For how long will physical games exist?

Im confused here. Microsoft is really pushing the digital only crap, but Sony wants to keep it. Michael Pachter said 10-15 more years with physical discs at a minimum. What do you think?

To be honest, im not sure if I ever will purchase more games if physical value die out.

If my provider could give more speed, then I wouldn't mind downloading. I still prefer physical copies, though. What I'm thinking about is all of the hard drive space taken up on consoles for the library of games that would be downloaded. How much would it increase the console prices to have a 1TB drive for each?

Forever. Hell, arcades still exist.

If we're talking until it is no longer mainstream, it will continue to be preferred until we can re-sell and trade digital copies of games the way we can sell physical games now. And no, family sharing alone isn't going to cut it. For without that, it would have be significantly cheaper. Like Steam sales on consoles.

Here's the thing: game companies have a powerful motivation to go all-digital since it is much cheaper for them than physical copies. Think about all of the people who get paid to publish the discs and then put them into stores for us to buy. That dramatically lowers the income for the game companies from the physical copies. Downloads, however, only involve maintaining the internet servers and such. This issue will have a big impact on digital vs physical. We may all be forced to accept digital eventually, once internet access has reached a plateau of accessibility.

I hope they stick around forever.

I believe they'll be around for the new generation, but gone after it's over. ie: PS5 and on up will probably be all-digital.

while internet speeds and data caps arent an issue for me, i would always chose physical copies.. so im hoping that they will be around for many years.. i can see sony supporting them into the gen after not sure what format they'll be on..

I much prefer having my games on disc, that way if I get bored of a game or dont like it then I can trade it in! You cant get a refund on a game you downloaded!

I hope they stick around forever.

sukraj

I hope they stick around forever.

sukraj

I think we will have them throughout the next console gen but not after, only thing that worries me about it is the whole we are "licensed" our product thing. When all is digital maybe after a while we can only download our "license" a set number of times or own it a set number of years to encourage a re-buy. That's only speculation though.

[QUOTE="sukraj"]

I hope they stick around forever.

YoshiYogurt

Me too brah

I hope they stick around forever.

sukraj

Amen!

I think when the next gen consoles come out the one after the XboxOne and PS4 that will be when it all goes digital.

Im confused here. Microsoft is really pushing the digital only crap, but Sony wants to keep it. Michael Pachter said 10-15 more years with physical discs at a minimum. What do you think?

To be honest, im not sure if I ever will purchase more games if physical value die out.

BuldozerX

Good question. I hope they'll remain an option for quite some time. I still refuse to pay full price for a digital version of a game. Granted, I almost never pay full price for any games, but if I do, it's going to be a physical copy.SoNin360

Here's the thing: game companies have a powerful motivation to go all-digital since it is much cheaper for them than physical copies. Think about all of the people who get paid to publish the discs and then put them into stores for us to buy. That dramatically lowers the income for the game companies from the physical copies. Downloads, however, only involve maintaining the internet servers and such. This issue will have a big impact on digital vs physical. We may all be forced to accept digital eventually, once internet access has reached a plateau of accessibility.

Barujin

I think they'll use physical copies for gen 8(this upcoming gen) and gen 9. After that I'm not too sure if physical copies will be sticking around. They might make them still for a special edition of a big game here and there. But by than I feel mass digital distribution could easily prosper more, though I personally enjoy physical copies much more.

[QUOTE="SoNin360"]Good question. I hope they'll remain an option for quite some time. I still refuse to pay full price for a digital version of a game. Granted, I almost never pay full price for any games, but if I do, it's going to be a physical copy.donalbane