Retail vs Digital Download *POLL*

If you were going to purchase a game right now, would you rather go to the store and buy it, or purchase it online?

For me, the decision is easy. Buying things online for me is more convenient. My reasons:

- I don't have space for extra boxes/CDs/manuals.

- I don't like risking the loss of CD-Keys. I've lost CD keys because some boneheads decided to put the key on the manual which I may lose.

- All my games are in one place. I don't have to shift through boxes and drawers - I have a list of all my games right in front of me. And to play them all I have to do is press "install".

- Digital games don't require you to put in a CD to play.

- You have to be careful with CDs. They make a mess if you don't put them back and can get scratched easily too. Really difficult to manage with 100+ PC games and space limitations.

I do a mix of both. If i know it's in the store and sells for a good price I'd rather go out and buy it, but if it's easily accessible online I may download it...

The main thing that keeps me away from pure digital content is that I'm worried I'll lose my account. Then your games library is gone.. seems pretty silly. For example, I know Steam accounts get hijacked all the time, so if they're going to be the main hub of someone's game library there should be probably be more serious security measures put in place than a simple login/pass.

I love having boxes, so my preference is generally toward retail, especially as my net connection is bad for downloads (I get pings of 5-20 in online games but I download at 50k/sec!).

But I think DD is better for everyone. No box and manual helps the environment, no middleman helps the developers and no disc requirement to play helps me.

Plus, you can always burn a hard copy - who doesn't own a burner in this day and age?

So I guess right now I'm in a transitional phase, mostly because of my net speed, but I am a keen supporter of digital distribution and I hope it's going to become the standard in the future - for all media.

I like Stardock's approach.

Buy the game online, download it right now, and they will mail you the CD/manual later.

Best of both worlds. DD and retail dont have to be mutually exclusive.

Generally, for me it goes

cheapest > online retail > digital distribution > store retail

I prefer retail simply because when I want to play a game..I usually want to play it right then and there, I'm not going to want to wait 3 days and 4 hours lol-Origin-

Digital Delivery is the way forward for PC gaming as already we are seeing Consoles picking up on it and PC games should start doing it more, since afterall every PC these days has an internet connection.

I like the fact i can download immediately upon release without the hassle of going to and from a shop using car fuel and then having to dispose of more packaging which hurts the enviroment.

I like the fact through DD i can sit back and let it download or install while i go do something else and when i come back i have a new game to play.

I like the fact there is no box or manuals to worry about finding room in my cupboard for. Its also handy to have no disc as losing discs or scratching them can be such a pain in the arse.

Digital Delivery really is the future for PC gaming and hopefully we'll see some advances soon, perhaps STEAM will begin to draw in other big name developers such as Blizzard?

I do a mix of both. If i know it's in the store and sells for a good price I'd rather go out and buy it, but if it's easily accessible online I may download it...

The main thing that keeps me away from pure digital content is that I'm worried I'll lose my account. Then your games library is gone.. seems pretty silly. For example, I know Steam accounts get hijacked all the time, so if they're going to be the main hub of someone's game library there should be probably be more serious security measures put in place than a simple login/pass.

MyopicCanadian

Generally digital download is much cheaper for me (becuase I live in Australia, and there can sometimes be a fairly significant price difference between retail pricing and digital distro pricing.

But at the same time, the majority of my purchases would still be at retail, becuase it generally takes too long for my connection to download the game, and most of my purchases tend to be impulse buys (which I'd buy becuase of reviews or word of mouth), which I'll want to play practically immediately.

Digital doesn't really provide that. For me anyway.

Retail, but once i build my new pc i'll dl some games mostly on steam though.

I wish the retail boxes were smaller though like a dvd sized case.

Retail via internet is my main source of buying games.

I used to abhor the idea of digital distribution because it's implementation of being tied to accounts. For the convenience of going digital, you lose some freedoms and games become services which are less under your control and you're more at the mercy of the owning authority and the rights they have granted you (which may change over time).

For example, and I'm not sure if it's this way any longer, EA's service would only let you download a purchased game from them a limited number of times.

However, I've personally backed off that stance greatly. I think digital distribution is the way to go in the future, and as PC gamers this is really a strength and great advantage of the platform -- Steam for instance.

That being said, I'm probably still in my own "transitional stage", whenever possible I still always choose to buy the retail version of games. The transition needs to complete sometime soon though, as much as I really like having the boxes, they (in particular the "fat" US cases :? although I try to get UK versions when feasible) take up alot of space :P

[QUOTE="MyopicCanadian"]

I do a mix of both. If i know it's in the store and sells for a good price I'd rather go out and buy it, but if it's easily accessible online I may download it...

The main thing that keeps me away from pure digital content is that I'm worried I'll lose my account. Then your games library is gone.. seems pretty silly. For example, I know Steam accounts get hijacked all the time, so if they're going to be the main hub of someone's game library there should be probably be more serious security measures put in place than a simple login/pass.

chesterocks7

Don't know why my first post never posted.

Steam accounts only get hijacked if you have some sort of spyware, adware, keylogger, or other virus that can steal your info. This is your own fault if you don't have the correct type of protection, and are doing things that expose you to virus'.

I use steam and will continue to as long as they come out with great new games, and great classics, and keep up the weekend deals.

PC Games in Retail in Australia have really come to a slump. The problem is that our overall internet structure over here is terrible, thus, many find it hard to use DD.

Regardless of that, I am fortunate, and am very able to use the likes of DD, thus, I capitolize upon it when need be.

[QUOTE="-Origin-"]I prefer retail simply because when I want to play a game..I usually want to play it right then and there, I'm not going to want to wait 3 days and 4 hours lolGodLovesDead

15-20 mins? Do you have a 20 Mb connection? :)

[QUOTE="GodLovesDead"]

[QUOTE="-Origin-"]I prefer retail simply because when I want to play a game..I usually want to play it right then and there, I'm not going to want to wait 3 days and 4 hours lolMyopicCanadian

15-20 mins? Do you have a 20 Mb connection? :)

I have a 12mb(its)ps and download games at roughly 1.5mb(ytes)ps. That's roughly 12 minutes per gigabyte. If you include the time it takes to install said game from CDs/DVDs, I'd say I would either win or break even. Not bad for sitting in my seat, browsing forums, and saving gas.

Of course you'll go "Sure, but not everyone has fast internet so it's not as convenient'. But I'd gladly argue that too. Even if your download speeds were as little as 100kbps, just download your game while you're sleeping (2 hours 40 minutes per gb) and unless the game's download is substantially large, it'll be done by the time you get home from school or work.

Unless you have download limits. If that's the case, I'd change my priorities a bit. But I'm not saying that in every case digital downloading is superior to retail, because it isn't. But it's definitely the best choice for how we play our games in the future.

I would look on steam, then D2D, then buy at walmart.

While I do like Steam, I find other DD services to be quite lacking (especially EAs) and therefore for the moment, I'm still a supporter of retail. Actually, it's usually whatever's cheaper, but assuming both are equal, I'll probably save myself the hassle of downloading.

However, after I get a better connection and other services are forced to match Steam in features, I'll be far more supportive of DD.

*Edit*

I also should say that I'm worried about supply/demand issues in regards to games. Part of the reason games can get discounted at stores is to clear out inventory so they can supply new games. However, with DD, there is no inventory to clear out, so there's no incentive to drop prices. While some games have had normal price drops, other games are being priced far higher than they could support at retail. I just noticed that on Steam, Lost Planet is $40 and Jade Empire is $30.

[QUOTE="MyopicCanadian"][QUOTE="GodLovesDead"]

[QUOTE="-Origin-"]I prefer retail simply because when I want to play a game..I usually want to play it right then and there, I'm not going to want to wait 3 days and 4 hours lolGodLovesDead

15-20 mins? Do you have a 20 Mb connection? :)

I have a 12mb(its)ps and download games at roughly 1.5mb(ytes)ps. That's roughly 12 minutes per gigabyte. If you include the time it takes to install said game from CDs/DVDs, I'd say I would either win or break even. Not bad for sitting in my seat, browsing forums, and saving gas.

Damn that's quick. Would a retail site, say Steam, allow one user to actually download that quickly?

While I do like Steam, I find other DD services to be quite lacking (especially EAs) and therefore for the moment, I'm still a supporter of retail. Actually, it's usually whatever's cheaper, but assuming both are equal, I'll probably save myself the hassle of downloading.

However, after I get a better connection and other services are forced to match Steam in features, I'll be far more supportive of DD.

*Edit*

I also should say that I'm worried about supply/demand issues in regards to games. Part of the reason games can get discounted at stores is to clear out inventory so they can supply new games. However, with DD, there is no inventory to clear out, so there's no incentive to drop prices. While some games have had normal price drops, other games are being priced far higher than they could support at retail. I just noticed that on Steam, Lost Planet is $40 and Jade Empire is $30.

Vampyronight

But steam also does weekend sales which can cut prices on games incredibly low compared to buying them in store. Just this past weekend I bought BioShock through steam for $15 whereas if I bought it retail it would be $30. They have lots of weekend bargains that can go even more than %50 off. And I doubt Bioshock will ever drop below $20 retail. You just have to look out for these special events.

internet retail. prefer to have a hard physical copy of my games.Jd1680a

yeah me to,

Most of my recent games are from retail stores like Target, GameStop, etc. But for the classics and older games I use online retail ( www.gogamer.com ) for them

I prefer digital download, mostly because retail prices are insane here (almost double the price of games in the US) and the prices never seem to go down, no matter how old a game may be. secondly because you never have to worry about the store running out of a new game.

Retail of course, that way I can have a physical copy of my game and I love to collect stuff on my shelves. :P

I always prefer Digital Distribution... as long as its a good system like Steam. I hate having to keep all the CD keys... I've lost several games (NoLF 1, GTA VC play disk, GTA 3 install disk). After 40+ games with CD keys and CDs it stops becoming fun keeping it all together. With steam... its so easy to just install the software and chose which games I want to install and they will all be there the next morning.

I still get a few games via retail... but its only if I really want to play it and its not on Steam... like most recently Witcher.

Retail of course, that way I can have a physical copy of my game and I love to collect stuff on my shelves. :P

HenriH-42

:shock:

I thought I had a lot of boxes, your collection put me to shame.

:shock:

I thought I had a lot of boxes, your collection put me to shame.

Fuzzy_Bear123

Yeah but it cost a lot. Not saying it wasn't worth it though. And still some people (here on Gamespot) have FAR larger collections. :(

I like having access to it all. For example I just bought the orange box. I already had HL2 but non of the rest. Well I just built a new computer so I downloaded steam from steam and downloaded CS.S and HL2 already on my account. Then installed all the others off the disks.

Just as a side note I have broadband connection bit my download reached 1MB only once for a quick second. The rest of the time it varied greatly anywhere from 300+ kbs to just under a mb.

i will DD when i have to, such as when SoaSE wasn't released in Europe at retail (it has not but wasn't for a long while) so i bought it DD from stardock central

however i mostly prefer to have the disc and box, because i like to display them on my shelf and i dont have to worry about losing the game if my hdd crashes or something (i could download them again but my broadband is painfully slow)

Always retail, I like to own the actual game and the box and have instant access to the game. Downloading games takes to long and is annoying.

Only get download games through Steam and only if they are difficult to find.