Game reviewers - do you ever get physical review copies?

Yeah, it is pretty uncommon. Haven't personally received a physical copy since Mario + Rabbids last year, which was also pretty surprising. Before that, I'd have to go back to the PS3/360 days, I think. Physical review copies were much more common back then.

It's maybe 1 out of 10 these days. Activision is the only publisher I work with that's been consistently sending physical copies.

For smaller publishers, it makes sense to cut out the shipping costs and just send a voucher.

Not so much these days. Sony was sending review kits all the time. They still do sometimes, but with code inside it (if its not coming in time, they send another code by mail).

But mostly it is codes nowadays.

In Australia at least, Namco Bandai and Focus Home Interactive still send physical review copies of their games.

I started reviewing midway through the Xbox 360/PS3 lifecycle and the split was still 70/30 then.

Bandai Namco are the most popular physical reviews - these days I get mostly digital download codes.

Which is all well and good until someone forgets to send you unlock code on Xbox One...

Nintendo usually only sends out physical copies for things with accessories, otherwise it's usually only codes. Most publishers now only send out codes in my experience. Sometimes we get Collector's Edition which obviously contains the physical game.

I review on Xbox One mainly, and there it's much less than before, but yes. Japanese publishers like Konami often still do, but most companies seemed to have moved to digital. Ubisoft seems to send discs for more notorious games (eg. The Division or Siege) and codes for smaller ones (eg. Steep or TrackMania). EA seems to go digital mostly. Activision seems to swing from time to time, for example the last 4 Call Of Duty games were disc-digital-digital-disc in order for us. But in general, given how there's tons of games that don't get physical releases, or delayed limited ones, nearly all games we get come with codes nowadays. Which also means that the goodies packs or special press editions are much more rare than they used to be. It still happens with some bigger releases AFAIK (I personally get few, but that may also be due to the game genres and publishers I'm mainly into).

Usually Nintendo and some very random titles. Think the latest one I received was the latest Flatout

80 to 90 percent digital these days -- but yeah, WB is one of the few that still sends physical discs.

Used to review stuff a couple-few years back and don't recall ever getting sent anything physically. It was all codes

WB has always sent me physical copies. But the rest is always digital now. I'm still waiting for Hitman 2 code.

I stopped reviewing games earlier this year but up til then I was getting physicals from some places. When the Switch came out a lot of my Switch games were physical copies, esp from Nintendo and Ubi. Nicalis also likes to send physical copies. Sony is another. Otherthan that, yeah, digital all the way down.

I still do receive a fair amount of physical copies unfortunately in France. The issue is that some of your review time is lost waiting 2 days for the mail.
I definitely prefer receiving a code.

Yeah, it's still done, but not by many. Last one I personally did was FIFA 17, but we've had a fair few recently. What's odd is how they come. Sometimes it's just a disc in a clear small case, other times it's basically a full retail package. I will have to ask next time we get a physical review copy why they're doing physical instead of codes.

I remember The Last Guardian review copy comes with a fancy statue.

Sinc ethe PS3 era, most of the games started to come digital because it was easier to send, specially indie games. Now is pretty rare. You had to go to a press event to get that phisical promotional copy.

Mostly digital codes

Wow! In my times (2000-2012), all products were physical. Didn't know it wasnt the case anymore. How it works? You're on a different psn/xbl ?

shaneo632 said:

Nah they just give you a digital code which is yours to keep.

Click to expand...

Click to shrink...

So you could sell the code on the net. It seems not a good idea, not all game reviewers are professionnal. Though, I guess they keep track of codes.

Rarely. Got only one this year which was Detroit and then I got a physical copy of RDR 2 sent to me after I already got a code.

Usually Sony sends physical stuff but they ended up sending me a code for Spider-Man.

Mercador said:

So you could sell the code on the net. It seems not a good idea, not all game reviewers are professionnal. Though, I guess they keep track of codes.

Click to expand...

Click to shrink...

Most PR people want you to send them your coverage and stuff once it goes up so if they send you a copy and you don't give them a review... they'll know.

It's super-rare. Usually, it's all digital for the review period, and then, on launch day, we'll get a few physical for the rest of the team.

ME Andromeda was the only one in 2 years. Thankfully. Couldn't care less about press-kits, discs and other physical shit.

Not normally. Digital codes usually.

Mercador said:

So you could sell the code on the net. It seems not a good idea, not all game reviewers are professionnal. Though, I guess they keep track of codes.

Click to expand...

Click to shrink...

That's what you'd think. Steam, for example, does notify you if someone queries your key (to see what it's attached to). Having done over 100+ reviews through Steam, I can say I think I saw that message come across my inbox once or twice.

ASleepingMonkey said:

Most PR people want you to send them your coverage and stuff once it goes up so if they send you a copy and you don't give them a review... they'll know.

Click to expand...

Click to shrink...

Yeah I know, we did almost 3k reviews during that period. And we told PR folks of our reviews once online (even when it was really a bad score).

But I wasnt aware that PR teams switched from physical to digital reviews assets. It makes sense though, less time wasted in shipping stuff.

The bulk of reviews are now digital codes. Ubisoft, WB, EA, all the big boys are sending out codes to save on logistics. Which sucks because they have zero resale value. I remember in the PS2/Xbox days you could "recoup" part of your time spent on writing/testing by selling secondhand titles. That wasn't much mind you, but still better than $0. Most websites make little to no money reviewing games, at least in our market (FR/CA). I'm one of the lucky few who actually make more than a couple dollars with AdSense, but still not enough to do it full-time or hire people. In fact I'd argue it's the same with English gaming websites, though they have wider appeal since the language is more universal - meaning more potential revenue + traffic.

In fact I don't remember the last time I got a review through mail. Certainly not for this generation of consoles. Publishers would rather spend their money on "influencer kits" if at all.

Very rarely. I think the last physical review copy I got was for Persona 5.

Strangely I have been getting tons offered to me lately. Which I am not sure why. I don't accept them and just go for digital when I can.

Nope

It's pretty rare except for Pokémon games.

I got Metal Gear Rising Revengeance and Super Bomberman R as physical copies, which was really weird. There was also that weird madcatz dog fighting game, but it came with a joystick so that makes some sense at least.

I've found the earlier I get a game, the more likely it is to be a physical copy instead of a code. If I'm in the super early first wave of review copies, it's usually a physical copy. If I'm getting it a week before release (or less), it's usually a code. Publisher doesn't seem to matter that much.

FedEx used to stop at my house 3 times a day in the holiday season, it was bonkers.

We just send codes now for the most part

Phantom said:

Ubisoft

Click to expand...

Click to shrink...

Just three years ago I mainly received physical copies -- no matter what publisher, agency (that is handling the review copies for them) or dev. Now it's mostly digital. To my surprise though, I got AC Odyssey physical... for PC! While I specifically asked for a uPlay code. No problem though, because I like physical editions.

PS4 versions of games I still get digital and physical equally often. It's the PC version I get 90% digital.

ASleepingMonkey said:

Most PR people want you to send them your coverage and stuff once it goes up so if they send you a copy and you don't give them a review... they'll know

Click to expand...

Click to shrink...

You could get away with it, because some companies handle it manually and won't notice. EA on the other hand require you to upload proof of work via an online tool and you're only eligible for further copies when your proof was uploaded and approved.

Hmm... last times I can remember getting one were Call of Duty: Black Ops III and The Order: 1886. Hundreds of codes on offer for physics games, though.

Im in Brazil so it's all digital here, though honestly i would prefer this way.

Whenever they can put out a code is very likely the time they can also send out physical copies, so given the option i'll always pick digital simply because it's faster so i get to it sooner than waiting for mail.

Very rarely

ThreepQuest64 said:

Just three years ago I mainly received physical copies -- no matter what publisher, agency (that is handling the review copies for them) or dev. Now it's mostly digital. To my surprise though, I got AC Odyssey physical... for PC! While I specifically asked for a uPlay code. No problem though, because I like physical editions.

PS4 versions of games I still get digital and physical equally often. It's the PC version I get 90% digital.

You could get away with it, because some companies handle it manually and won't notice. EA on the other hand require you to upload proof of work via an online tool and you're only eligible for further copies when your proof was uploaded and approved.

Click to expand...

Click to shrink...

WHAT?! I've never had to do that.

Cutty said:

In Australia at least, Namco Bandai and Focus Home Interactive still send physical review copies of their games.

I started reviewing midway through the Xbox 360/PS3 lifecycle and the split was still 70/30 then.

Click to expand...

Click to shrink...

To expand on this, in Australian Bandai Namco distribute their own games, as well as Square Enix, Nippon Ichi and Codemaster games.

Physical copies tend to be pretty rare now, with Bandai, Activision, EA and sometimes Nintendo (mostly for 3ds titles) coming as physical copies.

It's just easier for everyone involved to send/receive a code than a physical copy.

Lotta game reviewers in here...how do I get in on this action? Just start writing reviews and send them to various gaming websites?

Yo! I remember the days of lavish press-kits

Digital codes should be fine for reviewers so they're not blinded by the lavish physical bribes. It also weeds out those who're only it for the "loot".

Digital 100% of the time for at least 5 years now for me.

Very few games I cover get an initial physical release anyway so it's even more rare than it would otherwise be. I usually end up buying physical copies of the games I've reviewed that I'm particularly fond of when/if they finally come out.

The last time I got a physical game to review was about a decade ago.

I stopped reviewing games about 4 years ago and at that point we still got TONS of review discs. I still have a few at home.

PS3 and Wii U mainly