Should we stop buying physical copies whenever possible?

I do all digital on PC.

But mostly physical on consoles.

Because they only have like 5-10 worthwhile games in thier life time anyway, and thier "for the players" masters like charging extortionate digital prices because they are arseholes.

I don't even have an optical drive or any other removable storage (aside for USB) on my PC anymore and haven't bought a physical game for many years. The last game I bought was Vampyr and I paid £23.99 for it, a day or so after release. Shop smart and games can be really cheap, especially on PC.

I can literally download and be playing a game faster than I can get to the shops, let alone back again and install it. If I want to get a game, I pay for it, download it, play it and if I want to play it again a few months/years later then I simply download it again, simples.

@GarGx1: Neither do I. I was thinking of getting a USB optical drive because I do collect music on CD so it would be handy to backup my collection there, but otherwise, I buy all my games digitally on PC.

I prefer physical on Switch though.

At least, on the PC side, older games usually find their way from Steam/Origin/Uplay to GoG. GoG games don't require a client and I can store the install files on any physical media I want. I can't think of any PC game that is lost to history.

For example, I thought the Close Combat games from the late 90's were gone forever like you said. Then, all of a sudden, they appeared in GoG's inventory.

This is schweet.

https://www.gog.com/game/close_combat_2_a_bridge_too_far

@GarGx1: ya well, PC being PC that's where it's different. On consoles, we get amazing special editions, I always wrangle myself what I refer to as "fancy" editions. Things like Master Edition BotW, the first Titanfall came in a box so big it didn't fit in my car, just preordered the Fallout 76 with the power armor, got Fallout 4 with a Pip-boy edition. Actually, my Fallout anthology with mini-nuke is for PC, but even when games I want are also on PC- they usually don't get the goods. I like swag for games I really like. I also like a game that can go on a shelf in my library, something I can hold in my hands and feel as if I got something for my money.

I didnt even read the OP

Responding to the title only:

NO, we shouldnt. I know I wont

edit: Read the 1st couple of paragraphs. To that I say: F**k the environment

edit 2: I dont need to think twice. I dont give two sh*ts about the environment cause I wont be here when the world burns in its own filth. Physical copies for me it is

Not swapping discs is for fatasses who are too heavy and lazy to leave the couch

It does in a very sarcastic way :P

Downloading instead of buying physical forms of games--those physical forms requiring shipping of raw materials to a factory, manufacturing of raw materials into processed ones, shipping those to whatever company then manufactures them with other materials (including rare metals better used for something else) to make cartridges or optical discs, and so forth--consumes far far far less resources.

Outside of the infrastructure needed to establish a physical network from one location to another (something that I would argue is critical, gaming or not), getting a game digitally from one location to another requires energy that is capable of coming from renewable sources.

TBH I never really thought of it that way, makes me feel better about being digital only. Not that I needed to feel better, it's damn convenient. No more giant cardboard boxes of games to haul around.

Those savages!

PC is obviously all digital, most of my console stuff is physical simply because it costs way more to buy games digital. When Sony and MS stop taking the piss with their digital prices I'll buy digital, though I suppose MS are now giving away all their own games for next to nothing with Game Pass which is a start of sorts if they only had some friggin games.

Future jobs will be service-based. US is already transitioning to this, and consuming more than it has, will, or can produce. There is more demand now for services than ever. I imagine there will always be a degree of production jobs, too, but not like it has been.

Nor should there be. If we get our shit together, manage to focus on education, stop this trend of anti-intellectualism (smart people used to be well regarded in the US, believe it or not...), the US could again lead the way in new technologies, product design, and so forth. I don't believe in genuinely stupid people, only the uneducated.

There will never be a shortage of jobs, and yet at the same time there will always be a certain % of unemployed people. You think shit got bad in 2008 because there were no jobs? No, companies were too cheap to hire people, and people were too scared to lose their jobs so they did the work of two people.

Besides, instead of building robots, people will be trained to maintain the robots. Behind every robot is...another robot. But behind that robot is a person :P

@Vatusus: And just like that your intelligence is even lower than I thought it was. Wow. You may just be the most unintelligent poster on System Wars and this place is crawling with idiots.

Oh, thank you. Pissing you off is what gives me pleasure

@Vatusus: Not even pissed off. I just think you’re really dumb.

I buy digital games and music.

1. No line up for gaming stores.

2. Don't have to get up in the morning.

3. No worries about my pre-ordered game sold to a snot nosed prick who didn't pre-ordered the same game. Yes it has happened to me before. ?

4. Get my pre-ordered game at earliest convenience then most people.

I don't care to much about environmental issues. I don't contribute to the problem on purpose but ain't going to sh*t myself if other people are. Enough said. It's my opinion and I am sticking by it.

no thanks. physical games cost as much as digital so i might as well get something that i can actually resell of have something to collect.

Exclusives are evil too. We are wasting money on buying secondary platforms just to play them and being wasteful in general by polluting the environment with all this unnecessary and redundant hardware. The worst part is the consoles are so shit that they are incapable of running the exclusives properly. The games industry is fucked up.

what makes you certain that your games automatically go into the rubbish bin if you die? Do you not expect to have your assets liquidated by family or an executor? It's not like every single atari/sega/nintendo cartridge went straight to the bin when people passed away. Physical copies can be passed on from generation to generation directly or indirectly (see retro brick and mortar stores or online stores). If the hardware degrades over time, then dispose of it in a way it can be recycled.

That being said, only the general market can determine if we can get rid of physical copies. As it stands, the world is not anywhere at the same level when it comes to internet availability for us to even entertain wiping out physical media.

Replacing plastic with nothing is not a solution? Servers are in use for years and years, and you can recycle most of the parts in them considering most of it is sand and metal. The plastic bits are the only trouble spots, and having billions of plastic cases certainly is a point the OP is right about.

@onesiphorus: I'm not talking about "experts" or anything like that. I am inclined to agree with your sentiments, however. And it's not that they've lied to us or let us down, it's that a vocal, idiotic few are given a voice while the rational majority do not get that same voice (for example, some loudmouth scientist spewing off his or her own personal theory about climate change instead of the worldwide, logical, fact-based truth most accept).

What I'm talking about is the borderline aversion to the educated in this country, and the disrespect it often brings from people. I mean we look at coal miners with respect like they're war veterans, and we view scientists and doctors with skepticism. Now I'm not suggesting the coal miner doesn't deserve a degree of respect, but certainly the doctor or scientist, the researcher, and even the students, deserve a lot of respect as well.

Ugh, talk about off-topic haha.

if you're too lazy to swap a disc you might need some time outdoors

I am already all digital on my X, PS4 Pro, Switch, and PC. So I have already moved forward!

Swapping discs is for fat asses who rely on swapping discs as their sole form of exercise. LMAO.

You started off good and then you fell flat in the latter.

Depends on who you vote for. One side says its a hoax and even has the Evangelicals talking to Jesus on speed dial to prove it.

Yeah games become highly collective the older they get. Got a top loader NES, worth close to $500 dad only paid $30. Can't wait to see what its worth in 20 years. Don't play it (it's packed away pretty nicely), have backups of the games I do want to play.

I try not to get physical for a couple of reasons

1. I have little kids, even when I put my games high they can sometimes still get into them, they've destroyed games before but haven't for a while though.

2. I work hard to be lazy. I'm pretty good at finding an easy way if there is, I'll spend more time setting things up for myself to be lazy than it would take if I did it proper but after I set it up I can be lazy all I want. So not changing disk, instead of walking to the console to change it is a plus, even though I only play one game at a time.

3. There usually cheaper, except for release some times.

My words = truth

Truth mixed in with drivel = half truths.

Nope. Full truth. :)

I only buy physical. Never digital unless it's just too good of a deal to pass up. I could never switch to digital because I'm a collector and there's no guarantees you'll have something for life just because you own it digitally.

I get the collector part, but you can guarantee you'll be able to play games for life it they are digital, what about back-ups there still online for pretty much every game ever made. If hardware fails it's going to cost more than the release price after a while, or you cant play the game.

Physical over Digital!

We live in a world now where so many people don't even understand the concept of ownership any more. Ask yourself this one question

Do you want the power in your hands or in the hands of the corporations? Whose best interest do you think they will always serve first at the end of the day?

Imagine living in a world where people are no longer allowed to own properties (houses) and only thing you can do is rent a house from the federal government.... they can also kick you out the house any time they want for any small reason they can find on you. It's like that with games in the future.... they essentially lease you the game and then they can take it away from you at any time for whatever small reason they can find.

I guess there's a reason why we live in a world where people just for whatever reason (maybe denial, maybe inability to think ahead) can't look into the future. I remember when DLCs were first announced and people thought "oh wow cool, we'd be getting free stuff to add on to our games!!" and back then I cautioned people that they will regret welcoming DLCs and look at where we stand today with microtransactions.

One day I'll be making the same exact post like this when people are complaining and bitching about being taken advantage of by companies when everything is ALL digital and they have no other choice but to get butt raped by EA and Activision. I'll make a post saying I told ya so....

I go all digital for xbox but physical for playstation.

Its amazing how little rubbish there actually is once you recycle, my 240l bin is almost empty but I fill 2 bins the same size of recycling every fortnight. (Family of 5)

I really like physical copies.....

It saddens me that consumers don't side with GOG as much as they do with steam. GOG is the only digital distribution platform that is doing it right, imo.

If they reduced the price of the digital editions, this would happen as a matter of course.

I've been focusing entirely on digital nowadays, but not because of the environment. I've just been doing it for convenience.

Save a server. Buy physical whenever possible.

Sorry but I like being sociable and going out to game stores to buy my games and talking to like minded gamers. It also allows me to shop around to find a better deal, and to trade in to save more money.

@i_p_daily: i dunno about where you live but the only people I see at my gameshop are cringy as hell, except for the ones who work there.

I don't think the plastic that comes from physical videogames are even worth to talk about when it comes to the plastic of the world. But we're currently going the direction of no physical games. So we're already on it.

We Should stop buying digital copies whenever possible!!!

Fixed.

I don't buy them anymore for any game on any platform... History says they'll be stored in a bin in my attic never to be played again. Gimme digital all day every day.

What part of the world do you live in? People I see buying games are more often than not extremely annoying.

@mojito1988: no one is attacking community... Or your shops. The medium has moved on. You don't see CD racks anymore... Who buys blurays? Or dvds? With all those services out there....

Continue patronizing those little shops that make your community special. Restaurants, clothing stores, etc... But don't wear the weight of saving physical media on your shoulders when literally the entire world in every form of entertainment has moved on.

Physical version: First the plastic disk and case has to be made - which is a waste in itself. Then there is the unnecessary transportation - another environmental burden.

Also, putting plastics in the recycle bin doesn't necessarily mean that it will get recycled - thanks to dodgy waste disposal practices. AND even if it does get recycled, LOTS of water is used up to make new plastic.

Furthermore it's unrealistic to expect that all plastic will be "disposed of correctly". Best solution is to minimize the production and usage of it in the fist place.

I only buy a physical copy if it has a really cool cover.

Which these days is extremely rare.

Every kind of plastic needs to be talked about. If it's unnecessary why use it? I understand some arguments about prices though. There's no reason digital copies should be the same price as physical ones.

While I am pretty sure that the amount of plastic from games is literally a drop in the ocean, I am all digital on my pc already! Steam is the best thing that ever happened to pc gaming imo and should literally be the top of the list of why to choose pc over console every time!

That being said, I also own a a switch and Nintendo online store is stupidly expensive for some reason and as long as I can save 20-30% ordering online or go down to my local store to buy a physical copy I’ll do that... the second the lower their prices to br more aligned with the real world I will definitely go digital on switch aswell