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Converting to Digital Games?

bufkus

Member
I went all-digital years ago. It's easy on PC because you can trust Steam/Origin/Windows Store to be around forever and always having access to your games. On consoles, I really don't care about losing my games 10-15+ years from now, because in 10-15+ years I really doubt I'm going to want to bust out the old PS4 or Wii to play some old game that's likely been remade a few times since then.

I simply don't see a reason to waste precious physical space on inconvenient physical games anymore, but maybe it's just because I'm old.
 

hiphopcr

Member
On consoles, I really don't care about losing my games 10-15+ years from now, because in 10-15+ years I really doubt I'm going to want to bust out the old PS4 or Wii to play some old game that's likely been remade a few times since then.
With super backwards compatibility you'll never lose a game you bought on any Xbox. Very comforting to know going forward.
 

BANGS

Banned
With super backwards compatibility you'll never lose a game you bought on any Xbox. Very comforting to know going forward.
Yeah I really hope xbox keeps this in mind, it seems they know it's important now. Sony better get on the ball with that feature. It's pretty stupid that I can play Yakuza 0,1,2, and 6 on my PS4 but the other games are PS3 exclusive...
 

Susurrus

Member
PS4, I'm good with whatever is cheaper (usually physical, but sometimes PSN sales are good and don't forget PS+), as it is quick and easy to find my games, download, etc, and I have plenty of space on my hard drive. Xbox One is largely the same way but admittedly I get nowhere the use.
I'll make exceptions to only digital if I can for games that I want to come back to randomly and periodically, such as multiplayer games, rare replay type stuff, etc, though.
PC is all digital (Steam primarily).
Switch is going to be primarily physical because lol32GB and MicroSD prices, I appreciate no proprietary, but why the fuck couldn't they use standard SD?
 
I'm doing the complete opposite and rebuying any digital purchases I've made, on physical media. In fact, the fully digital eco-system on PC is what has specifically encouraged me to go back to game consoles. Buying digital games (or rather digital licenses that are bound to a single email account) is such a hollow experience for me. But I like that the option is available for those who prefer to consume games in that method.

I personally love my physical game library and I take pride in it. Having a physical product is fundamental to the experience. The whole sales pitch from digital evangelists over "convenience" is redundant for me when I'm only changing discs once every 15+ hours. To add to that, I haven't lost a single piece of physical media due to failure in the last 30+ years of collecting. I have, however, lost plenty of digital game lcenses across a much shorter time period. The value proposition for digital is just not there for me.
 

Tenshin

Member
This gen im 80% digital, its hard to buy my disc games on the region i want ( in asia, and my psn is u.s.) and one big factor for me in going digital is disc and digital games takes the same amount of hdd space.
 
I'm a mix.

Since moving to Switzerland 2 years ago I've found myself buying more and more digital games simply because they are cheaper (for whatever reason physical games are $70-80 here). But even considering that I still buy plenty of Physical games simply because to me they still feel like they provide more value. Like in 10 years Sony could just shut down online services on Ps4 and block access to all my digital games but with physical ones at least I'd still have something that should work, or that I can sell or keep as a collectors item.

I'd like to go All digital with the Switch....but since in terms of online services and features Nintendos till feels a decade behind everyone else I trust them even less than sony. I'm not even sure if I can at least re download games with my account on another system or if I still have to call Nintendo to transfer the licences

You haven't heard you can buy from UK stores?
 

Melubas

Member
GOG is amazing for this, and they have a lot of the new releases nowadays. Then again steam is awfully convenient.
 

Nikana

Go Go Neo Rangers!
Due to game sharing I buy 85 percent digital. Switch I'm using GCU so mostly physical there.

Only time I go physical is a big sale.
 

mrkgoo

Member
I used to be a collector, but a fair number of burglaries, having moved a few times, and now having kids, I've become a lot less materialistic about "stuff".

I'm still not ready to go digital for consoles, but for other media, it's preferred. Streaming, digital copies of movies and music are better to me, because they don't belong to one device. For my media setup, it's actually more convenient and practical to use digital services as I can view them on more devices around the home.

I suppose when games become more accessible on multiple devices around the home then I guess that is when I'd go digital more.

I think part of what would help is to consider all media as a temporary consumable thing. That the experience is the more important part, rather than the ownership.
 

BANGS

Banned
I have to saw going digital for retro games has nothing but pluses. That's not something I see discussed too often...
 
I buy more digitally than I do physical with some caveats. I never pay full price for digital as I am now more than prepared to wait for a while to pick up a new release rather than pre-order. I used to buy pretty much every game on release day but I am nowhere near as impulsive now. Add to this that digital games in the UK cost more than physical copies at release so it forces me to wait as my preference is digital. After I have waited a month, there's little incentive for me not to sit another month and get the game for less than half price.

The money saved enables me to buy more than enough 4TB HDDs to store the digital games on indefinitely. I guess in my case, the real winners are the HDD manufacturers, and me.
 

EverydayBeast

thinks Halo Infinite is a new graphical benchmark
I gotta say, preodering DBFighterZ and knowing it’s going to be in my download queue feels pretty great. That’s why I’m all for digital.

“What happens if my console/externals crash and I have to re-download but i'm not able to? I just get completely screwed out of the game/DLC?“

You can redownload all your content if something were to happen.
 

Ridaxan

Member
I wouldn't worry about the delisting of games you've already bought. It's only an issue if you haven't bought the games yet.
 
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