going to enter your house and get it.

Always on point. always right. Owning rentpassers up the ass.

 

[itsArtie]

Always been digital-only. If I decide to collect something from a video game, I'll buy a statue of the main character or a poster, I've never seen the charm in a simple disc. Also I never sell anything, video game or not, I just give it to family or a friend so it's not like I could save money on physical copies.
Also the whole "yoU dOn't oWn the gAme" argument is dumb, when was the last time PS/MS store pulled a game and stole it from you?

 

[YeulEmeralda]

That depends. New games are usually cheaper than digital ones sold at full price, but the older ones can get massive sales on digital platforms. It's hard to buy a physical game 80% off and even if some appear they get sold out almost immediately.

This is absolutely true. If you are looking for a 3+ year old game your best bet is digital.

 

[hououinkyouma00]

The only benefit to me is resale/tradein value. I find myself bouncing off of a lot of games quickly so it's nice to at least get something back.

That and I've been thinking about using GameFly again once actual releases start to get going. I've been thinking about doing it again recently, and buying the games I know I will love digitally and renting everything else.

 

[HaveButOneLife]

Why would anyone ever ask this question? Do you know how restrictive digital gaming is? You don't even own your games.

 

[Rusty Shackelford]

How small are you people's residences that you don't have room for physical games?

 

[Rusty Shackelford]

Let's not forget that your digital games are tied to your account. If your account get's banned, you're locked out of your games.

 

[THEAP99]

I bought the all digital ps5 cus it was my only chance to get one. I should've just waited for an available disc version.

Shit on the psn store is soooooo much more money and Sony has became so strict with online reporting. I've seen multiple people become banned for no reason and not be able to access games on the account.

Plenty of games tested work fine without patches and just because more & more developers are becoming irresponsible/sloppy in regards to shipping games completely finished on disc doesn't mean we should give it up.

Physical ain't going nowhere

 

[sn0man]

I guess it may be good to buy games that are already feature complete knowing that it will never have additional content added down the road.

Yeah OP: I’ve also realized that even though I’m a physical first kind of gamer, there are plenty of online-mostly games that keeping are useless for. My original copy of Animal Crossing is basically useless.

For me as a physical collector, I would go for the Special and Collector Editions of games.
But games like Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, Animal Crossing New Horizons, Monster Hunter Rise, games with constant updates, it's best to be kept digital.
Games fully completed in carts with no chance of getting additional content will always be bought physical.

If you have no need to play a game on release, then GOTY is often the way to go. You’ll also get the bonus in that it’s almost always on sale.
The secret is not to mistake Nintendo for being caring about physical. They’re just slow to adopt new technology and trends like charging for online and shipping incomplete games. You gotta wait for a definitive edition. Like the Cadence of Hyrule game that came out back in October.

As someone that owns a shit load of physical games from this gen, like 90% are perfectly fine offline with no patches. This argument is so exaggerated its insane. Sure there are some games that the patches make a huge difference like FFXV, but its a small percentage of the total physical releases. Do people actually read the patch notes for their games? Like what are all these patches that people are seeing that makes them think, well without this patch I wouldn't even want to play this game anymore.

Yeah it feels like grade A BS if I’m being charitable to those that keep saying it. I’ve got 40–60 PS4 game discs and all of them play fine and have a large amount of content.

I then thought of another business opportunity for LRG. Second run copies of games once they've stopped being supported that are complete editions with all DLC and the latest patch on disc/cart. *shrug*

I would LOVE a criterion collection of certain games with all the DLC and patches released. I’d pay 20% over retail for some games to be complete on physical.

Cuphead could use a physical edition imo.

Yeah that would be legit. I thought it was getting one.

I think people didn’t realize at the time just how always online and connected these consoles and games were going to be.

We lost a lot of good features like selling and sharing digital between friends because of that.

That’s purely in the hands of the console makers. They can make digital game sales available if they want to. Buying a physical game disc that wouldn’t be eligible for online sales has nothing to do with MS/Sony/Nintendo implementing a resale/trade option.

It seems like the physical buyers are trying to force ppl into shit, and even making hashtags about it.

I’m sorry. I hope digital thrives. I play digital only games. I’m digital only on PC. I just prefer physical for consoles but you do you.

 

[Imru’ al-Qays]

They look nice on your bookshelf.

 

[Quezacolt]

Only physical here. Most of the games i own i think they feel complete without any dlc (except doom eternal).
Most of them i also play without having the day 1 patch installed and i never have any game that is broken if i didnt download it.
This false idea that it's spreading around, that physical games are useless because you have to download a big chunk of the game, or that it's incomplete because you dont have all the dlc is just dumb to me.
Hell, i'd say that most dlc for games are useless, like the cosmetic ones and not all games have big expansions dlc that you need to buy.

 

[InterMusketeer]

There sure is a point in having physical games, but they're not for me. Digital fits me better, it's obviously convenient to have access to all your games immediately, but it actually actually saves me money too. I don't/can't buy collector's editions, or limited physical releases, and I can't buy bargains or second hand anymore. I only buy games I'm absolutely convinced I'll like since I know this purchase is permanent. It has worked out fine for me and saves me from a lot of stress. I see so many people online talking about how they want to play a certain game, but they're waiting for the physical release, and they end up paying out the ass to play a $20 indie title. I'm saving myself the trouble by not even concidering physical as an option. It's not gonna be for everyone, but I like it this way.

 

[nerdface]

The difference between digital versions and disk installs seems insignificant these days. Not only do both take time, the disk versions of games usually require downloads anyway.

I do really like carts, though any cart that requires a day1 patch is the worst of all options. Now it’s a digital game with annoying physical copy protection.

Carts with only one of the games in a collection are annoying. I will still buy these if the best game from the collection is the one on the cart.

 

[Woo-Fu]

There is a not so insignificant portion of the human race born with the collector gene. They're not happy unless they can have all of their stuff on shelves, in view 24x7, and collecting dust. These people need physical media to feel complete. They need to have long rambling discussions about how the box art for game A is so much more meaningful than the box art for game B. Extreme cases even need to replace all the artwork with custom sleeves just so they can sleep at night.

Don't dismiss them, don't marginalize their experience. Take pity on them, be glad you're not one of them, and move on.

 

[sn0man]

I love actually able to touch and owning my games.

*Gerstmann voice* sometimes I love it when the games touch and own me.

 

[sn0man]

It’s not worth insuring your games.

Genuine question: have you tried? Did the ins company balk at it? I’ve got decades worth of kids plastic at this point and a dedicated retro room is planned for the new house.

 

[meech]

Of course, i can sell them if they arent masterpieces.Try this with a digital purchase...

 

[Woo-Fu]

Of course, i can sell them if they arent masterpieces.Try this with a digital purchase...

People who have moved to digital have also decided that their time is more valuably spent on activities other than peddling used games.

 

[sn0man]

There sure is a point in having physical games, but they're not for me. Digital fits me better, it's obviously convenient to have access to all your games immediately, but it actually actually saves me money too. I don't/can't buy collector's editions, or limited physical releases, and I can't buy bargains or second hand anymore. I only buy games I'm absolutely convinced I'll like since I know this purchase is permanent. It has worked out fine for me and saves me from a lot of stress. I see so many people online talking about how they want to play a certain game, but they're waiting for the physical release, and they end up paying out the ass to play a $20 indie title. I'm saving myself the trouble by not even concidering physical as an option. It's not gonna be for everyone, but I like it this way.

Honestly good for you. I love physical but I get this sentiment. Honestly if money isn’t an object gamepass and digital purchases do make a lot of sense. Focus just on living in the moment and playing the game.

 

[Valonquar]

Can be sold\traded in - Dumb argument. Getting $5, maybe $10 back on a game isn't important, and only applies to shit tier games.
Can be loaned\borrowed - For me it's usually either friends that don't have the same system, or we both buy the same games.
Works fine without patches - You're kidding right?

Honestly the only semi-justifiable reason I see is that you really want to have a room in your house look like a Gamestop satellite store, gotta-catch-them all is so ingrained in your brain that you have to have a trophy room for bragging rights or something....except the only people that care are other people with the same trophy room.

 

[SoloKingRobert]

- Mosty cheaper than digital games
- Can be sold
- Can be traded
- Can be boworred

That's it?

Digital Games
- Game share
- Games includes all DLCs when on sale
- Play Anywhere
- No need to wait for the mail man
- Preload

 

[nerdface]

“Honestly the only semi-justifiable reason I see is that you really want to have a room in your house look like a Gamestop satellite store, gotta-catch-them all is so ingrained in your brain that you have to have a trophy room for bragging rights or something....except the only people that care are other people with the same trophy room.”


I dunno, I buy books too, but I’m not the library. I don’t look at my bookshelf as a trophy case.

 

[TKOFromTokyo]

Genuine question: have you tried? Did the ins company balk at it? I’ve got decades worth of kids plastic at this point and a dedicated retro room is planned for the new house.

No, the cost to insure it is not worth the value. You would need special collectibles insurance. My collection is worth 50k or so;

 

[hymanator]

 

[BigBooper]

Same as it ever was, you can loan/give away/resell them.

 

[THEAP99]

With games rising to $70 it's even more insane to me people want to go all digital

 

[MrS]

Obviously yes. Millions still buy physical. I will quit gaming when consoles go all digi.

 

[TonyK]

I hate the dust over my PS2 games. Only digital here since 4 or 5 years ago.

 

[Jaysen]

I buy physical on Switch because it’s the only console where games hold their value for years.

 

[SoraNoKuni]

I borrow and lend games often, also I can find the physical copies a lot cheaper.

And....

Yes, I prefere physical especially on big releases.

 

[Naked Lunch]

On PS5 and XSX - buying physical is basically useless because the game downloads from somewhere anyway. Its not even on the disc.

The only company I trust with digital stuff is Microsoft and Valve/Steam.
Nintendo and Sony console owners have reason to worry - they have had no plan and you cant go back and fix some of this stuff without one.

Xbox obviously had a plan years and years ago. Its why you can purchase original Xbox games to play on your new console to this day. I bought Panzer Dragoon Orta digitally 10 years ago - and I can load that same game on my brand new XSX. You can still buy nearly every 360 game online - and you can redownload any 360 game or demo youve ever downloaded. Ditto for all of my downloads on Steam, going back to like 2004. How is all this going to work when PS3 servers shutdown? Its unclear.

And beyond just playing the games, Xbox has had upload saves to the cloud for years now. When I play the xbox360's 13 year old Ace Combat 6 on my new xbox - I can still use my save from 13 years ago. PS5 struggles or in some cases doesnt let you even convert PS4 saves over. That shit is 100% unacceptable.

I can say none of this for my Nintendo and Sony consoles. They have a history of just shutting down services with no way to access them (legally). On PS3 when they shutdown the GT6 servers I lost some of my replay and ghost data from online challenges. I had the greatest F40 run of all time - and I can never view the replay again. In Hot Shots Out of Bounds since the game's individual server shutdown you cannot patch the game and cannot access the DLC courses with the disc version. What happens to my digital collction if my Ps3 hdd dies? This is all horseshit.

 

[base]

Physical losts its charm, its only an ID check. No manual. Usually very lame ass and samey packaging. There is little point beside the fact you can sell it, or loan it to someone. Or take it somewhere to play. Prices of physical games tend to be lower, at least at launch you can find them for a bit lower and some are heavily discounted over time while digital versions are still expensive. But the downside is that you have to manually switch discs for each game, which is less convenient and downright annoying for those short burst games. On top of that you lose the purpose of Quick Resume and the such. You could say that for digital you pay for convenience I guess.

Also, while you can't sell digital, you will keep them. When I rebought my Vita I immediately had a decent library since I already owned those games. I didn't have to go out of my way to scoop up some sales. Some games will fade away though, such as TMNT arcade on my Live account I reactivated for my Series after 13 years. But my personal experience is that I never sold a lot of games I beat, yet I never replayed them either. They were just there taking space. I ended up selling all my PS4 games last November, got like 200 bucks for them. Which is nice but actually a fraction of the purchase price since it was quite a load. I lost those games forever, except for the ones that appeared on Plus.

The most cost efficient way is buying, beating, selling. A good example of physical being cost efficient was my TLOU2. Bought it used last summer, beat it and sold it for the same price. This right here is ofcourse the reason the likes of Sony and MS want to kill off physical software. But usually you will make a loss and the game is gone from your account. And with selling also comes the hassle of putting it up online, dealing with no shows, whiners, etc. And when physical is discounted, guess what, you get shit for it back. Like, I had a hard time selling some Ubi games for more than 10 bucks. Since I gone 100% digital I simply buy less, I wait for sales a lot. And with GP and Plus there is enough to play anyway.

Oh just shut up.

 

[Bombolone]

I prefer physical games to digital. I do have a bigger digital library (ps4) atm, but the physical games I buy I appreciate more.

 

[Boss Mog]

Is there any point to paying more not to own something and instead only be allowed to use it under somebody else's conditions?

 

[LordBlodgett]

- Mosty cheaper than digital games
- Can be sold
- Can be traded
- Can be boworred

This used to be me, and for older systems it still is. But for anything 360/PS3 forward I have gone more and more digital. The fact is that almost all games in the last 10 years require some kind of download, and the physical edition hardly holds any value over time. As we've moved more towards digital both Sony and Microsoft have increased the frequency of their digital game sales and deals, so you can often get games at a great price. When I was getting ready for this gen I decided to sell a bunch of my PS3/360/PS4/XBONE games that I had both the physical and digital. I ended up with several hundred games to sell and was shocked at how little the games were worth. Moving forward I will probably continue to buy mostly digital with some physical thrown in if I want to buy a game at release or if there is an amazing deal. But once I'm done playing I will sell immediately, I'm not going to sit on the physical copy anymore. My only exception to this rule would be if I buy anything put out by Nintendo. They have a habit of discarding their digital storefronts (like they did with the Wii) and I have no confidence that I'll ever be download my games in the long run.

 

[LordBlodgett]

I can buy a used Xbone game for £10, or I can buy the digital version for £60. Yeah, no thanks.

This is silly. I have over 600 purchased digital games on PS3/PS4/360/XBONE and I have not spent more than $10 on any single one of them. Sure, that is me being a patient gamer, but if you can get the physical used for $10 then I guarantee the digital copy has also been on sale for that price at one time or another......

 

[Orutisu Furio]

Physical video games don’t really make sense anymore unless you’re buying first party or exclusive games on Nintendo platforms. Nintendo’s games are usually polished and complete on disc / cartridge right at launch.

Everything else, for PlayStation or XBOX, or PC — digital is the way to go. 100% of the time, every time.

 

[vanguardian1]

With the exception of Switch's portability, price rules for me. Console online stores almost always charge more for games than physical releases.

I think Skyrim (original 11/11/11) was my last big physical pc purchase, everything after that is Steam with a touch of GOG/Uplay/EA Origin.
99% of my Switch Library is digital (bought Zelda BOTW physical with the switch itself) for portability.
90% of my PS4 collection is Physical for affordability.
99% of my PS3/360/WiiU collection is Physical for affordability.

That's the long and the short of it. With the exception of digital exclusives/specials/IWANT titles, 90+% of my game collection is bought on sale, or drastically reduced price, so excluding switch, physical copies for console and digital for pc.

I sold some of my used games twice in my life, 100% regretted it afterwards both times.

 

[Kokoloko85]

Collections. Being able to play it else where etc. Can sell. Incase the stores arent working. 2nd hand games are cheaper at times.
Im 90% digital though, easier