According to NPD Group’s Online Gaming 2012 report, one-third of consumers who bought video games during the past couple of months prefer to buy digital games than getting physical copies. This, of course, means that two-thirds of gamers would rather purchase actual copies of games, but the results for people who prefer digital games are up 10% from last year. Wii U owners will be able to purchase both physical copies of games and digital copies when the console launches this year.
Hmmm, I only prefer physical copies so I can trade them back in for money :D
Unfortunately that is what kills the good developers, it’s great for the consumer but for a game dev studio who normally doesn’t see much of the profits it’s terrible! Once your copy is traded in no one involved in making the game gets paid for subsequent sales , if no one gets paid no new games get funded because they are seen as a loss even if the game is insanely popular in the pre owned market. Only the shop that does the trade in gets money for that. But it’s not the consumers fault really its the shops.
Well, if you bought the copy, they got the money for that game. If you didn’t trade it in, they still wouldn’t get any extra money. So why not trade it in? They’re not going to get any more money from that one game, whether you trade it in or keep it.
trading it in means someone buys it used, is the point
devs don’t make money off of used games
And contractors don’t make money from used house sales, and instrument manufacturers don’t make money from used instrument sales, yet both embrace the used market. Why can the software industry not do the same. I buy something, it’s my right to sell it on again if I choose.
i never said anything to the contrary
I was explaining to the guy why used games don’t benefit developers
I only buy used games for ones that aren’t sold anymore, (Virtual Console can fix that though) and in case one of my games break, but I guess that wouldn’t happen if it was saved in the console. Still I prefer physical copies, + it is faster than havin to downloadit.
well that the problem with having bad games, most people trade there games like most of there collection ( i seen it on stores by the way) for COD just to have it free.
One time I went to GameStop to preorder a copy of both Pokemon Black 2 and White 2. I was waiting on deck in line for a half an hour because the person in front of me had two huge garbage bags of used games to trade in. They even brought in games from the NES and Dreamcast days (which I have no idea why anybody would trade in; they’re collector’s items these days).
I like having a physical copy, but do like the conveniance of digital. I normally only buy digital if i know i probably wont go back on the game when im done, seeing as it takes up space on my hard drive. Of course, seeing as wiiu will have external hard drives, that may change, seeing as i can basically have games stored on multiple hard drive if i run out if storage, long as i can redownload it if i loose it anyway
i buy the digital if there no physical copy on stores.
AMEN
Hard copies are a must for me.
I like physical copies if the option exists. :D I like boxart and filling up my shelves with games xD
Agreed!
yeah
me too. I buy my Wii games because I want the box manual and disc… Otherwise I could just download it
YES! you can’t do that with digital!
i would be nice if Nintendo does with with Wii games as well….. what i cant find some games on the store, what wrong with that.
Nothing. If all games are offered by both means of distribution, games that are no longer in production can still be purchased and played without being considered “dead”.
For this reason I think it would be awesome if they made the digital games appear on a virtual shelf for you to choose from.
moi favours physical copy for self satisfaction when I look at them. I’m not against digital copy by any stretch.
I agree, I actually own the Xbox Arcade Triple Pack (Limbo, Trials HD and Splosion man)
shut up nobody cares, Xbox fanboy
smh
Only owning an xbox doesn’t automatically make you a fanboy… moron
Hes not a fanboy…hes just stating an example of a physical copy of games that were just digital. Besides, theyre great games
This is what starts console wars. Besides, a real gamer owns multiple consoles and play most games (that are good of course :P )
Same, i own a Wii and a PS3, and will own a WiiU. Love all games on both systems, i just hate Microsoft as a gaming market, they dont care about the consumer, just money, so i’ll refuse to ever buy their consoles.
I own only Ps2, Wii, Ds Lite and 3ds, but that i like nintendo(especially Zelda and Pokemon. mario is very goos too wit Super Smash Bros.) does’nt mean all the other developers are bad. I mean, that i dont like Sony- games much as Nintendo- games. I have so many exiting Wii games still without playing, i do not have to buy more consoles.
But i like physical versions too.
True.
I own a GameCube, PS2, Xbox 360, PS3, GBC, GBA, GBASP, DS, DSi, 3DS, PSP original, and the Vita.
Can’t believe I forgot to list Wii.
Wow never been called an Xbox fanboy before, especially considering I own all 3 consoles and have owned my Wii longer then my PS360. Ignoring the fact that I was merely stating that I bought the disc of arcade games then just downbloading it
You’re a fucking idiot.
I like physical units for games… but sometimes games are cheaper in digital format and I buy those instead. Also, you can sell the game if you didn’t like it.
I don’t like changing disks all the time.
Exactly. Once I have a disk in a system I end up leaving it there for weeks on end because it feels like I’m giving up on the game if I take it out. It’s very freeing to feel like my games are all with me on my device– I will be first in thankfully-metaphorical line to buy New Super Mario Bros. 2 digitally.
Well, i have to sometimes take it from Wii, because my Brother plays diffrent games sometimes. But, yeah, thats maybe only think, why i would purchase digital version, if they have same price.
plus when they get scratch as well….OHHH that makes mii mad.
Hey you can always fix the scratch but if your game console,harddrive or SD car get corrupted and can’t download the game again you are in big trouble.
Im sure youd be able to redownload, you can on psn store, that why i always deleted downloaded games when i done with them
Yeah, agreed. That’s why I don’t really feel comfortable purchasing games in Steam. If I get banned even though I didn’t do a thing (has happened to people before) My entire ownership my these ga,es will be rendered invalid and my money will have gone don the drain. I hope they use a cloud-based account system on the next-gens.
I like physical for those games a LOVE…
For the others…. digital is ok.
Same here, AAA titles and Nintendo exclusives will be on disk for me.
I like physical copies, but, due to the insane taxes here in Brazil, I’ll probably end up saving a lot of money by buying digital. Since I barely ever get rid of my games, the only thing I’ll miss is being able to borrow and lend games from and to friends, which is nice but I can live without.
Indeed, me too! Here in Mexico most anticipated games or consoles are much more expensive than the prices in other countries… It’s a shame. If those titles are more cheap, maybe it’s worth buying them, BUT if at the end they cost almost the same I’d rather the physical cartridge. And, as you say, we can borrow those digital games to friends (or in my case to my girlfriend) SO I’ll maybe buy games I don’t care a lot as a fan or the one I know I won’t borrow…
If all fails, physical it’s best ;)
i heard about ur region has expensive consoles there.
I would never buy a download game… I only buy physical games
meh more power to yah buddy.
But what about those Download-exclusive games?
Physical copies all the way, plus all the collectors edition goodies. Not to mention I have every game box and console packaging since I got my snes Mario all stars bundle. 20-30 Games on each Nintendo console since then plus the handhelds plus my pc collection, all those trees, they are in a better place now, as a Nintendo product.
It’d be great to see an option with the WiiU of buying retail games both in physical format and through download. Nintendo are confirmed to be pushing for downloading more games through their eShop:
What I am referring to is that if downloaded games were made cheaper than retail games, then you would get an option – buy the cheaper version and never be able to sell it off. Or buy the physical version for the regular price we pay now, and get the functionality that some of us all so much love and desire.
If this works then potentially physical formats will hold their value better, and as games get older, buying a downloaded format should hold competitive prices.
Personally, I like physical games, because you can never suddenly lose the data, or if your system breaks, you still have the games. Also, it’s just nice to have some things that were worked on by the developers, like the box-art. Now, digital games are fine for things like exclusives that are only digital, but even if a game is sold out, I would still prefer the physical copy, and I also never trade my games in. Physical copies can go up in value, and are sometimes collectible. Digital copies cannot, and are not collectible. (Just look at games like Final Fantasy 7, and Ocarina of Time)
i’ve always fancied physical over digital. nothing beats the smell of cracking open a brand new video game!
I used to only use physical copies, until I had too many games unplayable due to scratches or other problems. I am sure that the 1/3 are gamers that played a lot of games on the PC, thus downloaded games since very few retailers sell physical copies of PC games.
There are many advantages to downloads:
1 – You don’t have to leave your home to purchase your game (no waiting in long lines, and often can play if before people who wait for the midnight launches at stores)
2 – Multiple copies can be made. Once you download it, you can copy it to multiple hard drives for backup, although most places will let you download it as often as you need.
3 – Faster load times – DVDs and Blurays are very slow to load compared to a hard drive, resulting in less waiting and more playing.
4 – Free drive for something else / Faster Start – No need for a disc in the DVD/Bluray, so you can leave another game or music disc (any disc really) in the drive. This also means there is no need to find the disc and put it in the machine before playing it.
This.
There are advantges, i lost my Metroid Prime 3 disk, i have no idea how or where. But if it was digital i wouldnt have that problem, or i could just re-download it.
If they WiiU cases look better than the Wii ones, id still buy physical, but if they keep tem the way they are, id be put off, theyre pretty boring and ugly.
Don’t blame your inability to take care of your game discs as a problem with physical copies. I’ve never once had a disc become unplayable due to scratches. All you’ve gotta do is take care of them.
1.) It always takes me less time to go to the store to buy a game than it does to download one (unless it’s a small game. AAA $60 titles take forever to download though.) so point 1 is merely a matter of opinion or your own internet speed.
2. good point
3. good point.
4. irrelevant. The laziness of people is not something to brag about, and it’s not a good reason for why digital is better. People being too lazy to change discs doesn’t make digital better.
Ultimately, the only points that are completely correct are 2 and 3, the rest are matters of personal issue.
We also don’t know what kind of disks the Wii U uses yet. If they still use DVDs, disk swapping may also be a problem, so number 4 may take on a bigger meaning.
They use 12cm “WiiU” optical disks with 25 GB storage, duno if theyre doing dual layered, but most likely for some games
I hope they’re doing dual-layered.
Imagine how much content SSB4 would have if it goes up to 50GB. Maybe 100GB if they dual-layered double-sided.
I know SSBB used a dual layer, i think SS did as well
smart gentlemen Wii got here :D
I don’t trust digital downloads. That’s why I get physical copies.
My brother would hate me if I bought a digital copy…
I’ve only gotten a digital copy when it’s something that isn’t in stores. I personally love having the game in my hands and putting it next to its other cases.
I like both Physical and Digital copy, 50 50
Both have their advantages and Dis-Advantages, it really matters what you like more.
But the big problem with a Physical Disc copy is that it Wears and Tears. over time it will get more scratches and become useless.. so you really have to be careful with Discs.
Yeah. My Brawl disc just went kaput two weeks ago.
Digital all the way, because of Gasoline.
I like them both equally.
I like the physical copies because I want to hold the CD case in my hand, read the instruction manual and see the awesome boxart. I’ve never downloaded anything digitally on a console yet, so I have no opinion on that. Leave luck to heaven.
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I prefer physical copies of games because I like actually owning them, being able to do whatever, play them on other consoles, etc.
I like both physical and downloadable games. Although, I mostly buy physical games, I do not mind buying downloadable games, especially if I can not find them anywhere in stores, anymore.