Would you buy a digital-only console?

If the next Playstation, Xbox, or Nintendo console... was all-digital... would you buy it?

Personally... I don't think I would. A physical collection of games is truly yours, to be played anytime you want, and it looks nice. I've bought digital games before and the experience is a bit lacking. A physical box gives you a fuller, richer experience. It is permanently yours.

I don't buy movies digitally. When I truly have a favorite movie, I buy it on Blu-ray. The same with video games. I prefer having the physical product.

Would you buy a digital-only console? If you listen to some people, they say physical media is out, that it's outdated and that digital is the future. Do you agree or disagree with that? Do you think physical media is obsolete and behind the times?

I was born in 1987, so I think it might be an old-fashioned thing on my part. I've used cartridge games and disc games all my life, and seeing the option to purchase a game/movie digitally just looks wrong to me. That is one reason I might buy Nintendo Switch someday, it uses cartridge games.

One thing I don't like about digital media is... how disposable it is. There is nothing special about it. It is soulless. It is just something you click on and nothing more. It is in stark contrast to CDs, DVDs, vinyl records, etc, these are physical products that can be collected, displayed and passed on to future generations.

I think society itself is becoming disposable. Everything seemed more lasting back in the good old days, rather it be products, relationships, jobs, vehicles, etc.

No, not unless HDDs are 2tb and more digital downloads are available at retail stores which go on sale.

i don't know why I read this as a different question before clicking. I kinda thought we were referring to the "cloud consoles" that people were talking about at the beginning of this gen. We're just starting to see companies put them together, in particular Nvidia, but apparently they're still struggling a bit with framerates, at least with respect to the PC gaming standard.

But your question, not to be a jerk, is a little provincial to PC gamers. *adjusts monocle*

I'd prefer digital as long as games are downloadable, not streamed. Digital games don't get lost or scratched, nor do you need to swap them every time you change the game you're playing... and there's nothing more annoying than buying a disc, and then having to wait while a 20gb day one update is applied.

@sealionact: don't your updates download during installation?

Simple answer, hell no.

Unless Sony, Microsoft, and Nintendo are willing to allow multiple digital storefronts to sell their games, no, I don't think consoles can do this right like the PC platform has.

Right now with physical copies, you can buy at store A for 50 bucks, but maybe get a 10% at store B, while store C has a buy one, get the first game free kind of deal or something...so good competition. On PC, it might be all digital, but between Origin, GoG, and Steam (in addition to all the other retailers of Steam keys) there is also a lot of competition.

If consoles went all-digital, though? Well, the console manufacturer would be the only seller of games.

I prefer digital to physical; I thought I would, but here I am 15 or so years later after using Steam to install Half-Life 2 and damned if I am not happy.

No I personally won't, I have a PC for that I don't need always online digital console so im good. Maybe this is for random people who don't have a PC and who don't care about anything.

I prefer getting my stuff on physical format. I still even buy my movies and music on physical media. I won’t say that I would never buy a console that only supports digital gaming but any console that supports physical formats would be what I would go for first and foremost.

I buy digital sometimes, but I would hate that. If it was absolutely the only option, I guess I'd deal with it. But I prefer having options when it comes to purchasing games.

I won't buy a digital only console. I love my physical collection. It makes me happy to wake up at morning and see all those shelfs with my games.

@npiet1: Yes, but the update takes longer than the installation.

@qx0d: Yes definitely! It will be cheaper, more environmentally friendly and I hate the clutter!

Actually I am looking forward to the day when everything is entirely streamed.

Of course you will need to have a very good internet connection.

I haven't had a disc drive in my PC in almost 10 years.

Yeah I would. Preferably with a service like Game Pass.

I hate messing around with discs.

(also born in '87)

I'm already all digital with my PC and that's a negative point I have with my PC over my consoles. I'm a collector and enjoy sharing games with friends so they get to share the experience. I also enjoy having something to show for my money.

Also, It needs to be noted that all digital already shows signs of being anti-consumer. Despite being cheaper to produce, those savings don't carry over to the buyer. I regularly find older physical games for 20 bucks while they still cost 60 in the digital store. With all digital your left with less options because you gave up the ability to buy elsewhere for the sake of convince.

Haha...maybe they are gonna put it right next to a Dell and pass it off as PC to unknown customers.

But yeah if they give me a disc-less console I expected an unlimited Internet plan to go with that.

I'm on the fence here, honestly. I have a feeling they're looking to offer a cheaper alternative in a console, and this may be a way to do that. I'm not sure I would buy one, unless the price was attractive enough, and with enough games available that I wanted to play.

Nope.

I have a 150 GB connection and somehow I was still buffering on YouTube. The Online infrastructure is nowhere close.

For the most part I buy games digitally, and movies/tv series physically.

As for a digital only console though...only if I was able to download the games onto the system, not stream them. Also if it was membership based only I wouldn’t be interested.

No, never. If a console maker doesn't give me the option for physical media then they will lose me as a customer and I will purchase the competiting console that does still give me the option for physical media.

Well I'm almost there ...

I mean half my collection of games on the Switch is digital (I bought Mario Kart 8, Super Mario U, Smash and Pokémon Pikachu digital) and probably more than 75% of my collection of games on the Vita are digital.

The only problem with digital is the space on the harddrive ...

It is really fun to not have to switch disc or cartridge to play something else.

I dunno...I mean I would if I new my purchases were protected and would carry onto the next console. I got burned pretty hard with digital purchases last with the Wii and PS3. Now I have the new consoles and all those games are gonzo. My pc is all digital purchases but that feels safe for the obvious reasons. I can keep them forever and just keep upgrading every 5 years or so.

No. Not at this stage anyway... maybe the "generation" after.

That is my idea of hell.

If it had games I want that I can't find elsewhere, then yes, since I don't have a choice.

I'd prefer consoles to not be all digital though.

I’m pretty much all digital now so I don’t really care.

I don’t miss CDs, I don’t miss DVDs, and hopefully I can not miss game discs soon too.

Same. I don't even do it just with favorite movies, I do it with movies I'm curious about. Better quality and far more to choose from. Limiting oneself to what's available on a subscription sucks. I watch whatever I want. Tell me how much of this is on Netflix.

Their options are paltry.

I will continue to buy my physcial copies of games, if only for nostalgic reasons. But I'm afraid that in some years I won't be able to play them. Everytime I get a brand new game I have to wait a long time for the update to install and with constant updates and interesting DLC's I probably won't get the same experience in some years when they remove DLC's and updates from the servers. I probably won't be able to play most games without the updates. Sad but true.

I have a huge collection of DVD's and BluRay's accumulated over many years. I'm a movie and TV-buff. But I haven't bought a physical copy of anything in a while. I have access to three streaming-services and can watch most movies and tv-shows I'm interested in. I might buy the occasional movie or tv-show I can't stream. But I have trouble finding the time to watch everything I want on streaming.

@ezekiel43: Most of those tv-shows I can watch on the streaming-services.

If you have multiple streaming services, which sucks in my opinion. They also have varying video quality, with some being pretty poor and even Netflix falling well short of Blu-ray. All for "convenience." Don't see the big appeal at all. I'm wondering why you only mention the TV shows.

All the TV I watched the last few weeks were a few episodes of Batman, Samurai Jack and all of Berlin Alexanderplatz. Why should I subscribe instead of just buying it when my watching time is so spread out? I might have Samurai Jack on one streaming service, Batman on another and Berlin on a third. It's stupid. I wanna be able to take my time instead of feeling like I have to force myself to make the sub feel worth it. I've been rewatching Batman since November 1st and am only up to episode 65. Most TV shows aren't meant to be binged.

@ezekiel43: My parents subscribe to Netflix and HBO and I borrow their login to watch at my place. And I subscribe to Viaplay. And I watch a lot of movies at the cinema. I might buy the occasional movie or tv-show not available for streaming, but I still have a lot of catching-up to do on tv-shows and movies I still haven't watched. I don't see the need to buy so much any more. You should see my collection. I have almost a wall filled with Games, DVD's and BluRay I've bought over many years. And I got rid of a lot of VHS-tapes a few years back. But having access to three streaming services is plenty for me at the moment. I still don't have time to watch all that I would want.

I'm torn between yes and no. While I like how convenient the all-digital console would be, I like the physical collection of games on my shelves. I still have some games from the early 2000s I can't play anymore, but I remember all the good memories while playing them when I see them on the shelves.

>Torn between yes and no

Understandable.

I would not. I am a weird person who completely understands and accepts that PC gaming is the best, but primarily games on consoles. It's mostly due to the fact that I work as a programmer, so to my dumb brain connecting to a dummed down restricted computer is enough to fool me that I'm not on the same type of machine I just worked on. That and I love physical media. It's awesome getting great deals on games through physical media sales, reselling games, getting used games or lending/borrowing from friends. Also, my local library gets just about every single switch/ps5 game it is incredible.

Take physical games away, I'll finally make the move to PC. I *know* it's the best but then I'll be nearly out of excuses to hold onto my console.

I have a digital only PC, so you'd think that I wouldn't have an issue with a digital only console, but the difference is that the consoles have a monopoly of game sales, you can't go online and find a third party retailer selling game keys for consoles. **** that.

In the future makes no difference

Recent game disks only unlick a key code to download the game anyway.

The new cod didnt have the game on the disk and that will be the way gaming is going

@qx0d: Depends. If a console has both physical and digital media options, I’d go physical…but if it only had digital I’d go for it. Wouldn’t put me off.

@rmpumper: What makes you say that? I just bought a download code for Witcher 3 from a 3rd party retailer. Best thing was it was from Argentina cost 5 bucks.

When Half-Life 2 came out I had my own digital Vs physical existential crisis. Now, 20 years or so after, I don't care either way. I don't see "owning" games as a great asset in my life. Ideally I want physical to keep being an option but it's kind of irrelevant.

I own 2 of them it's the way I game in 2022 digital is just more convenient.