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Anyone else back to buying physical from digital?

I went "Digital Only" for about two months back in 2013 on the PS3 and 3DS. Switched back real quickly because I realized I like cases, resale potential, and I don't feel too burdened by lack of digital convenience.

I still buy a lot of digital stuff, especially on PSN due to sales, but I buy most of my big titles in a physical format.
 
Gravy Boat said:
Statistically at this point, you're more likely to lose or damage a physical game than you are to lose access to a digital one.
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You mean like the PS Mobile games that are now unavailable and can now no longer be downloaded from Sony despite you paying for them?
Buying physical games is the only way you can guarantee that you'll be able to play them 10+ years down the line, it's a simple as that.
 
Not for PS4 or XBone or PC. But I have gone back for Vita and 3DS. Simply not enough memory to store the games and there is rarely any major software updates to those titles. Unlike the console and PC where there are so many that owning the physical copy is meaningless.
 
I buy whatever I can find for the cheapest with most games. And overwhelmingly that is still physical. For new releases, physical gets you 20% off if you have prime. Also, physical prices drop much faster for games that are a month or two old. Looking at this past couple months, I got a lot of big release games and didn't pay over $35 for any of them.

Things that are years old I generally pick up dirt cheap digitally on PSN sales.
 
I would buy a lot more games digital if they would need less space on the HDD. A lot of indie games are only a few gigabytes in size. But 50 GB is insane. Especially on PS4 where you can't use an external HDD.
My internet connection is rather slow, too. So it would take me days to download a 50 GB game.
 
tariniel said:
Lately there have been better deals for me on console physical than digital. Between Best Buys gamer club and the discount for Amazon Prime, if I'm buying new it's almost always better. I have no problem buying digital though if the price is right as I never really sell my games because I hate the hassle of it.
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Physical has always had better deals overall. I think you've just recently took notice?
 
FonkyByNature said:
I'm fully digital on both Xbox and PS4 but i prefer Xbox's way to manage saves.

It just works on Xbox One. Lack of space ? no problem, delete the game without having to worry about losing you save. Then re-download it and bam, you're at the exact same place where you left.

But overall, i still prefer digital for the convenience and the very good deals, especially on PSN (no taxes, ps+ prices...)
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I don't think I've lost my saves on PS4?

If I did, I'll look like my avatar.
 
If digital was cheaper I would move over. But for some reason it is more expensive, in England games on the digital store can sell as much as £55. If I preorder, nearly all of the time I can get games as cheap as £35 without much of a struggle. With the added loss of not being able to sell when I'm done or lend to a friend. Also I'm hoping that one day those games I sell will end up on PS Plus and be back in the libarary again. I go through about 30 games a year. Would love the conscience but I need those physical benefits... only expections.... bloodbourne, dark souls 3, forza horizon 3, destiny and vr games. But I think even that was because I had that eject issue on the PS4 and in a souls game/destiny it could really stand to mess things up.
 
Cathcart said:
Nah.

Also haven't gone back to well water from indoor plumbing.
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We always have comments like this in these threads, can you comprehend both sides of preference? Physical copies aren't dated by any means and hold their value after purchase, downloads are convenient but are worth nothing nor add to a collection.
 
Physical for console/portables, as tends to be a lot cheaper, plus the ability to sell/return if needed. I only buy digital for non-physical releases, or if they're really cheap. I think the only exception was buying a digital copy of Overwatch on sale for the convenience. I'm a pretty half-assed collector, but I do like having a physical copy of games I really like.
 
dose said:
You mean like the PS Mobile games that are now unavailable and can now no longer be downloaded from Sony despite you paying for them?
Buying physical games is the only way you can guarantee that you'll be able to play them 10+ years down the line, it's a simple as that.
Click to expand...

People seem to forget we've had a few examples of servers and services shutting down where people actually lost complete access to content. For many stores, they're still young and we haven't seen some of these disappear yet. Where we're at in the history of digital store fronts is still pretty early so some people can't really see the negative aspects of servers disappearing yet.
 
If I buy an Xbox One game on digital I can play it on pc, if I bought a 360 game I can download it... on ps4 the benefits of going digital are not as good... also this year games are going dirty cheap on some stores faster than ever. I was thinking on buying digital TLG but in 3 months maybe I can buy it for 30€ or less and if I don't like it resell it for 25 or more...
 
Still prefer physical but love some of the little PSN and XBLA or 3DS eShop stuff if they are cheap enough but I am loving the PSOne classics on Vita and Xbox One with 360 games too! Still buying all I can physically except on PC which is basically been Blizzard exclusive stuff that i've bought physically and everything else has been digital but I REALLY can't see myself having over 5,400 physical Steam games to be honest.
 
Whatever is cheaper is what I buy. But I do find it extremely annoying that every X1 game requires an install to play, but I still need to get my lazy ass up and put the disc in.
 
Just like everyone in the uk I'm trying but finding the prices hard to justify going digital.

Even sales don't make it easier thanks to shitty exchange rates.
 
Always physical on consoles,and physical/digital on PC depending on the price and what goodies does the physical edition contain.
 
I prefer digital and usually buy that accept during the Christmas season when deals are just to good on physical. Nintendo games always physical until they fix there account system.
 
On Xbox I can totally understand why some go digital only. PlayStation also but to a lesser extent. But Nintendo? I avoid their digital distribution as much as possible and I am more than miffed when games like Ace Attorney and Zero Time Dilemma don't get a physical release in Europe. In 2017 Nintendo will have finally managed to do what Microsoft achieved in 2005 and have an actual functioning account system.

I'm stupid enough to have spent a small fortune on amiibos but I have enough sense to not trust Nintendo with several hundred £s of digital purchases.
 
The only game that I bought digitally for my consoles was Animal Crossing New Leaf... There's not a single day that I regret this decision
 
EmiPrime said:
On Xbox I can totally understand why some go digital only. PlayStation also but to a lesser extent. But Nintendo? I avoid their digital distribution as much as possible and I am more than miffed when games like Ace Attorney and Zero Time Dilemma don't get a physical release in Europe. In 2017 Nintendo will have finally managed to do what Microsoft achieved in 2005 and have an actual functioning account system.

I'm stupid enough to have spent a small fortune on amiibos but I have enough sense to not trust Nintendo with several hundred £s of digital purchases.
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I mean I don't even own a 3DS anymore and won't ever own one again so I'm unaffected by their lack of an account system. Definitely would have. Even some hassle of it got stolen or broken when I had it with having to deal with getting them to transfer licenses.

But otherwise, access issues are just moot to those of us who don't replay or keep hardware around after we're done with it.
 
Digital only for PC games, while for consoles, I buy physical. I may buy the digital version if there is a big sale. I buy only physical for Nintendo games.
 
For the vita, obviously digital and I can fit some 50 games on the memory card

Picked up a ps4 during BF. Was hard to decide, Im a either 100% digital or 100% physical guy. Ended up going digital as the games I wanted were dirt cheap. I do miss having the boxes especially for games you fall i love with. But going digital is moreprotected in terms of family (small kids at home).

But the thing I regret Most with digital is the pressure that I have to pick up games during psn sales, adding to my backlog. Like now I Will be busy with the games I have until march. Then I want to play GTA V. Should I buy it now on sale? Then after 3 months I rather play Another game. With physical I never have to buy upfront

But I like the idea of digital, I Always contribute to sales. Before when I was physical I Always bought used games. More money to developers to games I like - win win

Im also convinced PS5 Will offer full BC, rather bring a digital library with me then having mixed ps4/ps5 boxes
 
I've started to switch back because of the following:

Downloads take forever. PSN is worse than XBL, but regardless it's still tens of GBs on a 50Mbps connection.
Hard drives are too small. Well, 500 GBs is at least. I constantly have to delete stuff on my PS4.
Sometimes I don't like a game and want to trade it in. Fallout 4 is the one I kick myself for buying digitally. .
Sometimes I want to take a game to a friend's house (SFV checks this box).
Amazon has most new games for 20% off.
Having a physical collection of games is neat.

I was all about the digital lifestyle and went to downloads for comics, books, and games for the most part but now I've turned back on almost all of them. Ironically, the one area where I actually wanted to buy physical media was music and now I pretty much only use Spotify and never buy CDs.
 
Nope, I don't like reselling games and don't like the space physical takes up or swapping discs/carts out. Sometimes physical games are priced so much cheaper than digital (especially new released games through Amazon or BB Gamersclub Unlocked) that I buy physical, but I definitely still prefer digital whenever it makes sense price-wise.
 
My soul won't let me to go back to physical..i mean when you got 5tbs hooked up to your X1 aaand you combine that with digital..you got yourself a deadline combination that there's no going back...........Fam.
 
I went back, but only a little bit.

I got tired of my PS4 HDD constantly filling up, and this helps ease the pain. Also, I started buying older games on Wii, GameCube, PS2, and Super Famicom. That helps XD

On Vita and 3DS, though, I’ve remained entirely digital the past 4 years, and intend to continue doing so.
 
You couldn't pay me to go back to physical. I don't ever trade in and my space and convenience are important to me.
 
I didn't even know you could connect an external hard drive to the XB1...
Boggles my mind that you can't do the same on PS4, should at least have that option.

For people saying that physical space is a concern, and digital is not, do you guys keep all the games you buy, don't resell? I never have more than 20 games, hell, 15 is a stretch across the PS4/Wii U.
 
Largely game on PC, so digital is what I get 98% of the time, and even if physical was still a thing for PC I do just prefer digital. The convenience is just higher, I like saving the physical space, and a disc is only useful to me if bandwidth/data caps were a concern.

I do still end up getting physical console games though, just because the digital sales are less frequent on console, and competing retail outlets drop price deeper and faster. Once in a blue moon a retail PC game will be cheaper than a digital option at the time, so I'll get that...but really it's just going to be a Steam/uPlay/Origin/Battle.net key that will be digital from then on, and I'll just toss the box.

At this point most of my physic game purchases happen during Black Friday, as I did get Splatoon & Ratchet & Clank for cheap.
 
Gone full circle, started up digital only, then went physical due to cost, now back on digital mainly because I now see Xbox as a platform and going forward I believe the games will be playable on future Xbox consoles
 
On PC, I've been buying digital only for about 15 years, I think? The only times I get physical PC games is as a gift.
Still prefer physical on console though - download speeds are awful, games are too big for the limited space on the preinstalled harddrives, the storefronts still have ways to go in terms of navigability, they don't have good sales and therefore physical copies get cheaper way quicker.

I definitely like digital better in general, I just don't want to clutter our place up with a couple of useless boxes anymore.
 
I sell my physical CDs and get 40-70% full price value back, assuming I bought the game at 60 USD. It's what subsidizes my next purchase so I don't see myself going digital unless its something like Inside, Never Alone, or Journey - which are short experiences and can be downloaded quickly.

Even if I had blazing speed, I'd stick to CD purely because of resale value.
 
I like having both options. Since i leave in south america digital sales are good for my personal economy, but i like having some things in physical form.

I have a gaming PC/PS3/PS4
 
Not really. Unless it's for a game I've been been expecting for a long time such as FFXV. I needed it in my hands or I wouldn't have believed it existed.
 
Why would I ever leave physical? To pay more for access to a game that I can't resell/trade in? No thanks lol.

Can't even imagine paying $60 for some digital game, not liking it, and being stuck with it forever.
 
Nah. If a game is worth owning i just buy it digitally. Any game i would tire of while it still has resell value, i just rent from red box- which nets me more savings that reselling would.
 
I was mostly digital on my 3DS. Then I really realized how impossible it was to share games. I have some that are perfect for the XL but I didn't want to use it full time due to the size. I wish I had gotten the games physical, so I could just use the carts. I don't play them much on the normal sized 3DS. Edit: At the same time, going digital on handhelds was awesome. No carrying around the little carts that can get lost so quick. It's worth it. Just hate Nintendos current system restrictions.

I also really started realizing how much I could save by buying physical. With Amazon Prime and GCU, I don't buy digital unless it's on sale.
 
100% Physical on consoles. 100% digital on PC. That's the way it'll stay I think. I can't trust the likes of Sony given the insane amount of "Sony banned me for buying their products/some other arbitrary reason" threads we get on here with absolutely abysmal customer support.

Plus the obvious stuff like my PS4 library has monetary value.
 
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