by Kikki » Feb 07, 2021 4:22 pm
This is often a very hot debate between devotees of physical copies and those who prefer digital. However, I don't intend this as a debate. If anyone wants to express their personal opinion by all means, go ahead. But what I really want to do here is create as definitive a list as possible of the PROS and CONS of each game format, since people often seem to ask which is better. There's no way I'm going to be able to come up with all of them myself, so if you guys think of any benefit or flaw of either format, please drop a comment about it! I don't know enough about the technical side of manufacturing or distribution of costs and so on, so I'm not going into detail on that. Also, some things are pros and cons
at the same time, which gets a bit confusing.
Of course, the answer depends a lot on your own preferences, but...long list under cut!
Spoiler:
PHYSICAL GAMES
Pro:
- You can display them/have them as a collection.
- Being able to buy the game many years later does not depend on the continued existence of an e-shop.
- They usually take up less memory space.
- You can lend them to others easily.
- You can resell them (and some games increase in value with time, though others decrease.)
- Some games have special editions with physical extras like special cases, books, CDs of soundtracks, trading cards, plushies...etc.
- You own the game and the company cannot revoke your license to play it.
- You don't need an internet connection if the game is complete on the disc/cart. (Though it very often is not, these days, with patches, updates, DLC, etc.)
- There's a small chance you will get your game early if you ordered it by mail.
- If you're patient, many physical games take a permanent decrease in price after a while.
Could go either way:
- Physical games require more manpower, since they must be manufactured and shipped, so it supports manufacturing and delivery service jobs. And retailers, too. If only digital games existed, your local game store would go out of business. (Or Walmart would no longer get a cut of your gaming money, if that's where you buy your games.)
- Because they must be physically manufactured and shipped, physical games create more pollution.
- The existence of physical games may help preserve their continued playability even after the digital versions are no longer available due to servers shutting down or etc.
Con:
- Physical games are subject to physical damage. If you sit on your CD and snap it, or if your dog chews your cartridge, or if you simply lose it, it's gone...the company won't replace your ruined game.
- Physical games can be slightly more expensive on release (or a lot more, if you bought a special edition.)
- They're not as portable (and if you take them around with you with a handheld, you stand a greater chance of losing them.)
- A physical game takes physical space, which may end up as clutter.
- Discs make continual 'reading' noises as the console uses the information stored on them.
- Physical games either have to be purchased in person, or you have to wait for them to be shipped to you, and they could be late, forcing you to wait days or even weeks beyond the release date, particularly if the game gets backordered.
- You may still have to download a lot of data to play, even without updates or patches.
- Some physical games obtain a rarity status that drives the price way up, should you decide to try to buy it years after release.
DIGITAL GAMES
Pro:
- You get your game right on release day, no waiting, no concerns about backorders or slow mail service.
- You don't have to leave home to get the game.
- Digital games go on sale fairly often during seasonal events. (Golden Week, Black Friday, etc.)
- No cartridge to damage or lose.
- No cartridge to put in and take out
- If your game data is corrupted, the game can be redownloaded.
- They are entirely portable...you can have your games with you at all times.
- No horrible 'reading' sound such as come from discs.
- Digital games tend to run faster due to being saved directly to the system rather than a cart. (I think this is marginal, though.)
Could go either way:
- No physical existence, so no manufacturing or shipping. Creates less pollution. Money that would have gone to manufacturers and so on instead goes directly to the game company. In theory.
- Your local game shop gets no support from digital games. Though if your local game shop is a big box store, maybe you consider that a positive.
Con:
- You don't own your game. It's a licensing agreement, which technically...by user agreement you have no choice but to accept to be able to buy the game...can be revoked. (Even though I've never personally had it happen, or know anyone first-hand who has.)
- You can't sell your game.
- They take up memory space on your console/memory card.
- You may not be able to lend your game (though I have lent my Switch games to my sister by putting my profile on her Switch so she can play my games...I don't know if other consoles have that feature, and it does have limits.)
- Digital games rarely see a permanent price reduction (mid-tier games seem the most likely to get permanent decreases a few years post-release, ime, rather than indies or AAA games. Some may tend to reduce the price of older games in the series, too.)
- The ability to buy and redownload digital games requires the e-shop it came from to still be operational. It generally takes so long that the console is near obsolete, but eventually the servers will shut down.
- You don't have to leave home to get the game. (Instant convenience can lead to more spending.)
- Digital games don't get special editions and pre-order bonuses tend to be very minor digital content, like getting Olive Town's buffalo costume for free instead of having to pay $2 for it.
Aaaaaaaaaand...I'm tired now, so I'm stopping, though I'm sure there's more. Help me out if you see anything I missed or that is incorrect. As can be seen from this list, what is a pro and what is a con is pretty subjective. The conveniences that matter to you, the risks that matter ... it's gonna be different for each person, so while other people can share facts, no one can ever really say which is better for YOU except you yourself. Depends on your situation!
I personally am not bothered by the licensing thing since it seems to be extremely rare that anyone would have theirs revoked (barring hackers and stuff like that) and I love not having to deal with cartridges. I never resell my games, and I'm not prone to overspending due to having games available for purchase at the push of a button. I'm very careful with my
console...even my Wii U and PS3 still look brand new...but I easily misplace the games themselves. And I don't have any local game store except Walmart, and I get very uptight when my games are late! So digital games play nicer with my kinks than physical games do.
This is often a very hot debate between devotees of physical copies and those who prefer digital. However, I don't intend this as a debate. If anyone wants to express their personal opinion by all means, go ahead. But what I really want to do here is create as definitive a list as possible of the PROS and CONS of each game format, since people often seem to ask which is better. There's no way I'm going to be able to come up with all of them myself, so if you guys think of any benefit or flaw of either format, please drop a comment about it! I don't know enough about the technical side of manufacturing or distribution of costs and so on, so I'm not going into detail on that. Also, some things are pros and cons [i]at the same time[/i], which gets a bit confusing.
Of course, the answer depends a lot on your own preferences, but...long list under cut!
[spoiler][b][u]PHYSICAL GAMES[/u][/b]
Pro:
[list][*]You can display them/have them as a collection.
[*]Being able to buy the game many years later does not depend on the continued existence of an e-shop.
[*]They usually take up less memory space.
[*]You can lend them to others easily.
[*]You can resell them (and some games increase in value with time, though others decrease.)
[*]Some games have special editions with physical extras like special cases, books, CDs of soundtracks, trading cards, plushies...etc.
[*]You own the game and the company cannot revoke your license to play it.
[*]You don't need an internet connection if the game is complete on the disc/cart. (Though it very often is not, these days, with patches, updates, DLC, etc.)
[*]There's a small chance you will get your game early if you ordered it by mail.
[*]If you're patient, many physical games take a permanent decrease in price after a while.[/list]
Could go either way:
[list][*]Physical games require more manpower, since they must be manufactured and shipped, so it supports manufacturing and delivery service jobs. And retailers, too. If only digital games existed, your local game store would go out of business. (Or Walmart would no longer get a cut of your gaming money, if that's where you buy your games.)
[*]Because they must be physically manufactured and shipped, physical games create more pollution.
[*]The existence of physical games may help preserve their continued playability even after the digital versions are no longer available due to servers shutting down or etc.[/list]
Con:
[list][*]Physical games are subject to physical damage. If you sit on your CD and snap it, or if your dog chews your cartridge, or if you simply lose it, it's gone...the company won't replace your ruined game.
[*]Physical games can be slightly more expensive on release (or a lot more, if you bought a special edition.)
[*]They're not as portable (and if you take them around with you with a handheld, you stand a greater chance of losing them.)
[*]A physical game takes physical space, which may end up as clutter.
[*]Discs make continual 'reading' noises as the console uses the information stored on them.
[*]Physical games either have to be purchased in person, or you have to wait for them to be shipped to you, and they could be late, forcing you to wait days or even weeks beyond the release date, particularly if the game gets backordered.
[*]You may still have to download a lot of data to play, even without updates or patches.
[*]Some physical games obtain a rarity status that drives the price way up, should you decide to try to buy it years after release.[/list]
[b][u]DIGITAL GAMES[/u][/b]
Pro:
[list][*]You get your game right on release day, no waiting, no concerns about backorders or slow mail service.
[*]You don't have to leave home to get the game.
[*]Digital games go on sale fairly often during seasonal events. (Golden Week, Black Friday, etc.)
[*]No cartridge to damage or lose.
[*]No cartridge to put in and take out
[*]If your game data is corrupted, the game can be redownloaded.
[*]They are entirely portable...you can have your games with you at all times.
[*]No horrible 'reading' sound such as come from discs.
[*]Digital games tend to run faster due to being saved directly to the system rather than a cart. (I think this is marginal, though.)[/list]
Could go either way:
[list][*]No physical existence, so no manufacturing or shipping. Creates less pollution. Money that would have gone to manufacturers and so on instead goes directly to the game company. In theory.
[*]Your local game shop gets no support from digital games. Though if your local game shop is a big box store, maybe you consider that a positive.[/list]
Con:
[list][*]You don't own your game. It's a licensing agreement, which technically...by user agreement you have no choice but to accept to be able to buy the game...can be revoked. (Even though I've never personally had it happen, or know anyone first-hand who has.)
[*]You can't sell your game.
[*]They take up memory space on your console/memory card.
[*]You may not be able to lend your game (though I have lent my Switch games to my sister by putting my profile on her Switch so she can play my games...I don't know if other consoles have that feature, and it does have limits.)
[*]Digital games rarely see a permanent price reduction (mid-tier games seem the most likely to get permanent decreases a few years post-release, ime, rather than indies or AAA games. Some may tend to reduce the price of older games in the series, too.)
[*]The ability to buy and redownload digital games requires the e-shop it came from to still be operational. It generally takes so long that the console is near obsolete, but eventually the servers will shut down.
[*]You don't have to leave home to get the game. (Instant convenience can lead to more spending.)
[*]Digital games don't get special editions and pre-order bonuses tend to be very minor digital content, like getting Olive Town's buffalo costume for free instead of having to pay $2 for it.[/list][/spoiler]
Aaaaaaaaaand...I'm tired now, so I'm stopping, though I'm sure there's more. Help me out if you see anything I missed or that is incorrect. As can be seen from this list, what is a pro and what is a con is pretty subjective. The conveniences that matter to you, the risks that matter ... it's gonna be different for each person, so while other people can share facts, no one can ever really say which is better for YOU except you yourself. Depends on your situation!
I personally am not bothered by the licensing thing since it seems to be extremely rare that anyone would have theirs revoked (barring hackers and stuff like that) and I love not having to deal with cartridges. I never resell my games, and I'm not prone to overspending due to having games available for purchase at the push of a button. I'm very careful with my [i]console[/i]...even my Wii U and PS3 still look brand new...but I easily misplace the games themselves. And I don't have any local game store except Walmart, and I get very uptight when my games are late! So digital games play nicer with my kinks than physical games do.