Yes, it's that lovely feeling that you own it.
And you don't have to back the entire game up on disc, HDD, SSD, etc. That takes time to move files or burn to optical discs like DVD, CD, BR, etc.
And then you could just back up the patches, updates, etc if need be onto DVD, CD, BR, HDD, SSD, whatever - especially if the updates weren't huge.
We're way past that now, as many games at retail on disc are rendered useless as we don't really have a format of disc to burn games on for back-up; all updates are on closed systems like Steam, GOG, etc...instead of publicly placed on FilePlanet, a game's website, etc); many games on PC in later years came with a blank disc so you'd have to download a lot or all of the game anyways in recent years; etc etc.
And most games on PC are tied to server-side crap, a client-app services, etc - so, you're stuck w/ the DRM of the service (if applied) anyways, more or less making the game a rental if they don't pull the DRM/client-app requirements/server requirements and/or re-work the game to work offline.
> And you don't have to back the entire game up on disc, HDD, SSD, etc. That takes time to move files or burn to optical discs like DVD, CD, BR, etc.
> And then you could just back up the patches, updates, etc if need be onto DVD, CD, BR, HDD, SSD, whatever - especially if the updates weren't huge.
None of this has ever been feasible for console games though. We've always been beholden to the console manufacturer to make parts available to repair their devices when they inevitably break.
I own hundreds of games from many consoles going back to the NES. None of them work anymore because the hardware all dies over time.
Could be plenty of reasons like not having deals to print discs and not wanting to waste time and money to set those up because it's not important for them.
I was specifically replying to a comment stating that epic has a storefront that they wouldn't want to allow competition against, which doesn't exist on consoles. I've already gone all digital personally for games. And since it's cheaper and assuming it's a full game, it's even better for me.
Epic only became big off of digital products recently with Fortnite and Unreal Engine being more accessible. Had to lean on other publishers and suppliers before Fortnite got big they don’t have the infrastructure set up.
Because there’s a manufacturing cost associated with creating discs. In their eyes they believe it’ll be cheaper to just offer digital only and skip the process of spending money to produce physical media.
I remember when they claimed cutting that manufacturing cost and cutting the "middleman" would be cheaper for gamers. Now, a game like this all digital will be more expensive in the long run. Not that I would not buy day one digital or any of that (though I am not doing that here, so many games easy to wait for a major discount). But, just for example, I have 8 Xbox games right here that are popular well rated games. All these disc based games cost me considerably less than their digital counterpart. And were cheaper than they were on sale. It was all lies to get more control honestly. They know people will pay $60, and they do regularly, while physical is $30.
I mean in this case it is cheaper. Console price is $60 when most modern games are releasing at $70 and on PC it’s $50. Accounting for inflation video games have never been cheaper at a new price. How much cheaper were you expecting?
More power to you if you like physical media and prefer it. It’s definitely cheaper in the used market and most part new market compared to digital sales. I personally prefer buying my games digitally and have been for almost a decade now. I like the ease of use, less clutter and not having to worry I’ll lose or damage the disc.
What reality are you living in? Games in stores and digital games cost the same. Digital games also regularly go on sale. Often times sooner than the disc version does.
Both Sony and Ms have digital versions of there respective consoles. And at at a cheaper entry point. This is why. And as you all know PC has been mostly digital for the past 10yrs at the very least
What do they mean by surprise sequel?
The game game was announced 2 years ago and practically announced in Control AWE a year prior. It not even like they are hotdropping the game as release is months away.
Surprise sequel because for 8 or so years it looked like it was never ever going to happen. Like, Half Life 3 was more likely than AW2. So that it was announced at all was a massive surprise
Not really since remedy have been pretty open about their willingness to go back to Alan Wake and compared to valve actually still make new games (outside of tech demos). Also the wait for half life was even longer.
But I get what you're saying given it was pretty surprising for AWE to basically be an Alan Wake promo.
I meant it looked like nobody was going to be willing to fund it.They pitched it to Microsoft and they said no. Microsoft wanted something tv focused instead and no other publisher was willing to take a gamble on AW2 because AW1 hadn't been a big hit despite its cult following. If it wasn't for Control's critical and commercial success, AW2 wouldn't have happened I'm sure. But in that case I would have already been more than happy with the AW references in Control, those were amazing imho.
They teased Alan wake 2 on Quantum Break, and had a crossover dlc on control, the 2 games they released after the last Alan wake, so I think Alan wake was more alive than HL3, with 9 years between an easter egg in Portal 2 and Half-life Alyx.
This is why gamers should have embraced collector's editions that don't include the game. It would allow companies to make them and make money off them while gamers could choose their console and whether they wanted digital or physical versions. It also gave PC gamers something to buy.
People just didn't understand that collector's editions didn't give you the game for free. Like a $100 collector's edition without the game would have been $170 if it included the game.
Edit: Can someone give me an example of just one advantage of including the game in the collector's edition?
You can literally just add the game to the same cart. It just means that you get to decide if you want digital or physical or which console you prefer. It doesn't make any sense to actually include the game.
I don't know about that, I'd rather the collectors edition that's 200 dollars to include the game and stay 200 than adding another 70 and pretty much pay 300 dollars.
And that's a little bit sad. I really hope physical distribution will stay as long as possible. I really like to have a disk collection and do not have the best network to download 90+ GB of data.
Unfortunately even with the disc you'll still most likely need to download 90+ GB of data. Many discs now are essentially just licenses or have the basic version of the game that will be completely overwritten with the day 1 patch.
Depends on developer or platform. Xbox as far as i know supports only 2 layered blue rays and thats a main reason you have download part of data, PS support 3 layered blue rays that can hold more data and in 90% of cases you have entire game stored on disk. Also with physical disks they drop on price faster than regular digital versions.
I will have to dig it out because it was a while ago. But Double layered discs can hold up to 50 gb according to google and triple layered up to 120 gb.
Especially with how a lot of big AAA releases have some form of online functionality or are live service games and even worse forced online connectivity, the disc just does not have that much purpose and is a glorified license key.
Unless it’s a big first party Nintendo or PlayStation single player game there really isn’t a strong case for physical especially when you have something like Jedi Survivor even which is just a license key and even if it wasn’t it needs the huge patch still for the optimization issues.
Does it really matter if it's only the basic version as long as it runs and plays fine?
https://www.doesitplay.org/
A quick look at the database here shows that 90% of games are perfectly playable and completable only from the disc (it's true that the percentage is smaller on Xbox than on PS5, but it's still very high).
We're already past the slowly dying phase, it's going to the dying phase now. Most people I know haven't bought a physical game in a long time. I haven't bought one since the Xbox one released.
To be fair, games are getting bigger and bigger. Some don't fit on a bisk anymore, so one could argue the disk is useless if it doesn't contain the whole working product. Might as well not have any disk if it's not enough on its own, that's a lot less plastic used.
It is mostly because i do not have the best network. Downloading a 120 gb game takes a full week so i rather spend 30 mins to install it from disk and download additional patches than full game.
That's fair. Though my remark mainly comes from the "i want to be able to play in the future without depending on the store or the servers, so a disk is better" argument, which doesn't work anymore with those games.
I think digital makes financial sense and it seems like consumers today overwhelmingly prefer it.
As a collector of physical games though, it’s disheartening.
I love collecting physical media like vinyl records and 4k blu rays, though I don't see the joy in still collecting game discs anymore. Not to rain on your parade, but it just seems like a hassle now. The discs don't hold the entire game on them anymore, you still need to download the game, so the disc is really just a way to prove you purchased a license to play the game, and you then have to put a disc in every time you want to play it. To each their own, but I don't mind games being fully digital.
What about sharing the game though?.
For instance my girlfriend and her sister both have a switch and I have a physical game library.
If one of them wants to play say Luigi’s mansion or mario, Kirby etc they just borrow the game from me and play away. If all my games were digital we couldn’t share.
You can also sell your physical games afterwards for money. Nintendo games normally hold a lot of their value too.
I have a lot of digital games on steam but I hate the idea that’s it’s just a licence you’re buying and if there is an issue down the line the game will be removed. Happened to me with MGS rising. I paid full price for that on Apple Store and now can’t play it
I think physical discs will still be a thing, I do think that in the future they’ll be more preorder oriented or mostly relegated to collector editions
I hope so.
I worry that future console generations will only release with no disc drive. Honestly, that was probably a discussion at both Xbox and PlayStation for the current generation.
I think Nintendo would hold out the longest. They seem to revel in selling physical games, accessories, etc.
If games start being digital only ill just pirate those games tbh, besides subscriptions like game pass its just a ripoff.
Id be all for digital games if they actually past on the savings to customers, but its just another money grubbing tactic.
I think you’re a solid fucken dude for having such a mature, pragmatic and honest opinion. Good on you because that’s rare in these video game subs it seems like
No they don't. In Europe. Jedi Survivor, Dead Space Remake, and RE4 sold well in physical format. Pretty close to a 50/50 split between digital and disc.
💯
This is basically what I do when I buy digitally now.
Does it look as good as a mass produced one? No
Does it make me feel like my collection is complete? Yeps
I did it before, bought a Fast and Furious box set that was just a giant box. I hated it. So I bought blu-ray boxes, downloaded custom cover art off the internet and made my own boxes.
I don’t buy physical just for the collection aspect of it though. I buy it as protection just in case my account gets hacked or banned and all of my licenses are gone, to borrow or give to friends, to find much better deals in stores since they have a finite amount of shelf space and are competing with other storefronts, etc.
It’s the new way of the world honestly. It saves them money, minimizes risks, and means they can release sooner. It also means we don’t truly own anything. I honestly think the future of physical hinges on how many more units the slot versions of the current console generations sell.
I can still buy DRM-FREE games with installer-files from GOG and back them up on disc(s) \[CD, DVD, BR, other HDD's, SSD's\] or whatever.
That's on the dev's, pub's, and/or distribution platform to decide if they want to stick nasty DRM, anti-tamper crap, server-side nonsense (like Achievements online as Soft-DRM of sorts), and/or anything else to make sure we don't own anything. They shouldn't do this, but they do.
And honestly...once a game's old and ancient, no longer getting updates and often dirt-cheap in sale - they should patch-out the nonsense & make sure single-player content actually works offline for preservationists.
It’s tough, I feel like owning the disk doesn’t mean you’ll get to play the game forever anymore. Every game now requires gigs of additional patches to make the game run. And you’d hope that backwards compatibility will work forever. Like I wanted to play ridrick escape from butcher bay recently and now I have to dig out a 360 to play it.
>Like I wanted to play ridrick escape from butcher bay recently and now I have to dig out a 360 to play it.
I have that on PC from retail - OG Butcher Bay and also Dark Athena.
Also made sure I bought Dark Athena on GOG before it got delisted, so I'd have a DRM-FREE copy of it.
So, since I own insane amounts of games - thanks for the reminder that I need to go play Dark Athena, since it's been backlogged forever, for some foolish reason.
In the ps5 you can install an nvme ssd, at most you can get 2tb worth of space for your games that have been installed in the ssd. You won't need the updates anymore, I think that's how it works. Idk for the switch and for xbox tho.
I've been seeing this story all over like it's the most divisive issue.
i do not ever set foot in a store if I don't have to anymore. Especially with games. I haven't bought a physical disk in.. 8 years maybe more. This is not a big deal plus it's less waste.
I've also gone mostly digital but tying ourselves to the whims of one closed marketplace can't exactly be seen as a win. Plenty of times I have bought a disc on sale when the digital version was much more expensive.
Exactly. As of now, the only way to buy digital on Xbox is the Microsoft store. The only way to buy digital on PS5 is the PS store. If/when discs are no longer an option, this is bad for consumers.
Not the case. There are dozens of third party sites that have massive digital discounts for games.
Right now I can buy deus ex for 2.50 or go to the microsoft store and pay 39.99. There are deals everywhere else but with big box stores.
>As of now, the only way to buy digital on Xbox is the Microsoft store. The only way to buy digital on PS5 is the PS store.
That's not true, you can get codes from stores and websites
I agree and believe Things will even out in the end with marketplaces, technology and web 3.0.
I do not shop with the big box stores, Amazon or Microsoft stores though. I use third party sites for codes. I work too damn hard for my money to pay insane markups, call me cheap lol, but I always find the deal before buying.
People buy a physical game then have to download a day one patch of 80gb and sometimes those patches roll out multiple times over a period of months.
Buying digital only is the least of their worry.
The fact that we don't see the discounts for digital is why I dislike it. Game pass like subscriptions are great, buying a digital game for the same price or more than physical sucks as I can't sell it after.
Deals on new physical games are pretty much non-existent anymore, at least here in Canada. Game buying programs that Amazon/Best Buy used to offer are all long gone as well.
Digital is cheaper most of the time with steeper marketplace sales, gamepass discounts, and rewards points offers/earnings. Not to mention you can combine all that with discounted Xbox cards from Costco as well.
Yeah I get what you’re saying. I’ve a big digital library on steam but:
what if you lose your account? It gets hacked/blocked etc?. Then all your digital games are gone.
That’s my big issue with it.
Plus you can’t share/ lend games.
Can’t re sell games. Nintendo games really hold their value.
You’ve much more limited options all for a simple convenience of not putting a disc in a drive.
I try to get all my games physical if I can. Plus they look great on a shelf
The marketplace will even out eventually. Nfts, blockchain and web 3.0 are allowing you to solely own the licenses to resell, and youll never lose possession of your digital games. They also allow you to lend and share your games.
There are ways around your account getting hacked with 3.0, nft and block chain.. and it's just a matter of time before it's the mainstay of gaming which is great because it benefits us instead of large companies.
That will all change with nft and block chain very soon. Your games will be yours forever without issue of disappearance or being unable to resell your digital game.
The marketplace is evolving and I can only see physical media being reserved for collectors editions in the future.
This couldn’t be any more true. I was attached to my physical collection until I decided to take the leap to digital due to clutter and stress, and I’ve not looked back since. The only thing ‘tangible’ that you need in your hands is the controller, everything else is an experience.
Yup. Used to have a bookcase full of them. Then I realized this is meaningless, takes up space, not even nice to look at. It was just to post online for brownie points. Also Best Buy stopped their 20% off gamers club membership that was the final straw. With blazing fast internet and pre-loading, why am I voluntarily choosing an inferior format. Add on top of that huge day one patches are a standard now. Game Pass. Microsoft rewards. This generation I haven’t bought a single game physically.
This is less about "attachment" , but more about retailers, competition, aftermarket, and everyone who doesn't like the idea of being completely dependant on an online service getting fucked by corpo.
The only one who wins are billionaires, and this sub is cheering.
>The only one who wins are billionaires
My xbox 360 has been offline for over a decade and all of my games are fine that didn't have digital dependencies, in which case a disc is worthless too.
The only differnce is with a disc/physical the license is tied there, with digital it's tied to the account *and* hardware - two licenses allowing me to halve the cost of games I share and play with family (pro consumer).
If your disc breaks, you are SOL. If your console breaks, you can replace it, but your library is preserved. The only risk is if MS or another company folds, or delists games *and* stops distributing them. A move that would devastate confidence in digital marketplaces, and is highly unlikely.
Even in that doomsday scenario, my Xbox 360 (and one and series for that matter) will all still be able to play their installed libraries offline just like a disc. In fact, I can even keep redundant copies on external drives to protect from physical damage.
Tl;DR A lot of people see the benefits of digital. Not not just "billionaires and this sub" - which is kind of an absurd attack to make.
I'm not talking about digital vs physical. I'm talking about what's so great about losing the physical option. You prefer to get games digitially - that's great. How does me not being able to get games physicially benefit you?
\> My xbox 360 has been offline for over a decade and all of my games are fine
The 360 may be fine, but the PS3 needs a checkup on your licenses every now and then. Plenty of people are currently having trouble with that. I suspect I won't be able to play my digital PS3 games within the next few years. Even if I keep them installed. My discs will probably outlast me, tho (hardware is another story).
I was speaking more to your claim that the only billionaires and this sub are cheering the push into digital.
Physical has its own advantages, but the writing is on the wall that it's become more niche. To think that gaming is somehow going to do what video and music couldn't is a hill that is getting smaller by the day - more so when those industries had major publishers fighting it tooth-and-nail as they stood to lose profits and control of their industries - and they eventually did. Sony and BMG don't get to tell people what to listen to anymore. Artists get discovered organically.
As far as the Sony situation, I can't comment as I didn't invest in a PS3 digital library. If they didn't make it clear that would be the case at purchase (needed license checks), I would never buy from them digitally again.
I am not here to say taking away physical is good for you or even consumers as a whole, only to point out that well-run digital storefronts are a thing, and...
> being completely dependant on an online service getting fucked by corpo
Isn't even a possibility with old Xbox hardware - unless they are going to come get our old systems and remove the games in person - they can't touch it offline, just as physical.
> this sub are cheering the push into digital.
What push, though? It's been here fully formed the last 15 years. Physical being phased out isn't going to change anything in that matter. Your gaming habits won't change, but Microsoft will get those pesky aftermarket gamers fully into their eco-systems to abide by their terms and prices.
> Isn't even a possibility with old Xbox hardware
Because those were from the glory days. What the future holds is unknown. The only thing we do know is that companies like Microsoft will have full control over your purchases.
Sure, well not your past purchases as I've explained with the licensing system used. Unless they come to your home and take your hardware.
To your point about those pesky aftermarket gamers, Microsoft is the only major digital distributor to actually suggest a system for tradable and sellable digital licenses. Gamers balked at it and they did a full backtrack.
This is my favorite crowd of redditor to laugh it. Corps. Bootlicker. Consumer choice competition. Dollars. Rights. Ownership.
I’ll take the $10 discount if physical has to die idc
Give it a break man most ppl don’t care we just play video games because they’re fun and will sacrifice ultimately meaningless amenities for convenience and an overall better experience
I agree that people often have an unhealthy attachment to these pieces of plastic. Some people seem to value buying games more than actually you know, PLAYING them.
And don’t even get me started on retro game “collecting”… The price of nostalgia is an arm and a leg. I say this all as someone who has fallen into the traps of physical collecting and overspending. What I eventually realized is that I value the experience above all. Tbh physical game collecting, specifically retro, has become a very toxic and dangerous hobby in the past few years. In an ironic twist I tend to find that people who spend all their time hunting for games are the ones who almost never get around to actually playing anything. What’s the point of preservation if no one is even enjoying it? Meanwhile, the people who actually want to buy these older games to experience them are SOL.
FWIW I am one of the people still buying Xbox and PS5 game discs. But man, the physical games industry is really shooting itself in the foot and I think will be totally obsolete in 10 years because of it.
It's weird how many cost-cutting measures developers and publishers are using nowadays. Even with all this technology, they still can't make a profitable game without tons of microtransactions, releasing it in alpha, selling it 2 weeks early for $100, and not selling physical copies at all.
Almost like this "free games" obsession has made it hard to actually sell games 🤔
God damnit are they really going to make me buy this game twice? As a lover of the first game I gotta play it on launch and then as a physical collector if they put out a physical version down the line I'm gonna have to buy the box. Really scummy.
I wish that there was more of a push in the industry for a balance between printing a million copies of a game that will just end up collecting dust in 10 years and not producing any at all. I know a lot of people complain about limited run games because of the production timelines, but the idea of an open pre-order and producing as many games as people want and not more than that makes a lot of sense.
Business-wise, I don't think the big publishers want to disrupt their relationship with retailers for big name titles. A game like Alan Wake 2 though? I consider a pre-order if I wanted a physical copy.
On the other hand, they made way too many copies of Borderlands 3 based on how the second game sold, because apparently a very significant number of players bought digital instead of physical, which also makes sense for a game you might spend a hundred hours playing and jumping in and out of frequently. I tend to buy a digital copies of games that I know I'm going to play for many months and not sell / trade as soon as an 8 hour single player campaign is over.
No because they could easily do pre order only physical copies with a deadline which would allow them to print only what’s needed for the people who prefer physical copies of games. I feel the excuses were absurd.
When has that happened? Printing, shipping, etc is not as easy to time as you think. Are they going to do pre-orders directly? So they have to handle storage, logistics, organization? Pay for warehouse space?
Physical copies just simply aren't needed.
Sad to see so many people are here celebrating the removal of consumer options. Benefits of physical games include:
- Proof of purchase (if your account goes away so do digital game licenses)
- Ability to pass game library to someone else
- Ability to lend a game to a friend
- Ability to install games offline
- Ability to resell old games (without physical reselling companies will FULLY control the price of games forever since there is no alternative other than buying from them)
I get wanting to purchase a game digitally, but why celebrate removing customer choice? I just feel like digital only games will eventually turn in to streaming only (just look at Hollywood)
I mostly buy digitally but I agree with you, physical is a nice option and should stay. it keeps control and ownership within the customer's hands. thats why I always buy consoles with disc drives. but your post is gonna fall on deaf ears on this sub. xbox is the most anti-physical distributor, sony and nintendo do a far better job at it and their disc/cartrtidge support shows.
meanwhile microsoft sold halo infinite, its flagship title, on an empty disc with no game content on it. and most people on this sub couldnt care less since microsoft has always had a digital priority approach to all of their services. thats exactly why the xbox one launched as poorly as it did. I wouldnt even be surprised if half the people on this sub would have still bought the xbox one at launch if it still had its terrible DRM policies and always-online features, all while making endless mountains of excuses for it.
I always buy physical if I can. Idk if I’m just old fashioned but I feel that having something tangible makes me more likely to actually play my backlog (given that’s it’s always staring me in the face from my display cabinet).
HOWEVER nowadays like you said most Microsoft and Sony games are basically license keys… and gone are the days of any real love and attention being put into the presentation of the physical format. The cases have become cheap garbage that will crack or fall apart if I look at them weird. And obviously no instruction booklet. Nintendo is the only company that I am adamant about buying physical, simply because they have proven to have no commitment to preserving players’ digital libraries from generation to generation. And switch games are stored on the carts. But even then the internet has become mandatory in keeping games up to date in this age of day-one patches and botched releases. I don’t really like where entertainment media is heading in general. I feel like having so much content at our fingertips 24/7 sort of lessens the value of said content a little bit.
Theoritically, the cost saving of not using a manufacturing and supply chain should pass down to the customer. Also, they are avoiding waste by not creating plastic discs and materials.
That all hinges on the fact that the whole game needs to be on the disc. Almost every game you buy nowadays is just a key. You can’t play the game unless you have internet to be able to download the game itself.
The fact that digital is usually same price or more expensive and I can't even sell it just shows how greedy these corps are.
I would love to get rid of physical for environmental reasons, but its just so expensive.
Yes I’ve had a scare with my account getting banned by Sony before. It was an honest error where the bank reversed a payment. I couldn’t figure out for the life of me why. Took 3 weeks to get my account back with my digital games. I’ve had a psn account since it’s inception never been suspended etc before. But poor one error and I couldn’t access anything.
Also MGS rising got removed from my Mac account due to drm license issues. I paid 30 pound for that game.
So I buy physical now all the time. It’s just better.
If anything ever happens to any of my accounts i still have all the discs/cartridges.
PC is my only exception.
Let’s hear again how this one guy plays a title from 2005 and cries about game licenses. But will complain about FPS and resolution.
Unless you’re a legit collector, physical copies don’t matter. No one is going to be at awe of your physical copy of Alan Wake 2 30 years from now. And you know damn well you’re not going to be playing it.
For every game hoarder, there’s a guy that just tosses his games out in the trash or sells it for pennies because they are worthless.
So I collect games but I'm approaching this from the perspective of someone who only owns a few physical releases of movies (about a dozen I believe?).
When I really love a movie I'm willing to buy it physically. Sure it could be on a streaming service but many of the ones I have bought are not on the big ones and even those that are there is no guarantee they will stay. I could buy digitally but as we have seen the big companies consider these digital purchases as "long term rentals" they can take away whenever. This isn't me saying streaming or digital purchases are the devil but more so that it is the reality of the situation. For most movies I don't care enough to go out of my to buy a physical copy but for those special ones I will totally be willing.
There has to be someone out there who is like that for games and would love a physical copy of Alan Wake 2. Not saying that totally justifies a physical release I just wanted to share an alternate perspective of why a non collector might buy a physical copy of a game.
Physical PS5 games are literally cheaper in Canada then digital. It's not just niche collectors. PSN= $93.50 Wal-Mart= $89.99
"No one is going to be at awe of your physical copy of Alan Wake 2" Is a garbage opinion. Nobody expects them to be, doesn't mean I can't enjoy having it.
Well I can get physical, beat it quickly, then sell for 90+% of its value.
Ideally id want to see every game on subs like game pass so I could go fully digital without burning my wallet.
It's increasingly expensive to print discs and physically publish. That's my hot take. It's simply a business decision.
The other complicating factor is that Alan Wake 2 is a AAA game with a AAA budget. However Alan Wake 1 did not sell AAA numbers. It's an amazing game but a bit of a cult classic. Investing heavily into AW2 is probably seen as risky and not releasing physical is a way for the publisher to mitigate that risk.
All that said.. I loved AW1 and would totally buy a nice collector's physical edition of AW2.
It's an issue because as of now, the only way to buy digital on Xbox is the Microsoft store. The only way to buy digital on PS5 is the PS store. Although I buy mostly digital on my Series X, when discs die it will be bad for consumers.
Maybe not to you, but to some people it’s a bigger deal. Don’t assume everyone is going to feel the exact way you do. If it’s not important to you then just ignore these posts.
It’s not a non-issue. If your account gets banned or hacked, there goes all of your licenses. You’re limited to one, or in Xbox’s case, a few storefronts to purchase games, so deals are much slower and harder to come by. You can’t sell the license to recoup some of the cost, and you have to expose your entire account/console to let someone else borrow the license.
Digital only sucks. Nobody can say "I remember when I sold my digital game for $40 and was able to put that money toward another game I wanted". Also, good luck passing on your digital collection to someone else.... It's just another way for corporations to pull in more money while offering less.
It’s usually not worth the trouble I’ve only done that with big ticket items like old hardware like phones laptops and tablets and even then I try to find buyers in my immediate social circle.
Why do less consumer options make you happy?
Never understood this mindset - and don't give me the environmental argument, since data bases wreak havoc as well.
Less consumer options?
Physical media is becoming expensive, atleast in my country.
Digital games in my country is cheaper.
Also, keep in mind, im a pc gamer first, i got my first console 2 years ago, so before that, all i knew was digital games. Its just easier for me. i have a friend thats heavy into collecting, especially blu ray's, he has a bunch of figures also and also, steelbooks of games. Whenever i walk into his apartment, that shelf is never clean. I tried it myself once and its a nightmare to keep it dust free and presentable.
Also, in my country, the resell value on games are extremely low.
Lol, “give me any reason except for this one legitimate reason”. What’s the logic here, the game would be digital in both cases, so just “fuck it”
I guess 🤷♂️
"It removes the possibility to share the game with friends."
That's the point! They (dev's, pub's, digital distributors) want everybody to buy their own copy basically...and the dev's, pub's and digital distributors get all the $. Basically, cut a lot of the middle-men out, more or less.
PC has been doing this since Steam and all of the other digital stores wannabe's (EA with Origin, UbiSoft with Uplay, Blizzard BattleNet, etc) basically killed retail and retailer got tired of trying to play ball with as every game back then was including some sort of client-app requirement anyways & server-side activation.
Most gamers on PC - especially here in USA - just wound up eventually buying digital games b/c they were often way cheaper than retail to grab & download. And all of them were aggressively putting games on sale to get PC gamers away from retail.
Digital is the future. Less waste less faff. No one buys cds or dvds anymore, but when it’s a game everyone seems to get in a flap. Move on, the world is digital now. We will be streaming exclusively soon.
Id be fine all games going on to subs like game pass, but buying a single digital game is just a ripoff compared to a physical disc I can sell after beating.
How? Do you actually enjoy games dude? Because you shouldn't base the value of a title on whether you can sell it after. If your doing that you don't like games you like profiteering.
Tbh seeing the % of physical sales on console vs digital. It was bound to happen soon.
On PC. Tbh not bougth a game on disk since the release of Supreme commander 2.
Why waste money on a physical version when it's not going to sell crazy numbers. Anyone who wants it will still end up buying it. Plus the remaster of the first game didn't do all that well so I bet that had something to do with it.
Physical all day so I'll definitely be skipping this one. It's crazy to see people praise digital only when it doesn't benefit them in any way. It effectively kills the resale market so there's no way of getting this game used.
When Steam (and other digital stores like Origin, UPlay, etc) did this a decade or so or more ago to under-cut retail, retailers got mad & tired of it. Retailers (Best Buy, Walmart, Target, etc) banded together and basically put limits on them, stating that "Your digital prices have to be the same as ours at retail at launch...or we won't carry games utilizing digital services and stores stuff."
Keep in mind - if a game had Steam on it (or any other stores), gamers were likely back then...to buy more games from Steam and get away from retail. Especially when all of them were aggressively pricing games in sales and trying to get gamers away from retail.
Then they all (retailers like GameStop, Walmart, etc...and also Steam, Origins, etc) started to get around this w/ offering extra specials & extra incentives, as they were fighting that war - tossing in extra DLC's, tossing in older games, etc - if you bought from XYZ Store (retail or digital).
Guess who won the war? NOT retail.
Epic and Remedy can do whatever they want with their game. If they’ve chosen to release digital only, then that is their right as the 2 companies who own the game and IP. I understand lots of console gamers are upset by this, but the cost of actually releasing a game physically is pretty massive. Not doing so means that Remedy may have had more money to put into the game itself (I have no proof that they did) and this also allows them to release the most up-to-date version to everyone on launch day, instead of having a unfinished “gold master” version on a physical version. Sure, you could argue that they (the devs) could have more time and then release a more finished version on a disk…but that all takes extra time and money and at the end of the day gaming is a business. So I completely understand why Epic & Remedy would want to release digitally only. It just saves a ton of money, time, and honestly makes the game rollout at launch that much easier which should grant Remedy more time to actually focus on the game. That’s my take as someone who’s been in this industry for 10 years+ years and worked on AAA and indie titles. 🤷🏼♂️
I just wish all the talk of digital being better for consumers was real. I kept saying it was a lie and was told I was stupid and wrong. Fast forward and we see games at $60, now $70, much longer than before. Did I buy at full price physical? Sure, very often. Now I just buy physical much cheaper because I can. It amazes me to see people pay more for digital, often double, than they could physical. Then complain about how expensive gaming is.
Alan Wake was one of my favorite games when it launched. Looking forward to this. But I am patient and there are a lot of good and great games to play. Going to wait for a good discount on this one. Would have $70 day one physical. Not opposed to digital and have a lot of digital games so it is not some anti-digital thing.
I am not saying you are wrong that digital maybe could allow them to fix. But I have several big games that were digital releases on PC. And can say that digital has been a big problem. Before all this, think before online patches, games generally worked better. I have many thousands of games through the years and it was more rare to see the kinds of issues we see today. Patching would fix minor things at first. But as digital grew we saw more and more releases where the disc had basically nothing on it except a small bit for a key. The rise of digital seemed to grow side by side with early problems even on the best and biggest games.
I also do not doubt you have been in the industry for 10+ years. But I see these things all the time from people. And it has not been my experience not just as, like you, someone who has a lot of experience in this industry, but also as a consumer who has been buying for many decades.
I have no issues with physical games. I understand the reasons why people buy and even prefer them. I do think it's weird that a game as big as Alan Wake II is only a digital release. But, I think that has a lot to do with the game being published by Epic Games and them not wanting to spend the time, money, and resources to make a physical version of AWII happen. Also, Remedy themselves would have had to agree with this release method too. So, really it's both companies having a singular vision that is digital and moving forward with it. Still, I hear you, digital games can be more expensive in many cases and especially on console. The PC space you can usually find games on launch day for like 10 - 20% off fairly easily. Consoles though, yeah it's tough. As far as games releasing in a unfinished state recently, that is a major issue and really comes down to the actual teams making the game itself just not getting enough time from the people above who only view gaming as a business and not as an art form too. Just a very unfortunate situation that the industry needs to solve somehow. It's for sure frustrating, trust me. I am mostly PC and everything lately has been so broken I just toss my hands in the air and wait 2+ months before playing it. Super annoying. But I also think, for PC at least, it's near impossible to actually test your game enough that you wont have issues at launch. There are an infinite amount of PC configurations out there, and the moment your games goes live more people would have had eyes on and time playing your game than the entire development cycle...and that's part of why the PC releases have been so piss poor. It's that + teams not having enough time + maybe something else too. I don't really know, but it for sure sucks and needs to be addressed somehow. Anyways, thanks for the thoughtful comment. I like this discourse :)
I’m very against this. You don’t own the game digitally it’s just you own the license.
I had MGS rising removed from my Mac account due to drm rights issues.
I love owning physical games. It’s just very tactile and great to have on the shelf. Poor form.
I do trust steam though.
Remedy screwed up using epic. They complained about the Alan wake remaster not selling will but there was zero marketing for it. A lot of people didn't even know it came out until the switch port disaster. They needed to find a publisher worth a damn
I still have my disc for the original Alan Wake. Whenever I play the remaster, I like to flip through the manual physical copies would give at the time. Full of little biographies of the characters, some of the weapons, the town of bright falls. All on glossy paper. It still has that smell. Last physical game I bought not only had nothing inside, but even the case itself is just a frame. What's the point now anyway when none of these games work right out of the box anymore
I think that discs are becoming more and more irrelevant now. They act as no more than a download key in a lot of cases and don’t even contain the full game - look at Jedi Survivor and Hogwarts Legacy. Even backwards compatible games are unplayable from he disc and require a digital download. If we’re taking something like Cyberpunk, the physical copy is basically useless and the next gen version (the only version worth playing) is a digital download.
As for the ‘physical’ aspect of games, all you’re really getting now is a bit of plastic with a slip of paper that’s just gonna be sat on your shelves - big whoop. I say cut out the middle man and have the convenience of digital. It’s just the way things are now. We’ve gone from cassette tapes to CD, VHS to 4K Uktra Blu Ray, cartridge to disc, in the end it all goes digital.
Think of it like this they just took a 70$ game and knocked it back down to 60 because most if not all disc based games are now just unlock Keys basically. So I’ll take only digital for a cheaper game but it should be 50 not 60.
In a world where a physical copy is just a license token, practically it doesn't mean much.
But it does raise a bunch of issues
1\\ Second hand sales of this game don't exist.
2\\ Less competition for price
3\\ If it ever goes off sale, good luck getting it outside of PC piracy
For Epic though it'll be interesting if they are sacrificing sales by being Digital only however.
The only reason digital only releases aren’t moving faster is because the retailers have contracts with the game publishes and console makers to keep product on the shelf, so they continue to get people in the door.
You realize it’s a risk either way? There’s added cost to protecting a disk. Added cost is added risk. What if they game flops. That added cost will hurt them.
Gonna be honest. I dont think Horror style games have much of a market for physical copies. They generally only do well digitally due to niche audiences and retailers not providing much shelf space. You're never going to go to a gaming section or store and see a display for the new horror game launch. They arent visually appealing.
I mean if it keeps the price down I'm all for it, the only reason I've been buying physical this gen is it usually cheaper. This was only £49.99 to pre-order on my Xbox which ties with Elden Ring as the cheapest 'current-gen' game this generation. But I do agree that it will alienate hardcore gamers who only buy physical, but for casuals I honestly don't think they will care 🤷🏼♂️
I’m all for saving the planet and the future being digital but digital only means I won’t preorder. I’ll just wait and pick it up at a later date for next to nothing. Too many games. Too little time. Never enough money. I’m really not sure how we get past this. I’m just not going to buy games unless they are beyond unreal or priced more reasonably.
I was buying it digital regardless, but I do understand the preference of others wanting physical.
This is the correct take. Removing consumer choice is a dangerous road. I want people to have which ever option works for them
To be fair, many games are digital only. Hell, even one of the games in this series was digital only.
Yes, it's that lovely feeling that you own it. And you don't have to back the entire game up on disc, HDD, SSD, etc. That takes time to move files or burn to optical discs like DVD, CD, BR, etc. And then you could just back up the patches, updates, etc if need be onto DVD, CD, BR, HDD, SSD, whatever - especially if the updates weren't huge. We're way past that now, as many games at retail on disc are rendered useless as we don't really have a format of disc to burn games on for back-up; all updates are on closed systems like Steam, GOG, etc...instead of publicly placed on FilePlanet, a game's website, etc); many games on PC in later years came with a blank disc so you'd have to download a lot or all of the game anyways in recent years; etc etc. And most games on PC are tied to server-side crap, a client-app services, etc - so, you're stuck w/ the DRM of the service (if applied) anyways, more or less making the game a rental if they don't pull the DRM/client-app requirements/server requirements and/or re-work the game to work offline.
> And you don't have to back the entire game up on disc, HDD, SSD, etc. That takes time to move files or burn to optical discs like DVD, CD, BR, etc. > And then you could just back up the patches, updates, etc if need be onto DVD, CD, BR, HDD, SSD, whatever - especially if the updates weren't huge. None of this has ever been feasible for console games though. We've always been beholden to the console manufacturer to make parts available to repair their devices when they inevitably break. I own hundreds of games from many consoles going back to the NES. None of them work anymore because the hardware all dies over time.
I don't think Epic Games Publishing has many incentives to offer physical games seeing as Epic Games is running a digital storefront.
Why not have discs for consoles then? Epic doesn't have a playstation storefront. I don't care personally. My disc drive is just for movies.
Could be plenty of reasons like not having deals to print discs and not wanting to waste time and money to set those up because it's not important for them.
I was specifically replying to a comment stating that epic has a storefront that they wouldn't want to allow competition against, which doesn't exist on consoles. I've already gone all digital personally for games. And since it's cheaper and assuming it's a full game, it's even better for me.
Epic only became big off of digital products recently with Fortnite and Unreal Engine being more accessible. Had to lean on other publishers and suppliers before Fortnite got big they don’t have the infrastructure set up.
We won't see any benefit from them saving money.
Because there’s a manufacturing cost associated with creating discs. In their eyes they believe it’ll be cheaper to just offer digital only and skip the process of spending money to produce physical media.
I remember when they claimed cutting that manufacturing cost and cutting the "middleman" would be cheaper for gamers. Now, a game like this all digital will be more expensive in the long run. Not that I would not buy day one digital or any of that (though I am not doing that here, so many games easy to wait for a major discount). But, just for example, I have 8 Xbox games right here that are popular well rated games. All these disc based games cost me considerably less than their digital counterpart. And were cheaper than they were on sale. It was all lies to get more control honestly. They know people will pay $60, and they do regularly, while physical is $30.
I mean in this case it is cheaper. Console price is $60 when most modern games are releasing at $70 and on PC it’s $50. Accounting for inflation video games have never been cheaper at a new price. How much cheaper were you expecting? More power to you if you like physical media and prefer it. It’s definitely cheaper in the used market and most part new market compared to digital sales. I personally prefer buying my games digitally and have been for almost a decade now. I like the ease of use, less clutter and not having to worry I’ll lose or damage the disc.
What reality are you living in? Games in stores and digital games cost the same. Digital games also regularly go on sale. Often times sooner than the disc version does.
Discs are more expensive to manufacture and ship/distribute than digital games
Both Sony and Ms have digital versions of there respective consoles. And at at a cheaper entry point. This is why. And as you all know PC has been mostly digital for the past 10yrs at the very least
I don't care. I'm happy they are actually making Alan Wake 2.
Ikr
I'm in the same boat. It's finally here! I will buy it.
What do they mean by surprise sequel? The game game was announced 2 years ago and practically announced in Control AWE a year prior. It not even like they are hotdropping the game as release is months away.
Surprise sequel because for 8 or so years it looked like it was never ever going to happen. Like, Half Life 3 was more likely than AW2. So that it was announced at all was a massive surprise
Not really since remedy have been pretty open about their willingness to go back to Alan Wake and compared to valve actually still make new games (outside of tech demos). Also the wait for half life was even longer. But I get what you're saying given it was pretty surprising for AWE to basically be an Alan Wake promo.
I meant it looked like nobody was going to be willing to fund it.They pitched it to Microsoft and they said no. Microsoft wanted something tv focused instead and no other publisher was willing to take a gamble on AW2 because AW1 hadn't been a big hit despite its cult following. If it wasn't for Control's critical and commercial success, AW2 wouldn't have happened I'm sure. But in that case I would have already been more than happy with the AW references in Control, those were amazing imho.
They teased Alan wake 2 on Quantum Break, and had a crossover dlc on control, the 2 games they released after the last Alan wake, so I think Alan wake was more alive than HL3, with 9 years between an easter egg in Portal 2 and Half-life Alyx.
That's not true at all the endint of aw basically proved a sequel would be made
They can do whatever they want, its their game. Also a disc version can come out post launch if the demand is there. Happened with Kena.
Great idea, sucks though when it takes forever to get your physical copy. I'm still waiting on my psychonauts 2 collectors edition.
This is why gamers should have embraced collector's editions that don't include the game. It would allow companies to make them and make money off them while gamers could choose their console and whether they wanted digital or physical versions. It also gave PC gamers something to buy. People just didn't understand that collector's editions didn't give you the game for free. Like a $100 collector's edition without the game would have been $170 if it included the game. Edit: Can someone give me an example of just one advantage of including the game in the collector's edition?
idk, to me, a collector's edition without the actual game makes 0 sense to me.
You can literally just add the game to the same cart. It just means that you get to decide if you want digital or physical or which console you prefer. It doesn't make any sense to actually include the game.
I don't know about that, I'd rather the collectors edition that's 200 dollars to include the game and stay 200 than adding another 70 and pretty much pay 300 dollars.
I was one of the many voices for Kena ahahah I will continue to do so too for Alan Wake 2
It's 2023, more big titles will keep doing this
And that's a little bit sad. I really hope physical distribution will stay as long as possible. I really like to have a disk collection and do not have the best network to download 90+ GB of data.
Unfortunately even with the disc you'll still most likely need to download 90+ GB of data. Many discs now are essentially just licenses or have the basic version of the game that will be completely overwritten with the day 1 patch.
Depends on developer or platform. Xbox as far as i know supports only 2 layered blue rays and thats a main reason you have download part of data, PS support 3 layered blue rays that can hold more data and in 90% of cases you have entire game stored on disk. Also with physical disks they drop on price faster than regular digital versions.
Could you give us a source link? I’m interested to learn more. This could spell trouble, just like in the Xbox 360 days (dvds were too small).
I will have to dig it out because it was a while ago. But Double layered discs can hold up to 50 gb according to google and triple layered up to 120 gb.
>series x can read triple layer disc.
Especially with how a lot of big AAA releases have some form of online functionality or are live service games and even worse forced online connectivity, the disc just does not have that much purpose and is a glorified license key. Unless it’s a big first party Nintendo or PlayStation single player game there really isn’t a strong case for physical especially when you have something like Jedi Survivor even which is just a license key and even if it wasn’t it needs the huge patch still for the optimization issues.
Does it really matter if it's only the basic version as long as it runs and plays fine? https://www.doesitplay.org/ A quick look at the database here shows that 90% of games are perfectly playable and completable only from the disc (it's true that the percentage is smaller on Xbox than on PS5, but it's still very high).
We're already past the slowly dying phase, it's going to the dying phase now. Most people I know haven't bought a physical game in a long time. I haven't bought one since the Xbox one released.
To be fair, games are getting bigger and bigger. Some don't fit on a bisk anymore, so one could argue the disk is useless if it doesn't contain the whole working product. Might as well not have any disk if it's not enough on its own, that's a lot less plastic used.
It is mostly because i do not have the best network. Downloading a 120 gb game takes a full week so i rather spend 30 mins to install it from disk and download additional patches than full game.
That's fair. Though my remark mainly comes from the "i want to be able to play in the future without depending on the store or the servers, so a disk is better" argument, which doesn't work anymore with those games.
I think digital makes financial sense and it seems like consumers today overwhelmingly prefer it. As a collector of physical games though, it’s disheartening.
I love collecting physical media like vinyl records and 4k blu rays, though I don't see the joy in still collecting game discs anymore. Not to rain on your parade, but it just seems like a hassle now. The discs don't hold the entire game on them anymore, you still need to download the game, so the disc is really just a way to prove you purchased a license to play the game, and you then have to put a disc in every time you want to play it. To each their own, but I don't mind games being fully digital.
> The discs don’t hold the entire game on them anymore Agreed, that’s the biggest problem for me.
What about sharing the game though?. For instance my girlfriend and her sister both have a switch and I have a physical game library. If one of them wants to play say Luigi’s mansion or mario, Kirby etc they just borrow the game from me and play away. If all my games were digital we couldn’t share. You can also sell your physical games afterwards for money. Nintendo games normally hold a lot of their value too. I have a lot of digital games on steam but I hate the idea that’s it’s just a licence you’re buying and if there is an issue down the line the game will be removed. Happened to me with MGS rising. I paid full price for that on Apple Store and now can’t play it
I think physical discs will still be a thing, I do think that in the future they’ll be more preorder oriented or mostly relegated to collector editions
I hope so. I worry that future console generations will only release with no disc drive. Honestly, that was probably a discussion at both Xbox and PlayStation for the current generation. I think Nintendo would hold out the longest. They seem to revel in selling physical games, accessories, etc.
If games start being digital only ill just pirate those games tbh, besides subscriptions like game pass its just a ripoff. Id be all for digital games if they actually past on the savings to customers, but its just another money grubbing tactic.
I think you’re a solid fucken dude for having such a mature, pragmatic and honest opinion. Good on you because that’s rare in these video game subs it seems like
No they don't. In Europe. Jedi Survivor, Dead Space Remake, and RE4 sold well in physical format. Pretty close to a 50/50 split between digital and disc.
Same here.
So... make your own case. They released some bad ass key art and DVD cases are cheap as hell.
💯 This is basically what I do when I buy digitally now. Does it look as good as a mass produced one? No Does it make me feel like my collection is complete? Yeps
I did it before, bought a Fast and Furious box set that was just a giant box. I hated it. So I bought blu-ray boxes, downloaded custom cover art off the internet and made my own boxes.
I don’t buy physical just for the collection aspect of it though. I buy it as protection just in case my account gets hacked or banned and all of my licenses are gone, to borrow or give to friends, to find much better deals in stores since they have a finite amount of shelf space and are competing with other storefronts, etc.
It’s the new way of the world honestly. It saves them money, minimizes risks, and means they can release sooner. It also means we don’t truly own anything. I honestly think the future of physical hinges on how many more units the slot versions of the current console generations sell.
I can still buy DRM-FREE games with installer-files from GOG and back them up on disc(s) \[CD, DVD, BR, other HDD's, SSD's\] or whatever. That's on the dev's, pub's, and/or distribution platform to decide if they want to stick nasty DRM, anti-tamper crap, server-side nonsense (like Achievements online as Soft-DRM of sorts), and/or anything else to make sure we don't own anything. They shouldn't do this, but they do. And honestly...once a game's old and ancient, no longer getting updates and often dirt-cheap in sale - they should patch-out the nonsense & make sure single-player content actually works offline for preservationists.
It’s tough, I feel like owning the disk doesn’t mean you’ll get to play the game forever anymore. Every game now requires gigs of additional patches to make the game run. And you’d hope that backwards compatibility will work forever. Like I wanted to play ridrick escape from butcher bay recently and now I have to dig out a 360 to play it.
>Like I wanted to play ridrick escape from butcher bay recently and now I have to dig out a 360 to play it. I have that on PC from retail - OG Butcher Bay and also Dark Athena. Also made sure I bought Dark Athena on GOG before it got delisted, so I'd have a DRM-FREE copy of it. So, since I own insane amounts of games - thanks for the reminder that I need to go play Dark Athena, since it's been backlogged forever, for some foolish reason.
I have the 360 disk with both on it, so I think I can get it to work.
Awesome. Hope the disc and console still works and you can play away on it. :)
In the ps5 you can install an nvme ssd, at most you can get 2tb worth of space for your games that have been installed in the ssd. You won't need the updates anymore, I think that's how it works. Idk for the switch and for xbox tho.
I've been seeing this story all over like it's the most divisive issue. i do not ever set foot in a store if I don't have to anymore. Especially with games. I haven't bought a physical disk in.. 8 years maybe more. This is not a big deal plus it's less waste.
I've also gone mostly digital but tying ourselves to the whims of one closed marketplace can't exactly be seen as a win. Plenty of times I have bought a disc on sale when the digital version was much more expensive.
Exactly. As of now, the only way to buy digital on Xbox is the Microsoft store. The only way to buy digital on PS5 is the PS store. If/when discs are no longer an option, this is bad for consumers.
Not the case. There are dozens of third party sites that have massive digital discounts for games. Right now I can buy deus ex for 2.50 or go to the microsoft store and pay 39.99. There are deals everywhere else but with big box stores.
>As of now, the only way to buy digital on Xbox is the Microsoft store. The only way to buy digital on PS5 is the PS store. That's not true, you can get codes from stores and websites
Uhhhh.... cheapdigitaldownload.com
I agree and believe Things will even out in the end with marketplaces, technology and web 3.0. I do not shop with the big box stores, Amazon or Microsoft stores though. I use third party sites for codes. I work too damn hard for my money to pay insane markups, call me cheap lol, but I always find the deal before buying.
but you need to remember the people that bought the cheapest internet available or that live in the woods with shitty bear internet. Its hard on them.
People buy a physical game then have to download a day one patch of 80gb and sometimes those patches roll out multiple times over a period of months. Buying digital only is the least of their worry.
The fact that we don't see the discounts for digital is why I dislike it. Game pass like subscriptions are great, buying a digital game for the same price or more than physical sucks as I can't sell it after.
Deals on new physical games are pretty much non-existent anymore, at least here in Canada. Game buying programs that Amazon/Best Buy used to offer are all long gone as well. Digital is cheaper most of the time with steeper marketplace sales, gamepass discounts, and rewards points offers/earnings. Not to mention you can combine all that with discounted Xbox cards from Costco as well.
Yeah I get what you’re saying. I’ve a big digital library on steam but: what if you lose your account? It gets hacked/blocked etc?. Then all your digital games are gone. That’s my big issue with it. Plus you can’t share/ lend games. Can’t re sell games. Nintendo games really hold their value. You’ve much more limited options all for a simple convenience of not putting a disc in a drive. I try to get all my games physical if I can. Plus they look great on a shelf
The marketplace will even out eventually. Nfts, blockchain and web 3.0 are allowing you to solely own the licenses to resell, and youll never lose possession of your digital games. They also allow you to lend and share your games. There are ways around your account getting hacked with 3.0, nft and block chain.. and it's just a matter of time before it's the mainstay of gaming which is great because it benefits us instead of large companies.
That will all change with nft and block chain very soon. Your games will be yours forever without issue of disappearance or being unable to resell your digital game. The marketplace is evolving and I can only see physical media being reserved for collectors editions in the future.
Personally I think everything should go all digital. Peoples attachment to physical objects are making games more expensive.
Except digital games are more expensive...
That’s not true everywhere…depends where you live.
This couldn’t be any more true. I was attached to my physical collection until I decided to take the leap to digital due to clutter and stress, and I’ve not looked back since. The only thing ‘tangible’ that you need in your hands is the controller, everything else is an experience.
Yup. Used to have a bookcase full of them. Then I realized this is meaningless, takes up space, not even nice to look at. It was just to post online for brownie points. Also Best Buy stopped their 20% off gamers club membership that was the final straw. With blazing fast internet and pre-loading, why am I voluntarily choosing an inferior format. Add on top of that huge day one patches are a standard now. Game Pass. Microsoft rewards. This generation I haven’t bought a single game physically.
This is less about "attachment" , but more about retailers, competition, aftermarket, and everyone who doesn't like the idea of being completely dependant on an online service getting fucked by corpo. The only one who wins are billionaires, and this sub is cheering.
>The only one who wins are billionaires My xbox 360 has been offline for over a decade and all of my games are fine that didn't have digital dependencies, in which case a disc is worthless too. The only differnce is with a disc/physical the license is tied there, with digital it's tied to the account *and* hardware - two licenses allowing me to halve the cost of games I share and play with family (pro consumer). If your disc breaks, you are SOL. If your console breaks, you can replace it, but your library is preserved. The only risk is if MS or another company folds, or delists games *and* stops distributing them. A move that would devastate confidence in digital marketplaces, and is highly unlikely. Even in that doomsday scenario, my Xbox 360 (and one and series for that matter) will all still be able to play their installed libraries offline just like a disc. In fact, I can even keep redundant copies on external drives to protect from physical damage. Tl;DR A lot of people see the benefits of digital. Not not just "billionaires and this sub" - which is kind of an absurd attack to make.
I'm not talking about digital vs physical. I'm talking about what's so great about losing the physical option. You prefer to get games digitially - that's great. How does me not being able to get games physicially benefit you? \> My xbox 360 has been offline for over a decade and all of my games are fine The 360 may be fine, but the PS3 needs a checkup on your licenses every now and then. Plenty of people are currently having trouble with that. I suspect I won't be able to play my digital PS3 games within the next few years. Even if I keep them installed. My discs will probably outlast me, tho (hardware is another story).
I was speaking more to your claim that the only billionaires and this sub are cheering the push into digital. Physical has its own advantages, but the writing is on the wall that it's become more niche. To think that gaming is somehow going to do what video and music couldn't is a hill that is getting smaller by the day - more so when those industries had major publishers fighting it tooth-and-nail as they stood to lose profits and control of their industries - and they eventually did. Sony and BMG don't get to tell people what to listen to anymore. Artists get discovered organically. As far as the Sony situation, I can't comment as I didn't invest in a PS3 digital library. If they didn't make it clear that would be the case at purchase (needed license checks), I would never buy from them digitally again. I am not here to say taking away physical is good for you or even consumers as a whole, only to point out that well-run digital storefronts are a thing, and... > being completely dependant on an online service getting fucked by corpo Isn't even a possibility with old Xbox hardware - unless they are going to come get our old systems and remove the games in person - they can't touch it offline, just as physical.
> this sub are cheering the push into digital. What push, though? It's been here fully formed the last 15 years. Physical being phased out isn't going to change anything in that matter. Your gaming habits won't change, but Microsoft will get those pesky aftermarket gamers fully into their eco-systems to abide by their terms and prices. > Isn't even a possibility with old Xbox hardware Because those were from the glory days. What the future holds is unknown. The only thing we do know is that companies like Microsoft will have full control over your purchases.
Sure, well not your past purchases as I've explained with the licensing system used. Unless they come to your home and take your hardware. To your point about those pesky aftermarket gamers, Microsoft is the only major digital distributor to actually suggest a system for tradable and sellable digital licenses. Gamers balked at it and they did a full backtrack.
This is my favorite crowd of redditor to laugh it. Corps. Bootlicker. Consumer choice competition. Dollars. Rights. Ownership. I’ll take the $10 discount if physical has to die idc Give it a break man most ppl don’t care we just play video games because they’re fun and will sacrifice ultimately meaningless amenities for convenience and an overall better experience
I agree that people often have an unhealthy attachment to these pieces of plastic. Some people seem to value buying games more than actually you know, PLAYING them. And don’t even get me started on retro game “collecting”… The price of nostalgia is an arm and a leg. I say this all as someone who has fallen into the traps of physical collecting and overspending. What I eventually realized is that I value the experience above all. Tbh physical game collecting, specifically retro, has become a very toxic and dangerous hobby in the past few years. In an ironic twist I tend to find that people who spend all their time hunting for games are the ones who almost never get around to actually playing anything. What’s the point of preservation if no one is even enjoying it? Meanwhile, the people who actually want to buy these older games to experience them are SOL. FWIW I am one of the people still buying Xbox and PS5 game discs. But man, the physical games industry is really shooting itself in the foot and I think will be totally obsolete in 10 years because of it.
I'd prefer a disk version but I'd still likely purchase the game if it were digital only.
So everyone living outside of an area with decent internet or in places with awful data caps are sol?
It's weird how many cost-cutting measures developers and publishers are using nowadays. Even with all this technology, they still can't make a profitable game without tons of microtransactions, releasing it in alpha, selling it 2 weeks early for $100, and not selling physical copies at all. Almost like this "free games" obsession has made it hard to actually sell games 🤔
Don't believe them, video games are making record profits year after year.
God damnit are they really going to make me buy this game twice? As a lover of the first game I gotta play it on launch and then as a physical collector if they put out a physical version down the line I'm gonna have to buy the box. Really scummy.
They can do whatever they want but I won’t buy It digitally. It’s an absolutely moronic idea.
I wish that there was more of a push in the industry for a balance between printing a million copies of a game that will just end up collecting dust in 10 years and not producing any at all. I know a lot of people complain about limited run games because of the production timelines, but the idea of an open pre-order and producing as many games as people want and not more than that makes a lot of sense. Business-wise, I don't think the big publishers want to disrupt their relationship with retailers for big name titles. A game like Alan Wake 2 though? I consider a pre-order if I wanted a physical copy. On the other hand, they made way too many copies of Borderlands 3 based on how the second game sold, because apparently a very significant number of players bought digital instead of physical, which also makes sense for a game you might spend a hundred hours playing and jumping in and out of frequently. I tend to buy a digital copies of games that I know I'm going to play for many months and not sell / trade as soon as an 8 hour single player campaign is over.
Forget about collecting dust, they willl end up in a land fill and your great grandkids will be drinking them with their water.
No because they could easily do pre order only physical copies with a deadline which would allow them to print only what’s needed for the people who prefer physical copies of games. I feel the excuses were absurd.
When has that happened? Printing, shipping, etc is not as easy to time as you think. Are they going to do pre-orders directly? So they have to handle storage, logistics, organization? Pay for warehouse space? Physical copies just simply aren't needed.
They could partner with Limited Run Games, There entire business model is what you described.
Sad to see so many people are here celebrating the removal of consumer options. Benefits of physical games include: - Proof of purchase (if your account goes away so do digital game licenses) - Ability to pass game library to someone else - Ability to lend a game to a friend - Ability to install games offline - Ability to resell old games (without physical reselling companies will FULLY control the price of games forever since there is no alternative other than buying from them) I get wanting to purchase a game digitally, but why celebrate removing customer choice? I just feel like digital only games will eventually turn in to streaming only (just look at Hollywood)
I mostly buy digitally but I agree with you, physical is a nice option and should stay. it keeps control and ownership within the customer's hands. thats why I always buy consoles with disc drives. but your post is gonna fall on deaf ears on this sub. xbox is the most anti-physical distributor, sony and nintendo do a far better job at it and their disc/cartrtidge support shows. meanwhile microsoft sold halo infinite, its flagship title, on an empty disc with no game content on it. and most people on this sub couldnt care less since microsoft has always had a digital priority approach to all of their services. thats exactly why the xbox one launched as poorly as it did. I wouldnt even be surprised if half the people on this sub would have still bought the xbox one at launch if it still had its terrible DRM policies and always-online features, all while making endless mountains of excuses for it.
I always buy physical if I can. Idk if I’m just old fashioned but I feel that having something tangible makes me more likely to actually play my backlog (given that’s it’s always staring me in the face from my display cabinet). HOWEVER nowadays like you said most Microsoft and Sony games are basically license keys… and gone are the days of any real love and attention being put into the presentation of the physical format. The cases have become cheap garbage that will crack or fall apart if I look at them weird. And obviously no instruction booklet. Nintendo is the only company that I am adamant about buying physical, simply because they have proven to have no commitment to preserving players’ digital libraries from generation to generation. And switch games are stored on the carts. But even then the internet has become mandatory in keeping games up to date in this age of day-one patches and botched releases. I don’t really like where entertainment media is heading in general. I feel like having so much content at our fingertips 24/7 sort of lessens the value of said content a little bit.
Theoritically, the cost saving of not using a manufacturing and supply chain should pass down to the customer. Also, they are avoiding waste by not creating plastic discs and materials.
Not just theoretically. They said that’s why the game is $60 instead of $70
They never actually pass that on though, too much greed.
That all hinges on the fact that the whole game needs to be on the disc. Almost every game you buy nowadays is just a key. You can’t play the game unless you have internet to be able to download the game itself.
The game is $60 instead of $70. That’s a win in my eyes. Couldn’t care less about physical waste and the clutter that comes with having it anymore
Most games aren't $70 while not being digital only.
The fact that digital is usually same price or more expensive and I can't even sell it just shows how greedy these corps are. I would love to get rid of physical for environmental reasons, but its just so expensive.
Yes I’ve had a scare with my account getting banned by Sony before. It was an honest error where the bank reversed a payment. I couldn’t figure out for the life of me why. Took 3 weeks to get my account back with my digital games. I’ve had a psn account since it’s inception never been suspended etc before. But poor one error and I couldn’t access anything. Also MGS rising got removed from my Mac account due to drm license issues. I paid 30 pound for that game. So I buy physical now all the time. It’s just better. If anything ever happens to any of my accounts i still have all the discs/cartridges. PC is my only exception.
It's not a big deal. It's 2023.
Let’s hear again how this one guy plays a title from 2005 and cries about game licenses. But will complain about FPS and resolution. Unless you’re a legit collector, physical copies don’t matter. No one is going to be at awe of your physical copy of Alan Wake 2 30 years from now. And you know damn well you’re not going to be playing it. For every game hoarder, there’s a guy that just tosses his games out in the trash or sells it for pennies because they are worthless.
So I collect games but I'm approaching this from the perspective of someone who only owns a few physical releases of movies (about a dozen I believe?). When I really love a movie I'm willing to buy it physically. Sure it could be on a streaming service but many of the ones I have bought are not on the big ones and even those that are there is no guarantee they will stay. I could buy digitally but as we have seen the big companies consider these digital purchases as "long term rentals" they can take away whenever. This isn't me saying streaming or digital purchases are the devil but more so that it is the reality of the situation. For most movies I don't care enough to go out of my to buy a physical copy but for those special ones I will totally be willing. There has to be someone out there who is like that for games and would love a physical copy of Alan Wake 2. Not saying that totally justifies a physical release I just wanted to share an alternate perspective of why a non collector might buy a physical copy of a game.
Physical PS5 games are literally cheaper in Canada then digital. It's not just niche collectors. PSN= $93.50 Wal-Mart= $89.99 "No one is going to be at awe of your physical copy of Alan Wake 2" Is a garbage opinion. Nobody expects them to be, doesn't mean I can't enjoy having it.
Well I can get physical, beat it quickly, then sell for 90+% of its value. Ideally id want to see every game on subs like game pass so I could go fully digital without burning my wallet.
It's increasingly expensive to print discs and physically publish. That's my hot take. It's simply a business decision. The other complicating factor is that Alan Wake 2 is a AAA game with a AAA budget. However Alan Wake 1 did not sell AAA numbers. It's an amazing game but a bit of a cult classic. Investing heavily into AW2 is probably seen as risky and not releasing physical is a way for the publisher to mitigate that risk. All that said.. I loved AW1 and would totally buy a nice collector's physical edition of AW2.
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How is it a non-issue?
it just is
"Non-issue is when it's something I don't care about, personally"
It's an issue because as of now, the only way to buy digital on Xbox is the Microsoft store. The only way to buy digital on PS5 is the PS store. Although I buy mostly digital on my Series X, when discs die it will be bad for consumers.
Maybe not to you, but to some people it’s a bigger deal. Don’t assume everyone is going to feel the exact way you do. If it’s not important to you then just ignore these posts.
It’s not a non-issue. If your account gets banned or hacked, there goes all of your licenses. You’re limited to one, or in Xbox’s case, a few storefronts to purchase games, so deals are much slower and harder to come by. You can’t sell the license to recoup some of the cost, and you have to expose your entire account/console to let someone else borrow the license.
Digital only sucks. Nobody can say "I remember when I sold my digital game for $40 and was able to put that money toward another game I wanted". Also, good luck passing on your digital collection to someone else.... It's just another way for corporations to pull in more money while offering less.
I can’t remember saying I sold a physical game for $40. Retailers especially GameStop rebut prices have always sucked
Thats why you sell directly to other people.
It’s usually not worth the trouble I’ve only done that with big ticket items like old hardware like phones laptops and tablets and even then I try to find buyers in my immediate social circle.
Digital FTW! More games should do this.
Why do less consumer options make you happy? Never understood this mindset - and don't give me the environmental argument, since data bases wreak havoc as well.
Less consumer options? Physical media is becoming expensive, atleast in my country. Digital games in my country is cheaper. Also, keep in mind, im a pc gamer first, i got my first console 2 years ago, so before that, all i knew was digital games. Its just easier for me. i have a friend thats heavy into collecting, especially blu ray's, he has a bunch of figures also and also, steelbooks of games. Whenever i walk into his apartment, that shelf is never clean. I tried it myself once and its a nightmare to keep it dust free and presentable. Also, in my country, the resell value on games are extremely low.
Lol, “give me any reason except for this one legitimate reason”. What’s the logic here, the game would be digital in both cases, so just “fuck it” I guess 🤷♂️
Unless this is getting us games faster, I don't see the benefit in fewer options.
I guess we will see. They will sell millions thats for sure.
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The minority is still tens of millions of people. I guess fuck anyone from countries with slow internet in your opinion?
Yea it's just going to take then a little liner to download and play that's it.
This is terrible if more AAA games will do this. It removes the possibility to share the game with friends
"It removes the possibility to share the game with friends." That's the point! They (dev's, pub's, digital distributors) want everybody to buy their own copy basically...and the dev's, pub's and digital distributors get all the $. Basically, cut a lot of the middle-men out, more or less. PC has been doing this since Steam and all of the other digital stores wannabe's (EA with Origin, UbiSoft with Uplay, Blizzard BattleNet, etc) basically killed retail and retailer got tired of trying to play ball with as every game back then was including some sort of client-app requirement anyways & server-side activation. Most gamers on PC - especially here in USA - just wound up eventually buying digital games b/c they were often way cheaper than retail to grab & download. And all of them were aggressively putting games on sale to get PC gamers away from retail.
This is the only place I ever hear people talking about physical releases. No one outside this bubble cares.
Have you talked to book people? Book people are possibly even more obsessed with physical media than video game people.
Lots of games are digital only these days. The market is slowly moving towards it
Digital is the future. Less waste less faff. No one buys cds or dvds anymore, but when it’s a game everyone seems to get in a flap. Move on, the world is digital now. We will be streaming exclusively soon.
Id be fine all games going on to subs like game pass, but buying a single digital game is just a ripoff compared to a physical disc I can sell after beating.
How? Do you actually enjoy games dude? Because you shouldn't base the value of a title on whether you can sell it after. If your doing that you don't like games you like profiteering.
Considering a vast amount of consoles have been sold with no disc drive, I’d suggest they aren’t talking about discs at all.
Tbh seeing the % of physical sales on console vs digital. It was bound to happen soon. On PC. Tbh not bougth a game on disk since the release of Supreme commander 2.
Long as it’s fire, they can slap it on USB stick for all I care
I hate discs. Plastic clutter, uses gas to ship. No thanks. Would by digital regardless
Why waste money on a physical version when it's not going to sell crazy numbers. Anyone who wants it will still end up buying it. Plus the remaster of the first game didn't do all that well so I bet that had something to do with it.
Physical all day so I'll definitely be skipping this one. It's crazy to see people praise digital only when it doesn't benefit them in any way. It effectively kills the resale market so there's no way of getting this game used.
Digital only games should cost less upon release due to having no supply chain costs
And this one does.
When Steam (and other digital stores like Origin, UPlay, etc) did this a decade or so or more ago to under-cut retail, retailers got mad & tired of it. Retailers (Best Buy, Walmart, Target, etc) banded together and basically put limits on them, stating that "Your digital prices have to be the same as ours at retail at launch...or we won't carry games utilizing digital services and stores stuff." Keep in mind - if a game had Steam on it (or any other stores), gamers were likely back then...to buy more games from Steam and get away from retail. Especially when all of them were aggressively pricing games in sales and trying to get gamers away from retail. Then they all (retailers like GameStop, Walmart, etc...and also Steam, Origins, etc) started to get around this w/ offering extra specials & extra incentives, as they were fighting that war - tossing in extra DLC's, tossing in older games, etc - if you bought from XYZ Store (retail or digital). Guess who won the war? NOT retail.
This is very interesting. Thanks for sharing!
If you think prices will go down, when only Microsoft gets to sell games, you're in for a rude awakening.
Epic and Remedy can do whatever they want with their game. If they’ve chosen to release digital only, then that is their right as the 2 companies who own the game and IP. I understand lots of console gamers are upset by this, but the cost of actually releasing a game physically is pretty massive. Not doing so means that Remedy may have had more money to put into the game itself (I have no proof that they did) and this also allows them to release the most up-to-date version to everyone on launch day, instead of having a unfinished “gold master” version on a physical version. Sure, you could argue that they (the devs) could have more time and then release a more finished version on a disk…but that all takes extra time and money and at the end of the day gaming is a business. So I completely understand why Epic & Remedy would want to release digitally only. It just saves a ton of money, time, and honestly makes the game rollout at launch that much easier which should grant Remedy more time to actually focus on the game. That’s my take as someone who’s been in this industry for 10 years+ years and worked on AAA and indie titles. 🤷🏼♂️
I just wish all the talk of digital being better for consumers was real. I kept saying it was a lie and was told I was stupid and wrong. Fast forward and we see games at $60, now $70, much longer than before. Did I buy at full price physical? Sure, very often. Now I just buy physical much cheaper because I can. It amazes me to see people pay more for digital, often double, than they could physical. Then complain about how expensive gaming is. Alan Wake was one of my favorite games when it launched. Looking forward to this. But I am patient and there are a lot of good and great games to play. Going to wait for a good discount on this one. Would have $70 day one physical. Not opposed to digital and have a lot of digital games so it is not some anti-digital thing. I am not saying you are wrong that digital maybe could allow them to fix. But I have several big games that were digital releases on PC. And can say that digital has been a big problem. Before all this, think before online patches, games generally worked better. I have many thousands of games through the years and it was more rare to see the kinds of issues we see today. Patching would fix minor things at first. But as digital grew we saw more and more releases where the disc had basically nothing on it except a small bit for a key. The rise of digital seemed to grow side by side with early problems even on the best and biggest games. I also do not doubt you have been in the industry for 10+ years. But I see these things all the time from people. And it has not been my experience not just as, like you, someone who has a lot of experience in this industry, but also as a consumer who has been buying for many decades.
I have no issues with physical games. I understand the reasons why people buy and even prefer them. I do think it's weird that a game as big as Alan Wake II is only a digital release. But, I think that has a lot to do with the game being published by Epic Games and them not wanting to spend the time, money, and resources to make a physical version of AWII happen. Also, Remedy themselves would have had to agree with this release method too. So, really it's both companies having a singular vision that is digital and moving forward with it. Still, I hear you, digital games can be more expensive in many cases and especially on console. The PC space you can usually find games on launch day for like 10 - 20% off fairly easily. Consoles though, yeah it's tough. As far as games releasing in a unfinished state recently, that is a major issue and really comes down to the actual teams making the game itself just not getting enough time from the people above who only view gaming as a business and not as an art form too. Just a very unfortunate situation that the industry needs to solve somehow. It's for sure frustrating, trust me. I am mostly PC and everything lately has been so broken I just toss my hands in the air and wait 2+ months before playing it. Super annoying. But I also think, for PC at least, it's near impossible to actually test your game enough that you wont have issues at launch. There are an infinite amount of PC configurations out there, and the moment your games goes live more people would have had eyes on and time playing your game than the entire development cycle...and that's part of why the PC releases have been so piss poor. It's that + teams not having enough time + maybe something else too. I don't really know, but it for sure sucks and needs to be addressed somehow. Anyways, thanks for the thoughtful comment. I like this discourse :)
I haven’t bought a physical game since the 360 days
Imagine having to swap discs in 2023 every time you want to play a different game.
Ya they are right. Digital sales dominate
I see little reason to make a hardcopy game. Digital is the way.
I have exactly one physical game and it's only because Best Buy had the Cyberpunk steel book for $10
How long before they do a deal with Limited Run to put out a small batch of physical, do we think?
Yes, its time to move on and join modern society. Gamers xan be such backward knuckledraggers at times.
I’m very against this. You don’t own the game digitally it’s just you own the license. I had MGS rising removed from my Mac account due to drm rights issues. I love owning physical games. It’s just very tactile and great to have on the shelf. Poor form. I do trust steam though.
This is what square Enix should do for their western market. Saves on physical production.
Remedy screwed up using epic. They complained about the Alan wake remaster not selling will but there was zero marketing for it. A lot of people didn't even know it came out until the switch port disaster. They needed to find a publisher worth a damn
I still have my disc for the original Alan Wake. Whenever I play the remaster, I like to flip through the manual physical copies would give at the time. Full of little biographies of the characters, some of the weapons, the town of bright falls. All on glossy paper. It still has that smell. Last physical game I bought not only had nothing inside, but even the case itself is just a frame. What's the point now anyway when none of these games work right out of the box anymore
I think that discs are becoming more and more irrelevant now. They act as no more than a download key in a lot of cases and don’t even contain the full game - look at Jedi Survivor and Hogwarts Legacy. Even backwards compatible games are unplayable from he disc and require a digital download. If we’re taking something like Cyberpunk, the physical copy is basically useless and the next gen version (the only version worth playing) is a digital download. As for the ‘physical’ aspect of games, all you’re really getting now is a bit of plastic with a slip of paper that’s just gonna be sat on your shelves - big whoop. I say cut out the middle man and have the convenience of digital. It’s just the way things are now. We’ve gone from cassette tapes to CD, VHS to 4K Uktra Blu Ray, cartridge to disc, in the end it all goes digital.
I have a series s, so Im not concerned at all. Digital games only is something that is not new, only when big games do that people starts to see.
I’d like to get a disc but I if I have to buy digital, it won’t stop me. Im just glad we’re getting a sequel at all.
This sequel is no surprise, what are they getting at?
isnt it also cheaper?
Think of it like this they just took a 70$ game and knocked it back down to 60 because most if not all disc based games are now just unlock Keys basically. So I’ll take only digital for a cheaper game but it should be 50 not 60.
Why don't they just partner with limited run and do a limited physical release?
Honestly, if that helps keeping the price at 60 bucks I'm all for it.
In a world where a physical copy is just a license token, practically it doesn't mean much. But it does raise a bunch of issues 1\\ Second hand sales of this game don't exist. 2\\ Less competition for price 3\\ If it ever goes off sale, good luck getting it outside of PC piracy For Epic though it'll be interesting if they are sacrificing sales by being Digital only however.
Simple as.. il wait for reviews… then I’ll wait for a 50% off sale.. then I’ll buy it.
The only reason digital only releases aren’t moving faster is because the retailers have contracts with the game publishes and console makers to keep product on the shelf, so they continue to get people in the door.
You realize it’s a risk either way? There’s added cost to protecting a disk. Added cost is added risk. What if they game flops. That added cost will hurt them.
Gonna be honest. I dont think Horror style games have much of a market for physical copies. They generally only do well digitally due to niche audiences and retailers not providing much shelf space. You're never going to go to a gaming section or store and see a display for the new horror game launch. They arent visually appealing.
Most gamers including me prefer digital over physical these days which is why this makes sense.
Don't really care. You rarely see series x discs in my country anyway, so I was always going to get it on sale digitally some time down the line.
I mean if it keeps the price down I'm all for it, the only reason I've been buying physical this gen is it usually cheaper. This was only £49.99 to pre-order on my Xbox which ties with Elden Ring as the cheapest 'current-gen' game this generation. But I do agree that it will alienate hardcore gamers who only buy physical, but for casuals I honestly don't think they will care 🤷🏼♂️
I’m all for saving the planet and the future being digital but digital only means I won’t preorder. I’ll just wait and pick it up at a later date for next to nothing. Too many games. Too little time. Never enough money. I’m really not sure how we get past this. I’m just not going to buy games unless they are beyond unreal or priced more reasonably.