Games

I can log on to anybody's computer in the world, install Steam, and have full access to my entire game library.

I can make almost anybody I know (with limits) a "family member" and share my library.

I can stream my games from my computer to my phone.

My steam deck lets me play my entire library anywhere.

I see no personal benefit to using physical media anymore.

I guess a disclaimer would be that I trust Valve but you truthfully, I don't trust all game companies/vendors.

Here's my perspective as a PC player. Even back in the early 2000s, discs were mostly just a form of DRM. When you install the game from a disc, 99% of the time, the installer copies the contents of the disk to your hard drive, then the disk just acts as a key in order to "unlock" your installed copy. No-cd patches just make the game think the disc is inserted when it's not.

Today, the only difference is the delivery method, and it's where things can get a little hazy. Steam is where I own most of my games, and I do like Steam and Valve, and consider them pretty trustworthy in terms of large tech companies. But, even so, because the only way I'm really able to get games from Steam is through their servers, there are situations that are out of my control where a game that was once available to me, no longer is.

This is why I'm starting to prefer GOG. They have a zero DRM policy, and offer offline installers for most of their games. Meaning, if I purchase a game, I download that installer, load it onto a thumb drive, and I effectively have that game forever, no matter what happens to GOG, the developer, the publisher, etc. I have a couple of games that have been lost to time officially, that I can install as easy as the day they came out because I have that offline installer. It's as good as having any CD game.

So, bottom line is, CD, no CD, I really don't care. Give me the installer, and guarantee I don't be locked out of my game because of something I can't control, and I'm happy.

I tried to buy physical PC games as recently as 2014, and what i got was a steam code and and 8 DVD's, and the game still needed a patch to work. So Physical on PC games to me is DRM free. I can put it on my own thumbdrive/USB to make it physical if I wanted it to be.

As for my preference. It depends on the game and deal. If I know I want the game, and I'll buy it no matter what, then I'll aim for the DRM Free copy.

Otherwise it depends on the sale. I mean for $3 I don't mind loosing access to SimCity 3000, $3 is a good price even for limited access. Let alone free.

What I refuse to buy is a offline game like GTA 5 that requires a proprietary launcher and account to even play. Here I will just abandon PC gaming entirely and go to consoles. Rock Star, Ubisoft, EA games in particular I primarily buy on consoles.

Honestly digital for me all the way, of course I object to some of the questionable delicious by some companies regarding taking away digital owned media, but as long as it's not an issue digital.

I'm a very indicisive person and it's so much better to just be able to switch the game without getting up and going halfway across the room, going through the process of putting it back in the case and taking a new one out until I figure out what I want to play.

PC: Digital if on a trusted platform like Steam or the game is free. Otherwise I'm just not buying the game.

Console: Physical, as I can resell the games I purchased.

All games now are digital. Just because you have the disk doesn't mean you can play it. It's just a trinket now. This question doesn't really work anymore. Maybe 10 years ago it makes sense to ask, when physical disks actually contained the full game, but now the disk is mostly just a code to access the digital copy. If you want to have a physical display of your games, sure buy a physical copy. That takes up far too much space for me though, so I stick to digital. I'm exclusively on computer though.

Digital, haven't had a working disk drive in like 10 years, two laptops ago was broken, previous and current laptop just don't come with one.

GOG>Steam>digital>physical

Digital only, cheapest price that isn’t Epic.

I prefer not to devote myself to any one storefront, and while Valve is very altruistic I think healthy competition is one of the things that keeps PC gaming storefronts at their best.

Even on consoles, I prefer to go digital; saves bookcase space.

PC? All digital.

Consoles? All physical

I do t play games on console all that often so I’d rather the option to pick up a cheap used copy. Plus I could play that game any number of years down the road when the servers are long shut down. But on PC I just want to click the button and the game installs and opens.

I have a PS5 physical so I buy all my single player games second hand and then sell them for basically the same price. The only digital games I've bought have been Elden Ring, Helldivers, and Spiderman Miles Morales.

I've been pretty much all-digital since... Steam came out. Outside of Switch games (I dont trust Nintendo with how they handle their NNID system. it's just janky), it doesn't really make sense for me to buy physical copies. The obvious benefit there is resale, but I can rarely afford new games, so by the time I either get them, or finish playing them, they've already dropped in value entirely

I like collecting physical copies of games I like and that I want to display on my shelves. For example, I have the entire Ace Combat franchise on disc, the collector's edition of Ori and Crosscode, and a few artbooks for certain games that I love (Spyro, Plague Tale, Oddworld). I also bought the entire Resident Evil saga on xbox (Origins, R2make, R3make, R4master, R5master, R6master, R7 Gold, Code Veronica, Revelations 1 and 2) because I got most of them for cheap.

Digital storefronts are either for games that I didn't care to have a physical copy of, or when a physical copy doesn't exist. When I do buy digital, I usually buy on GoG when possible, as it's the most future-proof option available. I do have a big digital collection on Xbox thanks to their generous Rewards program, but it got nerfed hard in the last few months, so I don't think it will increase much in the future (I don't plan on buying another Xbox console, and the MS Store on Windows sucks hard).

Depends on the system’s media for me.

Cartridge-based? Physical for all 1st and 2nd party titles, digital for indie/3rd party unless I really enjoyed it or it had a worthwhile collectors edition. I’d say about an 80-20 split due to some games not releasing physical, and some that do but I also get digital for convenience.

Disc based? Probably just digital these days. Exceptions for worthwhile collectors editions and special runs (indie games etc.) Roughly 10-90 split because PC/steam is in this list and despite owning a launch day disc model PS5, I just ordered my first physical copy of a game (Baulder’s Gate 3 collectors) and the other collectors edition I bought was God of War Ragnarok which came with everything except a game disc (steel game case, digital code… sigh).

The discs are also digital! The correct terminology would be "virtual".

I'm despising the growing trend of devs/publishers not offering a physical option for consoles (looking at you, Alan Wake 2). I like having the disc on my shelf, especially if it's a series.

Does a disc even matter these days? There’s still a 100gb patch and likely internet connection required?

Do they even make physical PC games anymore? Last ones I bought were either discs that immediately downloaded an updated copy of the whole game, or the box just contained a download code.

For the switch I buy physical, but it may be the last console where that makes sense.

I think the last console game I bought was Metroid Dread, but I leaned physical for those as well, because their digital storefronts are a single point of failure. I've witnessed first hand a friend of mine getting frustrated with a now-sunset Xbox 360 store, a problem I could see coming a mile away even when I was in high school when the console launched. On PC, if Steam disappeared tomorrow, I could pirate my entire library. If GOG gives me a week of lead time on their store going away, I could legitimately back up those games.

Digital is more convenient. I have shelves of old games and consoles that I'm working on culling rather than expanding, especially as someone who tends to move to a new apartment every couple of years. Physical often tends to be a false sense of security in the modern age of day 1 patches and other kinds of server dependency. DRM-free is actually what you want, unless you really, really enjoy the tangible aspect of the game. Outside of nostalgia, I don't think it matters to me.

On PC I'll buy digital because worst case if it comes unavailable I'll torrent a copy.

For consoles I am staunchly in the physical camp because it is more likely I'll be able to play those games in 10 years when the maker has shut down their store.

I don't really have a strict one or the other preference anymore.

Nintendo 1st party stuff I always buy physical, Dreamcast I collect for so that's physical too but for Xbox I buy mostly digital when on sale. I guess for Xbox its different because I have Gamepass (the £1 upgrade deal they used to offer, still 18 months remaining, but I won't renew) so I haven't bought a new game in like 2 years now. The there is PC... My games are all over the place!

Plus with a family we just dont have the space to keep everything forever that we buy anymore.

I prefer roms and emulators above all else as I know that as long as I back them up I'll be able to play them. Other than that I use steam for convenience as a linux only gamer but I'm all for gog and their DRM free stance.

As for physical. The hardware fails unless its a ps2 😄. So at the end you are left with a ton of discs and you Will have to rip them to play them. Also some games are just shipping unfinished on disc and need to download patches or whatever.

For console games I always buy physical but for PC I buy digital. I have a ton of Ps1 - 5 games that I have physical copies of and they get played alot . My son is also getting into gaming and he likes to look through the games on my shelf to find fun things to play.

I ended up playing my physical copies way less than digital ones because I can't be arsed to juggle disks and cartridges.

I sold most of my physical collection when upgrading from PS4 to XSX and bought those games digital there since Microsoft has proven to be solid when it comes to backwards compatibility.

All of my portable consoles (Switch, Vita, DSi, N3DS, Analogue Pocket) are jailbroken and digital only because memory is so cheap that I can hold all noteworthy games on a single SD card. In time current systems will end up in a similar state so there's little point getting attached to dust collecting boxes.

I'm pretty much all digital. I know the arguments for "you don't really own those digital copies of media," but it still feels like it's mine because I can still go and play any of those games whenever I want. I'd just need to reinstall it with an Internet connection.

My PC doesn't even have a disk drive so I can't play physical unless I get an external drive, and I don't really care enough to do that.

Most of the time physically, it is just a code to activate it on steam.

On PC the pirates says, what you can do with it. On the console the company says if you own this movie/game you BOUGHT or not. ( See the Playstation movie "incident" where Sony removed many movies some people BOUGHT, but at least the backlash made Sone reconsider the BS they wanted to pull of. )

P.S. Yeah, yeah i know. "It iSnT BuYiNg YoU OnLy PuRchAsE a LiCenSe tO ThE PrOdUcT" But still its such b.s. that you declare it as BUYING instead of RENTING, Sony have them on their neck of the console gamers, because piracy or third party stores are not existing so they can pull of those stunts.

Disks are for games I want to be able to pull out of a box 10 years from now and go "oh man I remember this". I have the box from a DSi that I filled with GBA games, and a shelf for Switch and PS4 games that, when they're retired for something else, it'd be nice to come back to once in a while. My daughter has gotten into my GBA games lately, so that's been nice.

PC games, they're so much more available. Steam is steady, GOG is steady, I feel I can leave it to them to keep and I'll have any particularly treasured games 10 years from now, anyway.

I often buy physical for games I know I'll like, for the rest, mostly digital.

When I end up liking a specific digitally bought game a lot, I try to buy a physical copy as an "archive" copy, in the case the store shuts down. An example would be Hades, which I bought digital, and ended up buying a switch physical copy from Limited Run Games.

I didn’t have much physical space in my last apartment, so I got used to buying as much media digitally as I could. I got used to it, and now prefer it. And now that I’ve shifted from console gaming to PC gaming, I’m pretty much all in on digital.