Digital exceeds physical for the first time ever on PS4 (the future is here)

SunhiLegend · Jul 30, 2019

Alucardx23 said:
I buy launch games at $30.00 with family share. The same goes for any other game that I buy. Only have to pay 50% of the cost. Do you make more or less than 50% of the purchase cost of the physical game when you sell it?

Family share? I don't understand, what you saying is you split the cost between yourself and a family member? If that's the case I could do the same with physical. In either case I don't share my console, I don't have family members apart from my brother who play games and he isn't playing the same games I do, he only plays online games such as GTA/Fortnite.
With physical it's pretty simple in terms of money saving, KH3 is a recent example I can think of, brought it for £42, digital was £55, so already I've saved £13, then after a month or so I was done with it, wasn't thinking about going back to it, sold it for £30. With physical I played it, was done with it and sold it putting me at minus £12, with digital I'm £55 down with no option but to just delete it off my drive, can't sell it or make any money back.
That's a £43 difference which is huge, granted with KH3 I did sell it off early, with other games like Detroit I brought and sold it after about 3 months, but even then I still got back £20 after buying for £45, digital was about £50 or something. So yeah, much, much cheaper.

Master Alucard · Jul 30, 2019

well i guess that will save me a lot of money since i never buy digital above 25€

Alucardx23 · Jul 30, 2019

SunhiLegend said:
Family share? I don't understand, what you saying is you split the cost between yourself and a family member? If that's the case I could do the same with physical. In either case I don't share my console, I don't have family members apart from my brother who play games and he isn't playing the same games I do, he only plays online games such as GTA/Fortnite.
With physical it's pretty simple in terms of money saving, KH3 is a recent example I can think of, brought it for £42, digital was £55, so already I've saved £13, then after a month or so I was done with it, wasn't thinking about going back to it, sold it for £30. With physical I played it, was done with it and sold it putting me at minus £12, with digital I'm £55 down with no option but to just delete it off my drive, can't sell it or make any money back.
That's a £43 difference which is huge, granted with KH3 I did sell it off early, with other games like Detroit I brought and sold it after about 3 months, but even then I still got back £20 after buying for £45, digital was about £50 or something. So yeah, much, much cheaper.

No, I share the cost of the game with someone (50/50) and that someone and me are able to play the same game at the same time. Each one can access the games from their own account. Using your own example, I would have payed £27.5 for the digital version of KH3, and me and the other person can play it at the same time. What is the better offer? You buying the game at £42 to recover £30 by selling it, or me buying and keeping the game for £27.5? You can see the steps below.

How to Gameshare on PS4 | Digital Trends

Gamesharing has become a staple in the gaming world. It saves money and lets you try out new games before purchasing. Here's how you can gameshare with a PS4.

www.digitaltrends.com

Darth Smurf X · Jul 30, 2019

MilesTeg said:
Are we sure digital purchases are going to carry over?

Could you imagine the backlash if only physical game discs were BC? I really doubt that's a hill Sony is willing to die on.

for the nguyen · Jul 30, 2019

I wasn't a fan of digital games at the beginning, but then I got lazy and prefer the convenience of digital games.

BizzyBum · Jul 30, 2019

Starting next gen I am going 100% digital for the first time.

I've already started on my Switch a few months ago when they announced that voucher program.

End of an era and basically how I bought and played games for all of my life but years of collecting just creates so much clutter and I'm not the person who has a man cave or display room where I stock hundreds of my games on a shelf. It's also better for the environment in the long run, though that's almost a mute point considering we're going to fuck that up regardless within the next century.

Still, there's always that nice feeling of buying or getting shipped a new game fresh in the plastic wrapper and putting the game in the system. It just feels more personal and something that a digital purchase lacks.

dom · Jul 30, 2019

MilesTeg said:
Are we sure digital purchases are going to carry over?

There is no difference. Of course they will.

Marcus Brutalius · Jul 30, 2019

So 500m+ less plastic boxes on one plattform? Good, I give a flying shit about some user's desire to play
old ass games in 15-20 years from now.

Deleted member 12833 · Jul 30, 2019

Went all digital a year after PS4 launch. I have some 100+ PS4 games with only 10 being physical and I wish they weren't. For Switch, BOTW is the only physical game I have.

I couldn't imagine having 150+ game cases cluttering up my living space. I like place to look like I don't even game. The only visible gaming item is the PS4 itself. Switch is kept inside tv cabinet

Deleted member 52823 · Jul 30, 2019

Darth Smurf X said:
Could you imagine the backlash if only physical game discs were BC? I really doubt that's a hill Sony is willing to die on.

No idea. Since it hasn't been done before, I'm not assuming it's happening. I'll wait for official word.

Korigama · Jul 30, 2019

Nokagi said:
Regardless of what the digital future cheerleaders might say I do not see this as good news.

.

I prefer actual physical ownership of my games as opposed to mere icons on a screen and licenses telling (and occasionally showing) me that what I bought isn't really mine. And given how poorly every first-party minus MS have been doing with curation as of late, I trust console manufacturers on the matter as far as I can throw them.

Considering how often people sell their old games when they get sick of them to have money for the next flavor of the week, in addition to the fact that no savings from the lack of manufacturing and shipping products are passed onto the consumer, such a hearty endorsement of a digital future makes even less sense to me.

J-Skee · Jul 30, 2019

Darth Smurf X said:
Knowing the PS5 is BC with PS4 means I'll be ONLY buying digital from this day forward. Actually, since a few months ago when I stopped buying from Best Buy with the death of the GCU membership discounts.

That's kinda where I'm at. Unless there's a nice collector's edition of a game I really want, once my GCU is over at the end of the year, I'm going digital for full priced games.

Dark1x · Jul 30, 2019

Alucardx23 said:
I'm noticing something different from you, "Will never ever buy a full priced game digitally on a console", is a lot more flexible than "I will stop playing games if it all becomes digital". It should be clear by now that at some point the option to buy physical copies of a game wont be available. The real test for you will be once a game that would be a game of the year for you, only releases in digital format. At that moment you will have to decide if the plastic or the game is more important to you.

Oh, I won't stop. I'll just focus on retro. That's where my money and time goes these days. I mostly only play new games for coverage with a few exceptions.

zenosparadox · Jul 30, 2019

Snake Eater said:
Physical copies are just a massive waste of space

All digital should be required

Marcus Brutalius said:
So 500m+ less plastic boxes on one plattform? Good, I give a flying shit about some user's desire to play
old ass games in 15-20 years from now.

Can't fix stupid, unfortunately. This is morally presumptuous.

criteriondog · Jul 30, 2019

Digital since day one! I broke the trend for a few games but realized I hate putting discs in and all. lol.
99% of my library is digital on PS4 and Switch. It's so convenient.

Alucardx23 · Jul 30, 2019

Dark1x said:
Oh, I won't stop. I'll just focus on retro. That's where my money and time goes these days. I mostly only play new games for coverage with a few exceptions.

LOL, back to square one I guess. Does focusing on retro means exclusively play retro games or does it include playing a potential game of the year for you, that is not for work and that is only released in digital format?

Evildeadhead · Jul 30, 2019

Alucardx23 said:
LOL, back to square one I guess. Does focusing on retro means exclusively play retro games or does it include playing a potential game of the year for you, that is not for work and that is only released in digital format?

You're being a bit of a weirdo, mate.

spacer · Jul 30, 2019

Goodbye game ownership. I will miss you dearly.

Alucardx23 · Jul 30, 2019

Evildeadhead said:
You're being a bit of a weirdo, mate.

I need a little bit more information than that to answer. Don't know what you're talking about.

Evildeadhead · Jul 30, 2019

Alucardx23 said:
I need a little bit more information than that to answer. Don't know what you're talking about.

He stated his opinion and you keep badgering him as if there's some gotcha to be had. Let it go.

SunhiLegend · Jul 30, 2019

Alucardx23 said:
No, I share the cost of the game with someone (50/50) and that someone and me are able to play the same game at the same time. Each one can access the games from their own account. Using your own example, I would have payed £27.5 for the digital version of KH3, and me and the other person can play it at the same time. What is the better offer? You buying the game at £42 to recover £30 by selling it, or me buying and keeping the game for £27.5? You can see the steps below.

How to Gameshare on PS4 | Digital Trends

Gamesharing has become a staple in the gaming world. It saves money and lets you try out new games before purchasing. Here's how you can gameshare with a PS4.

www.digitaltrends.com

Ok, so you basically split the digital cost with someone you know, have them login to your PS4 and activate it so you both share each others library, I mean that's cool and all but I don't know anyone else who owns a PS4 personally, and even if I was to convince my brother to buy his own PS4 he doesn't play the same games I do so we won't be splitting costs on something like Death Stranding for instance.

Me buying and selling KH3 cost me £12 overall compared to the £27.5 with gameshare so I'd happily take that offer, I would need to also convince the person I'm splitting the cost with to buy the same games I want to buy, even if they do for everygame it's still much cheaper overall with physical, at least in my experience.
And that's just money wise, there's more reasons why I prefer physical but since money is the main one I'll stick to that.

Edit: Just to note I don't do this with every game, probably like 1 or 2 a year and a couple of the yearly sport releases which while I'm getting hardly anything back it's still like £10-£20 cheaper, so over the course of a few years/console lifespan it's a big saver.

DanteLinkX · Jul 30, 2019

SunhiLegend said:
Ok, so you basically split the digital cost with someone you know, have them login to your PS4 and activate it so you both share each others library, I mean that's cool and all but I don't know anyone else who owns a PS4 personally, and even if I was to convince my brother to buy his own PS4 he doesn't play the same games I do so we won't be splitting costs on something like Death Stranding for instance.

Me buying and selling KH3 cost me £12 overall compared to the £27.5 with gameshare so I'd happily take that offer, I would need to also convince the person I'm splitting the cost with to buy the same games I want to buy, even if they do for everygame it's still much cheaper overall with physical, at least in my experience.
And that's just money wise, there's more reasons why I prefer physical but since money is the main one I'll stick to that.

100% agree with this.

Dark1x · Jul 30, 2019

Alucardx23 said:
LOL, back to square one I guess. Does focusing on retro means exclusively play retro games or does it include playing a potential game of the year for you, that is not for work and that is only released in digital format?

It's likely that any potential Game of the Year for me will be one I'll want to cover anyways so I'm good.

I still buy a digital game now and then but I've never purchased a brand-new $60 game on day one digitally and I have no plans to start. To me, digital purchases are all disposable - specifically on consoles.

I'll admit that things are OK on PC due to the open nature of the platform. I regret every cent I spent on digital purchases for systems like Wii, iOS, Wii U and PSP/Vita. They were all a waste of money and some of them aren't even accessible. For Wii, I wanted to play Contra Rebirth and the like again but I transferred those to a Wii U that is now broken. The only thing I could do was grab the files from the internet to install on my homebrew Wii. No way to obtain my legally purchased version (or if there is, it's a huge hassle).

There are a number of iOS games that I DID actually enjoy that are not playable any longer which sucks.

Even PS3, which IS still online, is a huge pain due to the obscenely slow store, download and installation process. It's a nightmare.Nearly unusable.

Steam and Xbox Live are the ONLY two digital platforms I don't feel I was burned on!

Like I said - these days, I spent my free gaming time mostly playing 16 and 32-bit era games exclusively.

thepenguin55 said:
Personally, that's the approach I take with multiplayer focused games. I even take this approach with some single player games.

Yeah, this makes perfect sense. Multiplayer games purchased digitally is something I can get behind as you will require a connection to play anyways. Zero point in a physical copy.

That said, I very rarely play anything multiplayer. Don't really like modern online multiplayer games - there's too much focus on gear, grinding and progression as opposed to fun. That's kind of my current issue with a lot of modern games in general - everything is artificially extend to keep people playing. I don't find any of those systems even remotely fun.

There's still plenty of games being made that haven't fallen into that trap, thankfully, but the AAA space is flooded with it.

Marcus Brutalius · Jul 30, 2019

zenosparadox said:
Can't fix stupid, unfortunately. This is morally presumptuous.

Yeah, although I have no horse in this race, I see 1% of gaming crowd with their doomsday prediction concerning game preservation vs. their inability to see that music CDs haven't dissapeared yet although the vast majority has been consuming music digitally over the last ten years.
Once again -morally speaking -that's an easy one: if 10.000 people who would want to play PS1 Tomb Raider 1 right now or Assassin's Creed Origins in 15 years from now but can't do it versus less plastic shit...go for it.
And after all: the people have chosen. No need to apply any moral bs whatsover.
Maybe Nintendo will include SNES or N64 games in their subscription service with Switch 2, so don't worry.

Alucardx23 · Jul 30, 2019

Evildeadhead said:
He stated his opinion and you keep badgering him as if there's some gotcha to be had. Let it go.

I'm asking questions because it is still not clear to me. He could just say, "having a physical game is more important for me than the game itself, so the day a game is not released in physical format, it doesn't matter how good it is, I won't play it, even if it is a potential game of the year for me", but he doesn't say that. He does seem to say that he will continue to play new games in digital format for work, but I asked an specific question about a potential game of the year for him that is not related to work.

Hercule · Jul 30, 2019

Snake Eater said:
Physical copies are just a massive waste of space

All digital should be required

That's not for someone to decide. I personally have around 350 physical PS4 games alone and love it.

Alucardx23 · Jul 30, 2019

SunhiLegend said:
Ok, so you basically split the digital cost with someone you know, have them login to your PS4 and activate it so you both share each others library, I mean that's cool and all but I don't know anyone else who owns a PS4 personally, and even if I was to convince my brother to buy his own PS4 he doesn't play the same games I do so we won't be splitting costs on something like Death Stranding for instance.

Me buying and selling KH3 cost me £12 overall compared to the £27.5 with gameshare so I'd happily take that offer, I would need to also convince the person I'm splitting the cost with to buy the same games I want to buy, even if they do for everygame it's still much cheaper overall with physical, at least in my experience.
And that's just money wise, there's more reasons why I prefer physical but since money is the main one I'll stick to that.

Edit: Just to note I don't do this with every game, probably like 1 or 2 a year and a couple of the yearly sport releases which while I'm getting hardly anything back it's still like £10-£20 cheaper, so over the course of a few years/console lifespan it's a big saver.

Cool, at least you know you have that option. I would call it a better offer if I pay £27.5 and get to keep the game. The same applies for PSN Plus by the way.

Black Chamber · Jul 30, 2019

I am a physical-only gamer.

If it ever comes to pass that games are only available digitally; then I will no longer play video games.

Snake Eater · Jul 30, 2019

Hercule said:
That's not for someone to decide. I personally have around 350 physical PS4 games alone and love it.

Physical discs is plastic that just doesn't need to exist in 2019 and beyond

Genesius · Jul 30, 2019

I would understand arguments for physical preservation more if games were actually being released as complete patched versions on disc, but discs have been basically served as a glorified DRM this entire generation.

Alucardx23 · Jul 30, 2019

Dark1x said:
It's likely that any potential Game of the Year for me will be one I'll want to cover anyways so I'm good.

I still buy a digital game now and then but I've never purchased a brand-new $60 game on day one digitally and I have no plans to start. To me, digital purchases are all disposable - specifically on consoles.

I'll admit that things are OK on PC due to the open nature of the platform. I regret every cent I spent on digital purchases for systems like Wii, iOS, Wii U and PSP/Vita. They were all a waste of money and some of them aren't even accessible. For Wii, I wanted to play Contra Rebirth and the like again but I transferred those to a Wii U that is now broken. The only thing I could do was grab the files from the internet to install on my homebrew Wii. No way to obtain my legally purchased version (or if there is, it's a huge hassle).

There are a number of iOS games that I DID actually enjoy that are not playable any longer which sucks.

Even PS3, which IS still online, is a huge pain due to the obscenely slow store, download and installation process. It's a nightmare.Nearly unusable.

Steam and Xbox Live are the ONLY two digital platforms I don't feel I was burned on!

Like I said - these days, I spent my free gaming time mostly playing 16 and 32-bit era games exclusively.

Yes, but I asked about an specific case about a game that is potentially game of the year for you and you won't cover it for work. If the idea is that you will say you will stop buying/playing new games once everything become digital, but what will really happen is that you will simply call it work and continue playing new digital only games as normal, then that is something completely different from someone that says "I will stop buying/playing games if everything becomes digital", full stop. There is a part of you that knows that the games are more important than the distribution method and that is why you simply don't say "I will stop playing new games that interest me if it all becomes digital, outside of any job related gaming". I understand you have had bad experiences with digital distribution, but the experiences that games provide to me (and I'm sure that for all of us here as well) are more important than all of that. I cannot imagine missing out on games like Astro Bot, God of War, Red Dead 2, Beat Saber and others, just because I have an arbitrary rule about rejecting digital games.

DrLight66 · Jul 30, 2019

Genesius said:
I would understand arguments for physical preservation more if games were actually being released as complete patched versions on disc, but discs have been basically served as a glorified DRM this entire generation.

This. Even several limited edition releases that are supposed to be "complete" are often missing patches, such as the LRG PS4 CE of Game Tengoku Cruisinmix which is missing patches 1.04 and 1.05 on the disc despite not going into production until 4 months after the last patch was released.

Alucardx23 · Jul 30, 2019

DanteLinkX said:
100% agree with this.

Do you agree with the 53% that Sony reported on digital games as well? :D

Shark · Jul 30, 2019

The only drawback for going all-digital for me this gen has been it has led to a lot of impulse buying and buying stuff just because it is on sale and not because I have an intention of playing it right away. That's a personal issue and I've gotten a lot better at not doing that anymore this past year. My purchasing habits are going to continue to become more discerning next gen to avoid a repeat of this.

Dark1x · Jul 30, 2019

Alucardx23 said:
Yes, but I asked about an specific case about a game that is potentially game of the year for you and you won't cover it for work. If the idea is that you will say you will stop buying/playing new games once everything become digital, but what will really happen is that you will simply call it work and continue playing new digital only games as normal, then that is something completely different from someone that says "I will stop buying/playing games if everything becomes digital", full stop. There is a part of you that knows that the games are more important than the distribution method and that is why you simply don't say "I will stop playing new games that interest me if it all becomes digital, outside of any job related gaming". I understand you have had bad experiences with digital distribution, but the experiences that games provide to me (and I'm sure that for all of us here as well) are more important than all of that. I cannot imagine missing out on games like Astro Bot, God of War, Red Dead 2, Beat Saber and others, just because I have an arbitrary rule about rejecting digital games.

Nothing is GOTY until I've played it. If there's a great game that I can't cover being sold for $60 as a digital only game - I would probably just skip it until it went on sale for a low price or just ignore it altogether.

Usually, if there's a digital game I'm curious about, I will wait until I'm certain no physical copy will be produced. If that's the case, then I'll just buy it for cheap way down the line provided I'm still interested.

The fact is, my backlog is pretty large and I've lost that thrill of new game releases. I'm happy to just play something in my own time or just skip things. I don't need to play everything.

I guess I should say that I have a mental barrier about spending more than $20 on a digital game. I DO buy digital games at or under this price from time to time. I just consider them disposable purchases - like buying a movie ticket. I don't own anything, but it's a small fee to enjoy it once.

I can say for certain that I never plan to use a streaming service in my own free time. The tech is fascinating but I won't invest a dime in those ecosystems. As much as I don't care for digital games, I've used various services since 2004 for digital purchases - just not that often. I won't do it for streaming.

Deleted member 6730 · Jul 30, 2019

The future's been here for over a decade.

Gunny T Highway · Jul 30, 2019

Most of my purchases nowadays are digital. I only get physical for certain collector things.

danhz · Jul 30, 2019

Good but...why are games still 70day1 when physical is cheaper and they earn less money? Stop that nonsense

Dark1x · Jul 30, 2019

DumpsterJuice said:
Never you say? Sounds like the same thing people said when iTunes started to take over.

Digital since 360 and have no plans of buying physical in the foreseeable future. Unlike Dark1x, I will bypass saying never.

That's a funny thing.

I've purchased exactly three albums through iTunes in my lifetime (I use an iPhone too - so it's not like I'm using some other music store).

I DO use Netflix, however, but unlike music and games, I don't typically re-watch shows or movies unless I REALLY enjoy them. In which case, I buy the disc.

Themaddestgamer · Jul 30, 2019

danhz said:
Good but...why are games still 70day1 when physical is cheaper and they earn less money? Stop that nonsense

This is a good point I would also like see answered. Why isnt digital a bit cheaper for new games?

Alucardx23 · Jul 30, 2019

Dark1x said:
Nothing is GOTY until I've played it. If there's a great game that I can't cover being sold for $60 as a digital only game - I would probably just skip it until it went on sale for a low price or just ignore it altogether.

Usually, if there's a digital game I'm curious about, I will wait until I'm certain no physical copy will be produced. If that's the case, then I'll just buy it for cheap way down the line provided I'm still interested.

The fact is, my backlog is pretty large and I've lost that thrill of new game releases. I'm happy to just play something in my own time or just skip things. I don't need to play everything.

I guess I should say that I have a mental barrier about spending more than $20 on a digital game. I DO buy digital games at or under this price from time to time. I just consider them disposable purchases - like buying a movie ticket. I don't own anything, but it's a small fee to enjoy it once.

I can say for certain that I never plan to use a streaming service in my own free time. The tech is fascinating but I won't invest a dime in those ecosystems. As much as I don't care for digital games, I've used various services since 2004 for digital purchases - just not that often. I won't do it for streaming.

Sure, that's why I added "potentially GOTY". I'm sure I'm not the only one that feels when a game could be especial, after seeing trailers or gameplay videos. What got my attention from you was the "becoming retro only" comment you have made several times on threads like this. I now understand that you will not miss out on the digital only games that interest you, but you wont buy them at full price, if that is the case, then more power to you. I don't have any problems with that.

Dark1x · Jul 30, 2019

Alucardx23 said:
Sure, that's why I added "potentially GOTY". I'm sure I'm not the only one that feels when a game could be especial, after seeing trailers or gameplay videos. What got my attention from you was the "becoming retro only" comment you have made several times on threads like this. I now understand that you will not miss out on the digital only games that interest you, but you wont buy them at full price, if that is the case, then more power to you. I don't have any problems with that.

Right. Digital = disposable. You don't own anything thus, I don't mind throwing a low amount of money at such purchases. Just not full priced games.

Deleted member 11008 · Jul 30, 2019

I like both. I think my PS4 backlog is 60 digital/40 physical, I like physical when I buy game in series I'm invested (Resident Evil, Souls games) or close to the release date/first day, and the digital games are because the fantastic sales in the store. That said that, I don't think I will buy a digital game at full price.

I think with my Switch is going to be 80/20, I like the cases.

AwakenedCloud · Jul 30, 2019

MilesTeg said:
No idea. Since it hasn't been done before, I'm not assuming it's happening. I'll wait for official word.

The purchases are tied to your account and as far as the PlayStation is concerned, there's no difference between data downloaded onto it from a disc vs from the web. This shouldn't be a concern.

flyingman · Jul 30, 2019

I literally never owned a PS4 bluray disc.

BakedTanooki · Jul 30, 2019

No surprise here.
I'm still like 98% physical on current systems (Switch & PS4), and physical media/games will likely exist for many years to come. Will definitely continue to buy my games in physical format, as long as possible.

That being said, I also enjoy the convenience factor of digital games, especially for fighting games and multiplayer games. I often double dip for such games (physical + digital).

Yasuke · Jul 30, 2019

Aaron D. said:
Maybe there's some kind of resurgence that I'm unaware of, but all I've seen is mom & pop bookstores closing shop (a long time ago) and big retailers like Barnes & Noble downsizing in more recent years. There used to be like at least 10 B&N multi-level stores in the immediate DC metro area. Now there's only like 2 or 3 I think.

Think that's less to due with a shift to digital books and more to do with how prevalent ordering books from Amazon and other online retailers has gotten.

I flat out refuse to use an e-reader, but I buy at least 75% of my books online to be shipped directly to my house these days. So the traditional book shops still don't stand a chance, unfortunately.

I try to do my part at Barnes & Noble (I still love visiting them, and I've actually got a membership card), but yeah :/

JuicyPlayer · Jul 30, 2019

Scary times we live in. Hopefully future consoles are easy to crack just in case companies try to take our licenses from us.

Izzard · Jul 30, 2019

I'm happy to share the future with digital only players, but screw anyone who tries to take away my discs.

Arm Van Dam · Jul 30, 2019

The reason why I'm 95% digital is because of the frequent sales on the store since 2013

Digital exceeds physical for the first time ever on PS4 (the future is here)

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