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Thinking about fully converting to digital


Zenpai

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I wouldn't ever fully commit to either, no point. 9/10 times having a physical and trading it in, the cash you paid minus what u got back is generally cheaper then digital sales. and even better when you stick em on ebay.

 

but then I wouldn't go full physical either, on xbox I am purely dig because games are cheaper, and when u buy a game you know it's going to be compatible with every console. not so on playstation.

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Didn't see it mentioned yet, but the Spyro Trilogy actually did get an updated physical copy at some point with all three games on disc. It was a silent re-release from Activision and it's hard to tell what version you have because there is zero difference on the outside box. You can't tell until you look at the disc inside the case or you put it into your PS4 to check the version. The case does however have a "Crash Team Racing" insert inside of it that is easy to find without opening the case by simply giving the case a shake if you're doing the "buy and pray" strategy with online purchases or you have the game in hand before buying from a brick and mortar.

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1 minute ago, LockheedPrime said:

ain't that something, a friend defending another friend's friend without the full story, @Zenpai you have to be careful who you take your advice from on the internet, this guy is a prime example of who not to take it from

 

Just two degree's of separation, friend of a friend... not a friend defending another friend's friend.

 

What's to defend anyways?  Isn't it a little concerning that Sony has a mechanism to lock someone out of their account for any reason?

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7 minutes ago, Dreakon13 said:

What's to defend anyways? 

we are to assume that your "friend" or whoever, didn't say something that broke Sony's rules, which we don't know because you don't know, but blindly assume that it wasn't something against the rules, that blind assumption=defending

Quote

Isn't it a little concerning that Sony has a mechanism to lock someone out of their account for any reason?

sure it's concerning, for Sony and for Youtube, Google, Twitter, or any digital store/place media whatever you want to call it worth anything, and when that happens, you contact them and sort it out, did your friend or whoever, contact Sony and Sony told them that "hey, umm, we know you said something that is 100% not against any of our rules, and we permanently banned your account from any actions, opppsie, ops, but hey, we can't do anything about that, and it's going to stay that way, have a nice day", or did ne just leave it at that and did not contact Sony? case B. it's on him, case A. hard to believe, all this assuming that he didn't say anything breaking the rules, if he did, then there's nothing to say after that

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2 minutes ago, LockheedPrime said:

we are to assume that your "friend" or whoever, didn't say something that broke Sony's rules, which we don't know because you don't know, but blindly assume that it wasn't something against the rules, that blind assumption=defending

sure it's concerning, for Sony and for Youtube, Google, Twitter, or any digital store/place media whatever you want to call it worth anything, and when that happens, you contact them and sort it out, did your friend or whoever, contact Sony and Sony told them that "hey, umm, we know you said something that is 100% not against any of our rules, and we permanently banned your account from any actions, opppsie, ops, but hey, we can't do anything about that, and it's goin to stay that way, have a nice day", or did ne just leave it at that and did not contact Sony? case B. it's on him, case A. hardly to believe, all this assuming that he didn't say anything breaking the rules, if he did, then there's nothing to say after that

 

So then that's a disadvantage of digital... losing all of your games if you break any of Sony's rules. ;)

 

Also, learn what a period is.

Edited by Dreakon13
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6 minutes ago, AihaLoveleaf said:

Didn't see it mentioned yet, but the Spyro Trilogy actually did get an updated physical copy at some point with all three games on disc. It was a silent re-release from Activision and it's hard to tell what version you have because there is zero difference on the outside box. You can't tell until you look at the disc inside the case or you put it into your PS4 to check the version. The case does however have a "Crash Team Racing" insert inside of it that is easy to find without opening the case by simply giving the case a shake if you're doing the "buy and pray" strategy with online purchases or you have the game in hand before buying from a brick and mortar.

 

Kinda sucks for those of us that got the game at/around launch, not sure why they couldn't have included the games on the disc from the start. I've ben thinking of re-buying it to have them all on disc if this is indeed true, but I would likely be doing the shake "buy and pray" strategy since I wouldn't want to open it unless the disc is loose. I usually keep games I buy physically that I already own digitally sealed most of the time as well, just to keep 'em fresh.

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11 minutes ago, AihaLoveleaf said:

Didn't see it mentioned yet, but the Spyro Trilogy actually did get an updated physical copy at some point with all three games on disc. It was a silent re-release from Activision and it's hard to tell what version you have because there is zero difference on the outside box. You can't tell until you look at the disc inside the case or you put it into your PS4 to check the version. The case does however have a "Crash Team Racing" insert inside of it that is easy to find without opening the case by simply giving the case a shake if you're doing the "buy and pray" strategy with online purchases or you have the game in hand before buying from a brick and mortar.

 

1 minute ago, SuperSmexy500 said:

 

Kinda sucks for those of us that got the game at/around launch, not sure why they couldn't have included the games on the disc from the start. I've ben thinking of re-buying it to have them all on disc if this is indeed true, but I would likely be doing the shake "buy and pray" strategy since I wouldn't want to open it unless the disc is loose. I usually keep games I buy physically that I already own digitally sealed most of the time as well, just to keep 'em fresh.

 

Might have a little bit of luck shopping around eBay for used copies that have actual photos inside the case.  Assuming it's something you can tell from the disc itself.

 

Kinda makes me want to shop around for it though, that whole "two games missing from the disc" thing is the reason I passed on the Trilogy.  I was quite interested in the games otherwise.

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4 hours ago, DaivRules said:

Someone hacks your account and you lose access to your library. You lock yourself out of your account and you lose access to your library. You violate some terms of service and you lose access to your library. 
 

 

The servers shut down, you lose access to your library.

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3 minutes ago, Dreakon13 said:

 

So then that's a disadvantage of digital... losing all of your games if you break any of Sony's rules. ;)

 

Also, learn what a period is.

 

Heck, I've heard of people having their accounts deleted just because they hadn't logged in for 2+ years. I know you could argue someone probably doesn't care about an account any more if they haven't logged in in that long anyway, but it still seems insane they can just delete accounts with several purchases made just because they're inactive. Personally, I think they should only uphold the right to delete inactive accounts that have no purchases made, but it's not like it matters what I think, it's not going to magically appear in their ToS.

 

Another downside to digital indeed. At least I know if I store some of my games in a box in a spare room for a few years, they're not going to magically poof out of existence just because I don't take them out to look at them every so often.

 

Just now, Dreakon13 said:

 

 

Might have a little bit of luck shopping around eBay for used copies that have actual photos inside the case.  Assuming it's something you can tell from the disc itself.

 

Kinda makes me want to shop around for it though, that whole "two games missing from the disc" thing is the reason I passed on the Trilogy.  I was quite interested in the games otherwise.

 

Supposedly the disc has "2019" on the disc next to the copyright, the original discs have "2018" on them, so yeah, it is something you can tell from the disc. I generally try to avoid used unless it's significantly cheaper though, or the only way to buy a game physically nowadays. Had a lot of bad experiences with used games in the past.

 

It literally makes no sense why they're not on the disc, it's not like they couldn't fit, since they obviously do now. I do remember the game being something like 60GB at launch now, and it's now shrunk to around 35GB, so maybe they just compressed the content for the newer versions.

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I have the update Spyro version on XB1/// I was surprised when I put it in, and the whole thing was playable without so much as a patch. So, not shocked it was done on PS4 as well.

 

On mine, there is literally no difference (I have it packed up right now so i can't check the insert) but it even still says "Content download required" on the box still, even though none is needed. I know that's not PS4, but I don't think they bothered changing anything with the "updated" release. 

 

Edit to address the above- Can't check date either, lol. Hopefully you are correct and there is a way to tell. 

Edited by Floorkiller74
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4 hours ago, Zenpai said:

After having been a 100% physical gamer my entire life, I think I will finally convert to digital games. You rarely ever see physical games get as cheap as they get in the digital storefront, especially during sales and even more so after a few years have passed. My backlog is so gigantic that I have enough games to keep me busy while I wait for the price to go down, anyway.

 

Regardless, there might be advantages to physical gaming that I might be overlooking. Can any of your remind me of the downsides of digital before I make the transition?

 

I already know that:

 

  • You can't lend them (as easily)
  • You can't sell them back
  • You can't give them to anybody.

 

But I would say that the low prices more than outweigh those minor setbacks. Anything else I might be forgetting?

 

 

Oh hell no.  Sure, the sales are awesome.  I even jump on deals that are too good to pass up.  However, Digital is dangerous.  For several reasons.  

 

1.)  We can not trust these companies to provide us with our purchased games, and all their content that was in the games at launch, forever.  Things from games get removed quite often.  And occasionally games removed outright..  Great examples are Racing games, and GTA Games.  Boot up GTA IV, and turn on the radio.  There is maybe a 1/4 of the original soundtrack on there.  But if you have it on disc, without an update that removes the content, your fine.  

 

2.)  You do not own the digital game.  At all.  You have a license to play it.  And they can, at any time revoke that license from you. As well as needing to be online (occasionally happens) to verify your license, which is so stupid.  If the Network that your purchased your digital content goes down in most cases you can't play the digital game.  And, for the life of me I can't understand why more Digital gamers aren't upset over that.  WE buy it, it should be ours.  We are just essentially renting it.  

 

3.)  If your account gets hacked, stolen,  or locked from Sony, MS, or Nintendo.  You lose everything.  For good.  Even wallet money.  Again.  Because Digital Games are not yours.  

 

 

 

Lastly, sure buying Digital Games is convenient, and quick.  But look at what Ubisoft did with AC.  They shipped the disc, with 1 GB of data on it.  If that doesn't tell you where Publisher's want to push us customers, then I don't know what else to tell you.  They want the control, and power over us.  And that alone pushed me back to physical.

 

 

 

 

 

 

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I'd say go for it. Far too many making all digital sound like a doomsday scenario when in reality the chances of shit going wrong is very low or essentially the same as physical. To me personally it's way more convenient having all your games a few clicks away, being able to pre download and buying from sales on psn store. 

 

Don't want to get hacked? Activate two step verification and put a strong password. 

 

Don't want to lock yourself out of your account? Get a password manager or write it down somewhere. 

 

Don't want to violate terms of service? Keep interactions with randoms to a minimal and refrain from going back and forth with idiots you encounter in online games or even better yet just use discord to chat. 

Edited by BrandedBerserk
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Why just go one or the other? Just do both. Get physical when it's convenient, then get digital when it's convenient.

 

Honestly though, it doesn't matter either way. Almost every game gets patched, many get day 1 patches to fix problems. Whether you have physical or digital, you need the patches for the best possible version of a game. It really just boils down to if you want to display your collection on a shelf or not.

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2 hours ago, SuperSmexy500 said:

Heck, I've heard of people having their accounts deleted just because they hadn't logged in for 2+ years. I know you could argue someone probably doesn't care about an account any more if they haven't logged in in that long anyway, but it still seems insane they can just delete accounts with several purchases made just because they're inactive. Personally, I think they should only uphold the right to delete inactive accounts that have no purchases made, but it's not like it matters what I think, it's not going to magically appear in their ToS.

 

I actually had some regional accounts deleted because of inactivity.

 

Back in mid 2017 I bought the region Sound Shapes using digital PSN cards for Hong Kong, Japan and Europe. Did the stacks, autopopped them. Fast forward to 2020, when I was looking to purchase Duke Nukem 3D: Megaton Edition. Hong Kong account no longer existed. I had the username, email, password and contact info written down on a piece of paper. Didn't work. I made a complaint to Sony, they didn't even bother addressing the issue.

 

That Hong Kong account had a few bucks left over for the Hong Kong PSN store. Nope. Completely wiped out. I was fucking furious.

 

2 hours ago, NxtDoc said:

 

 

Oh hell no.  Sure, the sales are awesome.  I even jump on deals that are too good to pass up.  However, Digital is DANGEROUS and UNSTABLE.  For several reasons.  

 

1.)  We can not trust these companies to provide us with our purchased games, and all their content that was in the games at launch, EVER.  Things from games get removed quite often.  And occasionally games removed outright. Look at some Activision games. Great examples are Racing games, and GTA Games.  Boot up GTA IV, and turn on the radio.  There is maybe a 1/4 of the original soundtrack on there.  But if you have it on disc, without an update that removes the content, you're fine.  

 

2.)  You do not own the digital game.  AT ALL.  You have a license to play it.  And they can, at any time revoke that license from you, FOR ANY REASON. As well as needing to be online (occasionally happens) to verify your license, which is so stupid.  If the Network that your purchased your digital content goes down in most cases you can't play the digital game.  And, for the life of me I can't understand why more Digital gamers aren't upset over that.  WE buy it, it should be ours.  We are just essentially renting it.  

 

3.)  If your account gets hacked, stolen,  or locked from Sony, MS, or Nintendo.  You lose everything.  For good.  Even wallet money.  Again.  Because Digital Games are not yours.  

 

 

 

Lastly, sure buying Digital Games is convenient, and quick.  But look at what Ubisoft did with AC.  They shipped the disc, with 1 GB of data on it.  If that doesn't tell you where Publisher's want to push us customers, then I don't know what else to tell you.  They want the control, and power over us.  And that alone pushed me back to physical.

 

I bolded the important bits and added some words.

 

The problem is digital is so integrated into physical we cannot say physical is a powerful media on its own anymore. You can make the case that back in 2006 - 2010 when it was still early in the PS3/Xbox 360 generation a lot of our physical copies were actually ours, because outside of the occasional patch you didn't need to worry about downloading updates for games. They were fully complete on disc right when they released on launch.

 

PlayStation Now just furthers what digital games already did before. It's a glorified rental service.

 

This also happens with movies and TV shows, not just games. If your Netflix or Amazon Prime account gets stolen, locked or hacked you lose everything as well. It's anything digital, not just games. Your digital music library isn't all that safe either. Spotify just further confirms the ideology of a rental service.

 

Ubisoft is in the same camp as Activision, EA, 2K Games and Square Enix. In the past I would of said CD Projekt Red was a good company that cared for their customers after what they did with The Witcher 3. But after the Cyberpunk 2077 debacle, I really can't think of any gaming company anymore that is of considerable size that truly cares for the customers.

 

Sometimes I miss the days of downloading shareware games off the internet, and buying PC games like Diablo II with an expansion pack that was actually complete.

 

How many AAA games nowadays will you be able to play 15  - 20 years from now? I've had Diablo II for 20 years and I can still play and run the game at my own leisure even two decades later, right on the disc. I doubt I can say the same for many modern games today.

 

Ubisoft knows what they want. They're sucking people for more money. Why else would they throw in time booster pack microtransactions, and offer up shitty in-game advertising and automatic Season Passes? When I looked up NBA 2K21 and saw how that game was sucking people out of their money in regards to online gameplay, I realized that this wasn't a game as more as it was a glorified service. The next NBA game will release and more idiots will shell out their hard earned money, and for what? To participate in the bullshit and practice that is eSports?

 

Publishers couldn't care less, because they are already at the top swimming in millions and billions of dollars. We're just the peons buying their products.

Edited by AJ_Radio
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19 minutes ago, AJ_Radio said:

 

I actually had some regional accounts deleted because of inactivity.

 

Back in mid 2017 I bought the region Sound Shapes using digital PSN cards for Hong Kong, Japan and Europe. Did the stacks, autopopped them. Fast forward to 2020, when I was looking to purchase Duke Nukem 3D: Megaton Edition. Hong Kong account no longer existed. I had the username, email, password and contact info written down on a piece of paper. Didn't work. I made a complaint to Sony, they didn't even bother addressing the issue.

 

That Hong Kong account had a few bucks left over for the Hong Kong PSN store. Nope. Completely wiped out. I was fucking furious.

 

That really sucks, I'd definitely be pissed if that happened to me. My condolences.

 

The problem is that no one (and by "no one", I mean no one in government/law) really seems to care about this despite digital purchases becoming increasingly more common: Digital books, digital movies/TV series, digital games, digital music, etc. etc. You'd think with how many forms of entertainment are regularly sold digitally nowadays, there'd be more consumer protection/rights. But for whatever reason, there isn't, especially in some countries. I'm sure big companies would like to keep it this way as well.

 

Loot boxes have been raised as an issue before though, so maybe one day we'll see more digital rights for consumers. Maybe. It'll probably take some politician's son getting their PSN account banned for swearing at someone in GTA Online or something, then discovering they lost $3,000 worth of digital games and microtransactions. Either that, or it becomes big enough of a headline from consumers that they simply can't ignore it any more, lest they face a PR nightmare.

 

Also a few people have brought up keeping your account safe by having a strong password and 2FA, and while that's all well and good and definitely something you should do, it's not foolproof.

 

I've had a few accounts breached over the years, thankfully nothing too important, mostly accounts I forgot I even had like Apple and Facebook. Managed to reclaim them without anything really lost either. None of these accounts were hacked because of a weak password or phishing email or whatever, they were comprised thanks to data breaches. There's nothing you can do to protect yourself from a data breach, that's up to the company, and plenty of them get comprised all the time.

 

And even with 2FA enabled, people can spoof your phone number if you're using SMS/text for verification (which a lot of sites still ONLY offer, and Sony themselves only offered until fairly recently), if they're really determined. I've even heard horror stories of people contacting customer support to get 2FA disabled and hack the account.

 

Nintendo Switch accounts were mysteriously getting hacked en masse last year, I don't know if they ever really confirmed the reason as to why, some speculated it was accounts tied to a Nintendo Network ID, but many claimed they never even had one of those. Some even claimed they changed their password, only to have it hacked again minutes/hours later. Having 2FA seem to keep out hackers though. Whether it was due to a data breach or something else, it's certainly concerning knowing this kind of thing can just happen, and even the companies themselves either don't really know why, or keep hush hush about it.

 

Granted, these things are generally rare, but the fact is, your account is not indestructible. Even if you do everything right, don't break the ToS, have a strong password and 2FA enabled, you could still lose access to your account. And that's all your digital games and purchases gone, potentially, and very likely, forever. That's a massive loss if you only buy digital, or have a large digital library. And that's one of the main reasons I still primarily buy physical whenever I can, because, sure, someone could break into my home and steal my physical games, but I doubt they're gonna make off with all 2,000+ physical games I own, at least I likely wouldn't lose everything. And even in the event that did happen, break ins tend to get taken a lot more seriously than a stolen/banned account with hundreds or thousands worth of purchases made on it. There'd be a bigger chance of me managing to reclaim my games or at least get compensation/an insurance pay-out, then me regaining anything from a lost account with digital games.

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11 minutes ago, SuperSmexy500 said:

The problem is that no one (and by "no one", I mean no one in government/law) really seems to care about this despite digital purchases becoming increasingly more common: Digital books, digital movies/TV series, digital games, digital music, etc. etc. You'd think with how many forms of entertainment are regularly sold digitally nowadays, there'd be more consumer protection/rights. But for whatever reason, there isn't, especially in some countries. I'm sure big companies would like to keep it this way as well.

 

The copyright laws are incredibly out of date. Our laws date back to the 1970s, long before the internet, let alone social media, ever existed.

 

With our government run by a bunch of tired old Baby Boomers, I can't see them implementing any new laws towards consumer protection/rights anytime soon. It's sad, but that's the reality we live in.

 

11 minutes ago, SuperSmexy500 said:

Loot boxes have been raised as an issue before though, so maybe one day we'll see more digital rights for consumers. Maybe. It'll probably take some politician's son getting their PSN account banned for swearing at someone in GTA Online or something, then discovering they lost $3,000 worth of digital games and microtransactions. Either that, or it becomes big enough of a headline from consumers that they simply can't ignore it any more, lest they face a PR nightmare.

 

Most of the time it's nothing that extreme, but there are a lot of kids these days spending great deals of money on digital content. Which as you said, if your account gets lost, you lose everything.

 

11 minutes ago, SuperSmexy500 said:

I've had a few accounts breached over the years, thankfully nothing too important, mostly accounts I forgot I even had like Apple and Facebook. Managed to reclaim them without anything really lost either. None of these accounts were hacked because of a weak password or phishing email or whatever, they were comprised thanks to data breaches. There's nothing you can do to protect yourself from a data breach, that's up to the company, and plenty of them get comprised all the time.

 

PSN being down back in May 2011 was due to hackers. Sony was exposed wide open. Nothing is infallible. Sadly, most people don't seem to realize this.

 

11 minutes ago, SuperSmexy500 said:

Granted, these things are generally rare, but the fact is, your account is not indestructible. Even if you do everything right, don't break the ToS, have a strong password and 2FA enabled, you could still lose access to your account. And that's all your digital games and purchases gone, potentially, and very likely, forever. That's a massive loss if you only buy digital, or have a large digital library. And that's one of the main reasons I still primarily buy physical whenever I can, because, sure, someone could break into my home and steal my physical games, but I doubt they're gonna make off with all 2,000+ physical games I own, at least I likely wouldn't lose everything. And even in the event that did happen, break ins tend to get taken a lot more seriously than a stolen/banned account with hundreds or thousands worth of purchases made on it. There'd be a bigger chance of me managing to reclaim my games or at least get compensation/an insurance pay-out, then me regaining anything from a lost account with digital games.

 

This is why the digital only PS5 isn't a good investment. I already said earlier that physical isn't as powerful as it used to be. But it's still something that is a valuable asset, and may likely be more valuable as we move further into a digital everything world.

 

The big problem is there is virtually nobody out there that is prepared for a potential catastrophe. Some years back there was some bug or glitch that was happening with a lot of smartphones, and while it was nothing life threatening (your smartphone stops completely), people already gave up getting rid of the bug entirely.

 

I have a part of me in the digital realm, but a majority of me in the physical realm. I was never comfortable with doing everything digital, thus I have a good reason for buying a lot of things physical, including PS4 games.

Edited by AJ_Radio
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13 hours ago, Zenpai said:

But I would say that the low prices more than outweigh those minor setbacks. Anything else I might be forgetting?

 

Excuse me what? I just had to wait a week to get physical copy of Returnal for PS5 because Sony would ask 80 euros for a digital version and I refused to pay such a high price for a game and the stores in my area had trouble getting physical copies for sale at launch. The physical version cost me over 15 euros less (64€). I guess that is one advantage of digital games though, you always get to play at release date if you really must.

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23 minutes ago, AvariceInc said:

 

Excuse me what? I just had to wait a week to get physical copy of Returnal for PS5 because Sony would ask 80 euros for a digital version and I refused to pay such a high price for a game and the stores in my area had trouble getting physical copies for sale at launch. The physical version cost me over 15 euros less (64€). I guess that is one advantage of digital games though, you always get to play at release date if you really must.

 

Digital versions of triple AAA games here tend to launch at £60 or more, whereas the physical will be £40-50 (while, at least for PS4, most PS5 games are an insane £60-70 no matter what). Then the digital versions will often go on "sale" for the same price as the physical like 3+ months after launch. Meanwhile, the physicals often tend to steadily decrease in price permanently. It's definitely a lot cheaper opting for physical most of the time. And as for playing at release, I've often gotten games a day or two (or sometimes more) early if I pre-order them physically. A lot of companies place embargos on when games can be shipped nowadays though (Nintendo is guilty of this), so this does happen a lot less often nowadays however with big titles.

 

Really, physical is only more expensive when it comes to indies and other "smaller" games, and even then, I've seen some games retail for the exact same price they are digitally. Some of the more niche titles can get rare/expensive pretty quickly as well, happens to lots of anime and other Japanese games. Was thinking of getting A.O.T 2 Final Battle at some point, but apparently copies go for £60-80 nowadays so I noped out on that.

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I would honestly have gone full physical if it wasn’t about having space. I’m at around 350 games and I could not possibly put them somewhere. Buy everything on sale and I don’t need to worry about “games not working”, with secondhand games that is the case and not every store checks the disc thoroughly.

 

Although my library is 100% digital, besides PS3 games, I too recommend you to keep buying physical games if you got the space etc.

 

If you go digital, you don’t hear a disc spinning and it’s very convenient to have everything in one place - it’s easy to find games. There is a search bar in case you got hundreds of titles.

 

I was actually going to go fully physical on PS5 games because of how easy it is to resell or just collect for a potential price increase in the (far) future.

 

But again, don’t recommend to go fully digital. The digital sales are amazing for games that are hard to find (high physical price) but other than that... just stick with physical.

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In the UK where I'm from, 9 times out of 10 a physical game is a lot cheaper than buying the same game digitally. As most physical games drop in price, you have to wait until Sony decides to put that game on sale if buying digitally to get a price that may be better than buying it physically. Also after the stunt Sony tried pulling not too long ago, I would never ever go fully digital on the PlayStation.

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27 minutes ago, SuperSmexy500 said:

 

Digital versions of triple AAA games here tend to launch at £60 or more, whereas the physical will be £40-50 (while, at least for PS4, most PS5 games are an insane £60-70 no matter what). Then the digital versions will often go on "sale" for the same price as the physical like 3+ months after launch. Meanwhile, the physicals often tend to steadily decrease in price permanently. It's definitely a lot cheaper opting for physical most of the time. And as for playing at release, I've often gotten games a day or two (or sometimes more) early if I pre-order them physically. A lot of companies place embargos on when games can be shipped nowadays though (Nintendo is guilty of this), so this does happen a lot less often nowadays however with big titles.

 

Really, physical is only more expensive when it comes to indies and other "smaller" games, and even then, I've seen some games retail for the exact same price they are digitally. Some of the more niche titles can get rare/expensive pretty quickly as well, happens to lots of anime and other Japanese games. Was thinking of getting A.O.T 2 Final Battle at some point, but apparently copies go for £60-80 nowadays so I noped out on that.


It depends how long after release you are buying the games.  I end up buying a lot on digital sales because the prices become so stupid low, like $5.  Or $10 including season pass.  Physical typically cannot match that even if you buy used - and don’t have the DLC included.  Mind you, these are games that are not at the top of the my must-haves but the prices digitally are too good to pass up.

 

If you are buying within the first year of release, you will probably be better off buying physical with sales there.  

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I will never go fully digital, even if I wasn’t a collector. There are too many factors that can leave your games inaccessible.

 

I spent 2 months waiting to install a PS3 game back in March because there was an issue with the servers.

 

I know you could argue that they are older games that likely won’t get played much, but having paid for them, I should have access to play them whenever I want. 

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27 minutes ago, djb5f said:


It depends how long after release you are buying the games.  I end up buying a lot on digital sales because the prices become so stupid low, like $5.  Or $10 including season pass.  Physical typically cannot match that even if you buy used - and don’t have the DLC included.  Mind you, these are games that are not at the top of the my must-haves but the prices digitally are too good to pass up.

 

If you are buying within the first year of release, you will probably be better off buying physical with sales there.  

 

Yeah, digital can get dirt cheap years after release, or I guess if the game isn't selling well at its current price and it often goes on sale for cheap, or gets permanently discounted. But physical games tend to drop in price quicker than digital. For example, RDR2 first dropped to about 50% off digitally about a year after release, when the standard price was £75 (when physical copies were going for £40-50), and that was only a PS Plus discount I believe. It's been permanently discounted as of last year, to £55, but does go on sale regularly, but still for more expensive than the physical has retailed for for the past year and a half (£20-25, and I assume even cheaper when buying pre-owned).

 

Some physical games do seem to always remain cheaper than digital as well, like CoDs and other annual games, at least here anyway. One benefit of physical over digital is that once a game decreases in price, you generally don't need to worry about it raising in price again, you don't need to wait for sales like you do with digital. Of course there are exceptions though, like niche games that do get more expensive, and games getting more expensive once they're out of print but still high in demand.

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On 5/18/2021 at 6:24 AM, Dreakon13 said:

 

So then that's a disadvantage of digital... losing all of your games if you break any of Sony's rules. ;)

 

Also, learn what a period is.

this is why you want to be careful who you take advice from online

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I went back and forth between physical and digital in the beginning of the ps4 gen, but I've been %90 physical in the last couple of years for a number of reasons 

 

for one, I didn't like the feeling of beating a game and deleting it, I prefer to have my completed games on my shelf 

 

second, I tend to prioritize physical games when it comes to my backlog, and digital games gets forgotten and lost between all of the ps+ games, freebies and whatnot 

 

 

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