disc vs download

baeelin

baeelin

CAGiversary!
Just looking to really get an opinion from folks that have been gaming forever.  I am stuck on buying the disc for everything.  My friend vocalizes that he believes digital download is better.  I am wavering in my faith.  Now that I have a PS4 with 500 gb of storage space I feel like digital download may be the way to go as it saves me the trouble of packing discs.  Is there really any benefit to one over the other?  I just pre-ordered the remastered TLoU on disc for PS4 and have been thinking of switching it to digital download.  

 
Do you sell your games? Do you have a collection/like to collect and display your games? Do you think 500gb is big enough when games are/will be 15-50gb each? Do you like waiting 4+ hours for a game you just bought to download? Do you let friends borrow your games and vise versa? Do you have family members that play your games, if so and they have their own console, problems will arise with digital copies.

As a general rule for games coming out in the future on PS4, think how long The Last of Us and Bioshock Infinite took for their DLCs to come out. Now think about that digital copy taking up 26gb (probably more for PS4 version of TLoU) of the HDD and redownloading would be a pain, instead of reinstalling from disc if you delete games to make space.

Unless you buy everything on release day, retailers like Target, Gamestop, Amazon, Best Buy, tend to clear out games at a much greater discount than digital titles.

You may or may not be Playstation Plus member, but it's worth it. I say leave the digital for PS+.

 
Also, just look at some of the digital copies of certain games(like Activision's Marvel games) that have been pulled offline due to licenses expiring.  They say that if you purchased them, you'll still be able to re-download them.  But for how long until they pull those files off the servers?

At least with physical discs, you only have to worry about it taking up space in your house and if the disc gets scratched up(unless someone steals your copy).

 
I personally rather have physical when it comes to console games. Regardless of price (being on CAG and SD I tend to get my console and PC games for the same price with stacking deals).

Benefits for me is I actually own the product. If for some odd reason my account is hacked or banned, I still have my disk and can play my games when and as I please. Though this is an extreme. Most people don't get banned or hacked.

Download size is an issue. I don't have a PS4 anymore but I know download sizes are going to be an issue. Too bad the Xbox One and PS4 both require installs of the full game regardless of if its on a disk. As for other systems, it saves a bunch of space.

Price. My disk games tend to be cheaper than physical console games. Mainly b/c I wait for prices to drop though. It's funny people say digital is cheaper on consoles... yeah for the first week. Than it stays $50 for months until a "deal" with XBL or PS+ comes along for it. Physical disk will always drop in price, most of the time you can find it cheaper than digital within the first week.

Still digital is over the air, no need to carry disk (though my games stay in my room  so never understood the people who carry games around), cheaper (at times... remember, not talking about PC regardless of I, and many others, getting console games just as cheaply) and can easily be transferred to other devices.

 
This is the way I have felt about it for a long time and you guys have helped solidify that.  Thanks!

 
tangytangerine said:
Also, just look at some of the digital copies of certain games(like Activision's Marvel games) that have been pulled offline due to licenses expiring. They say that if you purchased them, you'll still be able to re-download them. But for how long until they pull those files off the servers?

At least with physical discs, you only have to worry about it taking up space in your house and if the disc gets scratched up(unless someone steals your copy).
Click to expand...
Marvel Ultimate Alliance is my biggest reason against digital. I changed 360s and the license for all my DLC characters didn't transfer and when I contacted Microsoft they said there was nothing I could do to get them back!
 
Disc.

You actually own your game.

You can sell your game.

You can trade your game.

You can loan your game.

You can buy it used.

You can play your game on multiple consoles without having to log into your own profile and redownload.

Games aren't made unavailable due to licensing issues or otherwise.

Less memory hogging.

No potential issues in the future reclaiming your game once services end.

...and a million other things.

 
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I always buy my games on a disc. Besides being able to sell a game after you are finished with it you can usually find the disc version of a game much cheaper than the digital version when a store has a good clearance deal on a game. I also don't like for portable systems you need to buy a large memory card to store the games. I have used the 32MB memory card for the PSP for 9 years that came with the system and I still have room for more game saves on it. If I wanted to download some games from PSN, that memory card wouldn't even hold 1 game.

 
Disc only for the most part.

But I'll make a few exceptions such as DLC the for Mass Effect series because they didn't release it all on disc and I can't wait forever. But basically I'm not going to invest a lot in digital games because you simply don't have any guarantee you will continue to have have access to them.

 
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How lazy are you to get up and change a disc? Will you ever sell a game you love playing?  I prefer digital for games I plan to keep forever. Physical disc for games I plan to play and sell.

 
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AugustAPC said:
Disc.

You actually own your game.

You can sell your game.

You can trade your game.

You can loan your game.

You can buy it used.

You can play your game on multiple consoles without having to log into your own profile and redownload.

Games aren't made unavailable due to licensing issues or otherwise.

Less memory hogging.

No potential issues in the future reclaiming your game once services end.

...and a million other things.
Click to expand...
All this!

Also, PS4 and Xbox One have no external memory capabilities (yet, well, Xbox One will, and you can replace your HDD in a PS4). But if you have too many games and run out of room, you will have to delete those games. If they are bought digitally, those can use up most of your data cap pretty fast, that and obviously it's going to be slower than installing from a disc.

 
I've been pretty anti-digital for a long time. However I do find the convenience of being digital for movies so very nice. I just put CFW on my PSP and having all of those games on a single memory card really gave new life to it.

The data cap thing though is a very real concern. Most people think they'll never get anywhere close to a cap, but you'd be surprised. Comcast has started hard caps in certain cities with plans to expand. 300GB doesn't go very far when you cut the cord and download games. I just installed a 500GB drive in my PS3 as well, and would like to take advantage of it. However when a single game or sale you're looking at 8-10% of your cap for the month? Makes it a more difficult decision. If you were to only download a couple of games a month, it's probably fine. But if your console dies and you need to re-download you may have to meter how soon you'll get all of your 'owned' content back.

Availability is also a concern. What if the content disappears? What if your downloads are linked to your console, as I've heard some horror stories with Nintendo? I haven't even gotten to the monetary aspect of sales and trades.

I want to be able to go digital, but for now it will only be in limited quantities.

 
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