Anybody else contradicting themselves on their all digital? Or all physical gaming plans?

Were you “disc all the way,” until you could only get a series-s. Or were you “digital for liife,” and then the PS5 disc console was on a store shelf.

Me? Well I’m thinking I might just stick with the Xbox one generation of consoles. Then get a digital PS5 since they gave away so many freebies over the years that I could probably go this entire generation with a digital wolverine, miles morales, and some unknown quantity.

One of the greatest (or worst, depending on who you ask) things about humans is our ability to change previously stated intentions based on prevalence of new information or different circumstances.

That said, it's easier to just not say something as effectively pointless as "disc only" or "digital only" because the chances are good something will get in the way to change that.

Being a Steam user for so long made it so that I was pretty much unfamiliar with physical copies by the time I bought a Switch. Now I'm slowly getting into the habit of buying physical copies of games that I want to play if the internet ever disappears for whatever reason.

No, not really. I got the Series X, wasn’t even considering the Series S. One X still performed amazing in 2020, so going to the Series S wouldn’t be much of an upgrade, and in some cases an actual downgrade.

I barely use the drive, I play most stuff on Game Pass or buy games digitally when they’re heavily discounted. Although,I have used it a few times for 360 back compat which is nice.

I got the PS5 Disc as well. The first party game prices on PSN are extortionate in England. Going physical allowed me to shop around, and I’ve already made up the console price difference after purchasing just four games.

For as long as I have the option, I’ll always choose not to be locked in to a single store.

Have usually been disc all the way for good reason, RRPs on games in Australia are high and they sit at that on the digital stores when upon release, lots of retailers have them at $10-$20 cheaper. With that being said, even with a Series X and its disc drive, I've found Game Pass has attuned me to the ease of not needing to get up off the couch to put in a disc.

I got a digital PS5 and haven't regretted it yet. In fact, things are going digital to the point that a lot of new PCs, whether desktop or laptop don't come with disc drives anymore. And the physical media in games is really pointless now, because you still need an account for the games you paid for to be recognized, and you need to download disc unlock and day 1 patches to play the games. The only difference is the annoyance of having to put the disc in to play the game, whereas digitally, you just start the game and go. If you like watching UHD movies and shows on a disc, than that is thee only reason I can see someone getting the disc version of the current gen consoles, but again a lot of digital streaming services like VUDU got that covered as well.

I'm just old enough to have gone to high school at the time when a nice calculator was a thing my parents had to budget for, but also some of the kids had cell phones during my last couple years of high school.

I've been using Steam since 2008.

Technology changes and culture changes with it. I was never precious about physical media (a few collector's editions notwithstanding), because to me the thing I value is the art that is on the disc. I get the arguments about access and ownership. I'm privileged enough to live in an area with and have access to internet that is reliable and fast enough to make downloading games not a problem (if I download the big games overnight). I recognize that it's different for a number of reasons in countries other than the US, and in other parts of the US. For me, the convenience of digital works. When I built a PC four years ago, I didn't even bother with a disc drive.

So, do you have a PS4 or PSN then to get those freebies? Because it's not like you can just play all of the PS+ games they've ever put out for free. Or am I really not understanding your comment, "Then get a digital PS5 since they gave away so many freebies over the years that I could probably go this entire generation with a digital wolverine, miles morales, and some unknown quantity"?

I was physical for a while because it took a very long time to get decent internet here, then i preferred digital.
There are so many smaller games that you can't even buy physically so if half your library is digital anyway you might as well go all in, unless you like collecting.

Ironically because i don't like subscription services i still buy DVD's when it comes to movies, there are enough movies i like that aren't on Netflix and sometimes i don't watch anything for a couple months, if i'm unsure if i'll enjoy a movie i might rent it on Youtube or Amazon if the price is low enough, but so many of them are extremely overpriced, i think the digital movie watching experience is atrocious unless you have Netflix it blows me away how bad the options are.

@av_gamer: I read "UHD movies" as "UMD movies" and I thought, now there's an interesting take.

I bought the Series X cause it had a disc drive, and I planned to buy games, beat them, then sell them on

I've only bought RDR2 and bought the other games on sales. Still watch a lot of DVDs on the X though, so it works out

I have not bought a physical copy of game since 2017. I have the Series X and disc-less PS5. The Series X disc drive only gets used to watch the rare blu-ray or ultra HD disc, but never for a game.

On PC, it should be very obvious that like many, I don't really have a choice between digital and physical for modern games; which isn't to say that I want boxes to come back since I've gotten used to Steam being my default storefront. But, my desktop does have a DVD drive for older PC games and disc-based PS2 emulation for when I'm feeling nostalgic, and I also have a Blu-ray drive, mainly for TV shows and movies since I strongly prefer physical on that front, but also for when PS3 emulation gets to the convince of putting in a disc and playing since converting my purchased PS3 games into the format that RPCS3 currently wants is beyond my understanding at the moment. And as for consoles, bigsocrates is gonna cringe, but I still prefer physical.

I still buy and rip discs cuz I'm a weirdo, but I had to gut my PC recently and stick it in a modern case just to get some better airflow going. Turns out none of the actual good cases even have a 5.25" bay anymore, so now my optical drive is in a stupid external enclosure taking up space on my desk.

As for consoles, I'll buy disc versions as long as they make them. The added flexibility is worth the price difference.

Way back when the PS4 launched (seems like a million years ago now) I bought my first 3 games on disc, those were, until Ringfit Adventure on Switch (physical only release in North America), my last physical purchases. I don't really care if I cannot play these games one day twenty years down the road and so I'm glad to stay all digital moving forward.

XSX and disc PS5, my local library has a decent video game catalog so I use that all the time. I have limited time for games these days so I don't mind waiting for them to come in.

Yea, I had no interest at all in a disc drive PS5 but it was what was available when I was free to purchase one. I haven’t bought a piece of physical media in seven years but if some UHD bluray falls in my lap I can play it!

I got the Series X and the PS5 with disc drive and intended to stick with physical discs.

The convenience of not having to keep digging out discs has turned me towards being almost exclusively digital.

I still enjoy having the option to put in discs from the last generation and buying the odd physical disc on sale, though.

I have never inserted a physical disc into my Xbox One and/or Xbox Series X consoles. I am 100% digital for all modern platforms (Xbox, Switch, PC).

On the other hand, I do buy physical games for my son's Switch. I wanted him to appreciate the value of items, which I think is easier to do when they are tangible. He learned a lesson the hard way when our dog chewed up his Mario Maker 2 cart.

While my modern collections are all-digital, I do continue to collect physical games for multiple retro consoles. That would seem to be in conflict with going all-digital, since I could easily just download the roms, but for whatever the reason I can't get away from collecting the physical carts for older systems and playing on actual hardware.

I would be all digital if digital console games didn’t have an insane markup in my corner of the world.

I went digital pretty much as soon as possible, on PC with the launch of Half-Life 2, and on console the Xbox 360. Games tend to go on sale so quickly that I almost never buy games at full price, and it the digital is 24.99 and the physical is 19.99, that's a difference I'll easily pay to not worry about discs. Besides, if you buy the DLC you have to go digital anyway and you usually get a better price buying it all in a bundle. I will say that I miss going to the stores and browsing games and going home with a new one, or maybe a DVD movie instead, but those shops don't really exist any more.

I'm not worried about game conservation. Companies nowadays are doing a pretty good job of putting all their catalogue on sale in some form, and if they don't you can eventually emulate it. Why worry about the GTA Definite Edition shitshow for example when you can easily go back to the source yourself.

Having moved long-distance several times in my life has also made digital far more convenient. Though part of me of course envies people with big houses where they can build their own video game museums when just about all I own can fit in a back of a van (and the few furniture that doesn't fit can be tossed away because it wasn't expensive). Well, I'm sure many young people in big cities who live in more or less literal closets can relate.

However with the Switch I've gone back to physical. Games are often significantly cheaper physically if you're willing to look around and wait, Nintendo games hold their resale value much better than others, and Nintendo's online offering is still shit so there is a good chance that none of your purchases will carry over to their next console. I will admit that they look nice and it's good that they are much smaller, the cases are smaller than DVD cases used to be, and the cartridges are much easier to handle than discs, they're small and no need to worry about them being scratched.

maybe idk ,but not really since i've always been of a middle ground.

i lean physical cause i like seeing discs on shelves even tho they don't matter the same anymore . that said i'll lean digital if its something i'll want to play at the same time as my fiancee be it co-op or not, if it was a disc we would have to take turns and if its co-op it saves us money. still even tho i like discs i'll also usually just go with the cheapest option so if its on sale in either direction i'll bite. if anything instead of leaning ps ( xbox hasn't been a factor in 2 gens for me) i'll lean pc instead if its digital since it feels more convenient , even moreso now with how uncomfortable i find the dualsense, i never had any issues with the dualshock controllers but the bulk of dualsense really hurts my hands.... and because of leaning pc i guess it kinda forces me in more of a digital path with some games than i would have otherwise went physical i guess.

I'm consistently inconsistent. I always buy physical unless it's on PC or it's on Game Pass or it's a digital exclusive/so insanely cheap and disposable I don't really care that I'm not getting it physical. My preference for physical isn't any sort of integrity of ownership stance, since taking the long view everything is just a rental in the end. It's more an accountability thing, since I find I'm much more likely to finish a game if I purchased a physical copy. I also like seeing games on my shelves nicely sorted by alphabet and console.

If anything, I grow progressively more entrenched. I do not want physical goods if there are digital alternatives.

That said it's not like I'm needlessly stubborn about it. I don't like digital only consoles because that slams shut a door that I may need to open someday for a variety of reasons.

Bought an Xbox One back in 2014 with the intention of never buying physical again. I even got Halo 5 (disc) for free with my first Elite Series 1 controller and immediately took it to Game Stop for a trade-in credit to buy some digital Xbox Store bucks. Kept that tradition going when I was able to get a Series S last July and have no regrets. Game Pass makes the wait for games I want to play but are too expensive out of the gate more bearable.

I definitely still prefer having a physical collection over a digital library. As of recent, however, my purchases have all been digital for a variety of reasons. It started last year when I was pre-ordering games through Amazon and they kept getting delayed to the point where I wouldn't have them after a week after launch. So I just started buying digital versions of games I otherwise wouldn't have. The other major reason is that the sales on PSN have been pretty good and usually beat what physical copies are going for. After a year of owning a PS5, my physical library is only 6 games, and the last one I bought was Ratchet and Clank.

I still use my PS3 as my Bluray player, the remote is good, and I didn't want to wear out my PS4 playing discs, and it had eject issues anyway. The first major game I bought digitally was Horizon Zero Dawn, I felt dumb paying $60 when it didn't even come with a disc, it should have been cheaper, but I haven't bought any games on disc since then. I got the PS5 with disc mostly hoping that eventually they would enable using all my old discs on it, and haven't tried a 4K Bluray on it, even though I bought a remote for it (it's not a good as the PS3 remote.) I'm always worried about the disc drive conking out and killing my primary console, for some reason.

as someone who has 3 360s with unreadable disc error before giving in n saying screw it i'm not getting other and selling their collection i can understand this worry :/

Initially, I was going to buy an Xbox Series X so I could play all my old OG Xbox and 360 games that I still have on a bookshelf in my house. Supply issues totally ruined that idea for me though, and I just magically stumbled across a Series S at my local Target. Most of the games I wanted to play ended up being on Game Pass and it was kinda cool that I could play Fallout 3 on GP and still download all the DLCs I bought back in 2009. Also, I don't have much room for new game discs laying around. Going digital was inevitable for me.

In short, I was going physical but decided to switch.

Physical makes quick resume on the Xbox feel kinda clunky.

I don't think I've bought a physical game in a good few years, maybe since the Switch launched. Just feels easier to go digital!

I generally buy most of my games as discs (or catridges). But Game Pass is ensuring that most of the new games I play are digital. But I've still been buying actual discs for PS5 games.

I'm still in the middle. If I can get a physical version from a nearby store with a good discount at launch, I'll grab that one. If not and it's a game I really want to play as soon as possible, I'll go the digital route. Even in the case of physical though, I'm likely to sell my used copy if I can do so for a decent price, because I very rarely replay games, so I don't have any sort of collection of current gen games at the moment.

The entire time I've owned my PS4 I haven't purchased a physical game once.

I got a Switch in 2020 and have only purchased physical games for it.

I never owned any discs/carts for PS4, Xbone or Switch. I don't have any current gen consoles yet.

Mostly digital since 2013, then all digital since 2020.

As long as physical is 20 to 25€ less than digital I will prioritize physical. Digital is easier but physical is cheaper.

Never understood going either/or, I just get what's most affordable. I figure, in the long run, might as well get a console with a physical drive, so I can get used games for cheap.

I rarely buy games at launch, but half the time I typically resell them. That's the whole appeal of a physical drive imo.

For instance, I got BotW + all the DLC for $100-ish digitally, really regretted that decision when I sold my Switch 2 years ago.

I stuck to mostly physical through the last gen (PS4) even though the writing was really starting to be on the wall. I still liked the ability to loan or sell games if needed, though in practice I rarely did either of these things. As a result I have about 50 PS4 games on my shelf. But I wasn't too fussed about buying digital games for consoles, especially in cases where there just wasn't a physical version.

Then I got my PS5 and decided to pretty much go all digital. Not only is it more convenient, but loaning or selling games seems like a dicier proposition now that a lot of PS5s don't even have a disc drive.

Not really. Still buy physical discs so I can play games in the future without having to rely on an online service, and maybe just being of an older generation. I guess I haven't been super happy about the total lack of support for early iOS and Droid apps on newer updates where the apps or games simply don't work. To be fair, I only buy like 2-4 games per year, so I don't have to worry about amassing a unmanageable amount of physical games.

For disposable multiplayer only games and really deep discounts, I buy digital.