Digital Vs Physical Purchases

Since I switched to PC gaming last November I'm digital only now.

Got used to steam sales and having a big list of games to play at the click of a button.

In console id still but physical while physical games are still cheaper, especially here in the UK console digital games are more expensive than physical.

For example gta5 is £49 99 on Xbox live, you £39.99 in asda brand new, or £34.99 in Grainger games new.

I seen a used copy for £29.99 in CEX.

i always try to go with physical

Digital.

You won't take your lovely disks into the coffin with you. So it's good to be free of things and nostalgia, guys ;) Also you may ask yourselves from time to time about eh.. whereabouts of all these floppies and music tapes.

Merry Christmas!

I think physical copies are better.

1. When I have a digital copy, I actually feel like I own the game. I don't get that feeling with digital downloads. (This also applies to movies and music as well).

2. If you want to play a game with a friend at their home, you can just bring over the physical copy. Can't really do that with digital downloads.

3. When you own a physical copy, you own it forever. With digital downloads it's possible the game could be discontinued for licensing purposes and it could wind up being useless.

4. I also enjoy that feeling of excitement you get when first get a new game as you unwrap the shrink wrap and look at the contents inside (you can't get the feeling of unboxing something with digital downloads).

There is a simply solution and compromise to please both sides of this debate. When you buy a brand new physical copy of a game, you should get a code that also lets you download the digital version of the game for free. That way you have the best of both worlds. And once you redeem the code, you can't redeem it again. This would encourage people to buy new instead of used (that's one reason for digital downloads; to fight the used game market). Amazon does this when you buy a CD. When you buy a new CD on Amazon, you also get the digital version for free.

I changed my minds on a number of things..........

I used to hate gaming laptops until I got one (in addition to my gaming PC).

I also used to hate DD. But, once we subscribed to a capable enough Internet service, I started liking DD more. For one thing, I can buy and download at any time of the day, even those times when most stores are closed.

If a games small, i mean like a few hundred or maybe a gig im ok with digital. But i really prefer a physical copy when games are over 5gbs. Its common for games now to have 30-60gb in size, and unless a better ISP comes to my area, I can't afford to be downloading 60 gbs for every game I want.

Physical copys are more durable then keeping all the digital ones on a hard drive. As long as you keep a cd/dvd/bluray at room temp out of sunlight, they will last for decades, i've heard over a hundred years possibly. Even old cd+r music cds i burned in 1996 still play and read flawlessly... a factory printed disc lasts even longer then consumer organic writable media.

Also if wherever you bought a digital game goes out of business, you can't download that game again. But a physical copy is always there... assuming it doesnt have some crap DRM that prevents it from being played.

Most games these days are throw away garbage so it doesn't matter much i guess, its download, play, delete and forget.

Digital of course!

everything becomes digital CD's will be gone for good in a couple of years...people here live in the 90's or what??

Mostly digital for PS4/Vita/PC, just because they can handle it. Physical for everything else.

I noticed every year that more and more gamers warm up to the idea of DD. Naturally those that live in 3rd world cities or live with broke parents will have a superior viewpoint in favor of physical mediums. However when high speed is not an issue, digital has too many advantages that can't be dismissed and those Steam deals....Oh lawd those blessed Steam deals.

For collectors editions I prefer physical copies as they sometimes come in nice cases, like ME2 came in a metal case, some come with maps...etc. Oblivion came with a collectors coin, Lore book and map. I enjoy collecting those.

what about when steam shuts down or nintendo shuts down why aren't u talking about that steams not gonna be around forever neither will nitnendo u buy a game on there service or dlc ur out of luck when they shut there doors

I like my games digital, but just my preferance. I've been downloading most of my games since 2012, just more convient for me.

@ProtossX: It definitely an issue for Nintendo hardware because it's locked. I'm not worried or care about steam shutting down if that eventually happens because all of those games can be accessed for free online.

Although I guess that can be said for almost all games given enough time, so yeah digital all the way, especially on PC.

the fact that last year my PSN account got hacked 3 times during the same week and Sony did crap about it, I mean, they did not even tried in the slightest to help me out, puts me in a position where is hard for me to take digital stuff seriously. I lost hundreds of dollars in games on that account.

At the end, physical will always outlast digital unless you're into piracy. Just look at what happened with P.T. Now, if P.T. had a physical release that game wouldn't have been lost forever.

Physical CDs here my internet bandwith is quiet low, internet bandwidth is good enough only for online gaming.

If you go all digital what happens to your library when your system finally kicks the bucket? I usually just get whatever media is cheaper for the version of the game I want.

Don't bump old threads.

-Locked-