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Do you prefer to own physical or digital version of games?



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Which do you prefer physical or digital versions of games?


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    27

Vulpes XIII

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For me I would prefer the physical version of a game instead of the digital version as i don’t like the idea that you could easily lose access to your games and data because of circumstances outside of your control for example games getting removed from the online store or issues with servers stopping you from being able to play them as well as a few other issues that could happen. The reason I like physical games better is that as long as you take good care of the disc and store them correctly so they don’t get damaged or lost you are still going to be able to access them in the future since you own them, however I feel that with digital games it isn’t guaranteed that you will always be able to access them as in my opinion I feel like there is more risk with something going wrong with a digital game than a physical game. Although if for some reason I can’t get a physical version of the game I will get a digital version instead.

What does everyone else prefer physical or digital versions of games?
 

KingdomKurdistan

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I prefer physical movies because of quality differences and the romanticism of owning film that I haven't experienced withgames. This is odd: I grew up hooked on the feeling of opening new games: the plastic wrap; the clicking sound; the carcinogenic bliss that was the smell of moulded plastic.

I don't have no physical games. All digital. I'm not really a big gamer anymore, having got the xbox for use primarily as a Blu Ray movie player. A think Stadia is awesome and wouldn't mourn the death of consoles. But I'd be absolutely devastated by the end of movies on disc. My last console before the 1X was a phat PS3 (which I incidentally purchased in anticipation of KH3. A decade later, I had to borrow a cousin's console to play our long-awaited third entry).

I've been thinking of restarting my Kingdom Hearts collection, but that's only because it's Kingdom Hearts, not because I want to play physical versions. If I get them, I'd never touch them except to dust or admire.

Putting aside having the Kingdom Hearts collection solely as a collection, I have zero wish to own physical games that aren't KH. In fact, it would just clutter my bookcase and its limited real estate. I have 150 blu ray films and an extensive collection of Kingdom Hearts music CDs (which I find tremendous value in). But a random set of physical games does nothing for me. Of the Star Wars and Harry Potter movies, I only have Azkaban and The Last Jedi on disc. I don't really care for owning the rest and can just take those two films and individual standalone masterpieces. With individual games, I'd just ask what the point is.

It's also the reason I've held off buying TV shows in physical form: there just aren't enough shows I want to own so until I can fill up a whole shelf level, I probably ain't buying. Twin Peaks, Dekalog, Sharp Objects, The Night Of, and Fleabag have been sitting in my basket for months. Half the fun of phsyical media is in curating your collection, surely?

Roma is streaming for free. I'd watched it three times in cinema and four times on Netflix. Yet I impatiently awaited my pre-order of the Criterion Collection Blu Ray like I longed for the release of Chain of Memories as a child.

There's just something tangible and romantic about film as a physical medium that I don't feel towards games. Having written all that, I'm kind of sad that I no longer do.
 
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Elysium

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I don't really have the option since I can't play things digitally or access DLC. But speaking hypothetically, I still will always prefer physical to digital whether you're talking about games, music, or movies. With digital, it's more like renting. Especially in the case that a company alters their content in a way that prevents you seeing (or in this case playing) the content the way it used to be.
 

Face My Fears

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I need physical discs. I am appalled at the direction things are going nowadays with everything digital. I was looking forward to ReMIND having a beautiful case. The horror really began when they stopped putting manuals into games. I remember KH1 and KH2's manuals, I used to take them to school with me and read them even though I knew everything already. I loved that they included the lyrics to Simple and Clean in the KH1 manual. Even though I was filled with excitement and joy opening the KH3 case, that immense feeling covered up the sadness my heart felt when I saw no manual.
 

Vulpes XIII

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I need physical discs. I am appalled at the direction things are going nowadays with everything digital. I was looking forward to ReMIND having a beautiful case. The horror really began when they stopped putting manuals into games. I remember KH1 and KH2's manuals, I used to take them to school with me and read them even though I knew everything already. I loved that they included the lyrics to Simple and Clean in the KH1 manual. Even though I was filled with excitement and joy opening the KH3 case, that immense feeling covered up the sadness my heart felt when I saw no manual.

I miss manuals in games, I also enjoyed reading them as well as looking at the pictures when I was younger, I like when I buy a old second hand game and find that the original owner kept the manual as I still like reading them as it feels nostalgic in my opinion. Honestly I would hate it if they ever got rid of physical games completely.
 

Recon

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Physical, but I’m sort of leaning towards digital now. I have boxes for my games (never built a game shelf) and they just take up space.
 
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There's 2 super important things about physical games:

1. They are much quicker to download because you only have to worry about the update files.
2. There is no worry about the company closing down or deciding to delete their storage.

If my PS4 still works in 20 years and I have the physical copy, I can still play it (although probably not with the updates, patches and DLCs). I'm not so certain PS will still have their PS4 games available for download after all that time. They might be like Adobe suddenly deciding to delete Flash. I simply don't trust digital, but sometimes I have to get it either because of some major sale (I just bought like 15 games for 20 bucks) or because it's just the only way I can get it now.

But yes they do take up space and that can get annoying.
 

maryadavies

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Me, I love physical copies. Shame you can't do that with PC games but I much perfer having the disk in my hands; partly b/c of download issues but the other is I just luuuv opening a new disk.

And yes, I miss the smell/feel of manuals from the old days. It's sad that they're gone.. Along with maps and whatnot. Those were fun.
 

Epic Mickey

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I prefer physical games for the majority but I do have some digital and I find digital only works best on something like the PS VITA whereas a digital doesn't fascinate me as much on the consoles but i do have PS3 games that are digital and they're also fun but I don't play them as much as the physical games. I play mostly digital on vita and mostly physical on ps3 so there we are in that debate hehehe.
 

kirabook

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Physical all the way. If I can buy it physically, I will.

I don't mind the concept of digital games, but the actual problem is DRM on PC. You have to install and use all these different storefronts to play your games and if something happens to those storefronts or they decide to a remove a game one day, it's just gone. I truly do hate that.

So when games offer a DRM free version of their games, I am totally fine with that. Got one for Undertale for example. Anything through Humble Bundle almost.

I just.... feel it's very important to OWN the stuff I buy and be able to do what I want with it since I spent my money on it. I don't trust digital only DRM storefronts.

Like this Epic Game Store thing with Kingdom Hearts? I would never buy Kingdom Hearts on that platform. This exclusivity game PC markets are starting to pull royally pisses me off. I don't want your sh!tty storefront, I just want the game. I don't want you to have the ability to cut me off from things I purchased at any time because you feel like it.
 
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Xblade13

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I have a question, though, as someone who has no experience with digital prior to this current generation. Is there any actual precedence of a game being just, pulled, deleted, never given access to again in some.way shape or form? Especially for something you actually had to pay for, I don't think PT for instance is a good example as it was a free demo for a game that'll never exist. Sad that it is gone, yeah, but mostly as a "there should be an archive/museum of gaming history" to preserve the art, more than care for the actual product itself.

Considering the PS5 store is pretty much literally the PS4 store with extra stuff on it, I have a hard time believing there will be a time anywhere close that the current batch of games will just be "gone forever". And then there's instances like the Super Mario All Stars set being a timed release, and they'll stop selling it after that. The game however, will not disappear from your console or SD card itself unless you delete it. Or if the Switch or SD card get ruined themselves (hence why backup cloud saved are so important).

Other times, the game in question was a free of online-only service based game, where the idea of permanence was ways tied to the devs continuing to support it. Which is why for games like Fortnite, the late PlayStation Home, or even Final Fantasy XIV I have trouble justifying spending too much money for. Just enough to fuel my fun factor, but not enough to feel like I've lost something truly important.

People with PS3s and 360s and Wii's, are your games still there? I'm honestly curious. If they are, when most of their stores have stopped or are fading fast, then surely there's at least some semblance of "permanence" there somewhere? Then it's up to you to keep your game safe in it's storage/console, just like it's up to you to protect the game disc from scratches.

Or am I completely wrong about how all of this works? I do still get physical games, but I don't have this same hatred of digital that others seem to have. I've been getting a mix of both, and would have gotten more digitally on my Switch if it had the storage for it.
 

kirabook

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Well, here's an old example. I never played it, but it's a game called Scott Pilgrim vs. The World™: The Game.

It was a really popular exclusive title on Xbox Live and eventually PSN. But, licensing expired so it was removed from all stores for about 7 years. Unless you purchased it then (which was only digital) and still had a working what, Xbox 360 and PS3? You couldn't play that game. This is an actual game that is an apt comparison to PT, except Scot Pilgrim recently got re-released after being in a dark hole for almost a decade.

Another apt comparison, if any of these companies such as Steam, PSN, or Xbox were to ban your account, you would lose all access to the games and other items you purchased through their store. Spent $1000 bucks on that digital collection? Too bad, it's gone forever now. No refunds. No access. I think PS and Xbox even have features that can bring your whole system if they so choose (I can't confirm that, but I vaguely remember some systems getting bricked after they stole unreleased game copies of something)

For PC games, there is no permanence to any digital game unless you literally have the ISO stored away somewhere. For console games, if you have a physical copy, everything is fine as long as you keep your system up and running. They're yours as long as you take care of them or keep them backed up.

I just don't think digital games that aren't DRM free can say that. Some are DRM by nature (MMO), some are DRM because they think it prevents piracy or they want those exclusive bucks.
 

ROXAS_32

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I used to be all for Hard Copies of games but as time goes one it really doesnt make that much sense anymore. Nowadays you required to install larger installs on almost every game anyways plus you have larger patches do download. I only buy phyical copies of games that I find really special, or collectors editions.
 

Sakuraba Neku

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Physical for everything. I never buy anything digital unless of course DLCs.

If I pay for something I like to have it with me. I'm skeptical about digital, because I feel that I spend money and the product never really belongs to me and I can lose access to it anytime. That's why I'm not interested in an era where we go fully digital.
 

the red monster

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Digital. i love switching games on the fly since i always play multiple games and not focus only on one. so it's more convenient.
 
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