What would it take for you to go all-digital?

[zombiejames]

Here's how I define the above:

Returns
You can return a game for a full refund before <X> amount of days or before you've hit <X> amount of hours. This is already commonplace on the PC but not consoles where you either have to go through the process of arguing with support or you just can't do it. This includes cancelling pre-orders.

Lending
You temporally transfer your license for a game to someone else for a set period of time (like a week) after which it automatically comes back to you.

Trading
A one-for-one license exchange. Both parties agree to which games they'll be trading and each game will be permanently moved to the other person's account.

Pricing
Digital games don't need to be pressed, printed, packaged, shipped, or have a retailer markup. They should be cheaper by default.

For me, it's all of the above. Maybe I'd put returns ahead of the other two, but I think it's important that we have as many privileges as possible with digital games that we do with physical.

edit: Adding pricing to the poll.

 

[Deleted member 21709]

Already full digital since PS4 launch and not going back.

 

[ciddative]

Ownership

I never borrow lend or trade, and remain physical only mainly due to the fact the platform holder has the option to revoke access to my money spent.

Until that changes, the inconvenience of walking 4 feet to swap discs is more than acceptable

 

[pbayne]

Pricing-as long as it could at least match what retail sites can offer

 

[Egocrata]

PC guy here. I don´t even have disc drive.

 

[____]

Already 99.9% all digital.

I know I'm the consumer Era hates, but I don't give a single fuck about trading, lending or returning games. I spend my $20-60 to have the 10-30 hour experience and whether I enjoy it or not, it is what it is. I don't need to have the game in my hands 15 years down the line to feel like I got my money's worth.

I don't trade, lend or return physical games so it's all the same to me.

 

[Deleted member 12224]

Trade-in value is the only reason I buy discs and the only reason I refuse to go digital.

It's not that I need the money, but it's a huge feelbad to throw away obvious value for nothing gained. I feel dumb otherwise.

 

[TheWooniestWoona]

No DRM. That way I can back up my games, and if a game gets delisted then there's still ways to get it. And most importantly, if their servers go down I can still play my game.

Probably not going to happen on consoles, but GoG already does it on PC.

 

[GreatBritton]

Retail games usually go on sale much faster than digital, which is the main reason I buy physical. But I also buy lots of games digital as well!

 

[TradedHats]

I've always just liked having physical copies of what I own. I'll go digital if the price difference for a game is so great that I can't look past it, but that rarely happens. I don't really care about the lending or renting aspect, but buying used games is always nice.

 

[SteveWinwood]

i mean steam has family sharing which already sounds better than your lending idea

 

[RockmanBN]

Give me all the games for absolutely free.

 

[TheCobraTwister]

Affordable fiber internet in my area.

 

[Segafreak]

• 4TB SSD
• 25% cheaper than retail
• Better support service and local support like EA Origin

 

[mute]

No DRM and some sort of guarantee that the downloads are going to be available for at least as long as the life of the hardware.

Also, something to prevent that Pokemon Sw/Sh DLC shitshow

 

[Nazgûl]

physical stop to exist

 

[Combichristoffersen]

Won't happen. I'd rather quit gaming than go all digital.

 

[Bradbatross]

Already there.

 

[Wil Grieve]

The Switch kinda turned me into an all-digital guy. My PC doesn't have a disc drive and 99% of my PS4/Switch games are digital. I'll probably end up getting the discless PS5 too. I don't have a 4K TV and don't watch DVDs so I don't really have any need for the drive.

 

[Nephtes]

Ownership

Click to shrink...

It's a real question these days.
In the Super Nintendo days and PlayStation days before patches, yeah that was true. You owned the game as is, it was never going to change.

These days though, how many games actually ship in a state you'd want to play without a day one patch? Final Fantasy VII Remake is about the only example I can think of off the top of my head in the modern age of games.

Recently I broke out some SNES games from 30 years ago... and I was thinking, 30 years from now if I want to play some PS4 games on disc and I go to install them but there's no server for a 30 year old game patch... Will I even be able to play the game?

And with games like Destiny and The Division and Fortnite intrinsically tied to their online services despite coming in disc format...what good will a disc do 30 years from now? What do you really have ownership of?

 

[Ryuelli]

I've always just liked having physical copies of what I own.

Click to shrink...

Yep, same here. Mentally I feel like I get "more" with something I can physically hold.

If I were to go all digital I'd need everything to be DRM free and $10-15 cheaper than the physical version.

 

[OHRye]

Honestly, the only way I'd go all digital, is if they forced me too.

Price is the main issue. Physical games are almost always cheaper, and I can resell when I'm done. If done right, you can almost get paid to play some games. I've gotten plenty of games for $15 or $20 during Black Friday, then a week later sell them for $10 more than I paid.

 

[WolverinesFather]

Price is a big one, if I'm going to give up some ownership perks, I need to be able to spend less up front. I would say returns as well, even though it can't fully be done with physical, I think it would be good to have the option.

I'm not sure I will ever go full digital, but I'm about 50% now, just because I don't like the idea of games being able to be removed at random.

 

[SilverArrow20XX]

If physical stops existing, I'll go digital.

 

[Transistor]

I pretty much already have. As games constantly need patches and need to be installed to the console anyways, I've long since lost interest in physical copies.

 

[archreaper93]

Other:

Enough storage space so that I could have every digital game downloaded on the system at once.

 

[ElectricBlanketFire]

At this point, it's just easier to go all digital now that our kids are playing games. No danger of losing/scratching the games, having to pack them for a trip, etc...

 

[Karlinel]

Already 99.9% all digital.

I know I'm the consumer Era hates, but I don't give a single fuck about trading, lending or returning games. I spend my $20-60 to have the 10-30 hour experience and whether I enjoy it or not, it is what it is. I don't need to have the game in my hands 15 years down the line to feel like I got my money's worth.

I don't trade, lend or return physical games so it's all the same to me.

Click to shrink...

You and I will get along, sir!

 

[WascallyWabbit]

Right now, there's enough sales on physical where sometimes I just grab that when it's cheaper. Though I def prefer digital
So I guess my answer is "Other - once physical games stop being sold"

 

[Sotonian]

When i can get games cheaper digitally than physical, for example Last of Us 2 is £55 digital, can get it for £40 physical

 

[Deleted member 9857]

I'm already all-digital but I voted for refunds (like Xbox has started doing which is similar to Steam's approach) & lending would be pretty cool though seems less likely

at the same time MoviesAnywhere did recently introduce something sorta like lending for digital movies

trading is never going to happen though

 

[ShinobiBk]

I'll never go all digital although I'm more digital than physical with Xbox games cause of Game Pass.
I still like the option of picking up physical games on say Black Friday or whatever

 

[FreddeGredde]

I mean I almost feel like I'm cheating the system when I buy a physical game, finish it and then sell it for the same amount I bought it for.
But it sure saves a lot of money and I can play any game I want without thinking budget.

So yeah, I'll probably keep doing that until it's no longer an option, or if I can trade/sell my digital copy.
Then I have absolutely no reason to get physical games anymore.

 

[raketenrolf]

Don't know tbh. I have no problems with it on PC but I guess the closed eco systems on consoles is part of why I don't like it as much on console. 100% bc would be cool but I would hesitate even then.

 

[rochellepaws]

Actual proper cataloging software on consoles so I can clearly see, order and organise the games I own (including those not currently downloaded) in a convenient way. The 3DS was the only system that actually did this well with the activity log but Nintendo have downgraded its features with each future system for some reason.

Along with the other reasons of price and ability to trade.

 

[Voyevoda]

If physical stops existing, I'll go digital.

Click to shrink...

Basically this. If I literally have no choice but digital to play video games, I'll switch.

 

[Redcrayon]

Pricing. When I can buy a digital copy here, day one, and have it be at least £5 cheaper than the online retailers to take into account trade-in value, then I'll be digital in a heartbeat on new games. Until then, I like having the choice of both and deep discounts on digital games in the sales, while I buy larger titles physically for £10 less and recoup much of that cost through trade-ins.

This is pretty much the exact same position with games I was in a decade ago, and the only move towards it is high street games retail continually circling the drain.

 

[Dylan]

I'm so all-digital I don't even buy the consoles anymore. Currently streaming everything.

 

[Deleted member 7883]

Reliable internet and a hard drive capable of holding at least 10 AAA games (with large-af install sizes) along with 20 smaller/last gen/indie games. That's all it would take. Hell im basically all digital now... but i still don't feel 100% comfortable w/ buying the digital only SKU for PS5 as an example

 

[Bishop89]

honestly, prices...

Digital launch prices are a joke.

eg: I can get TLOU2 at retail at launch for $69 (AU). Im pretty sure its $99 on the PSN store....

 

[Derachi]

I'm 100% digital already. It's just more convenient for me, someone who buys a lot of games and doesn't have a lot of space to put discs.

I have no fear of Microsoft or Sony ever shutting down their content servers, as long as those companies exist. Especially Microsoft, who seems extremely keen on keeping every generation as accessible as possible. I genuinely don't get the fear that people might "lose access" to their games. The only times this has happened that I can think of was the Wii Shop (but also those games are easily emulated elsewhere) and like, PT, which was a playable teaser for a game that was cancelled. Is there any examples of a major game console manufacturer revoking access to purchased digitally downloaded full retail games that I don't know about?

 

[daybreak]

Rural areas to suddenly have proper internet, for one.

That proper internet to not have bandwidth caps, for another.

And then some of the stuff on the list regarding pricing, trading, etc.

 

[endlessflood]

It would take the launch price in my country for digital games to be reduced by 30%.

Then it would match physical pricing.

 

[KaCo]

I'm on the 'digital prices needs to be cheaper/or around the retail price' boat.

 

[AndrewDean84]

If each console had a game pass type program, or a digital rental service.

 

[Shoshi]

I went digital with PS4 long time ago but the problem is movies.

If there was one App for PS5 where you could stream many good cineastic movies plus blockbuster Star Wars & LotR & Disney in GOOD quality. (Maybe there already is??)

Using VPN on PS5 to access other App region's contents seems also too difficult.
So I would still buy Blurays if it weren't for the horrible DVD/Bluray prices here in Japan!
Buuut! We can still RENT physical movies here! So no I need a Bluray player!

 

[Iori Fuyusaka]

Infinite local storage space.

Everyone talks a big game about how physical games take up too much space.

I think digital games take up too much space.

My physical games are quite happy on my shelf.

 

[Deleted member 135]

I'll never go all digital.

 

[UberTag]

Bandwidth caps to go away.
Ecosystem license adoption... i.e. if I buy a game once on PlayStation, I can migrate it to any PlayStation platform via my account.

Returns would be a nice perk... but the top 2 are the big ones for me.

 

[Torpedo Vegas]

There would have to be literally no physical options available.