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Would you give up gaming if it went to a all digital future?

Yes or no?


  • Total voters
    421

Artistic

Member
Just a interesting thought, so decided to ask. The benefits of digital are definitely there, but I do prefer having physical copies of my video games just for the sole fact I can resell them if I no longer have interest in them anymore. Plus having the box art instead of a digital image is nice to I guess.

But if consoles were to go all digital, would you give up gaming? I would strongly consider it if there's no alternative(similar to what was proposed with the XB1 original launch plans, I think you could buy/sell/trade digital games, correct me if I'm wrong).

What are your thoughts? Poll included.
 
XB360 was the last console I bought physical. I have however bought a few 3DS games. But I've been digital for over 8 or 9 years now.
Like Cable and satelite getting cut I"m never going back to that crap again. My shelves thank me for it as well.
No more comic books or teachers dirty looks. I'm digital now.
 

Fredrik

Member
Nah I’ve been all digital for a whole generation, it’s great to not have to deal with discs. And since you run everything from the hdd/ssd either way I see no point in using discs, it’s essentially a CD key now. And games aren’t complete on the discs so if they would close the servers you’ll only have access to a crappy version of the game you don’t want to play anyway.
 
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Ozzie666

Member
For me, it only works if the brick and mortar protection tax is removed from digital purchases. If the prices of digital games are lowered sure?. But if you are forced to pay these high prices without options, that could lead to a few issues. Right now we are in a weird place, an in between of sorts. Once game stores go the way of blockbuster, maybe then it will be acceptable. But honestly, the greed and prices of AAA games, I expect game publishers to not give anything back they don't have to.
 

Athreous

Member
I bought the PS5 Digital edition, but I'll continue buying physical games just to collect them! Till the day it's all digital... It's great to be digital though, cuz I can save 50% of a game, buying it with a friend! :D
 

Hydroxy

Member
I primarily game on PC which is already all digital. But if consoles would go all digital I would definitely quit console gaming. I can't afford full priced console games. With physical games, you have the option to sell it after playing.
 

Artistic

Member
Nope, I use Spotify, Kindle, Netflix etc
I don't need more shit in my house gathering dust.
Use Tidal and Netflix as well. Would definitely buy a physical book over digital as well. Also prefer digital movies over physical as well, since I can just buy the digital cheaper over the physical.

But when it comes to video games, physical is a must unless its a sale on digital, which is usually months after release.
 

ranmafan

Member
Even about a year ago I would’ve been physical all the way, and while I’m still a physical fan for movies and I still like getting a few games physical depending on the situation (namely a collectors edition I want to have, or a switch game). But especially since this generation has started I’ve gone all digital and I don’t regret it. The reality that probably over 95% of games need patches these days was one reason that got me to switch. Other reasons are that I just no longer have the space for these disks, and the convenience of digital is a major bonus. Plus lately the whole issue with gaming prices on physical games, especially with retro and lower print games skyrocketing just makes me less interested in buying physical. I don’t sale back my games either so that never factors into my decisions. But yeah while I think it still will be a while before gaming goes all digital, when it finally does I’ll still be playing
 
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nkarafo

Member
All digital? No.

All DRM and streaming? Yes.

Games can be all digital and still be yours, if there is no DRM. You have full control over GoG releases, you can back them up and install them as many times as you want and play them offline.

It's the DRM and loss of user control that is the problem. Not the fact that they are digital instead of physical.
 

EDMIX

Member
Nah, I love the medium too much for that, but I would sit out a whole generation just to boycott.

I believe simply for consumer rights, we need a physical format of ownership.

I'm against those that lock games until a day 1 "update" (if the fucking game isn't done on disk, delay and print new disk), stop making fucking excuse for bad development, back in the day...how the fuck did games come out? They were not perfect, but they also took a release serious enough to make sure it was fucking functional. I don't even know if something like CP2077 25 years ago with such a budget would have even released in such a state as to literally not have fucking AI.

Nothing against digital if people like the format, but I'm sure that a lot of shit wrong in the industry today is because of the popularity of that distribution method lol.

IF they only had a disk and no digital, they couldn't even sell a game as bad as CP2077 without it getting removed, them slapped with a bunch of lawsuits etc (well thats happening now so....who knows lol)
 

Nitty_Grimes

Made a crappy phPBB forum once ... once.
I’m one of the rare breed that voted yes.

I’ve been buying and collecting games since I first got my Spectrum and then Commodore 64. Majority of my teens was ‘big box’ Amiga games then Megadrive / SNES games.

Of course I buy the odd thing on PSN or XBL but all of my major release day one stuff is going to be physical.
 
No, as I have retro games and have them backed up as well.

As for newer games, i'll be on PC. And I won't pay for anything with drm or that punishes purchasers but rewards hackers. So yeah, i'll still play whatever I want.

I forsee Nintendo having physical for a long time, but the second a PlayStation console has no discs or backwards compatibility ; that's it for me, I will be PC and Nintendo only. And if Nintendo ever goes digital only i'll be done with their hardware as well.
 

Kilau

Gold Member
The last physical game I bought on PC was Skyrim and even though it would install off the disc it was essentially just a digital key. A future update rendered the disc virtually useless because its install would just be completely overwritten.

I’ve bought over a thousand digital PC games since and haven’t been bothered by it a bit.
 

TheSHEEEP

Gold Member
I'm already all digital.

"But you can lose all your games when Steam goes kaputt!"
I have a job and income.
The 1-5% of games I own that I would actually want to play again I could then just buy again.
It's a non-issue.

"DRM sucks!"
Yes, and? Physical has DRM as well in the overwhelming number of cases.
Consoles have DRM built-in.
Go PC and you can crack it, at least, if it bothers you THAT much.

If you are a collector, I somewhat get it.
But I'm actually happy and proud of my minimalism, I own only a minimum number of physical things (not only related to video games).
Honestly, the less stuff you own that you care about, the more free you are.
 
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Nah, I'd just stick to PC gaming (cheap keys are a thing). I endure console gaming (exclusives only) because I can still grab a nice physical disc for my collection. If that goes away and I'm left with the ludicrous prices on the eShop and PSN I'll just dump console gaming without hesitation.
 

Soodanim

Member
I’ve been PC only for ~7 years, so not much would change for me.

Consoles are definitely a different matter. They tend to be much closer to Nintendo’s attitude to price drops. I’d buy far fewer games, and not nearly as many brand new
 

arvfab

Banned
For new games, for sure.

But I wouldn't give up gaming in general, as I have plenty of older conoles and games with an enormous backlog.
 

mansoor1980

Member
i would be...............

DrUE.gif
 

DenchDeckard

Moderated wildly
I wouldn't give up at all, I think its inevitable but I will and would do my best to hang onto physical as long as possible.

If I went digital i would wait a lot longer for games to go on deep sale and rely much more on game pass type services.

There's so much content I would never be bored so it's all good.
 

Shubh_C63

Member
I am genuinely shocked seeing the poll results. We need to clear the time frame also.

Physical copies are cheaper and feels good to own but stop gaming because of that is straight up over exaggeration.
I will just fume a bit and continue to play.
 

Impotaku

Member
If it went all digital i wouldn't give up but i would stop buying new games, i have enough in my game library to last me several lifetimes.
 

Zuzu

Member
I wouldn't give up gaming but I'd be very unhappy if physical disappeared. There are many benefits to physical games. Discs give you access to the second hand market which can be substantially cheaper than buying games new. They allow you to share games with other people and to sell games. They give you access to versions of games prior to them being patched which may be important for historical and game preservation purposes. Also, they allow you generally easy access to games that have been delisted from the digital stores. For example, Forza 7 has or is being delisted due to licencing issues. If someone wants to play that game in a few years and they didn't purchase it when it was available digitally they can still do so by getting it on disk. Lastly, physical games sometimes have the option for interesting physical items (e.g. toys and figurines) in physical collectors editions which digital collectors editions may not have.
 
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I've not bought a physical game for a modern platform since before the previous generation so in reality it would be of no consequence to me.
Gaming is a relatively minor part of my life so if something was to result in me giving it up, I don't think it would really matter. I probably still have enough of a back catalogue going back through the generations so even if I never bought a rand new game, I'd likely still never get through the games that I already own.
 

Nico_D

Member
Digital makes gaming better. Especially this new generation where switching from game to game takes just seconds.
 
lol i can't wait for the all digital future. you still have some strange people holding desperately onto their plastic boxs, steelbooks, and archaic discs but digital is the future. can't even remember the last time i bought a physical game. 2013 maybe for playstation? it's easily been ~15 years since i bought a physical game on PC.

the sooner we get rid of physical media the better. it's a complete waste of materials that take up too much space and ultimately end up in landfill or ocean. it's disgusting and anyone who buys physical media should be ashamed of themselves. going digital doesn't hurt.

"But MuH dIScS wiLL oUtLasT yOUr DigiTal GaAmes!!"

NO. the day that i can't access my digital games is the day you will lose access to patches/dlcs. so i guess i hope your console doesn't break down and you don't need to buy a new drive/reinstall all your games. you try tell someone who bought a physical copy of Cyberpunk to enjoy playing the game that is on the disc lol. very few games these days have an enjoyable experience "out the box". you need patches/DLC to get a proper experience.
 
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