[POLL] Do you prefer physical games or digital games?

[migles]

It was Alice Madness Returns !

did you bought it off steam? if you bought in steam it's in your account, just need the client
for other digital versions you probably have a cd key that can use in EA's client origin

 

[IC_]

Physical because I can buy a used copy and pay less

 

[Captain_N]

I go physical where possible. When i buy a digital game it feels like i did not get anything. feels no different then if i downloaded it on that iso site. Physical makes it feel like i actually got something. I am also a collector. I started cataloging what the value of my collection is actually and boy, i got to say i never spent anything near what its all actually worth...

 

[DarthDub]

Digital purchases have no real world monetary value. Physical all the way.

 

[Dreamhigh1708]

did you bought it off steam? if you bought in steam it's in your account, just need the client
for other digital versions you probably have a cd key that can use in EA's client origin

Unfortunately, I bought the key on a website that sold game keys... which one, I don't remember... I remember trying to put that key into steam a year or two after I purchased, to no avail and just gave up... Thinking back I should have contacted Steam... But given I find a key and all, I won't be able to link it to Steam, Alice Madness Returns was removed from the Steam Store... Origin has it though, but that kinda confirms that I should rather buy physical copies... Keys get lost, games disappear from platforms like Steam (who know if it won't experience the same fate on Origin) I think I'll really focus on consoles and physical copies to avoid this kind of thing as much as possible

I go physical where possible. When i buy a digital game it feels like i did not get anything. feels no different then if i downloaded it on that iso site. Physical makes it feel like i actually got something. I am also a collector. I started cataloging what the value of my collection is actually and boy, i got to say i never spent anything near what its all actually worth...

That's an actual good point I hadn't thought of... The perception one has of a game, physical or digital isn't really the same... Reading your answer, it made me realize I have a better "awareness" of the games I own physically... My Steam library is slowly getting bigger and bigger, but I easily forget about the games I have there... I have 40ish games on Steam (purchased in the last 3-4 years)... but I would have a hard time telling you half the titles by memory... I have accumulated 13 physical copies (for the last 10 years, getting at it slowly as I used to prefer PC gaming) and I can remember all the titles save one I didn't like much and lost the game somewhere in a box when me and my family moved. Among those games, I am convinced a few of them would have been forgotten if I actually had bought them off Steam...
But my buying pattern on physical and Steam is also different, I am a bit more experimental on Steam, and often just go along with the sales (I mean... it's ok to be experimental for 3 bucks... but it's difficult to find physical games, even second-hand, bellow 5-10 bucks), physical, are ones I know I want, and I so far only bought 3 physical games that were a bit more "experimentalish" (that I wasn't 100% down for) for me (some were gifted to me so that's good but limited, to discover new things)

 

[migles]

Unfortunately, I bought the key on a website that sold game keys... which one, I don't remember... I remember trying to put that key into steam a year or two after I purchased, to no avail and just gave up... Thinking back I should have contacted Steam... But given I find a key and all, I won't be able to link it to Steam, Alice Madness Returns was removed from the Steam Store... Origin has it though, but that kinda confirms that I should rather buy physical copies... Keys get lost, games disappear from platforms like Steam (who know if it won't experience the same fate on Origin) I think I'll really focus on consoles and physical copies to avoid this kind of thing as much as possible

only some titles (specifically the ones you require steam drm, it has a steam logo in the box) let you activate games in the steam store. https://support.steampowered.com/kb_article.php?ref=7480-wusf-3601
even if steam sold the game, you woldn't be able to active it in steam

alice madness being published by EA GAMES, i am sure you could use your key in origin and get the game trough there... (their own store)


i am all pro for physical copies, i buy the physical copies of my favorites... but remember, most physical copies nowadays rely in an online activation or online drm
there is even a case of that tony hawk game that in the disc the only thing has inside is the demo of the game and you have to download the full game
(remember GFWL plague lol)
so it breaks the point of having a phisical copy, if it requires an activation and you can't play it without using a third party tool or crack, there is no point in owning the phisical copy...

 

[Dreamhigh1708]

only some titles (specifically the ones you require steam drm, it has a steam logo in the box) let you activate games in the steam store. https://support.steampowered.com/kb_article.php?ref=7480-wusf-3601
even if steam sold the game, you woldn't be able to active it in steam

alice madness being published by EA GAMES, i am sure you could use your key in origin and get the game trough there... (their own store)


i am all pro for physical copies, i buy the physical copies of my favorites... but remember, most physical copies nowadays rely in an online activation or online drm
there is even a case of that tony hawk game that in the disc the only thing has inside is the demo of the game and you have to download the full game
(remember GFWL plague lol)
so it breaks the point of having a phisical copy, if it requires an activation and you can't play it without using a third party tool or crack, there is no point in owning the phisical copy...

Oh right, that might have been why I gave up without contacting Steam ! That would be cool though, to be able to apply keys to games regardless of platforms and stuff, as long as the key is for a game, it can be applied to it....
Thanks for the tip ! I'll try and look for the key when I will have time (but honestly I'm in more of a rush to get my hands and play on the PSVita I want since they'll run out of stock soon...)

You mean the fact games heavily rely on online stores for updates, extra content etc ? That is a bit concerning, if the online things that link a physical game to an online store doesn't work anymore in 20 years... Would we still be able to play the games through a physical copy only ? I didn't think about that, is there that much games where you HAVE to have an online activation or something ?
That's why I like my PSVita games, the physical copy gives you all you need, you don't need to be connected to the wifi to play (at least for the games I own, maybe some do ?) and it's a straightforward process, with those (like the good old DS games) you can just pop the game in and bam you can play... I'm pretty sad PSVita games will be discontinued for that reason...

 

[migles]

You mean the fact games heavily rely on online stores for updates, extra content etc ?

no, i mean that they rely in an online service to be activated and unlock the game you bought
not just extra content or updates. you require an online connection to launch the game

I didn't think about that, is there that much games where you HAVE to have an online activation or something ?

any recent game practically that is not drm free..
any game that you buy that relies in steam or ubisoft or ea game client, or other activation services requires that client\tool in order to launch it
there are some games that even has a limited number of installs, for example the gta 4 and 5 (i think they removed the activation limit in gta 4 but i am not sure)
they rely in an internet server that tells the executable "this is an allowed computer"

 

[Attainable]

Physical always....in fact, for any digital titles that don't get their own releases I usually make my own cases for them.

 

[Dreamhigh1708]

no, i mean that they rely in an online service to be activated and unlock the game you bought
not just extra content or updates. you require an online connection to launch the game


any recent game practically that is not drm free..
any game that you buy that relies in steam or ubisoft or ea game client, or other activation services requires that client\tool in order to launch it
there are some games that even has a limited number of installs, for example the gta 4 and 5 (i think they removed the activation limit in gta 4 but i am not sure)
they rely in an internet server that tells the executable "this is an allowed computer"

I didn't realize there was so much of those among physical games... That's definitely a problem... I have a few games that relied on a server like 5 years back being moved to Steam because they didn't want to maintain the server anymore and Steam was there anyway... But what if, in the long run this keeps happening until it doesn't work at all... Hopefully we won't transition gaming COMPLETELY online... But it does seem like we are...

Physical always....in fact, for any digital titles that don't get their own releases I usually make my own cases for them.

I actually feel tempted to do that too sometimes ! Do you just do empty cases for display or do you also put a copy of the game on the card ?

 

[DinohScene]

Physical all the way.

 

[DS1]

Digital. Too lazy to switch discs/keep track of little cartridges anymore. I have a lot of older systems, don't want to generate any more clutter than I have to.

Absolutely will not buy a fighting game physical anymore, because if I have people over to play, I want to be able to switch games on the fly.

 

[MrCokeacola]

All digital future.

 

[Attainable]

I actually feel tempted to do that too sometimes ! Do you just do empty cases for display or do you also put a copy of the game on the card ?

I can't put a copy of the game in the case if it doesn't exist physically, but I do empty cases with inside cover art...you can check more on my IG @AttainableArts

 

[HaloEliteLegend]

Depends, honestly. Physical copies on PC are a total pain, so all-digital for me there. However, I would prefer physical when possible on Switch, for resale and because Switch doesn't have much internal storage and microSD space is more expensive than HDDs. For other consoles, I suppose I don't really care either way because the digital infrastructure is solid and reliable while physical copies have all their benefits too. I don't sell most games, so digital is fine mostly.

 

[FAST6191]

I don't sell most games, so digital is fine mostly.

Might you not like the ability to purchase those that others would sell?

 

[HaloEliteLegend]

Might you not like the ability to purchase those that others would sell?

Ah, right, I do buy used games fairly often. But sometimes there's digital sales or it's a brand new game I'm paying full price for and expect to keep. That's typically when I might buy digital on consoles.

 

[Delerious]

Kinda depends. Digital for Steam and indie games. Otherwise, for big titles on console, I'll take physical any day. Plus, you practically have to do physical copies on console with how fast your disk space gets eaten up.