After some time with the Xbox one.... Still prefer Digital or Phsyical games and why ?

[ryanlrobinson]

Digital only. I pre-ordered NBA 2K14 physical with my Xbox One pre-order. That was the last physical I bought. I didn't hate it; it just felt unnecessary. I get that physical is a better value for the $, but I still prefer the lack of potential to lose or break a disc, not needing to take up space in the living room for a shelf, and laziness not having to get up to change games.

I think if I was a more frequent gamer, discs would make a bit more sense: a shelf wouldn't feel as out of place, I would bother looking for used sales, and I would bother selling when I'm done. As is, if I lose $50 a year but save a bunch of time and physical space, that's easily worth it to me.

Movies I go back and forth on since there is also a quality difference to consider, but that's not a factor with games.

 

[JohnnyBawesome]

Whereas I have kids I like digital because they can't get scratched and if the disc drive fails I don't have coasters (happened with my 360). Also, the Play Anywhere requires a digital purchase....

 

[Tijanna720]

I am mostly digital at this point. manly because of the Home console sharing (we have over 200 games able to be played between the 2 of us). it also makes no sense to me to use a physical disc if the game is going to be loaded on the HD anyway.

 

[Kaymd]

The fact is, physical is now 'digital' as well. Most modern games require such huge patches after the initial release, that the original physical disc is essentially 'useless' - it's just a license to play the digitally installed and patched version on the console HDD. And this does not consider DLC and all the other post disc goodies. The modern model of 'Games As A Service' style has made physical nearly pointless.

 

[Hirox K]

> digital way of showing this off
Maybe MS should've build an app, and you can run / show it... on a very tall display (or multiple displays)

 

[Cosmin Petrenciuc]

I prefer the digital ones because they don't take space in my home, and because it's the only way I can take advantage of a sales offer. They have disadvantages like a longer install time and their price being bigger for me as I live in Romania and I have to buy them from the Ireland store. You do know that the same game costs 50 USD in US store, 50 EUR in Ireland store and 50 GBP in UK store. Apparently Microsoft hasn't heard about exchange rates.

With all those being said I still prefer the digital ones.

 

[rchapman80]

I'm surprised at the poll results so far. I would have thought that "A Mix or don't really care" would have been well over 50%. Personally I love digital but find that most of the time physical media is all sale more or cheaper in general. It always seems that it takes digital longer to go on sale. Personally I don't understand that. I find the same with movies. Digital on movies that have been out a year or more always seems to be $5-$7 higher than the physical version which includes the digital copy. Example is two days ago I purchased a movie that's been out for 5+ years that included a digital copy and blu-ray while the digital copy was $14.99 on most digital services (iTunes, VUDU and Google Play).

 

[Durahl]

Technically I wouldn't even mind having a physical copy if it weren't for the dust piling up on the cases but the requirement of inserting the disk into the console even once it's been installed just pisses me off so much it makes my old man turn in his grave - Really wished MS would have allowed people with always on to just register their games once and be forever done with inserting a Game CD except for installation purposes - But noo... People had to whine about it.

So yea... Digital only unless it's significantly less expensive to buy a physical copy like the my first two Xbox One games before I found out how to cheat the system by buying the usually less expensive Digital copies from the US Store instead from my local one ( up to 1/3 more expensive! )

 

[Hirox K]

Game, movie, music, comic, anything that has a digital form... Yes, I prefer digital.
NES is my 1st console, and I have 2 brothers. Around ps2/xbOg era, we start to have 3 consoles each gen! We've got so much sxht in the storage back at my hometown...
I moved out eventually (was living in Australia and now in Japan), I don't want to keep things.
I always download my game overnight / beforehand. DL speed's not really an issue.
And there's other merits like licensing, XPA, convenience, space saving...

I was thinking what should I do with my xb1 when I got myself a xb1x.
a) I can leave my old xb1 in the office and do my cloud sync gaming.
b) I can hock my xb1 to another monitor in case if someone wants to use the living room TV (to watch Netflix, Movie, etc)
c) I can use it for cross-gen co-op with my GF (She's not a persistent gamer)
It'd be much easier with digital copy.

* I do use XPA. I carry Bluetooth xb1 gamepad and Surface Pro (if I go far, I might bring Alienware instead) in my bag all the time. Looking forward to dock a 6" win10.ARM on my gamepad btw.

2017 this year, I'm just happy that we finally have a unified store, bc/fc, free-unlimited-cloud-sync, win10 in different devices -> uwp (xpa), region-hot-swap, etc. A complete ecosystem.

 

[Bigsteelguy]

I prefer digital mostly, but I also enjoy owning a disc for many reasons. Like the Lego Star Wars FA deluxe 3D case is freaking awesome.

 

[AdamInTx]

Other than the GWG titles I'm about 99% physical. I rarely buy my games new and even then, I can usually find the game new physical for cheaper than digital. Also the number of old games that are still 40-60 bucks on the xbox store that I can get at gamestop or other used dealers for under 20 is just too high. Add to that not everybody has good internet or super high data limits. I have ok broadband, if I want to dl a game I have to start it one day and it is usually ready the next day. My inlaws live about 5 miles from me and they cannot get broadband at all, dial-up is their only option. So many people that call physical people whiners and babies don't seem to understand that not everybody has the same great internet as them, or doesn't have high data limits. I've known people who have 10-15 gig caps for the month. At that rate it would take several months just to download a single AAA title and on top of that you would kill your internet for everything else for the month just like that.

However, I think the thing that annoys me the most is the venom that many "digital only" people have for us physical folks. I have no problem with both existing. I'd have no problems if digital was cheaper (it rarely is though). I'd have no problems if digital came out a few days before physical. I just don't understand why so many digital only people act like those of us who like physical media (be if for personal or technical reasons) are the spawn of the devil or horrible trash. (and I'm not talking about in this particular thread. I have seen this many many other times though around the internet and in person)

 

[Guest_aotf]

I like to own my games, so it's mostly physical for me. ofc there are games that are only available digitally or sometimes there are some great deals on digital games so I do buy digital on those occasions.

There are so many reasons as to why I prefer physical. Personally the only advantage for me of having things digitally is that you're not getting up and changing a disc when you finish a game. But for me thats ok, I'm not a lazy person...

 

[ZvjerOPC]

Only digital for me. I can't stand to be forced to swap disc's when I want to play a different game just because the disc holds a license for the game. Only digital for me.

 

[TLJack64]

I'm not ashamed to say, I still prefer physical but, every once in a while I will grab a digital game, so right now, NOT including FREE Xbox live games, I am about 70% phsyical vs. 30 Digital.

Why I prefer phsical games ?
1. Faster install if I had to reinstall the game.
One night we were all trying to play a older Xbox one game that we all owned but, no one had installed, it was about 40gb. I had the disc version, 2 people in my Xbox live chat had digital versions, Within 30-40 min, even with updates, I was ready to play. The others it was almost 2 hours before they could play it, one was over 3 hours. If anything this is a big step backwards in gaming.

2. If I wanted to SELL a game phsical games have value, I could do it, as Digital ones have no value (no way to trade or sell them)
3. If I wanted to let a family Member borrow a game, I just hand over the disc, same way back.
4. For you $60+ tax, you get a disc, a case with art and I like to display them and collect them.

and the BIGGEST reason.
5. A lot of people STIL today like classic games, even the reboot of the NES has sold out everywhere and before the holidays are selling 4 to 5 times the retail price.

Now when the Xbox one is over, say 20 years from now, xbox live for older console is no more. I could take a physical disc, drop it into my system and play the game. Even digtal games could be questionable at this point as it will not be able to get on to Xbox live to see if you actually own it.

Yes, I know Digital games are nice, No disc to drop in and you get Play Anywhere (very limited titles right now) but, for me, I think the advanages of having a physical one is more for your $$.

After a year plus now, how do you feel about this and WHY do you feel this way ?

I keep physical copies more or less for the nostalgic feeling. 20 years down the line i want to be able to dust off my old XBone and show the young whippersnappers how we used to get down in an authentic manner much like i do with my NES and Genesis from time to time these days.

 

[camaroz1985]

Mine are all physical. I like to have the physical disk for some reason. I tell myself it is so I could resell them when I am done with them, but A) I don't have much time to play so I never actually finish a game, and B) I never sell any even when I haven't played them in a long time, and by that point they are almost worthless haha.

 

[Anton Earmack]

Since xbox 360 i always dreamed about digital version of the game instead physical versions.

And finally from the start of xbox one dream come true)

And yeah all my xbox one games ALL digital. I dont have any physical game)

 

[Awhispersecho]

I like to actually own the things I buy so I always go physical. Same with PC games, if they are available in physical form, I will buy them that way. I have a huge video game and console collection and every single 1 of them still works. 20-30 years from now, that won't be the case for most of what we are using now and for almost every single game we are playing now. Things used to matter to people, people used to collect things because they had a passion for them or for investment purposes down the road. Now games, music and everything else are disposable to people. People have no connection to anything anymore and people don't seem to have an issue with the fact that if it's digital, you are just renting that product. All my old consoles and games are 100% owned by me. They can't be turned off, they can't expire and they don't rely on a service to continue to exist to play them. I think it's sad things have gone the way they have but it is a reflection on people and society as a whole now. We see these same characteristics in every facet of life now, not just gaming. I wish they would just provide the opportunity to get a disk pressed for a game for those of us that want a digital copy. I would gladly pay 10 bucks more for the option.

 

[Jose_Rey]

Oops..I voted digital, but didn't read the whole headline. I prefer digital on PC. I always wait for the sales though. I'm in no hurry to play a game. Even a game I spent DAYS playing like Gears 4, I waited 'til I could get it for $30 digitally. My main reason is, that the Publisher will get a cut and I won't regret it since I never pay full price. Also, you never know when these games will stop working.

On PC, it is most likely to work on the long haul. Console, sure, today, Microsoft is all Gung Ho on Backward Compatibility but they were pretty Gung Ho on their Games for Windows Live Service as well. That didn't turn out so well. So, I have no faith buying all my games on Xbox. Currently only "own" 2 on XBOX. Rest is on Steam.

EDIT: Plus there's no refunds on Xbox in the US, but Steam has refunds. You're more likely to try a game if you have that option. At least I am.

 

[Justin Stewart2]

Digital

 

[falcon304]

Digital all the way. ESPECIALLY with Play Anywhere now. I'll only make an exception for a cool special edition, but those are fewer and farther between these days.