Pros and Cons of going to an all-digital game library

[ODogg]

Re: Pros and Cons of going to an all-digital game library

I am digital for the games I know I will play for a long time, which is not many at all. I made the mistake of buying a few games digitally that I got burned on (Division I'm looking at you). The way I typically play games is to buy them when they first come out because I fall for the hype, then I play anywhere between 4-6 hours then have no desire to play them anymore.

If I had bought the physical copy of said games, then I would have saved myself typically around $30 ($12 for BB GC or Amazon Pre-Order and then trading it back in for at least $20).

The only benefit I see to digital games is possibly faster loading times and not having to switch out games because I'm lazy.

I rent games that I am not sure about so as to avoid that. Usually if I buy a game digitally I know I'm all-in on it and will play it for a long time (Diablo LOL) but I do buy some games I know that are limited in life such as Madden simply because I don't want to load the disc every time.

I usually prefer to just give my games to friends or family when I'm done as I know several of them who don't have much money and it's more worthwhile for me to do that to me personally than to get a small pittance from a retailer which, like Gamestop, I often find rather insulting more than helpful, LOL.

Oh and I have seen quite a few people say that about The Division so I'm going to have to stick up for it here. I bought it digitally and wow, I played the heck out of it so I definitely got my moneys worth out of it IMO. No regrets at all for me with that game.

[daniel77733]

Re: Pros and Cons of going to an all-digital game library

daniel, wow, well I thought I was a writer, LOL..that's a lot to respond to so I won't even try. I will say this though, Gamestops demise is directly being attributed to digital sales in nearly every article written on the subject. No one really cares too much (in the public) about their game membership program or why it sucks. Heck I'd wager most people don't even know they have one.

Gamestop is the largest mover of physical gaming media. Physical media is in a sharp decline. It makes sense to attribute their closing stores due to that reason. It's not as if Gamestops sales, prices or other aspects of its business have suddenly changed.

I just don't believe that GameStop is declining due to digital sales. It might be third but I think that it has more to do with the competition being better and offering way better deals for less and that they have better business practices for consumers. If you go back five years ago, GameStop was dominating but that's when they didn't have the competition like they have now with Best Buy and Amazon.

Not only that but you can buy digital games from GameStop just like you can on PSN/XBL, Amazon, Best Buy, etc. Also, people tend to not realize something when it comes to all those digital sales. Majority of them on PSN/XBL are for games that are old and mad cheap. Those sales do get added in to the digital yearly sales. To me, it's simply just way too inflated with no hard evidence backing any of it up.

When I see a comparison of physical discs vs digital with only the games that are available in both formats and digital is that high, then I'll be impressed (and concerned) but until then, I know it's all fluff.

P.S. - I forgot to ask this yesterday. What's your facebook video game channel? Is it like youtube?

[ODogg]

Re: Pros and Cons of going to an all-digital game library

I just don't believe that GameStop is declining due to digital sales. It might be third but I think that it has more to do with the competition being better and offering way better deals for less and that they have better business practices for consumers. If you go back five years ago, GameStop was dominating but that's when they didn't have the competition like they have now with Best Buy and Amazon.

Not only that but you can buy digital games from GameStop just like you can on PSN/XBL, Amazon, Best Buy, etc. Also, people tend to not realize something when it comes to all those digital sales. Majority of them on PSN/XBL are for games that are old and mad cheap. Those sales do get added in to the digital yearly sales. To me, it's simply just way too inflated with no hard evidence backing any of it up.

When I see a comparison of physical discs vs digital with only the games that are available in both formats and digital is that high, then I'll be impressed (and concerned) but until then, I know it's all fluff.

P.S. - I forgot to ask this yesterday. What's your facebook video game channel? Is it like youtube?

Yeah, it's a news aggregate and game discussion channel. It's called All Next-Gen Console Gaming if you want to look us up.

[ExtremeGamer]

Re: Pros and Cons of going to an all-digital game library

I rent games that I am not sure about so as to avoid that. Usually if I buy a game digitally I know I'm all-in on it and will play it for a long time (Diablo LOL) but I do buy some games I know that are limited in life such as Madden simply because I don't want to load the disc every time.

I usually prefer to just give my games to friends or family when I'm done as I know several of them who don't have much money and it's more worthwhile for me to do that to me personally than to get a small pittance from a retailer which, like Gamestop, I often find rather insulting more than helpful, LOL.

Oh and I have seen quite a few people say that about The Division so I'm going to have to stick up for it here. I bought it digitally and wow, I played the heck out of it so I definitely got my moneys worth out of it IMO. No regrets at all for me with that game.

Division was the first game I wanted a refund from. Worst purchase I've made digitally to date.


Sent from my iPad using Operation Sports

[fishepa]

Re: Pros and Cons of going to an all-digital game library

Division was the first game I wanted a refund from. Worst purchase I've made digitally to date.


Sent from my iPad using Operation Sports

My award for worst digital game purchase goes to No Mans Sky. I forgot about that one.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[daniel77733]

Re: Pros and Cons of going to an all-digital game library

My entire digital collection is as follows -

Three retail disc based games - TLOUR, The Witcher III: Wild Hunt including the expansion pass and The Division including the expansion pass.

Ten psn/indie based games - Assassin's Creed Chronicles China/India/Russia, Child of Light, Lara Croft and the Temple of Osiris, Mercenary Kings, Axiom Verge, Shovel Knight, Alienation and Stories: The Path of Destinies.

Out of all those 13 games, I wish I could get a refund for Stories and the three ACC games. Stories because I should have just purchased R&C at the time instead while waiting for Uncharted 4. ACC because a year after China was released, Ubisoft announced a disc based trilogy pack but since I already purchased China digitally, I figured for $10 each, I'll just buy India and Russia.

Otherwise, no regrets about the digital purchases. I can pretty much guarantee that I won't ever regret buying a disc based game digitally because it's after I already played it and know that im going to play through it again because of the expansions.

[Smallville102001]

Re: Pros and Cons of going to an all-digital game library

2016 was the year Digital Game Sales arrived.

74% of all games sold in 2016 were sold digitally.

It's convenience. Once you start using digital media you do not want to go back to discs.

Now that people are using digital media it is time for both companies, Sony and Microsoft, to come up with a system to trade, sell and gift digital titles.

Microsoft has at least offered self-service digital returns (testing) so that's a start but we need a lot more.

Digital Sales have arrived!

74% sounds really far off. I have heard for a long time now up threw last year even that only 20% of video game sales where digital. This is the first I have heard of even close to 74% something is of hear.

[rsump112]

Re: Pros and Cons of going to an all-digital game library

I like digital for inexpensive or older titles. Maybe I'm just old school but for 50 to 75 bucks I want to rip that plastic and smell the new game smell. I probably shouldn't be so picky, as 90 percent of my music collection is digital. But for movies and games, I just like having that hard copy (until I can't decide what I want to play and have to keep getting up to change discs).

[ubernoob]

Re: Pros and Cons of going to an all-digital game library

74% sounds really far off. I have heard for a long time now up threw last year even that only 20% of video game sales where digital. This is the first I have heard of even close to 74% something is of hear.

Look at what that list tracks as digital sales.

"subscriptions, digital full games, digital add-on content, mobile apps and social network games"

That's why that number is stupidly high.

For reference, 32% of EAs unit sales were digital. Those numbers are thrown off because stuff like Battlefield is a huge PC game, and those sales are more digital.

Just ignore that article. It's not worthwhile to this discussion at all.

Division was the first game I wanted a refund from. Worst purchase I've made digitally to date.

The way they turned that game around was amazing. I hate on Ubisoft a lot, but I gotta give them credit for what they did with Division.

[daniel77733]

Re: Pros and Cons of going to an all-digital game library

I love The Division. What an awesome third person cover based RPG shooter. Oh man, I can hear the gunshots in Manhattan now. LOL. Ubisoft definitely made the game better than what it was but for me, I played it at launch and loved it. Perfect for me. Still surprised that they haven't announced/released DLC of the other boroughs because to me, that's easy money.

I do think that Ubisoft turning around Rainbow Six Siege was more impressive because the game was literally dead in the water early on and got bigger and better throughout 2016.

[Smallville102001]

Re: Pros and Cons of going to an all-digital game library

Look at what that list tracks as digital sales.

"subscriptions, digital full games, digital add-on content, mobile apps and social network games"

That's why that number is stupidly high.

For reference, 32% of EAs unit sales were digital. Those numbers are thrown off because stuff like Battlefield is a huge PC game, and those sales are more digital.

Just ignore that article. It's not worthwhile to this discussion at all.



The way they turned that game around was amazing. I hate on Ubisoft a lot, but I gotta give them credit for what they did with Division.

Oh ok didn't know they where including those things. I just know when it comes to straight up digital vs physical sales for games that can be bought either way that it is 80/20 physical and that is a big advantage for physical that means.

[ODogg]

Re: Pros and Cons of going to an all-digital game library

Oh ok didn't know they where including those things. I just know when it comes to straight up digital vs physical sales for games that can be bought either way that it is 80/20 physical and that is a big advantage for physical that means.

The numbers aren't quite clear and no doubt they are skewed but the bottom line is people are adapting to digital much quicker than anyone thought and just like when it happened with music, once it begins it won't be long before it's the majority of what people purchase.

[ubernoob]

Re: Pros and Cons of going to an all-digital game library

The numbers aren't quite clear and no doubt they are skewed but the bottom line is people are adapting to digital much quicker than anyone thought and just like when it happened with music, once it begins it won't be long before it's the majority of what people purchase.

No, no it won't.

There's a difference between streaming a 3MB song and downloading a 50GB game. There are a lot more hurdles to overcome in this than you think.

I'll still buy physical before I buy digital, and everyone I know in real life is the same way - it also has nothing to do with trading in games.

Physical won't go away, just as digital won't go away. As long as the options are there for both, everyone wins in the end.

[ODogg]

Re: Pros and Cons of going to an all-digital game library

No, no it won't.

There's a difference between streaming a 3MB song and downloading a 50GB game. There are a lot more hurdles to overcome in this than you think.

I'll still buy physical before I buy digital, and everyone I know in real life is the same way - it also has nothing to do with trading in games.

Physical won't go away, just as digital won't go away. As long as the options are there for both, everyone wins in the end.

I never said physical would go away. It won't go away, at least probably not for years. I said it'd go the route of music. Has physical media for music gone away? Nope, I can go to Best Buy right now and buy some CDs. It's not going away but it'll continue to shrink more and more every year until its just a small footnote in sales, much like music CDs are now.

As for your next point there really is no difference for many people between downloading a 3MB song and a 50GB game. You click on purchase and wait awhile and BOOM it's there. Maybe years ago there was a huge difference but the same could be said of music. At one time peoples connections weren't ideal for downloading music either but that changed. Ditto for games.

More and more people now are getting faster connections so what used to take an entire day is taking a few hours and in a couple of years that will take minutes. That will encourage even more people to go digital. "Man I really want that new game, should I get dressed and go to Best Buy or should I click on this button, go get some chips and come back and play?" Easy decision for most folks, save perhaps collectors.

My friends have almost all gone fully digital and only buy physical media when it's advantageous because something is on sale. You and your friends can enjoy physical media and continue to buy it but the reality is more and more of the overall general public are are seeing the benefits of digital ownership over physical.

That is where the industry is going, like it or not. The only question really is, will games go the way of music in the sense of streaming instead of purchasing? Will there be a gaming Spotify?

You can't fight progress man. I remember when Napster came out and people said digital music ownership would never catch on because people loved actually having a tangible, physical product. But now how often do you see people in their cars fumbling through CDs when they want to listen to music? Just the reality of the situation..

[ubernoob]

Re: Pros and Cons of going to an all-digital game library

The United States doesn't have the infrastructure in place to support majority digital.

Only 24% (though probably slightly higher now, the numbers are slightly dated) of the nation is on a connection faster than 15 Mbit (1.875MB.) We aren't even top 10 in average connection speed. Companies (through lobbying and other shady practices) aren't allowed to compete. Data caps are in place. All of these are working against digital.

Obviously digital is going to grow, but it won't be what you are thinking any time in the near future.

"Oh, do I want to go to Best Buy and grab this game and play it in 20 minutes or do I want to wait 6 hours for it to download without leaving my house?" That's the question you should be asking. Not to mention unreliable internet (Oh, my internet is down. Guess I can't download anything or play anything if we have check-ins.)

I would be willing to place a bet that I use more bandwidth at home than 99.9% of users here, trust me once people start bumping up against data caps there will be a lot of pushback.

This isn't just a "Digital vs. Physical" video game issue, this issue involves a lot more with corporations and areas completely unrelated to the video game issue.