Anyone else here feeling apathy towards physical games?

[AgentOtaku]

Yeah, I've been back and worth with this for years..... sometimes I'll commit to going fully digital, only to relapse again and again. It doesn't help that something like Switch carts/cases are so pleasing, aesthetically speaking.

Anyway,

As this gen draws to a close, I'm in a spot where i find myself going back to reacquaint myself with franchises and just, well enjoying gaming in general. Like There's no rush, just taking it game by game. I dunno, its weird and serene at the same time. The issues i find myslef getting caught up in is picking up physical versions of games.... like, outta nowhwere, this severe apathy set in and yeah, i just want to play the games and not mess around at all with the physical aspect

Anyone else out there relate?

 

[Deleted member 10629]

I have a pretty simple view of physical games: if it is a one shot thing (like RDR or Spiderman) and I want to play it near release date, then I get the game physical and sell it when I'm done with it. Otherwise I wait until it hits sub $20 prices with DLC and all that jazz.

The only games I wouldnt hesitate to buy (and keep) physical are Nintendo games, since they hold their value pretty well. Recently I got rid of some games, and the Wii/DS/3DS ones were the first to go, at pretty decent prices.

 

[geeky_blather]

My only criteria is price. When I decide to buy a game, I purchase whichever is cheaper. If they're around the same price, I lean towards digital so I don't have to deal with storing the cases.

 

[Deleted member 18742]

I am in the process of going 100% digital. Could be anymore happier. Not wasting space with all these games. Only ones I am keeping are the steel books which isnt many.

If you hold onto something, it holds onto you. If you get rid of it or give it away, you are free!!

 

[JuicyPlayer]

I trust no one, still physical. Plus over heard stories of people getting banned on PSN losing their stuff.

 

[The Iron Banana]

I have kids and they love getting the physical game as a sign of ownership but I'm looking at eliminating all of that and just going digital for everything ( I do that for the most part for my games) because with multiple kids and multiple Xboxes in the house going physical for games just doesn't make much sense anymore. I really appreciate how MS treats digital games shared between systems and it's solidified my opinion that that's the way to go for my house. I don't care about resell value so it's not that big a deal for me. Plus I hate going to the store to buy a game. The conveniences of digital far outweigh the negatives imo.

 

[Deleted member 5764]

I have an odd aversion to physical games nowadays. I know that I can get games for at least $10 cheaper via physical copy (I still have GCU) but I still opt for digital anyway. Something about waiting for that initial install is enough to deter me.

I'm also really indecisive when it comes to games and just swap between titles a lot. One could argue that's a side effect of having digital titles, but it's an issue nonetheless.

 

[Robin]

It's absolutely dumb but I like owning physical. I like holding things in my hand. Same reason I like art books, I can look it up all online but there's something about tangible physical objects that feel personal to me. It's a cluttered collection of boxes and books but each one is a memory. I have a lot of regret about clearing out my classic collection when I was in college though, but oh well. Room for new memories! Also yikes, my room is a mess and I have to clean those fingerprints off the TV, RIP.

 

[Deleted member 17630]

I'm still 90% physical. I don't trust the licensing yet. When I hear of people getting banned for ridiculous reasons that aren't their fault and they lose all of their games is haunting.

 

[Ralemont]

I'll definitely switch to digital for multiplayer games once GCU runs out as I play a few at once and changing discs is a hassle.

 

[Ryuelli]

Complete opposite to be honest. I'd much rather just put in a physical game and get started playing than wait for a game to download (even more so these days when games are absolutely huge in terms of the space they require).

 

[Deleted member 5764]

It's absolutely dumb but I like owning physical. I like holding things in my hand. Same reason I like art books, I can look it up all online but there's something about tangible physical objects that feel personal to me. It's a cluttered collection of boxes and books but each one is a memory. I have a lot of regret about clearing out my classic collection when I was in college though, but oh well. Room for new memories! Also yikes, my room is a mess and I have to clean those fingerprints off the TV, RIP.

Click to shrink...

Even though you have things neatly organized, this picture makes me feel anxious!

 

[Deleted member 364]

I like physical. The option to share/sell games is a strong one.

 

[AgentOtaku]

I have kids and they love getting the physical game as a sign of ownership but I'm looking at eliminating all of that and just going digital for everything ( I do that for the most part for my games) because with multiple kids and multiple Xboxes in the house going physical for games just doesn't make much sense anymore. I really appreciate how MS treats digital games shared between systems and it's solidified my opinion that that's the way to go for my house. I don't care about resell value so it's not that big a deal for me. Plus I hate going to the store to buy a game. The conveniences of digital far outweigh the negatives imo.

Click to shrink...

Yeah, I too can completely relate with the multiple family Xbox scenerio :)

 

[Richietto]

Nah I get whatever I can cheaper, and in most cases, that means going physical. If Im saving money Im fine with physical.

 

[Deleted member 10629]

It's absolutely dumb but I like owning physical. I like holding things in my hand. Same reason I like art books, I can look it up all online but there's something about tangible physical objects that feel personal to me. It's a cluttered collection of boxes and books but each one is a memory. I have a lot of regret about clearing out my classic collection when I was in college though, but oh well. Room for new memories! Also yikes, my room is a mess and I have to clean those fingerprints off the TV, RIP.

Click to shrink...

Sorry if this derails the thread but does that copy of 1Q84 includes the third part?

Awesome collection, btw :)

 

[blackmass]

Started this gen with all digital. Regretted it and rebought all my digital games.

 

[AgentOtaku]

I have an odd aversion to physical games nowadays. I know that I can get games for at least $10 cheaper via physical copy (I still have GCU) but I still opt for digital anyway. Something about waiting for that initial install is enough to deter me.

I'm also really indecisive when it comes to games and just swap between titles a lot. One could argue that's a side effect of having digital titles, but it's an issue nonetheless.

Click to shrink...

Yeah, my GCU still hasn't expired either yet, but even with that, im still disinclined to use it nowadays

 

[Raw64life]

Not even a little bit. Physical until I drop.

 

[Robin]

Sorry if this derails the thread but does that copy of 1Q84 includes the third part?

Awesome collection, btw :)

Click to shrink...

Thank you! And yes, it has all three books! I think that's the only format it was released in in the states?

 

[carlsojo]

I'm at the point in my life where my old physical collections have just been sitting in a box gathering dust for years. Time to purge.

 

[Deleted member 10629]

Thank you! And yes, it has all three books! I think that's the only format it was released in in the states?

Click to shrink...

Oh I see, in my country for some reason they released Part 1&2 in one book and the third part as a standalone book, really weird. But I wanted an edition that includes all three, will look for it online, thanks!

 

[Egida]

I bought Pokemon Let's Go 15€ cheaper than its eshop price. Didn't like it and traded it. Only wasted 2€ and my time in the whole process.

 

[Deleted member 22750]

Just make sure to unload titles you will never play again.

 

[Stay Up Be Easy]

Nope. I won't get a game until I can everything physical.

When it comes out I'll finally get Shovel Knight in April. And Cuphead if that's still scheduled.

I have bought exactly one digital game ever. And that was only because the Rayman PSX disc wouldn't load on my PS3.

 

[lord_of_flood]

It depends. I'm still physical on the kinds of single player games where I just hunker down and play just that game for a while, because I know I won't swap out the disc/cartridge for a while. However, for games that I want to be flexible in regards to time spent (e.g. Mario Kart, Smash, Animal Crossing, Pokemon), I'm going digital because I don't want to swap out the disc/cartridge every time I want to play it. Swapping out physical media is especially a pain on the Switch because the cartridges are tiny and the slot cover is more difficult to pop open than I want it to be, so I'm glad that I went digital on some games there.

 

[giapel]

Apathy... yeah. That word describes my attitude towards physical quite well. Between the switch and the rise of the indies, I find digital more appealing nowadays. I still buy the big releases physical but not much else

 

[ParanormalFupa]

I think about how it's all worthless plastic taking up space and it makes me sad.

 

[ghibli99]

Buy what you want, where you want, how you want. I don't quite get why so many view this topic as a one way or the other thing with no middle ground. If I feel apathy about anything, it has more to do with the types of games coming out at a given time as opposed to what format.

 

[Polyh3dron]

Yes. Because they don't even run off the disc anymore. I used to like buying them so that my huge game library wouldn't eat up all my HDD space. Nowadays, the disc/cart isn't even guaranteed to have the entire game on it. I don't want to have to manage a collection of all these discs/carts if they don't provide that advantage to me. It's much easier to just pick my game from a menu and run it.

Also, I don't trade my games in afterwards because I'd rather not have GameStop profit from giving me $10 or less for a game that they will end up selling used for $40-ish. I don't want to contribute to their toxic business model, and I'd rather have a good game collection.

 

[AHA-Lambda]

Nah, whatever format is cheaper. Cash is king.

 

[poutmeter]

Physical whenever possible, especially Nintendo games. I only buy digital copies when it's on sale/way cheaper than physical.

 

[Viale]

I like lending my games to my friends, so physical is usually preferable. I also tend to get it cheaper with gcu than I could digital in a lot of cases.

 

[BocoDragon]

I'll buy physical when available until they stop putting physical drives on consoles.

 

[Z-Brownie]

nintendo is phisical only, other consoles i go digital

 

[Santar]

If a complete version of a game exists I prefer physical, but with oodles of dlc and game transforming patches, that is becoming rarer and rarer.

 

[Cess007]

Nop. More than ever, I lean over physical more and more this days. Reselling or exchaning games are more important than ever for me if I want to play more/new games.

 

[The Praiseworthy]

I'm always physical guy... only small games I buy digitally.

Physical comes with many preferable choices for me.

 

[MoogleWizard]

No, I still buy physical most of the time.

 

[Twonny]

I'm starting to get there. I think I can go away with going full-digital for all my Switch games.

 

[Opto]

Physical copies for the singleplayer, for the sake of preservatin, digital for the multiplayer that I won't return to in maybe 4 years.

 

[Deleted member 16025]

I still really care about physical games, but sometimes I'll have a game in both formats. For example, I have a PS2 game collection and I love owning Castlevania: Lament of Innocence on disc with the original case and book, but I also have the digital version on my PS3. I love that game, so I like owning it on two consoles. That's really the only reason I own it digitally is just so I can have two options for playing it depending on what I have hooked up in my office at any moment. The primary version of that game is my PS2 disc copy while the digital PS3 version is sort of a cheap secondary/disposable copy.

I recently bought a PS3 Super Slim as a backup for my PS3 Slim in the event that the automatic disc drive dies on that one some day. I've been going through the process of downloading the games I bought on PSN over the years and not everything is accessible. The store is still up of course and most of it is there, but there are cases where I can't download some of my stuff anymore and that serves as a great example of why I tend to treat digital purchases as a more "disposable" purchase. I don't like paying full price for a digital game and this is why.

I also like having the option to sell a game if it isn't what I thought it was. In 2018 I bought God of War and Red Dead Redemption 2 on disc and ended up selling both pretty soon after completing the story. They are both great games, but I wasn't really in love with them to the point of feeling like I wanted both in my collection so I could fondly revisit them some day. Instead, I was able to sell them for nearly what I paid. That's a great perk that digital games just can't touch at this point. Sure, I could wait two years and maybe get them for $20 but I wanted to play them now so I could participate in the discussion everyone else was having.

Its also cool to have retro stuff and see it climb in value over time. I have a copy of Rule of Rose on PS2 that I could probably sell for $300 now. I also have Haunting Ground and the strategy guide for it and they each sell for a good chunk of cash as well. I don't intend to sell any of that stuff, but its kind of fun to see the value go up regardless. A good modern example is Gravity Rush Remastered on PS4. I think I bought that for $40 and now it goes for around $100 on eBay. Again, just kind of fun/neat.

 

[ConanEdogawa]

No, no, no. Physical releases are the best choice and that hasn't changed.

 

[Guaraná]

No.

 

[Bowl0l]

My leaning towards digital depends heavily on Sony's handling of PS4 b/c for PS5. If it's partial b/c, I will only buy 1st party titles at full prices and exclusives at $20, max.
Your move, Sony. Prove your worth against PC.
Don't let my PS4 library end up as smoke. My Vita library is already worthless by now.

 

[Deleted member 47318]

It's a completely different value proposition on consoles than it is on PC, and even then it differs a lot between each console at that.

Digital on PC it's simply a lot cheaper - to the point of reselling to keep things affording doesn't even become a consideration - and are guaranteed to still be playable several PCs down the line.

On consoles, an account ban for whatever reason would also equal losing access to all your purchased games, whereas there's little to gain from going digital aside from saving physical space.

Currently only Microsoft seems dedicated to maintaining compatibility for it's past generations too, making them at least somewhat safer to buy from.

 

[abrasivemurk]

I dont buy physical because it always ends up in one of my brothers friends and I have to buy digital version again.

 

[Korigama]

Physical by default, never digital unless there is no option, it's free or cheaper than physical could possibly be (like under $10), or is a PC game.

 

[cecilpaladin32]

I'm starting to split the difference - indie games digital, AAA games still mostly physical. I'd have an easier time moving to digital with larger releases, but I love CEs/steelbooks. Since I'm running out of space for more CEs, I'll likely stop buying them soon, altogether.

 

[Themaddestgamer]

Don't have any preference.

Sometimes physical makes more sense. If I'm not sure I'll like it I can take it right back and not lose much.

Sometimes digital makes more sense. When PSN has a nice sale than its obviously digital. Etc. Also on Spider-Man release the store was out of copies so I went digital there.

So either or for me based on what makes sense at the time.