Digital, PS4 Physical, or PS5 Physical

[ChiefMichigan]

Hey all,

 

As a new PS5 owner I have realized that cross-buy/cross-saves have an interesting dynamic with the PS5. Many digital cross-gen titles are cross-buy. Many of those same titles have a free or cheap upgrade from a PS4 disc to PS5. But as far as I'm aware, buying PS5 discs only entitles you to the PS5 version. So, what path do you take more often than not?

 

1. Digital

2. PS4 Physical

3. PS5 Physical

 

I don't have any physical PS5 games yet, and I imagine I'll mostly relegate them to games that aren't cross-buy or upgradable. 

[HuntingFever]

I don't have a PS5 but even so, it's retail all the way for me and will only get a digital release if it's either massively cheaper or there is no retail equivalent.

Edited November 18, 2022 by HuntingFever
Update.

[Pumpkin Head Cthulhu]

always physical whenever possible. Have no interest in PS5 right now so i am sticking with my ps4 pro.

[ChiefMichigan]

12 minutes ago, Void said:

always physical whenever possible. Have no interest in PS5 right now so i am sticking with my ps4 pro.

 

Fair. I've only had a Pro (and PS4 in general) since July 2019. If my cousins and brothers didn't have a PS5, I probably would've waited until 2023 or 2024. But multiplayer is cooler with them due to faster load times and far improved share screen. 

 

I ended up voting digital, but it was pretty much a tie between digital and PS4 physical for me.

[Viper]

PS5 Physical usually. There's exceptions like, I bought the PS4 version of Horizon: Forbidden West because it was cheaper...but used the Free PS5 upgrade to play it. I won't play the PS4 version if the PS5 version is available (I want the best experience). And if I buy a game digitally, it just means PSN had a good sale. 

 

And the physical PS5 copies do sometimes give you the PS4 version as well. I have the physical PS5 version of WWE 2K22, but it gave me the digital PS4 version as well. 

[Ashande]

For me, it depends on where I get it from and what the options are. Most of the time I just buy digital (and if the PS4 and PS5 versions are separate, I buy the PS5 one.) If something’s on sale, or I have a coupon or credit to burn, I’ll buy physical, usually the PS5 SKU. Only real recent exceptions to this are Disco Elysium and Tales of Arise. Have PS4 discs for both; was doing some early Christmas shopping and needed to tip over the dollar amount for certain offers, didn’t see the PS5 discs available (not even sure there are physical PS5 versions of them, to be honest) so just threw ‘em in and called it good. Disco Elysium had a PS5 download upgrade. Uncertain if Arise does or not, as it’s still rotting in my backlog at the moment. Not stressing it either way; I doubt there are any significant improvements to be found in the PS5 SKUs.

[EDGES]

all digital, patches killed disc game ownership for me, also digital is way more convenient, I hate swapping discs

[the1andonly654]

I rarely buy games these days as subscriptions keep me more than busy, but when I do:

 

1. Physical PS4 version if an upgrade is free 

2. Physical PS5 but that happened once so far, because it was half the price of the PS4 version. 

3. Digital only when on a big sale 

 

But then again, subs are not free so maybe I should put digital at the top. 

 

 

[Raidou Kuzunoha XIV]

I buy physical whenever possible, and usually only get digital games when they're discounted.

 

I mostly still buy PS4 versions of games if they have a free upgrade, though I've bought a few I know don't have a free upgrade, just because at least I can still play it on two different consoles. Also, it isn't unusual for PS4 versions to be cheaper anyway, and I still get the PS5 version, just not the physical version, which isn't a big deal to me as long as I have the game physically in some form. I still plan to keep my PS4 hooked up for years to come (and I have a backup slim PS4 still boxed in case it ever dies, cause I'm insane like that) and I'll primarily be playing PS4 games on there as I don't entirely trust the PS5's backwards compatibility.

 

Only times I've really brought the PS5 version of a game that's cross-gen is if the PS4 version has 2 discs (like Horizon Forbidden West), there's a paid upgrade or additional features in the PS5 version (4k or 60fps don't count for me), I actually want to "own" it for PS5 specifically (as a free upgrade to the digital edition doesn't make me feel like I "own" the PS5 version in the same way having the disc does), or I just think the game will overall be a better experience on PS5 anyway.

[Don_Chipotle]

Digital games are quite helpful in many ways, but in Mexico case there are extra taxes and some other stuff that sometimes it doesnt justify the price, yes there are many games on sale with amazing price drops, but many times i think that if you can get the physical version of a game, get it.

 

Thats another interesting thing, there are many cheap ps5 physical games because of the chip shortage many stores didnt sell ps5 consoles (its getting better nowadays), but they had many ps5 games rotting in shelves, and they are selling many games for really cheap, even with taxes and being physical format. 

 

That being said, i know the pros and cons of physical ps5 games, but its amazing to play a game within a disc for the first time and keeping it.

[Infected Elite]

Always prefer physical. Always get ps5 version if i can. I dont care much for autopops or stacking 

4 hours ago, Ashande said:

For me, it depends on where I get it from and what the options are. Most of the time I just buy digital (and if the PS4 and PS5 versions are separate, I buy the PS5 one.) If something’s on sale, or I have a coupon or credit to burn, I’ll buy physical, usually the PS5 SKU. Only real recent exceptions to this are Disco Elysium and Tales of Arise. Have PS4 discs for both; was doing some early Christmas shopping and needed to tip over the dollar amount for certain offers, didn’t see the PS5 discs available (not even sure there are physical PS5 versions of them, to be honest) so just threw ‘em in and called it good. Disco Elysium had a PS5 download upgrade. Uncertain if Arise does or not, as it’s still rotting in my backlog at the moment. Not stressing it either way; I doubt there are any significant improvements to be found in the PS5 SKUs.

 

Arise has a ps4 and ps5 physical and the ps4 has a free upgrade.  believe Disco Elysium had a ps5 physical released through some site otherwise stores only got ps4 copies.

 

Edited November 18, 2022 by Infected Elite

[Dreakon13]

If it's a new IP or a game that I feel would take advantage of the PS5, I'll get a PS5 physical (ie. Elden Ring)

 

If it's a part of a series that I already mostly own on the PS4 and it's something that plays well on the PS4 or doesn't have any significant disadvantages, I'll get a PS4 physical (ie. Life is Strange True Colors)... and I may even play the PS4 version despite the free upgrade so I can save my Dualsense the wear and tear, and I assume the lower settings has the PS5 working less hard.

 

Never digital unless I don't have a choice, it's free, or included in PS+

Edited November 18, 2022 by Dreakon13

[Dark_Overlord]

Physical PS4 discs, 2 versions for the price of one and usually cheaper too

[MonaSaxPayne]

I haven't bought a disc game since the tail end of the PS3 era.. around 2012

[mega-tallica]

Whatever's cheapest really. I have a much stronger preference for physical games but if the digital version is heavily discounted, I'm not going to pass it up either. I'd say like 30% of my library is digital/streamed games, the rest is all physical. 

 

I've got a PS5 so pretty much all my new game purchases are for the PS5, PS4 is just a dust collector for me at this point since the PS5 deems it useless. I'm not going to play a PS4 version of a game just for autopopping trophies if a superior PS5 version exists, it's just not going to happen. 

 

If anything the PS3 is getting the most love from me these days since the PS5 catalog is a bit lacking itself. 

[Mr_Stkrdknmiblz]

I always go for the best version of the game on a disc.  So PS5 physical, unless it’s only on PS4.  However if I already have it on PS4, and it gets released then I won’t bother upgrading.

[SnakeSound222]

PS5 physical. I only get digital if it's a much better deal or if it's through a collector's edition (like Ragnarok, Forbidden West, and probably Spider-Man 2).

Edited November 19, 2022 by SnakeSound222

[Countrydude1989]

I generally buy physical. I don't trust ANY online service to be around for any time in the future, so its a no brainer for me. Of course, there are extremely rare exceptions, such as in the case of very cheap, quick games i don't give a shit about, but otherwise, i prefer to to be able to actually physically see and touch my collection.

 

 

 

I also haven't got a PS5 Yet, but i will be getting the disk version when i am able too. For now, its me and my PS4 Pro.

Edited November 19, 2022 by Countrydude1989

[Pumpkin Head Cthulhu]

I only get digital when it is 4.99 or 5.99 nothing higher. If the game is digital only then I wait for a sale to the aforementioned prices.

[xurdias]

I'm a believer that a cross-gen release are not "true" PS5 release based on a simple premise: it's still the same game with a certain standard or quality to be met regardless of the console. as much as PS5 version will definitely be better than PS4's, it can't be THAT much better as the 'bar' accommodates the latter as the older system. so, definitely PS4 physical for me.

 

learning from my past experience of putting down PS3 games and never touched them again, I find keeping games to be wasteful. I no longer keep games these days save for very few exceptions. there is a big online marketplace with active second-hand game market where I live, so what I usually do is I buy second hand, beat it, and resell it again at similar price, making my net cost close to zero. for games with paid upgrade (such as Death Stranding), I bought PS4 and PS5 copies (both pre-owned), autopop the trophy, and resell them at around the same price, eliminating the need to pay for the $10 PS5 upgrade. still, I mostly play the PS4 version due to the autopop mostly only working in one direction and the other reason I specified above.

 

even with this arrangement, however, I still don't do day one gaming (or even within first few months of the release). these days games are released with patches and DLCs in mind. take RE Village, Cyberpunk, etc as the recent examples of how long it can take the developer to be done with the expansion from the initial release. I'm a completionist and once I put down a game, I'm forever done with it. I don't want to be pulled back by a DLC undoing my 100% completion. done that with HZD, RE7, KH3, and FF XV (the worst offender)... yeah, never again.

 

as for digital, I personally think it is only justified for heavily discounted old games (for DLCs, I'd rather wait and buy physical definitive/complete/GOTY edition), digital-only releases (obviously, but have yet to encounter this myself), and games with long term online play lifecycle. I bought RDR2 digital day one with 15% discount coupon, ended up spending close to 5000 hours playing the online mode. totally worth every cent.

[KondeBra]

Usually the physical PS5 version. The true is that I like the PS5 logo/white background. Makes it look the new thing, while PS4/blue is the old style.

 

But I also like the idea of having the PS5 version of the game in my disc. I had issues once or twice where I couldn't play my game, even with the disc in the drive, because it was one of those "free upgrades".

[vanessaking2]

I prefer physical releases.

[Z1MZUM]

I have a PS5 but prefer PS4 physical, I use both the PS4 pro and PS5.