Question for gamers: what are the main differences between buying physical or digital

Guardian of the Rain

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I'll finally be buying Overwatch (PS4) soon after playing a friend's for so long.

Overwatch is a game that requires internet connection to play, so I know that it doesn't matter whether or not I buy physical or digital.

I plan on buying Injustice 2 when it comes out. That's a game that you can play offline, so I should probably go with a physical copy, right?
 

BenjerminGaye

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I'll finally be buying Overwatch (PS4) soon after playing a friend's for so long.

Overwatch is a game that requires internet connection to play, so I know that it doesn't matter whether or not I buy physical or digital.

I plan on buying Injustice 2 when it comes out. That's a game that you can play offline, so I should probably go with a physical copy, right?
you can still get it digital. The only time you need to be online is when youre playing multiplayer games that require said connection.
 

Guardian of the Rain

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Honestly i don't know lol I just started buying those game digitally.
I'm sure you still know more than me lol I'm only a casual gamer, not a hardcore gamer who knows all the technical stuff
you can still get it digital. The only time you need to be online is when youre playing multiplayer games that require said connection.
So if I buy Injustice 2 digitally, I won't be able to play it if I have no connection? Like just the story mode, VS, and other offline modes?
Would a connection be required just to open the game?
 

wanderingcactus

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tbh I prefer physical. you don't have to depend on internet speed when saving it on your hard drive.

also you can resell it back for money when you really don't need it anymore.

But the thing about digital is that you can get discount prices on holidays that you don't get on stores.
 

BenjerminGaye

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I'm sure you still know more than me lol I'm only a casual gamer, not a hardcore gamer who knows all the technical stuff


So if I buy Injustice 2 digitally, I won't be able to play it if I have no connection? Like just the story mode, VS, and other offline modes?
Would a connection be required just to open the game?
You can do all the offline stuff, but if you want to play online multiplayer, youre gonna have to get online. That doesn't change if you go physical or digital.

Very few games are always online.
 

Guardian of the Rain

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tbh I prefer physical. you don't have to depend on internet speed when saving it on your hard drive.

also you can resell it back for money when you really don't need it anymore.

But the thing about digital is that you can get discount prices on holidays that you don't get on stores.
Pros and cons...pros and cons...
Think I'll just go with a flip of a coin lol
You can do all the offline stuff, but if you want to play online multiplayer, youre gonna have to get online. That doesn't change if you go physical or digital.

Very few games are always online.
Oh alrighty then. Guess I'll go with whatever's cheaper
 

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Ok, I'm going to write you a highly detailed difference between the two—hopefully you get a chance to read this.

So like you, there was once a time when I as well was riding the line between digital and physical. I have always preferred physical content in the past so I was always hesitant to buy digital games for a number of reasons. However, roughly half a year after I bought my PS4 (I've had a PS4 for about 2-2 1/2 years now) I gradually started shifted towards digital games and now digital is my go-to form of game content. As a matter of fact, just yesterday I was having issues downloading Wolfenstein the New Order and the expansion Wolfenstein Old Blood that I bought digitally and it took me a few hours to discover the reason: After only a year or two, I've finally maxed out my 2tb Hard Drive with digital games.

Below I will break down all the pros and cons to both physical games and digital games for you, based on my experiences with both.​


Physical Games
Pros
  • Can lend out to friends/borrow from friends
  • Can resell/buy used (cheaper)
  • Can return/trade in to store you bought from if you don't like the game (specifics differ between stores)
  • Physical copies are classier/more presentable
  • (Subjective) Some people simply prefer to physically hold the game they purchase
  • Price of games naturally drop overtime
Cons
  • Believe it or not, these days the physical disks are nothing more than access keys—you still have to download the entire game to your HD
  • Storage for physical games is required—not really an issue though if you don't buy/play a lot of games
  • Not so common anymore due to games being printed on Blu Ray disks, but it is possible for physical copies to be damaged to the point of being unplayable

Digital Games
Pros
  • A LOT more convenient than physical games (simply jump from game to game, rather than have to exchange disks)
  • No physical storage required
  • Contrary to popular believe, digital games are tied to whatever account you bought them on meaning you will never lose them/they will never go away (with the exception of online games, which if the developer shuts down the servers then there is no game but this applies to physical copies as well)
  • Digital game sales (PS4) are actually better than you may think—it's not Steam level sales, but I've gotten many, many games for amazing prices in the past
Cons
  • Can't return games (on PS4 at least, and that may actually change soon due to Microsoft's latest announcement of being able to return digital games on Xbox)
  • Game prices rarely drop in price outside of sales
  • Can't resell games
  • Technically you can't borrow/lend games to friends, though there is indeed a way to do this with up to one person at a time on PS4.


How is this all Applied to You?
Ok, so while you were (hopefully) reading those pros and cons you may have noticed that the pros and cons of both digital games and physical games tend to cancel each other out. Well that's because they do. So here's the bottom line: in my opinion, there is no reason not to buy digital games. The largest con against physical games these days is the fact that regardless of if you own a game physically or digitally, you still end up being required to download the entire game. In other words, say you want to buy Doom digitally until you discover that the game is a whopping 78 GIGABYTES (today it is, at least) and don't/can't give up that much space on your (presumably) base PS4's 500gb HD. So you decide to buy the game physically instead—no harm done, right? Well you would unfortunately discover that even with the physical game you will still have to download all 78gb onto your HD. You may not need to wait for it to download, but you will need the space.

That to me is the biggest reason to go digital, however there are plenty of very valid reasons to remain with physical copies—the largest reason is the ability to resell/lend/trade/etc.

I guess the bottom line is, you really need to determine what kind of gamer you are. Personally, I love video games. As I mentioned, I filled up a 2tb HD with games over the time-span of a year or two. However I acknowledge that not everyone has the time or is that dedicated to gaming. So if you're the kind of gamer who buys one or two games and can be satisfied with those for a very long time without buying more games, then buy them cheap physically. But if you're like me to an extend and you find yourself playing many games, then honestly give digital a chance. The industry is desperately trying to break out of the physical market, and sooner or later it will fully embrace digital distribution one way or another.


Side Note: If space is an issue for you, then you're in luck. As recently there was a firmware update to the PS4 that allows external Hard Drives to be connected to the PS4 to be used as a storage device for games and games can be played directly off it. In other words, if you're using the base 500gb system and feel you need more—you can buy 2tb USB Hard Drives these days for insanely cheap (ballpark of $60). So buy one of those, plug it in (the PS4 will need to format it, so you can't have anything else on the HD) and you now have a very cheap means of upgradable storage.​
 
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Guardian of the Rain

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Ok, I'm going to write you a highly detailed difference between the two—hopefully you get a chance to read this.

So like you, there was once a time when I as well was riding the line between digital and physical. I have always preferred physical content in the past so I was always hesitant to buy digital games for a number of reasons. However, roughly half a year after I bought my PS4 (I've had a PS4 for about 2-2 1/2 years now) I gradually started shifted towards digital games and now digital is my go-to form of game content. As a matter of fact, just yesterday I was having issues downloading Wolfenstein the New Order and the expansion Wolfenstein Old Blood that I bought digitally and it took me a few hours to discover the reason: After only a year or two, I've finally maxed out my 2tb Hard Drive with digital games.

Below I will break down all the pros and cons to both physical games and digital games for you, based on my experiences with both.​


Physical Games
Pros
  • Can lend out to friends/borrow from friends
  • Can resell/buy used (cheaper)
  • Can return/trade in to store you bought from if you don't like the game (specifics differ between stores)
  • Physical copies are classier/more presentable
  • (Subjective) Some people simply prefer to physically hold the game they purchase
  • Price of games naturally drop overtime
Cons
  • Believe it or not, these days the physical disks are nothing more than access keys—you still have to download the entire game to your HD
  • Storage for physical games is required—not really an issue though if you don't buy/play a lot of games
  • Not so common anymore due to games being printed on Blu Ray disks, but it is possible for physical copies to be damaged to the point of being unplayable

Digital Games
Pros
  • A LOT more convenient than physical games (simply jump from game to game, rather than have to exchange disks)
  • No physical storage required
  • Contrary to popular believe, digital games are tied to whatever account you bought them on meaning you will never lose them/they will never go away (with the exception of online games, which if the developer shuts down the servers then there is no game but this applies to physical copies as well)
  • Digital game sales (PS4) are actually better than you may think—it's not Steam level sales, but I've gotten many, many games for amazing prices in the past
Cons
  • Can't return games (on PS4 at least, and that may actually change soon due to Microsoft's latest announcement of being able to return digital games on Xbox)
  • Game prices rarely drop in price outside of sales
  • Can't resell games
  • Technically you can't borrow/lend games to friends, though there is indeed a way to do this with up to one person at a time on PS4.


How is this all Applied to You?
Ok, so while you were (hopefully) reading those pros and cons you may have noticed that the pros and cons of both digital games and physical games tend to cancel each other out. Well that's because they do. So here's the bottom line: in my opinion, there is no reason not to buy digital games. The largest con against physical games these days is the fact that regardless of if you own a game physically or digitally, you still end up being required to download the entire game. In other words, say you want to buy Doom digitally until you discover that the game is a whopping 78 GIGABYTES (today it is, at least) and don't/can't give up that much space on your (presumably) base PS4's 500gb HD. So you decide to buy the game physically instead—no harm done, right? Well you would unfortunately discover that even with the physical game you will still have to download all 78gb onto your HD. You may not need to wait for it to download, but you will need the space.

That to me is the biggest reason to go digital, however there are plenty of very valid reasons to remain with physical copies—the largest reason is the ability to resell/lend/trade/etc.

I guess the bottom line is, you really need to determine what kind of gamer you are. Personally, I love video games. As I mentioned, I filled up a 2tb HD with games over the time-span of a year or two. However I acknowledge that not everyone has the time or is that dedicated to gaming. So if you're the kind of gamer who buys one or two games and can be satisfied with those for a very long time without buying more games, then buy them cheap physically. But if you're like me to an extend and you find yourself playing many games, then honestly give digital a chance. The industry is desperately trying to break out of the physical market, and sooner or later it will fully embrace digital distribution one way or another.


Side Note: If space is an issue for you, then you're in luck. As recently there was a firmware update to the PS4 that allows external Hard Drives to be connected to the PS4 to be used as a storage device for games and games can be played directly off it. In other words, if you're using the base 500gb system and feel you need more—you can buy 2tb USB Hard Drives these days for insanely cheap (ballpark of $60). So buy one of those, plug it in (the PS4 will need to format it, so you can't have anything else on the HD) and you now have a very cheap means of upgradable storage.​

Wow. I actually read it all haha

Space won't be a problem at all. I'm gonna buy my first PS4 new from Amazon. The 500gb Uncharted 4 bundle. I am indeed a gamer who can be satisfied with one or two games for a long time. I'll never ever get tired of Overwatch. I could do without Injustice 2, but I just want a game that I can whoop my little brother at. Plus, I'll be able to play it offline unlike Overwatch.
I actually watched Uncharted 4 all cutscenes game movie on YouTube quite some time ago, so I have no desire to play it anymore. I'm only buying the bundle because it makes sense to.

Plus, I just don't have money like that to buy a lot of games lol (though the Spider-Man game that's coming out this year would probably be the only other game I'd consider buying for a long time)

I'll never want to sell Overwatch LMAO no chance. And I'm only gonna buy the regular version of Injustice 2, not the Ultimate Edition, so I'm sure not many people would be willing to buy it from me at a decent price anyway.
So from the points you've made, I'd better go digital for both games.

Thanks for the awesome input, man! Very informative!
 

BenjerminGaye

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Ok, I'm going to write you a highly detailed difference between the two—hopefully you get a chance to read this.

So like you, there was once a time when I as well was riding the line between digital and physical. I have always preferred physical content in the past so I was always hesitant to buy digital games for a number of reasons. However, roughly half a year after I bought my PS4 (I've had a PS4 for about 2-2 1/2 years now) I gradually started shifted towards digital games and now digital is my go-to form of game content. As a matter of fact, just yesterday I was having issues downloading Wolfenstein the New Order and the expansion Wolfenstein Old Blood that I bought digitally and it took me a few hours to discover the reason: After only a year or two, I've finally maxed out my 2tb Hard Drive with digital games.

Below I will break down all the pros and cons to both physical games and digital games for you, based on my experiences with both.​


Physical Games
Pros
  • Can lend out to friends/borrow from friends
  • Can resell/buy used (cheaper)
  • Can return/trade in to store you bought from if you don't like the game (specifics differ between stores)
  • Physical copies are classier/more presentable
  • (Subjective) Some people simply prefer to physically hold the game they purchase
  • Price of games naturally drop overtime
Cons
  • Believe it or not, these days the physical disks are nothing more than access keys—you still have to download the entire game to your HD
  • Storage for physical games is required—not really an issue though if you don't buy/play a lot of games
  • Not so common anymore due to games being printed on Blu Ray disks, but it is possible for physical copies to be damaged to the point of being unplayable

Digital Games
Pros
  • A LOT more convenient than physical games (simply jump from game to game, rather than have to exchange disks)
  • No physical storage required
  • Contrary to popular believe, digital games are tied to whatever account you bought them on meaning you will never lose them/they will never go away (with the exception of online games, which if the developer shuts down the servers then there is no game but this applies to physical copies as well)
  • Digital game sales (PS4) are actually better than you may think—it's not Steam level sales, but I've gotten many, many games for amazing prices in the past
Cons
  • Can't return games (on PS4 at least, and that may actually change soon due to Microsoft's latest announcement of being able to return digital games on Xbox)
  • Game prices rarely drop in price outside of sales
  • Can't resell games
  • Technically you can't borrow/lend games to friends, though there is indeed a way to do this with up to one person at a time on PS4.


How is this all Applied to You?
Ok, so while you were (hopefully) reading those pros and cons you may have noticed that the pros and cons of both digital games and physical games tend to cancel each other out. Well that's because they do. So here's the bottom line: in my opinion, there is no reason not to buy digital games. The largest con against physical games these days is the fact that regardless of if you own a game physically or digitally, you still end up being required to download the entire game. In other words, say you want to buy Doom digitally until you discover that the game is a whopping 78 GIGABYTES (today it is, at least) and don't/can't give up that much space on your (presumably) base PS4's 500gb HD. So you decide to buy the game physically instead—no harm done, right? Well you would unfortunately discover that even with the physical game you will still have to download all 78gb onto your HD. You may not need to wait for it to download, but you will need the space.

That to me is the biggest reason to go digital, however there are plenty of very valid reasons to remain with physical copies—the largest reason is the ability to resell/lend/trade/etc.

I guess the bottom line is, you really need to determine what kind of gamer you are. Personally, I love video games. As I mentioned, I filled up a 2tb HD with games over the time-span of a year or two. However I acknowledge that not everyone has the time or is that dedicated to gaming. So if you're the kind of gamer who buys one or two games and can be satisfied with those for a very long time without buying more games, then buy them cheap physically. But if you're like me to an extend and you find yourself playing many games, then honestly give digital a chance. The industry is desperately trying to break out of the physical market, and sooner or later it will fully embrace digital distribution one way or another.


Side Note: If space is an issue for you, then you're in luck. As recently there was a firmware update to the PS4 that allows external Hard Drives to be connected to the PS4 to be used as a storage device for games and games can be played directly off it. In other words, if you're using the base 500gb system and feel you need more—you can buy 2tb USB Hard Drives these days for insanely cheap (ballpark of $60). So buy one of those, plug it in (the PS4 will need to format it, so you can't have anything else on the HD) and you now have a very cheap means of upgradable storage.​
ps4 supports external HDD now, so you can mitigate that space problem even after installing a 2 tb hdd to the system.
 

Fountain

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Physical: You actually OWN the game. You are able to trade it, sell it, collect it, or do whatever you want with it. And so long and you still have it you won't ever lose it.

Digital: You're only buying the right to play it.
 

Pumpkin Ninja

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You can't sell physical games for shit these days, anyways. I prefer digital because in Canada, PSN cards are tax free, and games in the PSN store are tax free as well. So basically, tax free games. Plus switching games isn't a chore and my games don't need to be stored some where.
 

Guardian of the Rain

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You can't sell physical games for shit these days, anyways. I prefer digital because in Canada, PSN cards are tax free, and games in the PSN store are tax free as well. So basically, tax free games. Plus switching games isn't a chore and my games don't need to be stored some where.
Digital, it is! And I forgot to consider the fact that my younger brother and nephew would ruin my physical games anyway haha

I didn't expect so much division on this topic though. I did some research on Google before coming here to NB for assistance. People are as divided on physical vs digital as much as the Naruto vs Sasuke debate lol
 

BenjerminGaye

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Physical: You actually OWN the game. You are able to trade it, sell it, collect it, or do whatever you want with it. And so long and you still have it you won't ever lose it.

Digital: You're only buying the right to play it.
that's not necessarily true anymore.
 
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