I don’t like physical as much as I use to. There’s no midnight launch to go to. There’s an earlier unlock digitally(sometimes). There’s no special slot for a memory card. There’s no manual. There’s nothing but an alternate cover and the main cover is always ESRB and copyright/technical spec stuff that just makes the game look ugly. It’s a cluttered box with a disc and some single paper insert inside.
I use to love physical copies and I’ve kept the meaningful ones on PS1 and so forth. I’ve got no place to put PS5 game cases and it’s just plastic for some of the new games.
I started getting games digitally on Direct2Drive, even though I could go to EB Games and buy physical PC games. Consoles I started small with XBL, VC, and PSN. It might have been before DmC, but I remember canceling my physical preorder. That might have been when it really started to take over. Buying and renting movies on PS3. Now a days I don’t really think about it. Now a days it’s 800-1000+ games across 3 platforms. That’s just PS too. I do buy some physical PS5 and Switch games. My main next gen library is digital. God of War, Callisto Protocol, and etc are all digital deluxe versions. When manuals went away, some of the charm of owning a physical copy of a AAA game went away for me. CE’s are fun, but they usually come a couple days or a week later.
Of course digital can suck too. People already playing some hot new release while you sit behind a timer. They distribute these games weeks ahead of time and for the most part you aren’t invited to the club of early adopters. So what, right? It always happens. It’s always a big AAA game getting leaked for whatever reason. It’s just annoying and none of these AAA games will be worth as much as retro in the years to come. Maybe a couple limited copies of CE’s or something.