Digital Game Download vs Physical Game Disc

CryptoGuru Level X³

August 3, 2016, 9:10 pm

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So alright I have mentioned before In a post that i was in to gaming and I enjoy playing my xbox all the time with that being said so I was having a chat with my buddy about what's better buying the hard copy of a game or downloading it directly to the system from the online store. Now while my preference is buying the hard copy, my buddy mentioned the benefits of downloading such as not having to worry about games getting damaged and faster load times etc. I had some points myself to make about hard copy such as it saving space by not having to download it during installation. And, being able to trade in at Gamestop over time etc, I want to know if anyone has opinions on preferred buys hard copy or digital and why?

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Beverly

As I'm mostly into Steam games, the digital game download is my only option. At this point, that's all that's being offered. Find your game, pay for it, download it on one or multiple machines. The game lives in the cloud and goes with you, on your account where-ever you go. I've always liked digital downloads. Especially since my daughter was younger and used her Reader Rabbit Reading discs for stacking and sliding across the stone tile floor. :/
That really scratched them up bad. Since then, we've mostly used online games, and downloadable games. Some years back, it was hard downloading games from any source, so discs were an option then. But now that my internet speed is actually good, it's not a real problem.

10 years ago

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TommyCarey

Both downloading and getting a hard copy have their pros and cons. I'll try to cover it as well as I can since I'm also an avid gamer

Downloading the game

Pros:

You don't have to worry about damaging the game since it's a digital download and not a disc.
You will have quicker load times if you have a download compared to a disc. It's not much of an increase in load times, but it's still slightly quicker.
If you resell your console you can get a higher price for it since you have multiple games downloaded to it.
You will save space on your entertainment stand because you don't have all the cases the games come in. And let's be real, we all save the cases and they take up a good amount of space

Cons:

Downloads can get corrupted, even on Xbox/Playstation. You can re-download the game, but you will lose a lot of progress if the data is saved on your system and not the games servers.
If you sell your console to gamestop or a private buyer, you may not get the price you want. Just because you have the games downloaded, doesn't always mean you'll get $100 or $200 more than sticker price. People will most likely not want all of your games and avoid your offer because it's too much.
Depending on what type of games you like to play, they could take up a lot of space on your systems hard drive.

Buying a Physical Copy of the Disk

Pros:

You don't have to download the game and take up precious hard drive space. Yes, it's precious lol
You can let a friend borrow the game if you're a nice person. You can't do that with a download.
You can sell your games individually to places like gamestop even though they'll give you around $8 for a brand new game which is in high demand.
Your game is like a trophy to show friends when they come over lol.

Cons:

You can scratch the disk, which really sucks. Coming back from this is almost impossible since you can't just bring it in and swap it out. You can re-download it if you bought the digital version.
You can lose the disk and never be able to play the game unless you buy a new copy, which I've had to do.
You do use up hard drive space, even with a physical copy of the game. You won't use as much, but the game does need to load up every time you play. If the game is 50mb then you'll probably use something close to that while you're playing.

In the end it's really up to you. I prefer getting the physical copy just in case anyone wants to borrow it and test out the game before they buy it. Sure they could go rent the game for a few days, but if they can just borrow it from me it will save them a few bucks

I know people that swear by the digital download and people who will never buy a downloadable game because they prefer having the game in their hand. So it's really up to the person if they want the digital download or the physical copy since they both have pros and cons that make them equal

Both downloading and getting a hard copy have their pros and cons. I'll try to cover it as well as I can since I'm also an avid gamer :D [size=200][b]Downloading the game[/b][/size] [size=140][u][b]Pros:[/b][/u][/size] [list][*]You don't have to worry about damaging the game since it's a digital download and not a disc.[/*][*]You will have quicker load times if you have a download compared to a disc. It's not much of an increase in load times, but it's still slightly quicker.[/*][*]If you resell your console you can get a higher price for it since you have multiple games downloaded to it.[/*][*]You will save space on your entertainment stand because you don't have all the cases the games come in. And let's be real, we all save the cases and they take up a good amount of space :D[/*][/list] [size=140][u][b]Cons:[/b][/u][/size] [list][*]Downloads can get corrupted, even on Xbox/Playstation. You can re-download the game, but you will lose a lot of progress if the data is saved on your system and not the games servers.[/*][*]If you sell your console to gamestop or a private buyer, you may not get the price you want. Just because you have the games downloaded, doesn't always mean you'll get $100 or $200 more than sticker price. People will most likely not want all of your games and avoid your offer because it's too much.[/*][*]Depending on what type of games you like to play, they could take up a lot of space on your systems hard drive.[/*][/list] [size=200][b]Buying a Physical Copy of the Disk[/b][/size] [size=140][u][b]Pros:[/b][/u][/size] [list][*]You don't have to download the game and take up precious hard drive space. Yes, it's precious lol[/*][*]You can let a friend borrow the game if you're a nice person. You can't do that with a download.[/*][*]You can sell your games individually to places like gamestop even though they'll give you around $8 for a brand new game which is in high demand.[/*][*]Your game is like a trophy to show friends when they come over lol.[/*][/list] [size=140][b][u]Cons:[/u][/b][/size] [list][*]You can scratch the disk, which really sucks. Coming back from this is almost impossible since you can't just bring it in and swap it out. You can re-download it if you bought the digital version.[/*][*]You can lose the disk and never be able to play the game unless you buy a new copy, which I've had to do.[/*][*]You do use up hard drive space, even with a physical copy of the game. You won't use as much, but the game does need to load up every time you play. If the game is 50mb then you'll probably use something close to that while you're playing.[/*][/list] In the end it's really up to you. I prefer getting the physical copy just in case anyone wants to borrow it and test out the game before they buy it. Sure they could go rent the game for a few days, but if they can just borrow it from me it will save them a few bucks :) I know people that swear by the digital download and people who will never buy a downloadable game because they prefer having the game in their hand. So it's really up to the person if they want the digital download or the physical copy since they both have pros and cons that make them equal :)

10 years ago

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ajlancer

Hi jkeyz2 thanks for your question. Firstly I would like to say I am not used to play any game nowadays, Because, I have not much time to spend with game. But, I am still fan of any racing game. When I was a student, I played many games by purchasing disk from computer market. And in that time only this is way to playing game by purchasing physical disk. Because that time internet was not easy reachable in our country. I could say one experience, I have no any physical disk available at now. I mean all have lost. So, this may cause of avoiding disk game. But, for digital game or download game, should not getting same problem. And disk space concern may be disk game is better rather than download. So, I think both has pros and cons.

Regards by Ajlancer

10 years ago

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Cristian

I haven't used a CD or DVD in years now. So I guess I'll take the downloading option. Disks will become absolute in a couple of years. Most of the new laptops today don't even have a CD/DVD drive.

10 years ago

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Everett

I would much rather download a game than to buy a physical disc copy. However, since more things are moving towards digital platforms, as Hasa1015 stated, this could mean less jobs for those that work at physical gaming stores.

10 years ago

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Corzhens

I am not a gamer but I had seen the games of my nephew in his bedroom. It is the physical game disk for him because he said it is a collection that someday may fetch a good price in the antique shop. I don’t know if he was joking but maybe he is sentimental that he wanted to have a sort of ownership. With a downloaded game you cannot feel any kind of ownership for it is just like the streaming movies.

8 years ago

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Seoclerks

Digital Game Download vs Physical Game Disc

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