• Hey Guest. Check out your NeoGAF Wrapped 2025 results here!

So what's the digital/physical split on GAF?

Let's get physical. Always. I'm old school and I like to have something tangable with my purchases. Other reason is because I like CEs...sadly
 
ZombieVito said:
Seeing all these digital only posts truly terrifies me.

I guess my gaming days will end after this gen.
Click to expand...

I wonder if most people posting that they are all-digital are in a place with really good broadband service.

In the United States, going all-digital is simply not an option for many people. Maybe if there's ever a national broadband project on the scale of the highway project in the '40s and '50s, there might be more of a chance that this will happen.

However, going digital now (or trying to) is pretty much going to kill your brand, as Microsoft found out. A great many people don't have the level of service even if they wanted to go all digital in our country.
 
Voysa Reezun said:
I wonder if most people posting that they are all-digital are in a place with really good broadband service.

In the United States, going all-digital is simply not an option for many people. Maybe if there's ever a national broadband project on the scale of the highway project in the '40s and '50s, there might be more of a chance that this will happen.

However, going digital now (or trying to) is pretty much going to kill your brand, as Microsoft found out. A great many people don't have the level of service even if they wanted to go all digital in our country.
Click to expand...

It's not a matter of service. It's about ownership. Digital games hold no value to me.
 
I prefer physical copies, but I've recently been buying a fair amount of digital games. If the price is right, I'll bite. However, I'm certainly not willing to pay nearly the same amount as a physical copy for a digital one. That just doesn't make sense.
 
I would say I am 80% digital, 20% physical. I only really go for physical games when there is a good sale.

I move my console around quite a bit and I have never been really attached to the physical media, so I much prefer the convenience of digital.
 
Digital on all current consoles, handhelds, and of course PC. I'm only buying one physical game on PC and that's The Witcher 3 Collector's Edition.
 
Ori and the Blind Forest and The Legend of Korra are my only current gen digital games and will likely be my only digital games.

I'm actually moving away from modern gaming in general though in favor of "retro" gaming.
 
PC is 100% digital

Xbox One is 100% digital (With the exception of Forza and Dead Rising 3 which i purchased during the Xbox One's launch)

PS4 is 100% physical (DL speeds aren't good enough for me to switch over to DD)
 
All digital all the time. That goes for the PS4/Xbox One and PC.

I only have one disk, Killzone Shadowfall, and only because that was bundled in the launch PS4.
 
Olly88 said:
Yep, I'm going to have to completely agree with you two.
Click to expand...

All digital here. I don't understand the obsession with a piece of plastic and that piece of paper they consider a game manual these days. My console literally hasn't seen a single disc and the last physical game I bought on PC was for $2 at Circuit City when they were going out of business.
 
Console games I'm 100% physical if it's an option. It's the only reason I haven't bought TLOU remake yet, I can get it for $13 digital, but I want that physical copy for around the same price.

On PC I'm obviously 100% digital on Steam.
 
I have an xbone and do digital. It's just easier and pre loading is awesome.

I think I'd buy single player only games physical though so I could trade in.
 
Still largely prefer physical for various reasons, but since upgrading my PS4's HDD i've started getting some digital games that I know I will never trade / sell. This is rare, though.

The digital price is still too high for me, I don't want to risk buying a game I end up not liking and be stuck with it.

I do like the convenience of not having to switch discs, though.
 
Depends what kind of game it is. Something that's multiplayer and I wanna keep forever? (Smash Bros 3ds) Yes, digital. I want that shit on me always.

Single player and I get bored after playing all I can play? (Mario 3d Land, Kirby) Physical, I can hold off to maybe play it again later. No rush. If I get really bored, I can sell it.
 
On Console it's mostly physical (Wii U, PS4 and 3DS). The only digital games are PS Plus games and the ones I get free in some Nintendo promotion (Mario Kart 8 promo etc.)

On PC, I usually buy digital. I've bought the odd physical disc when it is cheaper.
 
%99 digital. Partly due to anxiety I have of having too many things in my apartment and also living in a bachelor apt makes space limited.
 
I'm all Physical and I'll go digital only if it's a PSN only title. Otherwise I'll never buy digital even if it's cheaper. (I'm willing to pay 20$ more if it's Physical)
 
98% digital. I started with this because it is way cheaper to go this route in my country, and I don´t like selling games or consoles.
Physical when digital is not possible or if I find a good deal/used copy which is almost never where I live.
 
Physical, unless there is an insane deal on digital, or physical copies are scarce.

The other exception are games that you never want to remove. For example, I had GTA V on Ps3, and when I bought it for Ps4 I figured I'd use it similarly as on PS3, but no, I really got into GTA Online. So, in retrospect, I wished I'd gotten it digitally, so that I could have hopped back and forth between it and other games more quickly.

I think there is something to be said for going digital on any game which has a multiplayer that really hooks you.
 
I only buy digital when that's the only format, such as Resident Evil HD. I'll stop buying physical when they stop selling physical.
 
100% digital unless it's literally impossible to get digitally, which is very rare these days.

My physical collecting days are way behind me and it feels great. I have so much more space, never have to look for a copy of anything, games are always up to date, love it.

Not worried in the slightest about Steam or whatever going down and losing access to all my games - there will be workarounds, and you only live once so why even worry about it.
 
thelatestmodel said:
100% digital unless it's literally impossible to get digitally, which is very rare these days.

My physical collecting days are way behind me and it feels great. I have so much more space, never have to look for a copy of anything, games are always up to date, love it.

Not worried in the slightest about Steam or whatever going down and losing access to all my games - there will be workarounds, and you only live once so why even worry about it.
Click to expand...

Well said, I laugh when I hear the "What if PSN, Steam, or Live goes away?!"

That is most definitely not happening in my lifetime. My games will work until I die, guaranteed.
 
Nintendo: All physical if I can help it (random VC games, Metroid Prime Trilogy was USD10, etc)
Everything else: All digital.

Once upon a time I had bookshelves upon bookshelves of games, books, movies, CDs, etc. All that shit had to be dusted and cared for. Scratched a CD? Fuck, have to buy it again. Now I worry about none of it and have everything at my fingertips all the time. That's what converted me.
 
I almost exclusively buy PC games digitally. For one, my PC doesn't have a disc drive in it, and two, the best sales are for digital versions. I have no problem with digital for PC. The odd exception are maybe some collectors editions if I want a figure or something like that.

For my Nintendo consoles I almost exclusively buy physical, since Nintendo games keep their value very well and eventually it will be worth reselling most of the games. The exceptions are games where the eShop has an amazing sale, or I got the game free from promotions/club Nintendo.

All of my PS3 games are physical except for the games that only come digital (old PS1 classics, 3rd strike). My hard drive on that thing is only 20gb so it wouldn't work so well to buy digital. There's also not much to buy for that system any more.
 
I only buy digital when physical isn't an option.
Or there's a digital sale that's just too good to pass up.
Demon's Souls for $5 on PSN for instance.

Nothing worse than buying a $60 game, realizing it's just not for you, and having no way of returning/exchanging/trading it.


dhPFzXg.jpg
 
Physical unless I'm desperate, there's a flash sale or it's digital only. I somewhat stupidly didn't update my stock PS4 hard drive.
 
PC 100% digital.
Vita 100% digital except 2 games I got when I bought it (Tearaway && Ys)
PS4 ... Mostly physical except for impulse buys (I downloaded Destiny and AW because my friend wanted to play them and I don't care about them) or ps+ games
PS3/360 100% physical besides ps+ or digital only games

I still buy movies on discs.
 
Physical unless it's not available. A few times there was a game on sale for cheap digitally so I bought it that way, but if it's something I am really looking forward too then physical.
 
100% digital on PS4. The ease of convenience is worth the extra price imho. Then again, sales have finally come to PSN in a huge way so I guess that won't be as much of a problem in the future!
 
About 60/40 physical/digital over the last few years... mostly because of some good sales on XBL/PSN.
Sometimes I will preorder digital if it's cheaper than the preorder in the store.
 
I can't remember the last time I was in a games store, let alone actually bought a physical copy of the game. I don't own a next-gen console so I just get everything on Steam or GOG.
 
For me it´s always physical, I like building up a collection and owning my favorite games.

I understand why some prefer digital, but I know I won´t shift to it anytime soon, if ever.

Also one of the reasons I´m glad I started learning japanese years ago is because I can buy all those sweet physical copies of Vita/niche/obscure games. I guess I don´t have to worry so much about that "all-digital" future as Japan probably won´t stop releasing retail games.
 
I live in the UK so bear in mind we get fucked when it comes to digital pricing on new releases. I don't tend to buy games digitally unless they're on sale, but I'll spend anything up to about £16 or £20 depending on what the game is. On my PS4 I think I have three full games digital verses about seven physical, although I've got shit loads of smaller digital only games like Trine, Valiant Hearts, Oddworld, Rogue Legacy, Titan Souls, etc.

Basically I'm usually physical, but that's mainly due to pricing. I do like the convenience of owning digital games.
 
I understand why someone can prefer the status quo with physical discs, since there are obvious benefits to that approach. I do find it really hard to understand that a fan of video games would base their entire interest in an industry on whether or not a game is on a disc (or some other removable physical object).

That always sounds to me like saying if theaters die, or DVDs die, you will no longer enjoy movies. At least with movies, the medium does actually change the experience, but with games especially, there's often no functional difference between a game on a disc and a "digitally downloaded" game. Hell, even on PS4 and Xbox One, the disc is solely used as a "prove to us that you own this" device, as the game is fully installed to the hard drive. There's no actual technical reason for the disc afterward.

The idea that a fan of video games would stop enjoying them based on whether or not they come on a piece of plastic or not seems...odd.

ZombieVito said:
It's not a matter of service. It's about ownership. Digital games hold no value to me.
Click to expand...

Interesting. So the actual game itself doesn't hold any value, only the media type that it's released on?

This isn't me making an argument that everyone should be happy with $60 digital games or whatever, so I totally understand someone saying it may be "less value" and that they'll buy digital games at a cheaper price. But the idea of "no value" seems strange to me, since a disc or a cartridge is one of the least important parts of a game experience. Games are to be played after all, not stared at on a shelf. Digital games don't change the "play" part of it after all, so this seems like an odd statement to make.
 
With my lifestyle the way it is now there is no way I can do physical anymore period. I need to travel light at all times, I am a nomad at this point.
 
I buy physical though digital is more convenient, reason is prices and ability to resell. I wish I could load my physical copies and them without disc
 
I buy physical because I like owning the product in my hands. But I prefer digital for convenience. If I could buy my Wii U games and have it come with a download code too it'd be perfect. But sadly this isn't a perfect world and companies are paranoid about that shit. So I put up with disc swapping for another generation.

They'll take my physical copies from me when they actually stop making games on disc. No sooner. No later.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

Boxroom, a virtual physical collection of your digital games.
Social News 
0
166
Holammer replied
  • Poll
Do you think Nintendo is reducing the price of digital games or increasing the price of physical ones?
2
56
769
VGA-Games replied
Physical Game Fans, Beware: Digital Downloads Hit an Astonishing 85% on PS5, PS4 Last Quarter
Business Analysis Platform  2 3 4
153
643
Zacfoldor replied
CD Projekt shares The Witcher 3 and Cyberpunk 2077 sales data (digital/physical split, platform split, regional split)
2 3 4
170
17K
YeulEmeralda replied
Weekend GAF: What's On Your Wish List for 2026?
28
732
bender replied
Top Bottom