Poll: Do You Prefer Buying Physical Or Digital Xbox Games?

Physical anyday. Gamepass has me torn because I am signed upto it but I like disks. I can see the convenience of digital but I like having a collection, which isn't something I feel I have when they are sitting on a hard drive. If it's digital only fair dos but in a choice between disk or download (so long as its not on gamepass) I'll get a disk. But that's the thing, since gamepass is unique to Xbox I don't have this problem on PS4 or Switch. Switch especially because I adore cartridges

All digital here. I do buy about half of my switch games on carts because of multiple switches/no family sharing.

On Xbox, I prefer digital these days. I used to be staunchly physical only, but with how committed Xbox is to backward compatibility, digital makes more sense on Xbox than with any other console.

It was a great feeling setting up my Xbox One for the first time and seeing so many of my 360 games ready to install.

Digital ! Their is no point in buying physical games anymore. The reward system on Xbox makes it cheaper, game pass is a no brainer. We also live in the digital age where games have to install onto a hard drive in order to play anyway.

I prefer physical. It gives more of a feeling of owning the game. Also, I like seeing the games lined up on the shelf.

Physical. But if a physical game I have is on Gamepass, it saves wear & tear on my disc drive so that works too. 👍🏻

Digital. I have a fast Internet connection and games nowadays need to be installed on the HDD/SDD anyway. Also I don't need to swap disks all the time.

Completely digital. Have been for the last few years. No Xbox One games physical, only LoZ: Breath of the Wild physical on Switch from when I preordered game and console together.

Just offers convenience when things are instantly accessible, and as others have said, the Xbox ecosystem means that digital is easier and more convenient then ever.

@redd214 I share my Digital games between 2 Switches. I made my wife’s Switch lite my primary console and I use my original that way we can play the games together ( like Splatoon). I can still play my games on the original under my user name since the games are tied to the user.

Lol. I don't know anymore.

I used to like buying physical, because a lot of times I can find the games cheaper than digital as long as I don't mind waiting for awhile after it releases. Also, having physical means I can let my sister borrow games and vice versa, or share games with friends.

But with Coronavirus, I'm really nervous about going out. So I'm much more appreciative about physical.

P.S. as a side note, I own a lot of digital Nintendo games and am sad I can't play any of them on our Switch. That's another reason why I'm really happy Xbox allows backwards compatibility, because otherwise digital purchases eventually become useless.
( T_T)

@redd214 we play Splatoon together simultaneously. I buy all digital games under my name so I can play just under my username. Since the other Switch lite is my “primary console” she can play all my games under her username even if my username bought them. That is the only way you can do it so you can play together. The other person just needs online service tied to their username if you plan to play online together thus making a family online service plan a better deal. We’ve played MK8, Splatoon, and Luigi’s Mansion this way- simultaneously and even together.

@Mamabear cool thanks

I preferred discs when I started buying Xbox games but since I’m new to the console I didn’t realize that you still had to download the disc anyways and take up hard drive space. Now I buy what is cheaper unless I plan on trading a game in. I find that I’ve gotten lazy and hate changing discs though lol. I’m 90% digital on Switch though because I hate carrying around those tiny cartridges.

@redd214 Anytime! I did some looking into this when I bought the second Switch because I didn’t want to buy extra copies of games. Now I have a better incentive to buy digital games to share. there’s so little info out there About this though so I just had to try it out.

My approach to this is buy it if its digital only. If it's physically though, I'll get it that way 100% then maybe double dip digital down the road if it's cheap enough. It's nice to have it there if it's a good game and the price is right

I'm Physical Disc all the way. Its not for the reasons of 'trading' - I still have all my games from the OG Xbox and 360 era too, its because I like the tactility, the feeling of having something to hold for the money and something that will go on the shelf. I like seeing my gaming collection grow too and often buy 'collectible' steel book versions when I can.

I also still buy Music on CD's too. I don't buy movies as I don't tend to rewatch unless they are on TV and don't have anything else I feel like watching. Books too must be in physical format for me and wouldn't entertain the idea of buying a book in digital format.

I can't say I have or would never buy digitally but I only buy if its dirt cheap in a sale and I happen to see it - not that I go looking as I would more likely look for a game on Disc. Its just the odd spontaneous purchase for 'loose change' type pricing - as cheap as some P&P costs can be...

Now that most Xbox one games need a huge update when installing them, I have swapped to digital, at least for this system. There’s no point owning a disc with half a game on it and Microsoft’s account system is pretty good. With continuing support for the 360 as well it just makes sense. Plus the convenience is great.

As for Switch, I only own one physical game (Smash bros) which I got with the system. The ridiculous cost of games has put me off buying any others. I did splurge on the Mega Drive collection at Xmas but that was so I always had a ‘virtual console’ on the system after the inevitable dropping of support for online (bye bye NES/SNES games!) I only have a 16gb micro SD card in there that I had lying around, so switch stuff is relegated to smaller retro games (it’s great having all the old Doom games on there). If Doom 2016 ever gets a good sale on the eshop I may double dip, as I love it on Xbox and a portable version would be good fun!

Physical, always Physical, i want to actually OWN my game and have control of when i can access it regardless of if i'm online or not

also price is a big factor too, why would i pay £60 for a digital game when the physical version can go as low as £10 if brought used and depending on age

FullbringIchigo I totally agree with you, especially about the price of second hand games. However, if further down the road the patches and updates are no longer available to download then you’re left with a £10 coaster 😐

@Gamecuber well even if that's the case and lets take FFXV as the example because that changed a lot over the years at least there will still be a version of the game to buy and play, even if it's the vanilla version where as by the time the updates and stuff are taken offline then the digital version will be too and that you wouldn't be able to buy at all

@BAMozzy a man after my own heart

@FullbringIchigo again, I agree with you. However, I’m not talking about vanilla versions for games (you’re totally right with what you said there) but a lot of games these days don’t even have the full game on the disc. So it’s not just patches, dlc and updates that would be unavailable, but a great big chunk of the game itself!

If you download a digital version onto your system you download the full game there and then, plus the later additions should be saved onto the hard drive as well (when that does then it really is goodbye).

I own a decent sized physical game collection, dating right back to Master System and Gameboy cartridges which all still work well. It pains me to see that gong (feel the same way about my DVD collection) but with older games it was a case of when you bought the game you got the full game on physical media.

Imagine buying a blu ray and only getting half the film on it and having to download the rest? In the future what if you couldn’t download the rest? That is what vanilla versions of many big games on disc are turning into. It’s not good but unfortunately with games clocking in at 100gb+ there is no appropriate storage medium available that is also cost effective to manufacture (look at the price of Switch carts; it’s like the N64 days all over again!

Physical

@Gamecuber yeah i know of some games where the developer just threw them out with part of the game on it and the rest was delivered as a "patch", the last Tony Hawks game by Activision is one and it's a practise i have no time for, if i find a game is like that then i just don't buy it period

of course the publisher could just use more discs, the FFVII Remake for example is coming on 2 blu-rays but they just cheap out just like they do on Switch games that require "extra download"

the options are there especially with disc based systems as blu-rays are pretty cheap now a days but they won't put in the money, i would pay a little extra for it if needed

@FullbringIchigo yeah and considering that it’s even cheaper for the game companies to digitally publish something, you’d think that the prices would reflect that. That’s why I only buy games on sale or use Gamepass these days.

Physical ori box is so wonderfull

@Gamecuber you know i still don't understand why digital games are more expensive like you said you would think without the need to manufacture and press discs or print cases or ship it around the world they would be cheaper

@FullbringIchigo it’s because they can. Plenty of people are willing to buy day one for full price and the convenience of never having to even leave the house is obviously a big incentive for a lot of people who will pay the same price for a digital copy as a physical. At least in the days of physical you could trade in for a good chunk of what you paid soon afterwards. That’s a major problem with Nintendo as many of their games never seem to drop in price (so a digital sale is probably how I’ll end up getting the few switch exclusives I’m interested in).

At least with sales on the online store, games with gold and Gamepass money can be saved. Tbh the number of games I have bought since game pass arrived has dropped dramatically. No point in wasting more money on something that it turns out I didn’t like. It also means I have gotten to play some corkers that I might otherwise have ignored.

I choose physical for Nintendo and digital for Xbox. The point of a physical game on Xbox is massively reduced because of gigantic updates (plenty of which involve redownloading the entire game via an update) so I only get physical nowadays for Xbox in very special cases. For Switch, I only pick digital if it's digital only.

Physical. But I am not a purist. I buy digital too, if needed.

Physical. I refuse to pay more for a digital game.

@Grumblevolcano
Don't some games on Switch even carry a little (yet prominent) announcement on the box cover, warning the buyer that they're expected to download a substantial chunk of the game before they can even play it? 😕