Physical vs Digital

[Miko]

Physical games vs Digital games - What's you're preference?

Music is one of the first things I think about for media going digital, but now that most games are easily available as digital download it's a wonder if there will be a time where we exist in a digital only world!

So, what's your preference? Do you prefer one over the other, or is it based on a matter of convenience, or maybe even of price, for you? Let us know why!

 

[Vivi-Gamer]

Games:
With games I will always try get physical copies if possible - Unless they're distributed from a company like Limited Run for rip-off prices. However, the reality of buying Physical since last gen has become less appealing. It seems every game has a patch/update so buying Physical for the sense of future-proofing your games isn't as viable these days - If there severs go down and I am clinging onto my copy of The Order 1886, without the Updates saved on my console/backup I will loose access to that and be stuck with a product with bugs.

Another problem with Digital is that Usually I don't own the content, it is tied to an online store and if I loose my account or the servers go down I loose my content. We had that threat a year or so ago with the PS3 Stores potentially being taken offline and it was wide-spread hysteria! I certainly bought a few games/DLC I felt I might not get the chance to get again.

The only games I am not bothered about getting digital is Online only games, because in time, they won't be playable anyway.

Also, whenever a game has DLC, I want a Complete Edition released on disc further down the line. I don't even need to speak more on Final Fantasy XV's disastrous DLC implementation. If I see a game released with a Season Pass I now avoid it until it reaches lower than half-price or if such an Edition is announced - Provided the DLC isn't on codes... that's the biggest kick in the teeth right there!

Music:
With Music I am a little different, for the last decade I have bought into vinyl - yet I have mixed feelings about the medium. It's a very delicate medium! One scratch can mess-up a record for good! Also, the audio quality depends on the pressing, which is something you can't predetermine prior purchase. On top of all that, the inner sleeves usually given with records are trash - usually just paper that scrapes your vinyl, so you have to buy separate inner and outer sleeves to protect the delicate medium even more so. Truth be told I am sort of over vinyl. Also, the expense! Buying vinyl is a costly method and often the product you want will only be available for a short period of time before it becomes out of print and impossible to get for another decade.

Then there is CD. The problem with CD is I will RIP the content to digital then never use them again! I like the idea of having certain music (Especially FF Soundtracks) incase they're not available in the future but it seems very unlikely - Unless all file transferring is removed and we're stuck with streaming services. As for Streaming services, I don't use them. I like to have files and much like the gaming side of things like to know my content is not tied to a company/application.

Movies:
My experience with phsyical movies has changed recently too. I used to buy all sorts of movies on DVD often ones I was curious about but now I don't so much. Because the majority of my DVDs are now redundant! Some look okay still, often animated ones, but I refuse to put so much money into an outdated medium again - If I really liked a film and know I will watch it again, I will buy it on Blu-Ray but for no more than £5-10 - Which with the upgrade of UHD now available makes me sceptical to do even that.

Then there are the streaming services... MY.GOD! Of all the media distribution methods I hate this the most! The problem is there are so many different movie streaming services that I will never be content with any of them. If I'm paying for a subscription model, I want access to all the medium has to offer -Not paying netflix for one film, Disney+ for another, Amazon Prime for a series etc. It's too widespread now and I find the whole process a joke.

Books:
I still see a vaule in buying a Physical books, but I don't read as much as I should and have found Audiobooks a great alternative! I like listening to them as I walk out to the city or I used to when i worked in a warehouse.

Also, I do enjoy physical Art Books! There is something nice about seeing crsip drawings on big paper infront of you that seeing art on screen doesn't do for me. I have quite a few Game/Disney Artbooks and they're very inspirational for me.

 

[Dionysos]

I noticed that my local Tesco has pretty much nuked its games section and now has only a very tiny corner in a massive store dedicated to (no kidding) two PS5 games, four PS4 games, about eight Switch titles, and that is it (maybe some Xbox too, but I didn't register them). Not even any DVDs anymore as far as I could see. Maybe this is a sign that the wider world is trying to phase out physical discs? Add to that the PS5 digital-only variant model, and the fact that it is literally impossible to buy a physical edition for FFXIV Endwalker as they moved to digital only, and things are not looking good.

I personally MUCH prefer physical discs. I love holding them and putting them in at least once. I do understand that space might be limited, etc, and it can be more convenient to simply buy and download a game digitally in an instant and never need to put a disc in, but buying physical discs has its perks too. They are collectibles, and they are also a reminder that you have spent money. It can be too easy to just click and download without thinking about the amount of money that you have just spent.


With music, I do admit that I download for the most part using itunes. I don't have the same emotional attachment to cd cases as I do to games cases. The problem of click and pay now, think about how much money is going out later, is still a problem though. It can be too easy to click and purchase "just a few songs", but then they add up. I don't open up the store part of itunes very often.

With films, I do prefer to buy the DVD/blu-rays for new film releases that I really like. Otherwise, I just wait for them to arrive on the appropriate streaming channel. Or purchase to rent for a day or two via my TV too.

 

[Miko]

Yeah physically owning a copy of anything is really an appeal to myself as well, kind of like physically owning a book, but like Vivi-Gamer pointed out it's a bit different when you're stuck with that one specific version on the disc itself. I like to 'own' the items that I really love, so that extends to music as well, I really just want to own the things I love physically as almost a way of showing my support, if that makes sense? I dunno, maybe that's just an older way of viewing things anymore.

Music is definitely different though, as I also am more learning towards the digital side of owning music. I like that I can buy just one song if I don't necessarily like an entire album of an artist's. I guess music is really it's own beast, but I can understand why digital media is more favorable in that regard. That said, I still like buying CDs of bands that I truly love and want to posses in my collection.

I noticed that my local Tesco has pretty much nuked its games section and now has only a very tiny corner in a massive store dedicated to (no kidding) two PS5 games, four PS4 games, about eight Switch titles, and that is it (maybe some Xbox too, but I didn't register them). Not even any DVDs anymore as far as I could see. Maybe this is a sign that the wider world is trying to phase out physical discs? Add to that the PS5 digital-only variant model, and the fact that it is literally impossible to buy a physical edition for FFXIV Endwalker as they moved to digital only, and things are not looking good.

Hey I was just talking about this similarly about our local store we shop at. I'm curious if this is related to everything going digital now or perhaps the fact that purchases are so easily made via online (like Amazon) anymore. Which in itself is also a topic worth mentioning when everything is going digital, including stores. It's crazy how easily available things are to us anymore considering how things were when we were all little kids.

 

[shivas]

It was always physical copies until I got a better internet connection + upgraded from ps3 to ps4, hard drive storage was always an issue.. now that I finally got a ps5, the only physical copies I would buy are collector editions of games that I really love/excited for, otherwise digital all the way, especially with all the sales on the PS store, lots of good deals tbh.

 

[Dionysos]

Hey I was just talking about this similarly about our local store we shop at. I'm curious if this is related to everything going digital now or perhaps the fact that purchases are so easily made via online (like Amazon) anymore. Which in itself is also a topic worth mentioning when everything is going digital, including stores. It's crazy how easily available things are to us anymore considering how things were when we were all little kids.

Unfortunately things do seem to be going that way.

The downside is that things like this really do rely on internet connections and servers remaining stable forever and ever and ever in order to retain access to digital purchases for redownloads, etc.
What is convenient in small doses could be extremely costly if your entire collection is digital and then it just stops working one day...

That said, discs aren't immortal either. They will eventually corrode and stop working, but at least we get to keep boxes to gawp at as we gorge on the nostalgia.

 

[Linnaete]

Physical has become increasingly obsolete. For instance I popped in my copy of Stranger of Paradise Final Fantasy Origin (which arrived a day late) and the PS5 decided to just download the entire game anyway instead of what I presumed to just be a copying and installation process. In effect the disc is little more than a download authenticator that just so happened to be £13 cheaper than if I had ignored the middleman and simply opted for the digital version. After all, it's still going to take up a bulky portion of the SSD and physical cases just amount to more clutter.

It will come a point where the questions of ownership and preservation become relevant talking points yet again. While licensed games have dropped off significantly over the last decade or so, there remains that chance of a game such as Transformers Devastation that is now removed from all digital storefronts and can only be legitimately acquired in physical format for anyone who does not have the game already digitally purchased and on their systems.

Also if your account is banned for whatever reason, that could certainly be terrible news as purchases are made on your account and not shared.

That said I don't know how much of a problem preservation will be solely because of changing consumer habits and the accelerated conversion to using digital storefronts. I think the bigger threat to preservation will come in the form of more and more studios aiming for that online live-service market. Even the most popular ones will not thrive forever. The unsuccessful ones may simply have the plug pulled, plunging them entirely into the abyss of unplayable obscurity. In the year 2022 we can still pick up an unsuccessful offline game from say, the 2000s and still find some enjoyment out of it, but in the 2030s and 2040s no one will ever be able to enjoy umm, Lawbreakers?

Tangent aside, I still alternate between physical and digital.

Is physical cheaper? I choose physical, because Linnaete is goddamn cheap.

Is there a compelling sale on the digital store? Of course go for it, you muppet.

 

[Dr. Percival Cox]

I very much enjoy the overall convenience of digital (especially music and movies) but there downsides. If you buy something physical then it's yours. If a digital distributor loses the rights to something, you can lose it to if you ever uninstall it. If you own physical, the dont send someone to kick down your door and repo your stuff.

And I do like the aesthetic of having a game and movie shelf. It gives a little sense of nostalgia to my home.

With books specifically, I definitely prefer physical. I spend enough time staring at screens at work and playing video games, I don't wanna read chapter after chapter of a story on one. Also, I know it sounds corny but I just love the feeling of a book in my hand and the sound of pages turning. I actually recently took to reading newspapers instead of news sites (between that and the fact I wear suspenders, turning 30 just consumed me).

But going, going back, digital is just so dang convenient. I pretty much exclusively use YouTube for music. It can be hard to find foreign music before it gets copyright struck but I rarely run into that problem.

 

[Mercurial]

It largely depends on the game but also the system.

Since I moved house at the end of 2020 and had our first child in early 2021, I don't purchase half the amount of games that I used to for two reasons:

1. Storage - we have plenty of storage space in our house, but a lot of it is taken up now that we have a toddler, and;
2. Time - having a toddler simply means I don't have as much time to play games so I stick to the ones I absolutely want to play - otherwise I end up with a backlog on top of my already current backlog.

Because I don't play as many games, it tends to mean that the ones I really do want to play, I just go for physical purchases. Games that I'm on the fence about or not in a rush to play, I actually wait a while until they end up on PS Plus (which more often than not they do end up on PS Plus). It's quite rare I'll actually purchase a game - outside of DLC - digitally, on the Playstation console.

For Nintendo games, I go down two routes - digital for smaller games or indie titles, physical for larger games or Nintendo exclusive titles. Nintendo Switch titles tend to be fairly expensive at any point in time because they hold their value for so long, which makes it ideal if you plan to sell a physical copy later on. Take Breath of the Wild for example - a five year old game that is still retailing at £45+ in most major game retailers; even second hand eBay copies are going for £33+. Physical for Nintendo games is a no-brainer if you're planning to sell them on at a later date.

Playstation: mainly physical but digital when on PS Plus (or DLC).
Nintendo: physical for all larger major titles, digital for smaller or indie games.