Poll: Digital vs Physical Games

I'd much rather buy physical copies - but local stores that actually sell physical copies of PC games is getting harder and harder to come by.

GameStop used to (8+ years ago) be a great spot to find PC games. They hardly carry any PC games now, plus they open the boxes to remove the game CD and install Keys from the case. To me, that doesn't feel like a "new" game. I don't stop at GameStop anymore because of these two reasons (lack of games and boxes opened by staff). I have 3 or 4 GameStop stores within about a 20 mile radius from where I live and I used to frequent the stores about once a month and buy cheap, discounted games....those were the good days for buying physical copies.

Target used to have a shelf lined (at least my local Target store) with PC games - up until about 5 years ago. As every year passes the amount of PC games drops by about 25%. They only have about 2 dozen games now instead of the nearly 60+ they carried and most of them are Sims, Blizzard games, CoD and Battlefield games. They also used to be a good place to find discounted PC games. This is where I picked up the first 3 entries in the Assassin's Creed series for $4.99 each.

Walmart - I don't frequent it very often, but similar situation to Target.

Best Buy - similar to Target and Walmart. Their selection of PC games has greatly dwindled. I remember walking up and down 2-3 aisles (20-30ft long) and drooling over all the PC games and having issues trying to decide what I wanted to buy. I used to find good deals on games at the local Best Buy stores....but they haven't had any good selection of PC games for the past 6+ years. What they do offer isn't anything different than what Target or Walmart has. They have a small section on the shelves for PC games - probably about an 1/12th of what they used to carry 6+ years ago.

MicroCenter - this used to be a treasure trove of PC games. It's across town from me and takes about 30 minutes (depending on construction and traffic) to get there, so I don't go very often....I always buy something when I go so I have to limit my visits to keep me from buying unnecessary computer stuff. They had PC games galore! I found a physical copy of Gears of War there when no one else had them and they were getting hard to come by. I purchased many games from there....but what they offer has declined by half (or even more) when compared to 4-5 years ago.

It gets harder and harder to find physical copies of PC games as each year goes by in local stores. Sometimes the only physical copy you can buy is online and it's some stupid "collector's edition" that costs you an extra $50+ (and that's not something I can easily afford nor would buy even if I could).

I have maybe 120-130 physical copies of PC games in my current collection. Out of those, I believe I still have 15-20 games I've never opened and had a chance to play (I'd blame that on having a family now).

I don't buy many games through digital - most of the digital games I do get are gifted to me through Steam from my younger brother because he knows I'm broke and he enjoys playing co-op games online with me. But if I do see a game I really want and physical copies aren't available or they're horribly overpriced compared to digital, then I'll get a copy of it digital. Nowadays, most physical copies I do buy are online from Amazon....I'd much rather buy a copy from a local business, but it's becoming a rarity to do that.

I have a little over 400 physical game cases at my parents house. I've used multiple shelves before, now they're all stacked on top of each other in various cabinets and desk drawers. I have books to place on shelves. Transporting all of those back and forth would require a couple trunks and my apartment's bedroom isn't as spacious as my childhood bedroom, especially with two people living in it.

I keep the games I love most at arms reach, and i always buy physical copies on consoles, I cant take a digital copy to a friends house, and there the same price.

And do have an awesome game room, i also have a 3 year old. The back of the room for all you PC guys. PC games I download.

I prefer phygital games myself.

If I'm looking to receive a bunch of bonus physical merchandise (Fallout NV, Skyrim), then I buy the physical collector's edition. If I'm looking to be practical and save space and couldn't care less about physical casing, then I buy the game digitally through GoG, Steam, or another digital service.

I know physical products are slowly becoming outdated, but I still enjoy just having something tangible to attach to my game. even when I buy a PC game I sometimes look for a hard copy of the game despite possible issues with modding, compatibility, etc., just because I enjoy collecting I guess

Kind of hard , when you put a great pic like this , to pick digital.

Of course I prefer buying them physically, but since I mainly started PC gaming most of my games are digital so I don't care much these days.

And how many times has it gone wrong lately? A lot...

i only buy physical copies . i like collecting limited and special editions

I went digital back in 2012, more convient for me, plus I don't trade in my games. I buy what I think I like, and it works out for me.

Well, that's the problem: what does 'a lot' mean? how much is 'a lot'? What are the actual percentages?

physical.

Battlefield 4, SimCity, Driveclub, Diablo 3, Halo MCC, Batman Arkham Knight, War Z, Earth: 2044, Motorbike, etc

Well I could get used to the digital versions, they are way easier, but the prices in my country at leas twice of the physical version

Yeah, doesn't seem to be that much, considering the amount of games coming out every year. Besides, a bit of hesitance in purchasing and a bit of pre-launch research and those problems can be avoided. But well, the general consumer seems impulsive and lazy... That seems to be a far bigger problem.

It isn't acceptable to release those game

I always buy the games in physical form.

How exactly would refund policies in physical stores be better in situations like this where technically there is nothing wrong with the physical game? You can easily exchange the game for another copy, but that isn't going to help the situation.

How acceptable it is depends on the consumer.

If the game is broken as hell it will

@hrt_rulz01: Same here. I also buy digital game sales. Sometimes I don't get a game right away, but after 6 months or so I'll check it out.

Physical. I'm very nostalgic and I just love the look of my shelves. Plus I'm still not huge on Internet connectivity constantly, so physical makes more sense for me

Plus, if you wait a bit, you can often find a cheaper deal for the physical copy via Amazon or ebay. I'm very much a collector.

@GameSpot: digital any day of the week. Doesn't matter how careful you are wth the disc it will always be scratched somehow and you have thrown your money in the sea..

Both. On PC digital games seem more and more preferable as they are easy to be managed via one's digital game library; moreover, downloading games (e.g., via Steam) usually includes them being kept up-to-date. On console I mostly prefer(red) physical copies, but next-gen games now have to be installed on the HDD anyway in order to be played, so not having to remove discs might even be more comfortable. On the Vita, on the other hand, I often prefer buying the game on cartridge since the memory cards are so expensive...

One argument against the digital, though: physical copies are still easier to be traded...

Digital.

cheaper, quicker, easier, better for the environment.

@GameSpot: I love having the physical copies!

I don't see why we can't support both. Current gen consoles have considerable hard drives, so you can download a fair supply of games and put that disc drive to good use playing physical copies.

I Like To Do Both. I Will Buy Physical Went I Plan To Trade In To Get Something Else. I Will Buy Digital If It's Something I Want And It Is On Sale.

All digital. Haven't bought a single boxed games in months but dozens of digital ones only the in the past view weeks. Only console folks, people living at the north pole or people living in the past still buy games on a disc... :P

Praise Lord Gaben!

For me it's most of the time all about money. Besides the games I wanto to have a physical copy (GTA5, Witcher 3, some others) I will get a digital in a heartbeat if it's 1/4 price of the physical.

@The_Last_Ride: refund policies... I have played games all my life and have never asked for a refund. Maybe you should do some research on the product you buy before purchasing.

@GameSpot: Usually I buy physical disc video games because it has resale value. I'll buy digital if it is a good sale price though

So if it is so stupid to do it, why did Batman Arkham Knight pull their game on steam? Reason? Refund policy... I have never asked for a refund either. But if a game is broken, you are entitled for a refund

i don't even have a disc drive in my computer and have not needed one since i build the computer 2 years ago. does not mean that i wont buy a physical copy of a really good game just to have it on the shelf,but i mostly dont.

Generally speaking It makes more sense for having older games as physical copy, where the game would just run as intended - no game update is required to be downloaded to run the game with glitch fixes.

Nowadays I just go full digital for PC games (thanks to Steam), since backward compatibility is not an concern as to older console releases (hint: PS3, PSP, PSVita)

It all varies on which system you're talking about, for example:

• For PSP games - they're not all available digitally unfortunately, so physical copies will tend to add value as old retro games
• For PSVita, you're required to rely on the PSN region which you have selected - going digitally is a pain with it at some point, you would need a memory card per each region for example
• PS3 games - how long would Sony host servers to support PS3 users from downloading their games digitally? You just hope your PS3 system hard disk would not die on you in the future

Digital copies are very convenient, they save space if that's a big concern which is to most collectors.

I used my examples from Sony systems in general, the same can also be applied on other consoles for the same too.

Hope that made sense.

First things first: digital downloads are very convenient and something I've occasionally resorted to. However...

As someone who's been playing video games for a few years now, some of my most treasured possessions are those old 8-bit cassette cases and carts with their inlays and associated artwork. I can still load any of them and play them today.

I think it's a real shame that many of you who are avid players now aren't going to be able to have tangible assets of your own to get all misty-eyed over in a few years time.

Because you'll probably wish you had.

For console I prefer physical, because of the great feeling I get by inserting the disc. I'm serious, it's pretty sad. Looking at my physical game collection also feels better than looking at my digital, which I have on PC.
As long as the physical copy isn't much more expensive than the digital one I will probably buy it. But for PC I think I prefer digital games. The only thing I do if it's a physical copy is taking the code in the box, write it on Steam or whatever, and then hide the box. If it's not a cool special edition, of course.

@The_Last_Ride: Like I said do some damn research about your product. I was hyped as shit for the new Batman, it came out it got horrible reviews for pc because of bugs, fps limit cap etc I DIDNT BUY A BROKEN PRODUCT

Digital for pc and physical for console

Physical Games mostly.
Digital for indies, and retro emulation.

So if you buy a bread, and you get home and it's totally rotten and bad inside you don't want a refund?

Digital. Physical media is obsolete.

Heh. Yeah I can't think of any more useless PC components.

Physical all the way for me.

Both are equally good.

In my opinion, digital games are more popular these days.