Topic: Digital or Retail?

[shingi_70]

So for current Wii U owners or guys who plan to pick up a Wii U, Playstaion 4, or Xbox One do you guys plan to go retail or digital for the bulk of your purchases.

I'm really thinking going mostly digital but I'm a bit worried about game sizes and download caps. It takes about two 2-3 hours to download Batman Arkham City which is 7.7 GBs of data.

[Oblivion]

I like to resell my games to Gamestop and ebay so I'm gonna stay with retail.

[NWR_insanolord]

I own lots of Wii U games, but not a single disc. Haven't bought a physical 3DS game in over a year. Very nearly all digital on PS3 and Vita, and don't intend to ever buy a physical game on PS4. I'm a big believer in the shiny digital future.

[azeke]

Shipping to my country is expensive and long.

Having a digital option on day one is great. Yes it's the same price or even more expensive. And for me it's still cheaper than getting this game on online retailer+plus shipping. And there are other issues like Amazon stopping selling videogames to CIS countries because of shipping troubles.

Also i don't have to wait.

That said i haven't actually bought any retail release that way yet. I might get W101, Rayman and other games that way. Or i'll just make a huge order with like ten games to save on shipping.

[Sarail]

I'm 99% in the crowd of retail purchases only. That other one percent? FFXIV: A Realm Reborn and Animal Crossing: New Leaf. Oh, and any exclusive eShop-only games.

I like having a physical collection to show off to friends when they come over, and to more easily maintain my backlog. Physical helps me with that.

[broodwars]

I go retail wherever possible, barring some absurd digital discount or PS+ Freebie. I just flat-out don't trust our so-called "Inevitable Digital Future." While I still have the option to buy physical and preserve my ability to play a game passed its developer's intended expiration time, I will.  Besides, my hard drive tends to be stuffed, anyway, w/ all the digital games I download and the install data for my disc-based games.

[Pixelated Pixies]

If given the choice I will invariably buy a physical copy (there are some exceptions like Animal Crossing where the benefits of owning a digital version outweigh the drawbacks). I like to lend and share my games, which I can't of couse do with digital versions.
 
I also trade games in all the time to fund new purchases. So for me, the fallout from E3 (i.e. Sony's stance on physical games, and Microsoft's subsequent reversal of their own policies) has all been been very much welcome.

[Kytim89]

I would be a purely digital purchaser if I could get the games cheaper than retail. This is why I am looking forward to Steam style discounts and sales on the eShop.

[Shaymin]

Largely retail because it works out financially for me. Once the deals end, I'll re-evaluate.

[Adrock]

I prefer buying retail and will continue to do so even if I can get a game cheaper digitally. I only buy digital if a game isn't available at retail. I'm not opposed to a digital future (so long as my purchases are protected). I'm old-school in that I like having the boxes and physical media. I don't think I've thrown out a game box since N64 and even then, towards the middle/end, I kept them.

[Caterkiller]

Digital for me.

I just can't stand switching out discs and cartridges all the time. Though Pokemon is a game I think I will need to buy physical. When I had to transfer my data to a me DS I lost all my data from a few games. But I think I am exception rather than the rule, I'm just bad at things. Still I can't take that chance with Pokemon, I would be devastated if I lost my 10 years worth of monsters.

[Drizzt]

Retail, I like actually owning physical copies of my games. It's good for my gaming collection, uses less memory, and allows me to lend and sell games.

[magicpixie]

I'm still a retail guy at heart.  I still buy CDs and LPs online even.  I purchased The Last of Us via Amazon, partly because I didn't want to download 25+GBs when I'm capped at 75(though, that isn't so much of an issue considering I exceed that limit pretty much every month).  I also don't have room on my PS3 HDD, and don't really feel like expanding that.

And I'm no stranger to digital; my Steam library is full of games I'll never play.  As it is, there aren't really enough incentives on the consoles to justify going digital only right now.  The deal that Nintendo has for the premium Wii U owners was a nice start.  I'd still like to see more, like early access to the game if you buy digital, since undercutting retailers is a stretch.

[nickmitch]

It's mixed for me. Some games I prefer to have on my 3DS at all times (like Brain Age and Animal Crossing) whereas other games I actually prefer the cart, especially if I can get them cheaply. Honestly, I think a lot of Nintendo games end up being like that: Mario Kart I would want digitally, and NSMB2 worked better (for me) as a download. I more frequently by physical when given the option since I usually buy games when I see a deal, and those happen more often at retail.

Admittedly, I don't often buy digital only titles unless they're universally well liked.

[MukiDA]

Single-player heavy? (RPGs, adventure) Buy a disc. Nice to have, can lend it out after completion.
Multi-player heavy? (Fighting) Digital all the way. It'll always be on-hand in my system without having to swap my cartridge-of-the-month out.

[ShyGuy]

Retail if available. I do digital on PC, but it is an open platform.

[lolmonade]

I mainly choose retail unless there is a clear advantage to purchasing the digital copy, like a heavy sale price like Steam has, or if there's a great benefit to purchasing digital.  I've found having a digital copy of Animal Crossing: New Leaf is really nice because I don't have to bother with swapping out a cartridge for something I spend about an hour a night between doing other things.

[Do_What]

Retail prices drop faster. I got ACIII for $20 from gamestop and it's still $40 on the eshop. So that's my answer. Whatever is cheaper.

[Ian Sane]

I only go with digital if it is the only way to buy the game and even then stuff like DRM will affect my decision.

To me physical media is the only way to truly buy it.  Otherwise it's effectively a longterm rental.  I had a couple rainy days recently and spent them playing Super Nintendo.  20 years from now do you think you'll be able to play your old games as easily?  Of course for many people videogames are disposable entertainment.  If you don't care about playing a game years later then none of my concerns would matter.

I see a lot of the value of digitial downloads on a handheld as it is a pain to bring a bunch of physical games with you on the go, but the convenience of not having to switch discs on a stay-at-home console seems so insignificantly minor I don't understand why it would be worth the tradeoff of legitimate ownership.

[AnGer]

As long as the companies offering digital distribution consider it a "service" rather than an actual form of "ownership", I'll prefer retail over digital. That being said, I am okay with buying digitally distributed games, but not fully priced titles that are also available through retail, since – like Do_What said – prices tend to drop really fast in retail (with the exception of most of Nintendo's in-house games) whereas digitally distributed games are pretty constant in their pricing and they even start off at the same price point as the retail version.

Concerning Nintendo, I'd even go so far as to say that I will not drop a large amount of money on their DDL stuff unless they manage to fix their ridiculous account system.

[shingi_70]

I still haven't made up my mind, but I know for Handhelds with the expection of the few gamecards I hae I'm going all digital.

[RABicle]

Anyone who doesn't exclusively buy digital games is worse than the bad guys on Captain Planet due to their irresponsible environmental destruction through pursuit of shitty plastic and cardboard. I've even gone so far as to transfer my physical Mario Kart 7 save to my digital copy and donate my old physical copy to starving orphans*.

*traded into EB

[smallsharkbigbite]

 Reggie will love you if you buy all digital. Since I'm aleady married, I buy physical copies. Everything else has already been covered on this topic.

[BrandonCHFG]

I like having the option to recoup some money by reselling the disk after I'm done, so I tend to buy retail for WiiU and 3DS.  However, I'm throuroughly entrenched in Steam and virtual console, so if I can get a good deal, or if I KNOW it's a title I'll want to come back to often, I'm okay with digital.


I can also see where digital would be good for a game like Animal Crossing, where you'll want to play it alongside other games and not have to change the cartridge.

[RABicle]

Just think of how much glorious space you would have in your houses if you didn't have to cover every wall with shelves holding every game, cd, movie and book you own.