When it's the only way, go digital?

[mailman187666]

I'm starting to not like the pricing on digital games. I downloaded "The Witness" when it was new. I played and enjoyed it but I wish I could pass it along to someone else or even sell it online for an extra $10 for gas money. I'll probably not play it again unless I show it to someone who is curious about the game.

I really want to play I Am Setsua, but $40 for something that's only digital sucks. If I don't like it after a couple days, I can't loan/give/sell to anyone else. Then they will come out with a physical retail version or a heavy discount the game.

I got "Inside" for Xbox One. I am not a big fan and I spent $20 to download it, and I just went back to older games I bought. I guess vids ain't what they used to be.

[kupomogli]

Digital sucks imo. Despite Yakuza being one of my favorite on the PS2 and PS3, platted both Yakuza 3 and 4, I refuse to purchase Yakuza 5 on the PS3 until it's $10 or less because it's digital only. If the game came out at retail, just like Yakuza 3 and 4, I'd have purchased it day one at $60.

I'lll rarely buy digital, but when I do, it's very cheap. I'm patient enough to wait for the flash sales for however long it takes. Even though I don't like digital, there's also convenience, and any time a favorite PS1 game hits $3 or less, I'll pick it up. PS2 games go on sale but I don't bother, they can only be played on the PS3, and in that case I can juse use my disc. Can't use the disc for the Vita and don't have to go through the hassle of creating an eboot file on the PSP. Anything before the PS1 though, I'll emulate on my PSP if I want to play it portable.

[celerystalker]

I just won't pay for digital. I'm sure I miss out on a good or great game here and there, but there are more than enough video games out there to take up my time. I do like to keep an eye out and snag it if one gets a physical release now and then, but I'm content if I don't get to play a game in digital-only format.

[PreZZ]

I always bought physical in the past, but now that xbox one and ps4 games need mandatory hdd install and huge patch updates, I dont mind buying digital. If you have someone you really trust, you can share your account and all your digital games can be shared and even played online at the same time, it makes a lot more sense and on psn you dont pay taxes (16% sales tax here! thats 93$ for a new retail game!) I still buy a lot of physical games on my vita and 3ds, wii u and all retro consoles. But games not running from physical media like before sucks and uses precious hdd space, 500 gig gets filled really quick.

[Tanooki]

Your beef is why I primarily won't buy digital games unless they're of the free to $10 range and $10 tends to push it unless you have some screwball bundle like those entire seasons of pinball arcade for 1/2 off 1-2 times a year (so they're $15) as you get 10-20 tables. I will also rack up google survey pocket change to buy stuff too on android. I don't think it is fair if the game is shit or you're fed up with it, you're stuck. Game reviewers mostly these days are a mix of fanboy and paid liars, it doesn't help get a solid feel on a game you can't return or resell if it blows. Once things go entirely digital I'm out unless you have a GoG like solution that spreads like fire (or I'll just buy from them.) Sure you're still stuck, but at least you own it, and they do those insane 50-90% off sales so it stings far less.

[mailman187666]

I am a PS + member, so I would think that within a certain amount of time I Am Setsuna should get some form of discount eventually. I am almost finished with the Odin Sphere remake on PS4 and have been eyeing Setsuna as my next game, since I saw it was similar to Chrono Trigger. By the time I'm done with Odin Sphere, No Man's Sky will be close to release.

Seems like it only makes sense to buy expensive digital games if:

1. You don't have any physical releases on the horizon you are looking forward to.

2. It is discounted or becomes free to subscribers.

3. You have the disposable income at the time of release.

If it were a $20 or even a $25 download, I'd probably be playing it and not posting about it.

[Tanooki]

I recently let go of PSN. I got bored again of Destiny with my nephews more busy with more important stuff so I let PS+ die when I had to change up my card.

I'm in this weird spot with it all, not sure what I'm going to do anymore with this stuff. I Am Setsuna looks nice but it's also on PC, surely never to hit gog just Steam because Square sucks, so I can always watch for some 50+% off sale that way which I doubt PSN would ever match.

[BlastProcessing402]

I had to resort to digital for The Old Hunters, since they didn't release the complete Bloodborne version physically in America. I still feel dirty, but I bought it using credit I already had on Amazon, so I could sort of justify it that way. If I'd had to buy it direct from Sony, I don't know if I could have brought myself to do it.

[Zthun]

I'm starting to not like the pricing on digital games. I downloaded "The Witness" when it was new. I played and enjoyed it but I wish I could pass it along to someone else or even sell it online for an extra $10 for gas money. I'll probably not play it again unless I show it to someone who is curious about the game.

I really want to play I Am Setsua, but $40 for something that's only digital sucks. If I don't like it after a couple days, I can't loan/give/sell to anyone else. Then they will come out with a physical retail version or a heavy discount the game.

I got "Inside" for Xbox One. I am not a big fan and I spent $20 to download it, and I just went back to older games I bought. I guess vids ain't what they used to be.

If it makes you feel better, I Am Setsuna is just OK. It's not anything near the quality of Chrono Trigger; it's basically the equivalent of what Mighty Number 9 is to Rock Man. It's not a bad game, but it falls flat in comparison. Chrono Trigger is too high of a bar to live up to, and it will probably go down in history as one of the, if not the, best RPG ever made.

I've always said, Chrono Cross' only downfall was that it wasn't Chrono Trigger...

[WCP]

I really want to play I Am Setsua, but $40 for something that's only digital sucks. If I don't like it after a couple days, I can't loan/give/sell to anyone else.


You mean you want to actually "OWN" your games instead of a long-term rental or long-term lease ? Are you crazy ? I thought the whole idea of ownership died years ago...

/Sarcasm

Yeah, I totally agree. I have this old-fashioned quality where I actually like to own shit. I know it's a quaint belief in these modern times where everybody wants to rent and lease things in digital walled gardens where they have almost zero ownership rights. Personally my take is this... if i can't sell it to somebody else, do I really own it ?

[Gameguy]

If it's only available as a download there's no reason to buy it, just download it for free. Either way you can still play it just the same.

[eskobar]

I have purchased a few digital games and it was ok at the moment because I played them. But after I changed my PS3 I finally understood what were the disadvantages of digital games ...

I partially regret the purchase of those games and dlc but mostly for preservation issues, because a few of them are not physically available and there is no hint of that happening in the near future, so when the PSN is not available that game would simply disappear ...

The digital experience is different also, when you have an history of updates, if you try to recreate what happened when the game was released, the experience wouldn't be the same for a great deal of games ...


Hopefully one day there would be a Mass Effect with ALL the dlc included in physical format. :)

[mailman187666]

I don't mind getting digital games. If it's something I know I want and it isn't available on disc, fine. I know what I'm getting and I'm choosing to spend my money on it. It's when a game cost $40 and is digital only is when it becomes a difficult decision. If I end up not liking the game, it seems a big waste that I'm stuck with.

[Tanooki]

That's my biggest beef, being scammed on paid for reviews and planted 'customer' reviews on various sites for a $20 or a $40 game, then it blows and you can't return it. In recent years I've noticed a 24 hours trend on google play where if it sucks, you can request a refund and they disable the game for you to delete. I think if the console kids would do this, more would be accepting. As it stands though I tend to cap out in the $5-10 range on a game unless i'm already well familiar with it, may inch up to $15 but that's obscenely rare (so far been just Soul Caliber and a discounted Final Fantasy game or two.)

[kupomogli]

Digital sucks imo. Despite Yakuza being one of my favorite on the PS2 and PS3, platted both Yakuza 3 and 4, I refuse to purchase Yakuza 5 on the PS3 until it's $10 or less because it's digital only. If the game came out at retail, just like Yakuza 3 and 4, I'd have purchased it day one at $60.

Hey kupomogli. I'm you from the future. Yakuza 5 still doesn't get a physical release, but it's free on PS+ next month.

[Gamevet]

The only digital game that I've paid more than $10 for on consoles were After Burner Climax and Radiant Silvergun. Getting a physical copy of Radiant Silvergun isn't going to happen, so I gladly accepted a digital enhanced copy.

The PC front (pun intended) is a lot worse. I paid $60 for Star Wars Battlefront and I can honestly say that it was the biggest waste of cash I've ever spent on a digital copy of a game. It sucks that there are very few titles on the PC, where you can actually get a physical copy of a current game.

[bb_hood]

When Rocksmith 2014 was released I spent 60$ for the digital download. Since then Ive spent well over 500$ on additional content. No regrets whatsoever. They are constantly releasing excellent content.
Buying the digital version was probably a better choice then the hardcopy.. I play this so much (almost every day for the last 3 years) that the disc drive would probably have exploded by now..

[PizzaKat]

Ive only bought digital on games that are expensive such as The Misadventures of Tron Bonne and Mega Man Legends. Then the older games from PS1 with a couple of PS2 these all cost a few bucks. I got them from their flash sale.

[Sailorneorune]

There are quite a few games that are worth the digital asking price that aren't worth the secondhand physical asking price.

(going from US/JP PSN and US Wii/Wii U Virtual Console)

Megaman Legends 1, 2, Tron Bonne
Castlevania 3, Rondo of Blood, Chronicles, SotN
Pulseman
ToeJam & Earl
Shining Force 1, 2
Phantasy Star 4
many TG-16 games (esp. Dynastic Hero)
Namco Museum 1-5, Encore (Encore is JP only)
Harmful Park
Rakugaki Showtime
LSD: Dream Emulator (don't know much about this one, but it's probably worth the $7 or so based on how much people seem to like it)
Silhouette Mirage
Metroid Prime Trilogy
EarthBound
Kirby's Return to Dream Land
Metroid Prime Trilogy

Then there are the games I consider worth buying digitally because I think they're great:
Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney 1-3 (either Wii or 3DS), Dual Destinies, Spirit of Justice
Picross e and 3D Round 2
Pushmo
Harmoknight

With the exception of the Ace Attorneys and Picross 3D Round 2, these are all $20 or less.

[BlastProcessing402]

If it's only available as a download there's no reason to buy it, just download it for free. Either way you can still play it just the same.

Yeah okay sure. good luck with that on anything past PS360.

[Tron 2.0]

If it's digital only sure i'll buy it.Unless the game has a physical release then i will buy it that way.As of late i've been debating buying the digital release of Ys Origin for the PS4,or just wait on the physical release.Still it sucks when a game is digital only since it won't be available forever.I remember missing out on the likes of afterburner climax,kept putting it off and now it's gone.

[jb143]

Your beef is why I primarily won't buy digital games unless they're of the free to $10 range and $10 tends to push it unless you have some screwball bundle like those entire seasons of pinball arcade for 1/2 off 1-2 times a year (so they're $15) as you get 10-20 tables. I will also rack up google survey pocket change to buy stuff too on android. I don't think it is fair if the game is shit or you're fed up with it, you're stuck. Game reviewers mostly these days are a mix of fanboy and paid liars, it doesn't help get a solid feel on a game you can't return or resell if it blows. Once things go entirely digital I'm out unless you have a GoG like solution that spreads like fire (or I'll just buy from them.) Sure you're still stuck, but at least you own it, and they do those insane 50-90% off sales so it stings far less.

On Android, you can get a refund through the Google Play store within 48 hours of purchase. That's more than enough time to see if it was worth it. Heck, that's enough time to beat a lot of android games. After 48 hours, you can always contact the developer and they can refund your purchase.

I would be very surprised if the other online marketplaces didn't have similar policies.

[Tanooki]

Then be surprised, google kind of stands out, and it is not across the board but it is developers choice. Apple, Steam, etc theyre not into giving people out 48 hour trial windows.

[jb143]

Then be surprised, google kind of stands out, and it is not across the board but it is developers choice. Apple, Steam, etc theyre not into giving people out 48 hour trial windows.

Well that sucks for consumers then. On the one hand though, it's abused on Google. The app I have on there got quite a bit of canceled orders and I'm sure most of them were by people wanting to play the game for free instead of simply evaluating it with any real intention of purchase. And I could have sworn it was an hour after purchase instead of 48 hours until I looked it up. I was planning on making an app that look that into account.

Edit---
It actually looks like Steam has a pretty generous refund policy.
http://store.steampowered.com/steam_refunds

It doesn't matter. Valve will, upon request via help.steampowered.com, issue a refund for any reason, if the request is made within fourteen days of purchase, and the title has been played for less than two hours. There are more details below, but even if you fall outside of the refund rules we’ve described, you can ask for a refund anyway and we’ll take a look.

Apple, it sounds like you really have to fight for your case. And the others are hit or miss if you contact a customer representative(mostly miss)...but yeah, it looks like you're right, there's no official refund policy on most digital marketplaces.

[Tanooki]

I forgot about that one on Steam, kind of have to look for it unlike google which is up front about it. Apple is like pulling teeth, and even then good luck with that. Nintendo, MS, Sony they don't have those give backs either if stuff sucks, and they're peddlers of $60 downloads too. It's why I just mainly bother with GoG or private buys, and if not that I cheap out and wait for insane sales or for android I'll take google surveys and earh free money to rack up to buy something.

If more were like Google Play and Steam with being truly up front and fair to consumers not sticking them with a total turd I'd feel far better about stuff, especially if you combine with the GoG Feature of downloading full installers just in case licenses get wonky or other stuff causes a place to go belly up as you have a backup. It's still digital, but with an insurance policy.

[Gameguy]

Yeah okay sure. good luck with that on anything past PS360.
I was mostly talking about PC versions. There's nothing on modern consoles that interest me at all. Not a single thing. Everything good is on PC now, or portables which still use physical media. I would like to play the recent Shantae games but if they're only on consoles I probably won't get around to it. PC versions maybe eventually. I barely play games anymore as it is.

[Niku-Sama]

I think any more the way to go digital only is if its a free to play game. but I mean it makes more sense to me, if you decide to pay money in the game for something then that's your choice.

as I type this I realize I think I let my 75% off coupon expire for warframe platinum....shit

[Aussie2B]

If someone refuses to buy modern games that are digital-only, then they have no business playing those games. Developers, publishers, and localizers put a lot of blood, sweat, and tears, not to mention money and time, into bringing games out, even if they are digital-only, which the publisher might have had no choice on, if the game wouldn't be profitable as a physical release. People who want to play those games owe it to the publisher to compensate them for their work. It's one thing if we're talking about long-dead hardware where the games can only be bought on the secondhand market, but I thought the members of this board were better than to advocate for piracy of modern games. Stealing is stealing, and you're not entitled to play a game for free just because it's digital-only.

[celerystalker]

If someone refuses to buy modern games that are digital-only, then they have no business playing those games. Developers, publishers, and localizers put a lot of blood, sweat, and tears, not to mention money and time, into bringing games out, even if they are digital-only, which the publisher might have had no choice on, if the game wouldn't be profitable as a physical release. People who want to play those games owe it to the publisher to compensate them for their work. It's one thing if we're talking about long-dead hardware where the games can only be bought on the secondhand market, but I thought the members of this board were better than to advocate for piracy of modern games. Stealing is stealing, and you're not entitled to play a game for free just because it's digital-only.

I agree with this completely. I don't buy digital. However, I don't play them either unless it's co-op at a friend's house or something, never piracy. I do, however, avidly support physical releases if they come out later. Capcom Digital Collection, the Live Arcade discs, the Limbo/Trials/'Splosion Man disc, Japanese Strider... I'll gladly pay and play finally when those releases come. Otherwise, I'm perfectly content to not play them. I have plenty of physical media to play, and I'd never pirate them.

[Rickstilwell1]

I kind of gave up recently and just went and bought the digital-only games I wanted to play. I can't justify paying insane prices for Limited Run games that are just bought up by scalpers and resold like Amiibos and NES Classic Editions. $40 extra... I'd rather pretend they don't exist. I also missed out on the Castle of Illusion remake and realized crap now if I ever want to play that I'll have to buy a whole used PS3 or Xbox 360 system that has it already installed or something just to play it. Or see if anyone in my general area has it on their system and see if I can borrow theirs in exchange for letting them borrow something of mine.

EDIT: ?!?!?! It returned to PSN and Xbox Live? Ok, maybe I'll just get it now in case it gets delisted again.

[WelcomeToTheNextLevel]

What happens 20 years from now when all these servers are shut down? Sit down crying because there's no way to get the game that was available on digital? And forget servers shutting down, what if the publisher pulls it from the market?

I hate digital download because it gives too much control to the game companies. Game companies do great things and all, but at the end of the day they're the customers' bitch. We bring game companies into dominance (Nintendo, Sony, Sega, Capcom, Activision, etc) and we can put them out. If people stopped buying all Nintendo products for instance they'd be out of business by Christmas.

[Emperor Megas]

I agree with this completely. I don't buy digital. However, I don't play them either unless it's co-op at a friend's house or something, never piracy. I do, however, avidly support physical releases if they come out later. Capcom Digital Collection, the Live Arcade discs, the Limbo/Trials/'Splosion Man disc, Japanese Strider... I'll gladly pay and play finally when those releases come. Otherwise, I'm perfectly content to not play them. I have plenty of physical media to play, and I'd never pirate them.This is where I am with it.

[o.pwuaioc]

I have some games on Steam, but I stopped buying anything new there. I figure I'll just get my money's worth now and when servers are shut down, I can retreat to my physical media then. So what if I can't some digital game anymore?

Worst case scenario, I have no moral qualms about downloading a bunch of ROMs.

[WelcomeToTheNextLevel]

I kind of gave up recently and just went and bought the digital-only games I wanted to play. I can't justify paying insane prices for Limited Run games that are just bought up by scalpers and resold like Amiibos and NES Classic Editions. $40 extra... I'd rather pretend they don't exist. I also missed out on the Castle of Illusion remake and realized crap now if I ever want to play that I'll have to buy a whole used PS3 or Xbox 360 system that has it already installed or something just to play it. Or see if anyone in my general area has it on their system and see if I can borrow theirs in exchange for letting them borrow something of mine.

EDIT: ?!?!?! It returned to PSN and Xbox Live? Ok, maybe I'll just get it now in case it gets delisted again.

That's what I like about physical media. Game companies can bitch all they want but they can't pull the copies off the shelves that they've already made. EA could say "we don't want anyone buying Madden 17 anymore" but there isn't shit EA can do about the millions of copies of Madden 17 out there, they can stop making new copies of Madden 17 but there's nothing they can do about the copies that have already been sold being sold on the used market.

A company shouldn't be able to say "if you didn't buy the game in 2017, you're SOL and can't ever get a copy". WHAT IF IT'S 2042 AND I WASN'T EVEN FUCKING BORN YET IN 2017? I was born in 1992, I have numerous games that were released (and even went out of production) before I was born. My oldest games were made when my dad was 8 and my mom was 6 - two cartridges for the Fairchild Channel F and the console itself, from 1976. People born today, or many years from now, should be able to go to a retro game store (or eBay, or whatever online shopping websites are popular then) and buy games made when they were born.

If someone born in 1992 can go to a retro game store or eBay in 2017 and get games from 1992 for Genesis, SNES, TurboGrafx, NES, etc, why couldn't someone born in, say, 2025 go to a retro game store or online shopping website in 2050 and get games from 2025 for whatever consoles we have then?

PC gaming is a bit different because even if the publisher takes it off line, there's probably somewhere online you can get the game if it's popular enough.

[BlastProcessing402]

Download, not digital, all games are digital, whether on cart, disc or download onto HDD/flash.

Download is only acceptable when free, in my opinion. Like Stick of Truth included with Fractured Butthole or a pack in with console.

[gbpxl]

Digital-only things I've bought over the years- Xbox Live Arcade games, yeah they took down Marble Blast Ultra, no way to play that now. They took down Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3 once they released the Arcade Pack, can't play that now. Huge waste of money- will never buy digital-only stuff again

[PreZZ]

What happens 20 years from now when all these servers are shut down? Sit down crying because there's no way to get the game that was available on digital? And forget servers shutting down, what if the publisher pulls it from the market?

I hate digital download because it gives too much control to the game companies. Game companies do great things and all, but at the end of the day they're the customers' bitch. We bring game companies into dominance (Nintendo, Sony, Sega, Capcom, Activision, etc) and we can put them out. If people stopped buying all Nintendo products for instance they'd be out of business by Christmas.

I get the whole thing about not liking digital games over physical, but Xbox are doing it right and they did change my mind on the topic. I hope they continue with the whole backward compatibility moving forward with all future systems like they are doing right now, its crazy that I can pop in my Crimson skies disc bought in 2001 and play it upscaled 9x on my one X , without any stupid fees! And most of all the games I bought digitally (and physically) on 360 i can also play on my Xbox one, and some even feature 4k upgrades, no need to pay for new features and they keep my digital purchases relevant and alive for quite a while. Also tp the ones buying physical games to be future proof on xbox and playstation, day 1 without all the patches a lot are unplayable, and that sucks.

[kupomogli]

Rondo of Blood, SotN
Shining Force 1, 2
Phantasy Star 4


With these games you can atleast purchase them in a collection instead of having to resort purchasing digital releases.

Castlevania Dracula X Chronicles you're getting a better version than the original Rondo of Blood that also includes Rondo of Blood and SotN. You don't get the original voice acting with SotN though, so if that means a lot to you then you're missing that, but it does include some extras that make it the best version beyond that, including a Maria mode where Maria actually plays similar to her Rondo of Blood self.

Shining Force 1, 2, and Phantasy Star 4 are all on Sonic's Ultimate Genesis Collection.

Collection or not, owning some kind of retail version is better than digital imo. One of the biggest reasons I've purchased the SNES Classic was to own an official version of Earthbound. It might not be the cartridge, but considering the SNES Classic isn't meant to have any content other than the 21 games, it's as close to a retail release as you can get than buying the game off Ebay.

[megasdkirby]

I really wish there would be way to backup digital games on a separate media for the time when servers no longer offer them. That way, they don't get lost on time.

For example, the PS Vita. I love how it is possible to backup the games on a PC and can be retrieved at a future date. That way, I can slowly back up ally digital games and, if I want to play a game I legally purchased that is no longer around on PSN, I can just go to the backup and get it from there. I can't do that on a PS3, and I fear that Sony will eventually stop online access and even online PSN access to all my digital games. And I have over 1,500 PS3 digital items.

[Tanooki]

Agreed, it's why I don't buy stuff from digital stores that costs more than $5 usually $10 max in some cases because they come with an expiration date and really aren't owned. The thought of all those losses behind those closed off systems is just sad.

[Edmond Dantes]

My answer to the topic's title would be "yes," but... with reservations.

I once posted (probably like a thousand years ago) that one reason I got out of emulation was a personal flaw I noticed: When I had thousands of games, I stopped caring about the games proper and more about just acquiring more roms. Even when I did play them, I would usually just play until they began to get difficult then turn them off and move on to a different game. In other words I was no longer able to take the games seriously or get invested in them, whereas when I have a physical copy I DO feel like there's legitimacy and a reason to take it seriously there.

Now, originally I only got on GOG for the free games, but later wound up staying for the cheap games on sale (including some I really wanted, like the Telltale Sam & Max games). I wound up building a decent library, but then later I realized it would be a good idea to download and backup everything I could....

And, well... that was tiring, especially after the manager I was using stopped working due to a firefox update.

But what was worse was I ultimately realized this was putting me in the exact same situation that emulation did: getting fifty games for five dollars is effectively in the same mental headspace as downloading an entire library of Sega Genesis ROMs free, and carries with it the same mental approximations... so I wound up with a lot of games I had no serious intention of playing, or which I played for like five minutes then got bored of almost immediately. In a lot of cases I even forget I have certain games on GOG.

So as time went on I became reluctant to GOG a game unless it was a case of "wanting to play it RIGHT NOW," and instead would rather go to ebay for a physical cart or disc, simply because I'll take those more seriously.