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Are you hesitant in giving up physical games?
- Thread starter Weiss
- Start date
80€ pricetag hike only reaffirmed my position on the matter. No way I'm paying 80€ for a digital game. Not today, next year or in 2030.
Nope. Been all digital since the PS3 days.
My older sister stomped out my PS3 after we got into an argument and after that it wouldn't accept disks lol. Been digital ever since.
Only physical games I've bought this decade were Ring Fit Adventure and inFamous Second Son but that came with my PS4 so I don't think that counts lol. But since I'm gravitating more towards PC with my purchases these days I'm definitely not going back.
My older sister stomped out my PS3 after we got into an argument and after that it wouldn't accept disks lol. Been digital ever since.
Only physical games I've bought this decade were Ring Fit Adventure and inFamous Second Son but that came with my PS4 so I don't think that counts lol. But since I'm gravitating more towards PC with my purchases these days I'm definitely not going back.
Yes, definitely. I was hesitant before since no disc drive = less options, but still open to the idea a bit. Now after seeing the higher prices and knowing digital games tend not to drop in price particularly fast, that completely killed it. I'm not dropping physical games.
The Series S is different since it's very cheap and has Game Pass, so I won't be buying many games for it. But for PS5, the digital version may as well not exist for me.
The Series S is different since it's very cheap and has Game Pass, so I won't be buying many games for it. But for PS5, the digital version may as well not exist for me.
If I were staying on console, yes, since I see no advantage of digital worth paying significantly more for a product I cannot sell, takes an eternity to download, uses up 1/5th of my storage space and the publisher can take away from me at any point. However Sony's immense greed increasing game prices significantly more everywhere outside of the US and Japan has fully cemented my move to PC gaming, and physical has all but gone there now.
The Switch is the one remaining thing I'm uncertain about, cartridges on that are actually annoying to deal with (unlike discs), physical isn't cheaper, storage is plentiful and you don't even get nice packaging any more (look at the Mario Collection). But on the other hand Nintendo is not exactly trustworthy with digital, and Switch games retain a really great resale price. I'm working on a case by case basis with that now, if the game is one I'll never ever sell and has a really low quality retail release I'll look at digital, otherwise physical still.
The Switch is the one remaining thing I'm uncertain about, cartridges on that are actually annoying to deal with (unlike discs), physical isn't cheaper, storage is plentiful and you don't even get nice packaging any more (look at the Mario Collection). But on the other hand Nintendo is not exactly trustworthy with digital, and Switch games retain a really great resale price. I'm working on a case by case basis with that now, if the game is one I'll never ever sell and has a really low quality retail release I'll look at digital, otherwise physical still.
By the end of the 360 generation I had transitioned. Zero regrets. Been digital on PC for so long I don't remember when.
New-ish AAA games are usually cheaper at physical retailers, that new 70€ game is 65€ at my local Saturn. Indie games are of course different, their physical releases (if they exist) are usually stupidly overpriced. I go with what's cheapest. Plus having a disc tends to install a huge game a bit quicker than using my internet connection. I just wish they'd start using blurays instead of huge stacks of DVDs. I still remember how awkward it was when DVDs were introduced and many games still came on like 5 CDs.
I'm looking for a PS5DE since I didn't bought physical games lately (did it only to play D1, reselling the game short after).
Plus, I have no remaining space for useless things.
An only digital console will probably prevent me from buying D1 but I'm not so eager of playing unpatched games.
Plus, I have no remaining space for useless things.
An only digital console will probably prevent me from buying D1 but I'm not so eager of playing unpatched games.
no, i gave up on disc for consoles halfway through this generation. The Playstation Store constantly has discounts on games i'd like to buy so I'm not concerned about paying much more than I'd do with physical copies even with the price hike.
As someone who doesn't buy used copies or sells his old games i don't lose out on much with going digital financially but get the benefit of not having to swap discs or find place to put the boxes into.
Talking of swapping discs, the whole notion of having to put in a disc has become fucking useless anyway since the game is copied fully onto the storage and is only there to (annoy you) confirm you actually own the game when starting it. Add to that that basically starting with launch day the whole game is patched, modified and expanded multiple times, the game you're playing is in some cases unrecognizable to the game you have on the disc. So there goes that argument for ownership and the security of having a game playable when servers are shut off or a game is pulled from the store. We are already in an all digital future, the disc is at best there so you can have some financial benefit and at worst something where you hold on to an idea of ownership and worth that has for a long time now disappeared anyway.
For PC i'm digital only since Steam came out and it's a blessing to have your game library available to download whenever you want
As someone who doesn't buy used copies or sells his old games i don't lose out on much with going digital financially but get the benefit of not having to swap discs or find place to put the boxes into.
Talking of swapping discs, the whole notion of having to put in a disc has become fucking useless anyway since the game is copied fully onto the storage and is only there to (annoy you) confirm you actually own the game when starting it. Add to that that basically starting with launch day the whole game is patched, modified and expanded multiple times, the game you're playing is in some cases unrecognizable to the game you have on the disc. So there goes that argument for ownership and the security of having a game playable when servers are shut off or a game is pulled from the store. We are already in an all digital future, the disc is at best there so you can have some financial benefit and at worst something where you hold on to an idea of ownership and worth that has for a long time now disappeared anyway.
For PC i'm digital only since Steam came out and it's a blessing to have your game library available to download whenever you want
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I used to LOVE having a massive physical games collection and adored the collecting aspect probably just as much as I enjoyed playing the games. However, in this day and age with the amount of patches, changes etc we see months and even years into a games lifespan, if there was ever a time the servers went down and you wanted to play your physical games, the probability is that it'd likely be a broken mess compared to the final product that was up on the servers anyway, leaving the physical games collection essentially as a load of useless plastic license keys so to speak.
The last physical game I purchased was Borderlands 3, gave it to a friend once I'd finished with it and now they're releasing DLC and I no longer have access to the game and I wouldn't mind playing through it haha.
Got my PS5 DE on pre order and I wish we had a disc-less version of the Series X too as I know I'm never going to use the disc drive.
The last physical game I purchased was Borderlands 3, gave it to a friend once I'd finished with it and now they're releasing DLC and I no longer have access to the game and I wouldn't mind playing through it haha.
Got my PS5 DE on pre order and I wish we had a disc-less version of the Series X too as I know I'm never going to use the disc drive.
I'll continue to go physical on console due to bandwidth caps.
On PC I've pretty much given up on it
On PC I've pretty much given up on it
I can easily part with physical games, but not all physical media. These consoles are my dedicated blu ray player, too. Too many movies to give up physical.
I'll be using physical games for as long as they're available. They're cheaper, i get them delivered 1-2 days before official release day, i can resell and likewise buy secondhand even cheaper etc. For me it's mostly a money issue and not wanting to be beholden to whenever publishers feel like having a sale. If we eventually hit an all-digital future i'll be playing a whole lot less games.
It's happening faster than I would have thought, but there's a ton of good reasons:
1) PSN has sales basically every other week, and there are no physical game shops around here anymore (even if I wasn't restricted from going to them because of Covid), and online shops rarely have sales for anything except old games, which are also quite likely to be on PSN sales.
2) Basically instant delivery, while physical needs to be shipped, which tends to be annoying when games release on a Wednesday or Thursday but don't get to me before the weekend, which can be really annoying when I've decided to buy something on release rather than wait and get it cheaper.
3) CE versions kept me buying physical for a while, but I've realized that most CE versions are overpriced crap anyway.
4) I don't really sell games while they are worth anything, and it's a hassle to arrange sales and ship stuff off (especially now). I've basically never plowed through a game and then resold it. In the rare cases that I do plow through a game, like Sakura Wars, it's because I like it and want to keep it.
5) Even selling stuff later down the line... most of them will be pretty much worthless because if a game is good it will get reissued/remade, and if a game is bad noone wants it. And even if a game becomes expensive, like, say Suikoden II. Twenty years later you can probably expect to sell it easily for 3X the original price. Is that worth the hassle of hanging on to it for twenty years? I'm making a little money now, when I have a decent paying job anyway, from selling games that I bought when I didn't have much money. If I could have bought those games cheaper digitally and, like, invested in buying an apartment back then, I would have been much better off.
1) PSN has sales basically every other week, and there are no physical game shops around here anymore (even if I wasn't restricted from going to them because of Covid), and online shops rarely have sales for anything except old games, which are also quite likely to be on PSN sales.
2) Basically instant delivery, while physical needs to be shipped, which tends to be annoying when games release on a Wednesday or Thursday but don't get to me before the weekend, which can be really annoying when I've decided to buy something on release rather than wait and get it cheaper.
3) CE versions kept me buying physical for a while, but I've realized that most CE versions are overpriced crap anyway.
4) I don't really sell games while they are worth anything, and it's a hassle to arrange sales and ship stuff off (especially now). I've basically never plowed through a game and then resold it. In the rare cases that I do plow through a game, like Sakura Wars, it's because I like it and want to keep it.
5) Even selling stuff later down the line... most of them will be pretty much worthless because if a game is good it will get reissued/remade, and if a game is bad noone wants it. And even if a game becomes expensive, like, say Suikoden II. Twenty years later you can probably expect to sell it easily for 3X the original price. Is that worth the hassle of hanging on to it for twenty years? I'm making a little money now, when I have a decent paying job anyway, from selling games that I bought when I didn't have much money. If I could have bought those games cheaper digitally and, like, invested in buying an apartment back then, I would have been much better off.
No. I'm digital only for years now. More convenient and this world has way too much plastic already
I went all in on digital with the Switch because of cartridge size, and PS4 and XB1 because of digital sales and laziness. Also I lost some 360 discs due to the mischief of my young children. In short, I embraced the digital future.
Now my kids are older. It's nice to be able to let them play my games on their consoles. I've also started collecting some niche Switch games that are a little less common (mostly VN). I'm coming back down on the other side and beginning to reimbrace physical.
At this point in time, I probably would not buy a digital console, not even as my secondary/tertiary console.
Now my kids are older. It's nice to be able to let them play my games on their consoles. I've also started collecting some niche Switch games that are a little less common (mostly VN). I'm coming back down on the other side and beginning to reimbrace physical.
At this point in time, I probably would not buy a digital console, not even as my secondary/tertiary console.
It's not even about physical vs digital for me - I just don't like losing ownership and choice. If people want to just rent things, then great but if I pay £40 for a game (and apparently that's only going to rise next gen) I want to have the right to sell it second hand, to lend it to a friend, to dig it out 10 years from now and play it again, even if I have to rip it and emulate it. I can't do all that with the 'netflix of gaming', I can't even do it with a digital purchase.
I buy my games 60/40 digital/physical, and yeah I'm hesistant to give up physical. It's very useful if I'm not sure I'll enjoy the game, because I can sell or trade-in the game after playing several hours and recoup most of the cost. There's also some games (like SM3DAS) that I just want to collect a physical copy. I'll buy digital if I'm confident I'll enjoy the game, or if it's cheap. My entire One X games library is digital, simply because the digital discounts have been so steep. I'd buy physical if it were cheaper, but that hasn't been the case.
I'm hesitant to give up the option entirely. I'm probably 60-70% digital on consoles now, but gaming remains an expensive damn interest, and I can't give up the option of buying cheap/used/etc physical copies and being able to sell them myself to put toward the next one. (Especially with these things being f'ing $70 now.)
I do like to have physical copies of my favorite games, but for the vast majority, I don't specifically care about having a physical disc anymore, it's just trying to save a few bucks.
I do like to have physical copies of my favorite games, but for the vast majority, I don't specifically care about having a physical disc anymore, it's just trying to save a few bucks.
Yeah you wanna know why? Pricing.
79.99 games aren't for me, I'd rather get physical via pre order promos at 67.99... I'll also keep finding amazing deals on amazon and many other retailers
79.99 games aren't for me, I'd rather get physical via pre order promos at 67.99... I'll also keep finding amazing deals on amazon and many other retailers
A little because I love when theres a nice box art or steelbook, and looking at them over time, but I also hate clutter and would have way too many game boxes if I was all physical. I'm still keeping the option open with Series X and Switch, but I think I'm making the full digital jump on PlayStation.
Also, digital pricing usually doesn't bother me because in the US it's the same at launch and there are always sales and eventually deep discounts (and I don't loan/trade etc)
Also, digital pricing usually doesn't bother me because in the US it's the same at launch and there are always sales and eventually deep discounts (and I don't loan/trade etc)
I'm not gonna hold you I was all digital pretty much the entire gen. Now with that said, between broken games,unfinished games,mtx,season passes, dlcs and a price hike to $70 I wouldn't dare buy a single AAA digital game this new generation
I went all digital halfway through this generation and regret nothing at all. Less clutter and stuff just sitting on a shelf collecting dust.
I've invested more into digital this gen for sure - mostly indies on Switch and sales. I've bought 3 games full price digitally but mostly physical on XB1, PS4 and Switch. I am buying a PS5 with a drive. I like selling on when I am done. Maybe pick up again in a deep digital sale if the games are good enough to re-play.
Going with normal PS5 because I want to play PS4 games via BC. I don't trust the digital store of old games or the PS+ collection because maybe I could miss some games.
I remember changing from some full release non-indie game to another, for the first time on the Xbox 360 (before I changed to pc gaming) without having to get up to change discs and it felt so deeply satisfying and comfortable for my lazy ass that I never bought another physical game unless there wasn't another option. These days I can't even imagine what it feels like to put a disc in something just to play a game, seems like such an outdated concept (to me).
Yes, i love the convenience of digital, but after a few years you might end up with nothing.
And i dont like that.
Also, digital prevents me from snapping up cheap copies on online and also i cant play new titles and sell them right after for minimal loss.
Edit: Also, i was leaning on eventually getting a Digital version of PS5, but with games stepping up to 80€, not only am i not going to buy a console at launch; ive fully given up on the digital version.
And i dont like that.
Also, digital prevents me from snapping up cheap copies on online and also i cant play new titles and sell them right after for minimal loss.
Edit: Also, i was leaning on eventually getting a Digital version of PS5, but with games stepping up to 80€, not only am i not going to buy a console at launch; ive fully given up on the digital version.
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