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Jubenhimer · May 26, 2017

Digital Distribution has come a long way since it first surfaced on consoles (PC's been doing it for years). At first, it seemed like a novelty, an afterthought, almost like a secondary platform within their respective consoles used mainly for retro re-releases, or the occasional indie title. They were branded separately from retail games, and the two worlds rarely crossed paths.

Starting around 2011 though, things changed. Full retail games started popping up on the PlayStation Store and Xbox Live Marketplace, the big three started to take indie developers more seriously, and now, every retail game on all the major platforms is also available for download on their respective storefronts.

With Digital Distribution so matured at this point, do you consider digital only games to be of equal value to those that get a retail release in a console's library? Now yes, it's obvious that a major AAA game hitting the store shelves of Game Stop and Best Buy will always be a bigger deal than some low-key indie release. But they're both games you can play on the console. I mean, I consider Freedom Planet as much of a PlayStation 4 game as say Bloodborne. Digital games aren't given their own seperate branding any more. No longer do we have WiiWare, Xbox Live Arcade, PlayStation Network games, and instead just games for PS4, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch, and Nintendo 3DS, both retail and digital. There are a few people who consider digital games separate from the rest of a console's library. But do you feel that retail games and digital games are of equal value to the library of a system?

Leafhopper · May 26, 2017

Considering I buy games to play them not really for the collecting thing anymore I consider them equal. Whichever form of media is more convenient to me at the time is all that matters. Having a box or physical media isn't really a boon to me anymore since a lot of online systems are roped into those games anyway (depending on the game.)

However I am on PC primarily now a days so I don't really have much of a choice anyway most of the time. (Except for rare occasions where I got Portal 2 and Doom 2016 cheap so I have physical versions of those, both use Steamworks so it kinda doesn't matter though.)

WaterAstro · May 26, 2017

Nope.

Unless it's cheaper, digital doesn't have the huge retailer cut which should translate to savings to the customer.

NinjaCoachZ · May 26, 2017

I honestly decided to bump up my Switch purchase after the awesome Nindies direct. Before I figured I would wait till the holidays when Odyssey et al were out. But that direct made me realize there were so many digital-only/indie games I was interested in, I might as well adopt early so I could play them all without having to worry about AAA first-party games drowning them out.

So yeah. A game is a game. If I love it, I love it. Of course I consider digital-only/indie games to be valuable. They basically have become the modern version of B-tier titles, many even A-tier in their own right.

That being said, I'm a huge physical nut and since limited-print physical versions of digital/indie games have become so common, I think $20 has become my sweetspot where if it's less than that, I'll gladly get digital, but if it's more than that I'll probably weigh the potential likelihood of a physical release down the line before biting the bullet. Of course if it's a game I really like then I'd gladly double dip.

hydrophilic attack · May 26, 2017

I don't consider digital-only titles to be of lesser value than games with a retail release

If a game releases in both formats, I consider the digital version to be less valuable than the retail version because of no re-sale value (even though I never sell)

Justinh · May 26, 2017

I like them for convenience's sake, but I guess not since I'll only buy them at full price very... very rarely. I usually only get digital games when they go on sale on steam or Xbox.

Synth · May 26, 2017

EDIT: Nvm, didn't realise this was comparing "digital only" games, rather than digital vs physical.

Depends on the game in that case. I would pay $60 for a digital title like Elite Dangerous, and I wouldn't pay $60 for a physical Puyo Puyo Tetris. The delivery is irrelevant.

jadedm17 · May 26, 2017

WaterAstro said:
Nope.

Unless it's cheaper, digital doesn't have the huge retailer cut which should translate to savings to the customer.

I'll never get over this. Resale aside physical games drop in price faster. Also best buy gcu.

Zero Spooks · May 26, 2017

A game is a game is a game.

Mattakuevan · May 26, 2017

No, digital games hold considerably less value in a very literal sense. You cannot sell a digital game once you're done with it.

Also in most cases you can pay less for the physical copy from the start.

kunonabi · May 26, 2017

I can't think of a single digital only game that I own that feels comparable to a retail release outside of a couple of fighting games so my answer would be no as far as consoles go. 3DS games are a little more muddled so there is less of a distinction there at times.

dano1 · May 26, 2017

There is no resale value it's all about convenience!! Same reason people aren't carrying around discmans anymore!

Most of you will probably have to google that😂😂

MGrant · May 26, 2017

It takes a lot of time for me to go to a retail store to buy a physical game these days. I have to set aside 2 hours or so to complete the trip. And there's never a guarantee that the game I want will even be in stock. Ordering physical copies online means slow or delayed shipping. I have money, but very little time. I'll spend the money to get a digital copy almost every time.

Earthbound64 · May 26, 2017

illamap · May 26, 2017

I consider digital to have more value, since no disc swapping or clutter.

nekkid · May 26, 2017

When I play the game I'm not fretting about the fact that it's not on a physical disc. The game Ive purchased is the code, not the delivery method. So yes.

If I'm forced to really think hard about it then I guess it's worth 50p less for the plastic I'm missing, but convenience makes it worth it.

ArtHands · May 26, 2017

You can purchase all sorts of games (full fledged major titles, retro titles and indie titles) digitally

while physical is limited to mid tier titles and above

So i think physical is better. Couldnt care less about physical junks. wastes of Earth resources

Grim Patron · May 26, 2017

digital is worth a lot less.

"but but the environm..." good for you

ocean · May 26, 2017

Physical for me has lower value. I can only play a single copy at once, whereas digital lets two PS4s play simultaneously. Moreover, digital lets me preload and get started the very minute a game launches, I get to have them all on-demand for quick game switching without swapping disks, doesn't require dedicating room space to storing plastic junk...

I'll gladly continue to pay the digital premium. It's crazy to me that physical is still a thing outside collectors who want steel books and stuff.

Deleted member 752119 · May 26, 2017

No because I can buy physical games for 20% off with GCU (or Prime if 1st two weeks) and sell after beating. Which is great for me as I don't collect and rarely want to replay.

Digital games have to be pretty cheap, or something like Mario Kart that I'll be playing long term and always want available, for me to bother buying them.

nekkid · May 26, 2017

Oh I forgot to add: I (well, me and a friend) can play the same digital purchase on two consoles at the same time.

So I take that back, digital is more valuable.

Sword Of Doom · May 26, 2017

You are buying one vs leasing a license with the other. Unless you're also leasing a license when you buy a physical copy. Not sure how that works. All I know is that if I buy a physical version of a game, no matter what happens to my account, I can always play that game, so that adds value to physical for me

nekkid said:
Oh I forgot to add: I (well, me and a friend) can play the same digital purchase on two consoles at the same time.

So I take that back, digital is more valuable.

I guess the "right" answer is that they both have their benefits and negative and it depends on a person's needs

Kthulhu · May 26, 2017

Hell no. A physical copy is worth way more than a digital one.

outunderthestars · May 26, 2017

WaterAstro said:
Nope.

Unless it's cheaper, digital doesn't have the huge retailer cut which should translate to savings to the customer.

This is factually untrue in the vast majority of digital store transactions.

CannonFodder52 · May 26, 2017

I like to collect physical games. I avoid digital if at all possible

Sword Of Doom · May 26, 2017

outunderthestars said:
This is factually untrue in the vast majority of digital store transactions.

That's true. But you're taking a lot of expenses out. Like suppply chain. That would include forecasting and over/under production

J_ToSaveTheDay · May 26, 2017

outunderthestars said:
This is factually untrue in the vast majority of digital store transactions.

yup, I still think those costs still come back in the form of digital distribution licensing fees and cuts. Not sure if it ultimately comes out to quite as much as creating and shipping discs, but my guess is that either way, it'd largely be a negligible difference by the time it gets to the consumer point of sale.

Fox Mulder · May 26, 2017

Of course not.

Even though I'm all digital, you can sell physical copies later and find them cheaper than digital. I just chose convenience.

dadjumper · May 26, 2017

These days, yes. All you get is a box and a disc when you buy physical, and swapping discs sucks. I'm all about digital now.

Lil Marco · May 26, 2017

You don't own a digital game- you just have a license to download and play it.

You can't get a refund (except steam?), sell it, trade it, or lend it out. It's inherently worthless in that regard as you don't have any consumer power over it.

Many games hold their value well, or appreciate in value, once they go out of print or become vintage (gamecube, n64, SNES games come to mind). Digital will never have this kind of investment value.

And it's tied to whatever service you got it from (which is always ephemeral. Xbox live or PSN wont be around in 10 years, but a physical disc will). So no, it has almost zero value/equity relative to a physical copy.

matrix-cat · May 26, 2017

Naw baby, digital games are purely for >$10 sales to me. Veeery occasionally I'll buy a digital game at full price if it's from a series I love and I'm really sure about it (I think The Witcher 3 was the last time I did that), but for anything else I want the safety net that is being able to sell it on.

outunderthestars · May 26, 2017

I swear we have this exact thread in some.varoatipn at least twice a month. We keep debating the exact same points as people see value in different aspects of physical and digital media.

godhandiscen · May 26, 2017

WaterAstro said:
Nope.

Unless it's cheaper, digital doesn't have the huge retailer cut which should translate to savings to the customer.

Because running an online retailer costs nothing right?

CassidyIzABeast · May 26, 2017

Once you can get a refund for a digital game on every platform I'd say yes. Resell and less data cap hit are the only advantages retail has over digital at this point. Retail packaging is about as bare-bones as it can get at this point. The only thing missing are ECO-cases.

Digital games don't take up shelf space, are ready to start without putting in a disc, and you can preload them.

I say all this as somebody who has an egregious amount of blurays. Difference being there a quality difference between buying physical over digital for movies where as games are exactly the same.

Valkerionseven · May 26, 2017

Yes, the plastic the disc and case come in, the thin paper cover are not expensive to produce. Why some people think/thought not coming in a physical form equates the product needing to be anything more than a few cents cheaper is beyond me. Seeing some people want like $10 difference baffled me.

The only time I can for see a difference is when the physical one comes with something. If my "deluxe" version is the same physical and digital but one comes with like... a figure then its suspect.

Seeing people not go digital for a release because they want their box (for games that are not big enough to take the extra hit of a physical version) and other reasons always makes me a bit annoyed. Particularly when its a lower end series but the fans wont support it while its on life support as a digital title.

Also holding out on digital simply because of the "what if" scenario is nonsense too. "I wont get this game cause of denuvo drm! what if their server goes out" what if it dosn't. What if they lose the license and I cant redownload it what if what if what if. There is a what if for everything, so what.

BRSxIgnition · May 26, 2017

No, you can keep, protect, resell, etc, a physical game.

A digital game is just a license saying you can play that game until the provider says you can't anymore or a server goes down.

The former is more valuable, at least to me.

13ruce · May 26, 2017

No unless there will be a law in the future that makes it so that bought digital games and content should be able to be downloaded for atleast 30-40 years or longer.

If you are carefull with your discs etc they will last a long long time.

arturo2666 · May 26, 2017

BRSxIgnition said:
No, you can keep, protect, resell, etc, a physical game.

A digital game is just a license saying you can play that game until the provider says you can't anymore or a server goes down.

The former is more valuable, at least to me.

This. That said, there is nothing wrong with paying for convenience, it just doesn't confer any end value to the product once you have it.

CambriaRising · May 26, 2017

Physical games are objectively more valuable to consumers.

molnizzle · May 26, 2017

All of my games are digital, so yes.

CambriaRising said:
Physical games are objectively more valuable to consumers.

I value having an uncluttered home. Physical games are objectively less valuable to me because of that.

poodaddy · May 26, 2017

I'm digital only and I'd say no not really. At the very least the collector's item value of a game's packaging and physical materials, which is meaningless to me but could be very important to others, kind of objectively adds more value to physical games as an entire package over digital. I still prefer digital just for convenience though, but then I'm not a collector.

NoblesseOblige · May 26, 2017

Physical have less value to me as they cost more (on PC) and cost physical space allocated to them. Also if the disc becomes damaged or corrupt it's sayonara.

Gaiaknight · May 26, 2017

CambriaRising said:
Physical games are objectively more valuable to consumers.

i dissagree as someone that buys hundreds of games and doesnt sell his games im very happy to not have a ton of boxes lying around.

NoblesseOblige · May 26, 2017

CambriaRising said:
Physical games are objectively more valuable to consumers.

I don't think you quite understand what the word objectively means.

Undead Fantasy · May 26, 2017

HAHAHAHAHAHAHA.

No.

nekkid · May 26, 2017

CambriaRising said:
Physical games are objectively more valuable to consumers.

lol

Golden_Pigeon · May 26, 2017

As someone living in a country where all importation are HEAVILY taxed, buying digital allow me to save 40-50 % of the price of the game. Yes full price.

tearsintherain · May 26, 2017

Its a weird question since there are so few digital only games that try to charge $59.99...

a $30 game is not (usually) "as good" to me as a $60 game. Of course there are plenty of $60 stinkers, and $20 absolute treasures, but in general with all else being equal I prefer big studio big budget games and they sell for $60 and *grumble* nowadays have season passes, microtransactions, and all that crap.

Yes, I understand the irony of me liking those big budget games and all the crap now in them there because of the costs and money they can make.

Bowl0l · May 26, 2017

Only applies to console
Physical > digital because of price.
Steam business practice ensures competitive pricing. In Asia, Sony will just call a RM10 (USD2.34) discount as a sale.

jjonez18 · May 26, 2017

I consider physical more valuable. The ability to sell them garunteed that for me (wait doesn't MS allow us to resell digital now?).

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