Do you prefer physical games, or digital?

[Newbiemayor]

Physical 100%!! I hate the idea that I could lose access to a game I paid for because, say, the system broke or worse, the services are canceled or revoked or whatever. I feel the same about shows, movies, albums, etc. If it's possible to get physically, I will. Every time.

 

[a potato]

It kind of depends on the game for me. If it’s a more story-heavy game that’s more of a one-and-done, I’ll get physical. For games with more replayability, I’ve been going digital. Although with the whole state of the world right now, I’m fine with all digital if needed.

 

[Flaming_Oceans]

I prefer physical games. Most of my games are physical, but have some digital games too.

 

[Halloqueen]

I prefer physical media, whether it be games, movies, books, whatever. I like having a copy that is available to me to use whenever I feel like doing so. For an example, movies can disappear from streaming services because the streaming service only had the license to show the movie for a certain amount of time. Physical media can also be sold if need be to scrape together some money. Sure, there's stuff like disc rot, but what'cha gonna do?

I do buy digital games if it's the only option though.

The whole tariff situation, though, might see me changing such habits and only going for physical copies of stuff I really like.

 

[MrBox]

Physical! For sure!

 

[Captain Jigglypuff]

I mostly buy the digital copy of a game if it’s extremely popular and not easily found used or is no longer in print physically such as Super Mario Odyssey. I have been taking advantage of buying Switch Online Game Vouchers and bought several first party games that way including TotK and Metroid Dread. I have an SD card that is pretty big that I use to store my larger digital games.

 

[xlisapisa]

While I like the convenience of digital games, I do prefer physical games. It just makes it feel more like you own the game versus digital, but if it’s a digital only or a really good sale I might budge and go digital. I definitely own more physical games but I do have a few digitals in my collection.

 

[-Raven-]

PC: digital

Console: physical

The divide between modern and old consoles on physical functionality is enough to push me away from newer consoles. I hate how everything needs to be installed on newer consoles, it’s just making it even more obvious that they’re just really rigid PCs. Physical doesn’t mean much on consoles anymore and PC has far superior file management and speed for digital.

Steam as a service is so good they’re carrying PC though, if that launcher ever becomes obtrusive to me then that’s probably going to be where I quit playing new games.

 

[LateGamer]

It really is a mixed bag for me. I voted physical because I do want to know that I actually own the game and I could potentially resell it later. But that is only on the Switch for games such as Zelda BOTW and TOK, and some of the other really popular games. I buy the indie low priced ones as a digital mostly for convenience of sale and play. And since buying a pc, I don’t even play my Switch unless I am playing a Nintendo game. I do not own any other consoles besides Switch, and I haven’t for a lot of years. But I have a fairly good sized Steam library and obviously those are all digital. It gets more difficult every day to even buy a computer with a hard drive unless you are building/customizing your own. I love the games I play on Steam, but it does bother me knowing that they could just disappear at the whim of the platform, developer or publisher. And I have seen it happen….more than once, more than twice…. It’s too bad imo that digital gaming became this “you only rent” because with today’s AAA games being $60 and up It extremely bugs me that you have no ownership. I have family members who have spent thousands on their Steam library. Digital is really so easy to buy and play, but …..

 

[-Blue-]

PC: digital

Console: physical

The divide between modern and old consoles on physical functionality is enough to push me away from newer consoles. I hate how everything needs to be installed on newer consoles, it’s just making it even more obvious that they’re just really rigid PCs. Physical doesn’t mean much on consoles anymore and PC has far superior file management and speed for digital.

Steam as a service is so good they’re carrying PC though, if that launcher ever becomes obtrusive to me then that’s probably going to be where I quit playing new games.

I hate that. I rarely have time to sit down and play games and when I do there's either some update or I have to install the 'new' game. And that usually takes anywhere from 30 mins (wishful thinking) to over an hour. And by that point, I'm not in the mood to play.

I like physical, but I can understand why others want digital with the ease to switch to different games and pretty much how everything needs to be installed anyway. But if your system ever gets bricked you would have to pay for all those games again. So I would rather have physical so I could technically own it.

 

[DarthGohan1]

Physical 100%

I like how the physical collection looks

I like that I can trade or games with/to friends after they or I finish a game we like and recommend to each other

I like knowing I can play my games regardless of if my console breaks or if I somehow lose access to my Nintendo account

While updates still need to be downloaded, there's at least a chance I can play the game right when I pop it in the console and not have to wait for a huge download

Need to buy much less storage / memory cards for physical games vs digital

Not that I ever resell games, but also I would be able to if I really wanted to. Can't resell a digital game

Post automatically merged: Apr 9, 2025

I prefer physical media, whether it be games, movies, books, whatever. I like having a copy that is available to me to use whenever I feel like doing so. For an example, movies can disappear from streaming services because the streaming service only had the license to show the movie for a certain amount of time. Physical media can also be sold if need be to scrape together some money. Sure, there's stuff like disc rot, but what'cha gonna do?

I do buy digital games if it's the only option though.

The whole tariff situation, though, might see me changing such habits and only going for physical copies of stuff I really like.

I used to buy a lot more physical copies of movies. Then went all streaming like almost everyone else, and kind of have mixed feelings about that. Way worse bang for your buck now compared to several years ago with any specific streaming service, what you get for what you pay.

Thinking of going back to not spending anything for streaming services, but just spending that on Blurays or DVDs I like and build up my physical library. Buy once, watch anytime, forever!

 

[Chere.]

I definitely prefer physical versions for video games overall, though it's mostly only for AAA games. I'm alright with purchasing the digital versions for other games mostly because they tend to be cheaper, and they're usually games I tend to play for less time, so the need for a physical copy doesn't feel as necessary if that makes sense. Ofc that's not always the case but I've found that that's generally how I go about it. Side eying the few AAA games I've bought that don't have much play time though. OTL

 

[Holla]

Physical easy. Some games I don’t care as much about I’ll grab digitally during a good sale but otherwise I’d prefer to wait and grab a physical copy.

Exception was New Horizons due to everything being shutdown here when it released. I later got a used copy though and use it for villager cycling on a second Switch so it worked out. I also bought a lot of games digitally for the 3DS as I was a teen/young adult at the time without transportation and my parents would judge me pretty hard about buying stuff online when it came in the mail. I did buy a few physical games of really important titles to me, and bought used physical copies of others I had gotten digital later on as well.

 

[Dunquixote]

I prefer having physical copies of games. I don’t like the idea of possibly losing access to it or some issue where I’d need to pay for it again.

 

[Neb]

As someone with very limited space, I prefer digital games now. I don’t have to go to a store and hope they still have copies, nor do I have to worry physical space. The only downside is that storage space on the console is something I have to consider, especially now that most AAA games are over 50 gigabytes now.