Do you prefer digital games or physical games on consoles?

[PCFan]

Do you prefer buying digital games or physical games on consoles? Also feel free to explain your reasons why you chose that option.

[Batman90]

I prefer digital cause I travel and it makes it a lot easier to take my games.

[PCFan]

I now prefer physical console games over digital console games if I were to go back to console gaming. The only reason why I went digital on consoles back then was because I preferred the convenience of not having to swap discs between games but now in my opinion this advantage of digital is outweighed by the advantages of physical games. I don't own consoles anymore and I'm strictly a PC gamer. Back when I had an XBox One, I bought physical games at first but then I traded in all my physical games for store credit to put it towards XBox gift cards to buy digital XBox One games. I did the same thing back when I owned a PS4 and PS3 as well. For XBox 360 I was mostly physical on that one while I owned it except for Call of Duty 3 and a few XBox 360 arcade games. I was considering buying a Nintendo Switch and I most likely will buy physical games for that one if I do buy one. However, I regret going digital on consoles because:

1. I ended up buying PC versions of a few of those games a few months later and am stuck with those digital versions on my consoles whereas if I bought those games physically I could have sold them and lower my financial expenditure towards those PC games.

2. I don't get as much of a feeling of ownership with digital console games I purchased like I did with physical console games I purchased.

3. I ended up trading in all my consoles, not at the same time, but I'm stuck with the digital games I purchased for them but I knew beforehand that digital games can't be resold anyways and trade-in value for console games is not much anyways unless you rush through a new release and trade it in within the first month after it's been released, but still if I don't own those consoles any longer, I see no point in still owning games for them.

[i007spectre]

I prefer physical copies of both games and movies.

[smeesmay]

I prefer cheap. Cheapest way to get a game is the way I take it

[Musashi]

Physical.

While I don't trade in or sell games, I want my collection to have resale and legacy value in case I ever need to cash them in, or if in the far off future after I expire my next of kin has no use for them and could do well with the cash.

Plus: I like my display cases full of games. Helps me show off what I like and decide what to play next.

[Groot]

Mostly digital, but if the physical is cheaper depending on the type of game it is I’ll buy that.

[Kage]

I have both physical and digital games for my PS4 Pro. For movies, it’s all digital. I usually buy digital games if there’s a very good sale on PlayStation Store.
At least games on disc have a lot better resale value than movies on physical disc.

[Vor4]

Originally Posted by PCFan

I now prefer physical console games over digital console games if I were to go back to console gaming. The only reason why I went digital on consoles back then was because I preferred the convenience of not having to swap discs between games but now in my opinion this advantage of digital is outweighed by the advantages of physical games. I don't own consoles anymore and I'm strictly a PC gamer. Back when I had an XBox One, I bought physical games at first but then I traded in all my physical games for store credit to put it towards XBox gift cards to buy digital XBox One games. I did the same thing back when I owned a PS4 and PS3 as well. For XBox 360 I was mostly physical on that one while I owned it except for Call of Duty 3 and a few XBox 360 arcade games. I was considering buying a Nintendo Switch and I most likely will buy physical games for that one if I do buy one. However, I regret going digital on consoles because:

1. I ended up buying PC versions of a few of those games a few months later and am stuck with those digital versions on my consoles whereas if I bought those games physically I could have sold them and lower my financial expenditure towards those PC games.

2. I don't get as much of a feeling of ownership with digital console games I purchased like I did with physical console games I purchased.

3. I ended up trading in all my consoles, not at the same time, but I'm stuck with the digital games I purchased for them but I knew beforehand that digital games can't be resold anyways and trade-in value for console games is not much anyways unless you rush through a new release and trade it in within the first month after it's been released, but still if I don't own those consoles any longer, I see no point in still owning games for them.

For console gaming, the majority of the games are on physical media, but it’s slowly dying, but not as quickly as movies on physical media. What I’m thinking that’ll happen next is that games for the next gen consoles will be subscription streaming based or downright digital purchases.

There is no choice for pc gaming anymore, it’s all digital. I’m not sure why you considered a Nintendo Switch, when most of the games struggle at 1080p, some at 720p.

[Zoland2020]

I'm leaning more towards digital now for gaming, it saves me time & space and I don't have to worry about reselling it for low value when on digital it's mostly mines forever. On movies though, I still prefer physical media on that though.

[Petra_Kalbrain]

I prefer physical media. Always will for everything. The only exceptions are games that I am interested in which I can’t get in a physical format at the time of purchase.

[Wingman1977]

For my PC @ PS4 pro, digital (I do a have a few physical games for PC). For movies, physical all the way.

[ThePreacher]

Physical media because I actually own it (unlike digital)....

[eternalbiz]

I prefer physical media with both games and movies. Giving the price, however, I will occasionally buy digital games. Not to mention the insane backlog of Games with Gold I have. But it's not like I truly own those.

[D00mM4r1n3]

Physical, especially with all of the DRM and patches involved these days I have zero faith in console manufacturers keeping the servers that handle all of that around for more than a decade after the next console comes out. I would rather get my enjoyment out of a game while it is new then trade it back in towards the purchase of the next game. We've already seen EA take down servers for Xbox 360 sports games and Microsoft take down the Live service for old PC games.

The only exceptions are multiplayer focused games like Call of Duty or Rocket League which I prefer to get digital so the game is always available on the spot to jump into a multiplayer match, and PC games where there is zero market for resale due to physical releases just coming with a Steam code in the box.

[Blu-Curry]

I mainly prefer physical as it's something tangible I can keep in a collection or share with friends. I like digital for mainly Indie games, but I'll buy a digital AAA game if it has a great deal. It is quite easy to switch digital games on the fly though, which is nice.

[CrossRhodes94]

It’s weird. For film media I prefer physical media (Blu-Ray)... However, for games I prefer Digital. I travel a bit and take my PlayStation 4 with me so I like not having to drag extra games with me. Especially when going to stay with family.

[Fred Bang]

I buy physical mostly so I can resell. I will buy the digital version of a multiplayer game that I know I will play every night, so I don't have to get off my lazy butt of the couch.

[Firefoxie]

I like to buy both pyshical and digital games. I like the fact that with digital copies I can switch games without getting up, lol. But I love physical copies too for collectors reasons especially if it comes in a steel book.

[SethRex]

I like digital. Unlike movies, the quality of the game doesn't change. The only downside is internet connection when it comes to downloading.