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Do you buy digital or physical games?
- Thread starter kyliethicc
- Start date
- Opinion Poll
Craig of War
Banned
Im like 80 percent digital nowdays i still buy Physical for Switch games and some Playstation games but im 100% digital on Xbox cause i used it for gamepass
and PC is all digital so yeah
and PC is all digital so yeah
Dust-by-Monday
Member
I don't like the idea that they can revoke my license any time they want, but I still buy a lot of digital games. I've been trying to convert more to physical just for game preservation, but with games needing lots and lots of patches to add features or make the game playable, it's getting harder to justify even having the disc in the first place.
Years down the road, you put the disc in and it plays like crap and it's missing 90% of the content because that's all the disc came with (I'm looking at you DriveClub ;-))
Years down the road, you put the disc in and it plays like crap and it's missing 90% of the content because that's all the disc came with (I'm looking at you DriveClub ;-))
adamsapple
Or is it just one of Phil's balls in my throat?
New games = physical
Older games = digital only if they're below $10.
Older games = digital only if they're below $10.
Dust-by-Monday
Member
Almost 100% of the disc game ship with the full game on them. It's just the DLC you don't get.
Remember when people thought Resident Evil Village downloaded mostly from the internet? That was a lie. The user was mistaken because it had a split install where you could start playing the game before the entire disc was copied over. It 100% does not require an internet connection to install and play that game. Same thing with AC:Valhalla. You can play it offline without having to download anything.
Dust-by-Monday
Member
When was this a thing? I have yet to see a disc that doesn't have the game on it. Please tell me which game requires a download.
DevilMayFlyForAWhiteGuy
Member
On Xbox it’s like 70/30 Physical/Digital. Prefer physical unless there’s a digital sale on something for $15 or less. Also there’s digital only games that I don’t have the choice on obviously. If the same game is $5 more for physical I’ll shell out for it.
On Switch I don’t have many games for it, but it’s basically 50/50. Switch games never have huge sales so I just get whichever has a meager sale first (between physical and digital). Usually stuff like old ports (DMC3 or No More Heroes) get pretty cheap digitally when on sale so I grabbed those.
On Switch I don’t have many games for it, but it’s basically 50/50. Switch games never have huge sales so I just get whichever has a meager sale first (between physical and digital). Usually stuff like old ports (DMC3 or No More Heroes) get pretty cheap digitally when on sale so I grabbed those.
GrayDock
Member
Mostly physical, since me and my friends like to borrow each other games from time to time. Yep, 'physical' friends are still a thing for me.
I only buy digital at huge discounts and only when it's a online only game or when it's a single player like that doesn't have a physical option, which is a shame and more common these days...
I only buy digital at huge discounts and only when it's a online only game or when it's a single player like that doesn't have a physical option, which is a shame and more common these days...
TintoConCasera
I bought a sex doll, but I keep it inflated 100% of the time and use it like a regular wife
For PC, digital. The deals are just too good to ignore.
For consoles, physical. I don't own too many console games, so the few I have I want to have them on physical. I miss manuals tho.
For consoles, physical. I don't own too many console games, so the few I have I want to have them on physical. I miss manuals tho.
Imru’ al-Qays
Member
I mostly buy physical unless there's a sale on the PS Store
Kagoshima_Luke
Gold Member
90% physical on console, 100% digital on PC.
digitaltrance
Member
PC is all digital
Console is physical
Console is physical
100% digital and have been for almost a decade.
If you don't live in a major country it's so much cheaper it's unreal. New releases are $120 USD here, whereas $60 online. And the sales you get sometimes digitally are incredible, and way better than brick-and-mortar sales, even in the US. No-brainer.
Then on top of that you get the convenience of not having shit cluttering up your place. And I never resold games anyway.
Lastly, the whole game doesn't even come on the disk anymore anyway, so it's not like that disk is all you need once the servers go down. There's day-1 updates and major patches and free DLC etc etc.
If you don't live in a major country it's so much cheaper it's unreal. New releases are $120 USD here, whereas $60 online. And the sales you get sometimes digitally are incredible, and way better than brick-and-mortar sales, even in the US. No-brainer.
Then on top of that you get the convenience of not having shit cluttering up your place. And I never resold games anyway.
Lastly, the whole game doesn't even come on the disk anymore anyway, so it's not like that disk is all you need once the servers go down. There's day-1 updates and major patches and free DLC etc etc.
Jeeves
Member
I play Switch and PC. PC is predictably all digital.
On Switch, it depends. If it's a single-player game that I'll do a playthrough of and then shelve it until my next playthrough, I go physical. If it's a game I'll be loading up often and unpredictably (Smash Bros., Animal Crossing etc) I go digital. This way I get the perks of physical for much of my library, but I also rarely have to swap game carts, and I save on SD card space too.
On Switch, it depends. If it's a single-player game that I'll do a playthrough of and then shelve it until my next playthrough, I go physical. If it's a game I'll be loading up often and unpredictably (Smash Bros., Animal Crossing etc) I go digital. This way I get the perks of physical for much of my library, but I also rarely have to swap game carts, and I save on SD card space too.
The_hunter
Member
I picked 30% digital since some stuff is just exclusively digital. I go physical when I can.
RoadHazard
Gold Member
All big full price releases I buy physical. It's cheaper, I can sell or lend out the games, etc. Smaller titles I buy digital (which is usually the only option anyway). Also online-focused games that I want available whenever. I very rarely buy anything like that though, but one case where I did is Mario Kart 8 Deluxe. That made sense to have always ready to fire up no matter which SP game is currently in the cartridge slot.
kyliethicc
Member
Interesting to see the plurality is 100% digital. The trend is obvious.
And those who prefer physical are more likely to also buy an occasional digital game.
And those who prefer physical are more likely to also buy an occasional digital game.
NewYork214
Member
Ps5 is like 90%digital. Rarely buy physical unless good deal. Switch is like 60% physical. Don't know why but just feels more natural with nintendo. Might be cause I'm a 90s kid and using cartridge feels more natural with ninentdo lol
Edit: plus I buy my switch games on ebay since their fucking games are never cheap, since I only buy Nintendo games for switch. Big part of the reason
Edit: plus I buy my switch games on ebay since their fucking games are never cheap, since I only buy Nintendo games for switch. Big part of the reason
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I don’t really have any hard rule about physical vs digital but I usually buy PlayStation and Nintendo games physical. Sometimes I buy physical and digital Nintendo games and keep a sealed copy. PC and Xbox is all digital and where I do the majority of my gaming. I literally have probably a thousand different digital games between all the different storefronts. I just go wherever the best deals are.
Bakkus
Member
This.
DonJorginho
Banned
All Digital for the PS5, all Physical for the Series X and 50/50 on the Switch.
Sidney Prescott
Member
All digital. I buy a lot of my games when they go on the PSN sales.
I just wait until they have something I'm interested in for a good price and I'll jump on it, but other than that I just play a lot of games already in my library.
I just wait until they have something I'm interested in for a good price and I'll jump on it, but other than that I just play a lot of games already in my library.
This is kind of me. I rarely buy games at launch and when I do it's physical. I will really only buy digital if it's $10 or less. Otherwise physical.
nominedomine
Banned
Physical on console unless it's dirty cheap on PSN. Digital on PC because I have no other option.
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StreetsofBeige
Gold Member
Last disc game I bought was I think Witcher 3 with the bonus book.
Home sharing with a friend is awesome. Cuts the costs in half. Sub plans are included in home sharing too.
Home sharing with a friend is awesome. Cuts the costs in half. Sub plans are included in home sharing too.
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kyliethicc
Member
FYI - since I see many under the false illusion:
You own licenses to use. You don’t own the games. Physical and digital.
You own licenses to use. You don’t own the games. Physical and digital.
Doctor Hades
Member
I prefer to buy physical for the sense of ownership and to have something to sell on once I am done with the game (or console) but I do admit that as someone who plays lots of different games at any one time that the convenience of having a digital game is very appealing, doing away with the need to constantly swap discs. In that sense, I actually like it when a game I own on disc comes to GamePass (on Xbox Series X) or PSN+ (on PS5) so I can play it without the disc. Case in point, I bought F1 2021 for my Xbox Series X last year and now it is on GamePass so I can load it up whenever I want now without having to change discs.
100% digital ownership though is not something I would be happy with on console for two reasons; (1) release day games are too expensive considering there's no packaging or disc manufacturing costs but I can buy the physical version £10 cheaper from the likes of The Game Collection or similar here in the UK; and (2) I don't feel like I own a digital game at all and there's always the feeling that you could lose access to the game if the publishers decides to remove it from the server or the server goes down (which happened with the Xbox Series X last weekend when I was unable to play the single player GTA V campaign). However, I am happy to pick up digital games in the sales when they are heavily discounted to more appealing amounts (sub-£25). This then makes up for the lack of production costs which is never reflected in the price of the games when they are first released. Paying £69.99 for a digital PS5 game is eye-watering but paying £59.99 for a physical disc that has worth is fine (albeit still expensive).
On PC, I buy all of my games digitally because, well, physical copies don't exist anymore but, even so, 99.9% of my games are bought much cheaper that, say, Steam prices from key resellers such as CDKeys.com so I've never had a problem with buying games that way for PC. Consoles though have less options and so physical discs remain the best value for me personally.
100% digital ownership though is not something I would be happy with on console for two reasons; (1) release day games are too expensive considering there's no packaging or disc manufacturing costs but I can buy the physical version £10 cheaper from the likes of The Game Collection or similar here in the UK; and (2) I don't feel like I own a digital game at all and there's always the feeling that you could lose access to the game if the publishers decides to remove it from the server or the server goes down (which happened with the Xbox Series X last weekend when I was unable to play the single player GTA V campaign). However, I am happy to pick up digital games in the sales when they are heavily discounted to more appealing amounts (sub-£25). This then makes up for the lack of production costs which is never reflected in the price of the games when they are first released. Paying £69.99 for a digital PS5 game is eye-watering but paying £59.99 for a physical disc that has worth is fine (albeit still expensive).
On PC, I buy all of my games digitally because, well, physical copies don't exist anymore but, even so, 99.9% of my games are bought much cheaper that, say, Steam prices from key resellers such as CDKeys.com so I've never had a problem with buying games that way for PC. Consoles though have less options and so physical discs remain the best value for me personally.
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Y0ssarian
Banned
GameCube, DS & 3DS, Wii, Wii U - ALL PHYSICAL. My collections for these systems are basically complete.
Switch - Pretty much everything is physical, except for Xenoblade Chronicles 2 Torna and Final Fantasy X-2 (because it was a shitty download instead of being on the cartridge with FFX)
Xbox Series S - do I need to elaborate
Sega Mega Drive Mini - 2000 games including Master System, Mega Drive, NES & SNES games
Switch - Pretty much everything is physical, except for Xenoblade Chronicles 2 Torna and Final Fantasy X-2 (because it was a shitty download instead of being on the cartridge with FFX)
Xbox Series S - do I need to elaborate
Sega Mega Drive Mini - 2000 games including Master System, Mega Drive, NES & SNES games
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Edgelord79
Gold Member
On PS physical mostly with smaller indie games purchased digitally.
On Xbox all digital.
On PC all digital.
On Switch… don’t buy games anymore for it.
On Xbox all digital.
On PC all digital.
On Switch… don’t buy games anymore for it.
casablanca
Member
All digital since last gen. (PS4 PS5 XBOX switch)
Can't stand boxes anymore.
Can't stand boxes anymore.
DukeNukem00
Banned
I would kill for this collection. PC big box games were the apex
TheSweeper
Member
The only physical games I buy are collector's editions and that's about 2 - 3 per year. All other games are bought digitally. It's just more convenient and saves space.