What's The Appeal Of Owning Physical Copies Of Games In 2020?

[bogey_j]

to me buying physical lost all it's appeal once publishers stopped packaging in instruction booklets with every game

after that I just looked at it as an antiquated disc in a plastic box taking up space

something about those instruction booklets made it feel more premium & special...

 

[Kaydigi]

It’s cheaper on release day and when they get clearanced out.

 

[Khalil's_Black_Excellence]

It’s cheaper on release day and when they get clearanced out.

Neither of those are a constant truth. Very case by case basis, as sales happen often on both sides and randomly in between. Some of my last digital purchases were about 10-15 bucks less than I could've gotten them physically in stores. Now buying 2nd hand is a different story for sure.

 

[ball15life]

I like collecting the discs and cases sometimes.

 

[-DMP-]

More flexibility in where I buy the games from, can usually get them cheaper, take advantage of deals, store/cc cash back, buy used etc.

Can sell them when done, later on down the line; trade etc.

 

[The G.O.D II]

You can own your titles and not have to worry about being locked out of games if PSN is down or your account is fukked up?

 

[Kaydigi]

Neither of those are a constant truth. Very case by case basis, as sales happen often on both sides and randomly in between. Some of my last digital purchases were about 10-15 bucks less than I could've gotten them physically in stores. Now buying 2nd hand is a different story for sure.

I still have GCU from Best Buy for another year, and Walmart and Amazon have been doing the $49 pre order pricing on last gen titles for a while now.

I buy whatever is cheaper though. Finally picked up Granblue Fantsy Versus for 19.99 disc from Best Buy, it rarely goes on sale on psn.

I did buy Fighterz digitally for $10.49 even though I have the disc version which was bought at launch.

So it’s all good either way, I just won’t new releases digitally at MSRP.

 

[levitate]

I’m really torn on this subject.

If we’re being honest there are pros and cons to each method.

Ultimately I think I’ll go with buying physical game discs because:

1. It gives me an option for trading games in
2. These game files are getting fukking huge, I don’t like downloading big ass 100+ GB files
3. There is a greater sense of ownership.
   
4. I only play maybe 4 blockbuster games a year...and I play until I beat them. Thus “getting up to switch the game” is not a big deal for me

 

[Khalil's_Black_Excellence]

I still have GCU from Best Buy for another year, and Walmart and Amazon have been doing the $49 pre order pricing on last gen titles for a while now.

I buy whatever is cheaper though. Finally picked up Granblue Fantsy Versus for 19.99 disc from Best Buy, it rarely goes on sale on psn.

I did buy Fighterz digitally for $10.49 even though I have the disc version which was bought at launch.


So it’s all good either way, I just won’t new releases digitally at MSRP.

You do? What'd you buy a lot of years upfront or something? Cuz Best Buy cancelled GCU like years ago from what I've been told.

 

[Khalil's_Black_Excellence]

I’m really torn on this subject.

If we’re being honest there are pros and cons to each method.

Ultimately I think I’ll go with buying physical game discs because:

1. It gives me an option for trading games in
2. These game files are getting fukking huge, I don’t like downloading big ass 100+ GB files
3. There is a greater sense of ownership.
   
4. I only play maybe 4 blockbuster games a year...and I play until I beat them. Thus “getting up to switch the game” is not a big deal for me

2. While you're not downloading the game files online when you own the disc, you still are utilizing exact same amount of storage space off the disc onto your hdd/ssd tho.

 

[Kaydigi]

You do? What'd you buy a lot of years upfront or something? Cuz Best Buy cancelled GCU like years ago from what I've been told.

Yeah I have about 7 months left.

 

[Lootpack]

The nostalgia aspect and the physical boxes look good in my library

 

[Fatboi1]

Even though I bought 3 digital games as my first games for the PS5, I still prefer physical just because I like knowing that I can do something with the game later on. Granted, I may not really buy that much physical PS5 games simply because I will be going half on games with my cousin since he's getting a PS5 so we'll be sharing games.

 

[jwinfield]

I still have GCU from Best Buy for another year

You do? What'd you buy a lot of years upfront or something? Cuz Best Buy cancelled GCU like years ago from what I've been told.

I still have Gamers Club through Oct 2021, but have been strictly digital this past year, don't plan on going back.

 

[Obreh Winfrey]

As long as you have the physical copy, you have access to the game. If the developer or publisher decides to pull the digital distribution, if you don't have it downloaded and never deleted, you're assed out. For the one and done people this may not be an issue, but for people who revisit games, that's a sticking point.