as much as i love to rep for physical games ive only bought 2 in the last 2 years. digital is so simple and im lazy

[nsilvias]

Persona 5 Royal because it was on sale and FF 7 Remake recently because it wasnt on sale digitally at all.
Everything else has been digital either because my focus on PC Gaming during covid or pure laziness of going to the store. Im most likely still gonna buy a cd based ps5 at some point tho since FF7 Remakes file size has me a bit worried for next gen with my 1.2 TB data cap.

Also when i went to gamestop alot of the physicals felt like they cost more than digital now in general so uh yeah i think digital might be taking over my life.

 

[CheapJi]

As a guy who's been pretty keen on physical media, lets just say I understand completely.

 

[I am a Bird]

I got a house filled with video game tchotchkes, and a collection of old hardware. I don't really have the space for all that plastic now. I've reduced my collection considerably and only really collect physical copies for my retro stuff.

For my switch I have one physical game and that's it. I like physical media and do plan on getting a 4k bluray player but the convenience and ease of space of digital is very nice.

 

[Theswweet]

The only reason I continue to buy physical games is because I have a local store that breaks street date.

 

[Agni Kai]

I switched to digital last year and I don't think I'm ever going back to physical games. It's so much simpler to use.
I only keep around a handful of physical games because I'm still not ready to let go of them, as they hold some sort of sentimental value to me.

 

[Deleted member 4034]

I would totally play Ring Fit Adventure more often if I didn't have to take the current cart out and put RFA each time and yes I see the irony.

 

[ghibli99]

I like the freedom/choice of having both options. I tend to lean towards physical, but it's not a rule or anything. I rarely buy full-price $60-70 games digitally though. The last time I did that was Animal Crossing NH. And before that was Skyrim PC. At launch. LOL

 

[Mary Celeste]

if physical games actually shipped on time I'd still mostly be buying physical

I can play digital games before going to bed on their day of release. That beats every benefit of a physical game in my book.

 

[Combichristoffersen]

Having both options is nice, but I'll always prefer physical so I can resell games, buy used games, and lend games to and from friends.

 

[cubistic]

It also takes up less space in my home.

 

[Devilgunman]

I'm going 99% digital on PS5 but still buying physical on Switch. I don't fully trust Nintendo online infrastructure just yet.

 

[Gyro Zeppeli]

Meh. It's something to collect. I don't collect anything else other than old electronics, so 🤷‍♂️

 

[Deleted member 4034]

I'm going 99% digital on PS5 but still buying physical on Switch. I don't fully trust Nintendo online infrastructure just yet.

Click to shrink...

True. Depending on how their console does things, I may have to buy a physical copy of Three Houses and other favs to avoid a Path of Radiance situation.

 

[gothi]

I have boxes and boxes of physical games from the 360/PS3 era and before. I moved to being all digital at the start of the Xbox One/PS4 generation and haven't looked back. It's not only been cheaper for me but I'm no longer hoarding games in my attic just in case I want to play them again 10+ years later.

That said, I still have a lot of empathy for those who do collect physical and are concerned about long term preservation on the user side.

 

[Deleted member 18025]

Yea digital is the way.

Way more convenient than swapping discs

 

[jokkir]

I've only done that for my Xbox cause I trust Microsoft with BC. Nintendo is mostly all physical still though

 

[Deleted member 55524]

I went almost full digital and can't go back. The shelf space and tacky looking boxes were too much for apartment living. And yeah, wayyyy more convenient.

 

[RedHeat]

I would be 100% digital at this point if weren't for the fact that if your bank accidently does a charge-back or a hacker decides to go on a spending spree then that's pretty much the end of your account and you no longer have accesses to hundreds of dollars worth of games.

 

[ciddative]

Games I care about and follow pre-release I buy physical.
I only buy digital for a good sale (stuff <£20 usually)

It's definitely a prestige thing, I like having a carefully curated collection I can look at and admire

 

[Deleted member 18025]

I would be 100% digital at this point if weren't for the fact that if your bank accidently does a charge-back or a hacker decides to go on a spending spree then that's pretty much the end of your account and you no longer have accesses to hundreds of dollars worth of games.

Click to shrink...

Gift cards are a good alternative

 

[lord_of_flood]

I went full digital a couple of years ago and it's super convenient. Just being able to boot up the system and pick out which game I want to play is great, and the game cases aren't cluttering up my space at all. I don't think I can ever go back to physical.

 

[GameOver]

I still don't see what is the advantage of digital over physical other than saving 5 seconds when switching games.

 

[Kuosi]

Mainly PC gamer so most games digitally, but day1 console is physical because I ain't paying more for less, like Returnal 80e digital vs 50e physical)

 

[Kouriozan]

In France, physical is much less expensive than digital (ex : 49€ + 10€ free for your next purchase for SMT V on FNAC vs 59€ on eShop)
If we had deals like that on digital stores, sure I would be 100% digital as well, but meanwhile I'll takes the cheaper options.

 

[scare_crow]

There's nothing lazy about digital.

 

[Milennia]

I realized just a couple months ago that I had only bought maybe 5 or so physical games in the last few years, the rest have all been digital
PC and playstation have been all digital and I wasted the $100 on the physical ps5 apparently lol but I like having the option at least

I just prefer staying home and loading the game up on midnight

 

[Combichristoffersen]

I still don't see what is the advantage of digital over physical other than saving 5 seconds when switching games.

Click to shrink...

Well, one advantage is not having little kids with their unwashed, grubby hands full of boogers and strawberry jam ruining your discs and manuals because they are too inconsiderate to wash their hands before touching things.

Not that I'd ever let kids touch any of my precious movie/book/music/game collections anyway, but still.

 

[nsilvias]

There's nothing lazy about digital.

Click to shrink...

the user is, like me

 

[Taneleer]

Same here, I like the convenience. Out of my 142 games on my XSX, only 5 are disc versions. Rest are all digital.

 

[RedHeat]

Gift cards are a good alternative

Click to shrink...

Yeah, I honestly thought about doing that as an alternative but I tend to buy a lot of games in a relatively short amount of times so I'm a bit paranoid that it might throw up some red flags if I buy and input 5 GC's at once lol

 

[Son of Liberty]

I used to be a collector of physical games but in the past couple of years I've made the transition to all digital because I like having all of my games downloaded on a hard drive and easily accessible.
However, I do make an exception for Nintendo first-party games because those tend to hold their resell value.

 

[scare_crow]

the user is, like me

Click to shrink...

Or you're just taking advantage of a modern convenience.

 

[Str0ngStyle]

I would be 100% digital at this point if weren't for the fact that if your bank accidently does a charge-back or a hacker decides to go on a spending spree then that's pretty much the end of your account and you no longer have accesses to hundreds of dollars worth of games.

Click to shrink...

maybe you are already doing this, but 2FA helps reduce a lot of that, but even if you cannot do that (people DO have reasons) just use gift cards to buy stuff.

 

[drzzrd]

I still don't see what is the advantage of digital over physical other than saving 5 seconds when switching games.

Click to shrink...

Sure it's 5 seconds for one game. What if you rotate 5 games or so regularly. Since I got game pass, my gaming habits have changed. For myself, I switch between a minimum 3 games per gaming session. Include my wife playing as well and she has a different set of games she plays.

So much time and space saved.

 

[thediamondage]

anything i play once in 20-30 hours i buy physical, anything i play a lot more and randomly (multiplayer games) i buy digital. pretty simple, and thanks to gamepass i buy a LOT fewer games - i gotta play it NOW if i buy it is basically the rule.

black friday is the minor exception, i'll buy more games if the sales are really good and i just keep a list of games i'd like to buy if the price is right

 

[Gunny T Highway]

I may buy the rare Switch game physical, but everything else whether it is on the Switch, XSX, PS4 or PC I have been all digital for years now.

 

[raketenrolf]

I prefer physical but physical games don't go down in price as quick as they used to. Like the Mass Effect Legendary Edition is still kinda expensive (digital is cheaper). This would be a 10-20€ bargain bin game if it was release in the 360/PS3 gen.

I am actually fine with digital now on everything except Nintendo (still buy really cheap stuff digitally on Switch). So many discs of my favorite games would be worthless without the updates anyway (like the MCC for example).

 

[Jane]

I used to enjoy collecting physical media, but as someone who moved last year and probably has to move again soon, I've come to see it as a burden.

 

[the-pi-guy]

I've gone from like 80% physical last year to swearing off physical this year.

Digital just has more pertinent benefits.
No discs for toddlers to get into.
Convenient to start any game already installed.

 

[Ernest]

For music and movies I do like physical - they're usually higher quality than digital, and don't take up hard-drive space.
But digital for games is the same exact quality and they just dump all the info from the disc into your hard-drive, so you're not even saving drive-space there - except for Switch games, but those files are usually so much smaller.

 

[FTF]

That doesn't sound like lazy, as clicking a button to ship a game to your house is just as easy as clicking a button to digitally buy a game, that sounds like wanting to take advantage of sales and convenience. Throw in maybe a bit of impatience and there you go lol.

I'm physical for life for full priced games I get day 1, but I def buy plenty of digital games too.

 

[Jailer of Hope]

I still don't see what is the advantage of digital over physical other than saving 5 seconds when switching games.

Click to shrink...

Game sharing is a pretty huge advantage

 

[ciddative]

I've gone from like 80% physical last year to swearing off physical this year.

Digital just has more pertinent benefits.
No discs for toddlers to get into.
Convenient to start any game already installed.

Click to shrink...

Wow. I'd never even considered the kids + discs issue. 1000% understandable for parents (or people living with others)

 

[Ctrl Alt Del]

Physical is such a pain in the ass for pre-orders, which are in turn extremely pain-free. I wanted to get a physical edition for SMTV but Atlus is not selling it here, looks like, so I'm getting it on eShop instead.

 

[LifeLike]

Yea digital is the way.

Way more convenient than swapping discs

Click to shrink...

Less convenient to resell the game though. So less money in your pockets.

 

[Lobster Roll]

"Lazy" is the wrong word for leaning into convenient QOL changes. You're not lazy for wanting power windows in a car ... it's just a much better option that turning the hand crank. For a console, you're not lazy for wanting to avoid removing a disc and putting in a new one every time you want to play something new. That's just leaning into a QOL change.

 

[hersheyfan]

Switching to PC as my primary platform made me see the light of digital, and I've partially carried that over to the console side of things.

99% of my purchases on Xbox are digital, I won't buy a physical game unless it's a CE or some other curio. Easily the best structure for digital stuff on console, great BC prospects for future generations, and a store interface I don't hate.

I buy a fair amount of digital games on the eShop, but but generally cheaper indies (stuff I'd enjoy playing on the go) or games on deep sale. Since Nintendo is far and away the least trustworthy with preservation of digital stuff (based on their history, it's well earned), NSW digital purchases are always "stuff I'd be OK with losing when they shut Switch eShop down permanently". I do enjoy collecting rare physical release games and CE's on Switch though.

On PlayStation I'm mostly physical for several reasons: partly because the overwhelming majority of my physical crap is PS (PS3, PS4, PS5, PSV), so I feel an obligation to keep it going, partly because I don't trust Sony's BC at all, and partly because I generally just get first and third party exclusives on PS

 

[Lemony1984]

I'm still mostly physical so I can buy Deathloop/Ratchet and Clank etc. day 1 and then sell them on and get 95% of my money back a week later.

 

[Hippopuncher12]

I try to go physical as much as possible as space isn't an issue and I don't mind switching discs/carts etc but I will go digital if a game i have waited on has a good sale for digital.

I am about 90/10 on PS
100% physical on Switch
0% on Xbox cause why buy a game there now.

I have well over 6000 physical games though from the Atari systems to current Gen and I don't see myself ever switching from being majority physical.

 

[ConanEdogawa]

I'm mostly the opposite now, digital just has no value to me. As a bonus there have been some terrific deals this year. Just at Target I have most of Nintendo's 2021 releases for 33% off with B2G1, then pre-orders like Horizon for 40% off with a Circle Coupon they had a while back.