Poll: Are physical copies of PC games dead?

[Sleix]

Recently I've been browsing through my old Xbox 360 collection and thought came to mind, are physical copies of PC games dead? I've been thinking of swapping to physical over Steam purely because it, personally, it just feels so much better to pop open a case, not to mention, I enjoy having a games display on my wall. So, Escapists, are you still playing with physical copies or have you converted to digital?

 

[Barbas]

Every now and then, there will be an interesting and fairly old game available for a tempting price in the branch of a major supermarket chain, usually on a small set of shelves at the end of an aisle. Apart from that, the digital stores are the only ones that have prices I find acceptable. I have not bought a physical copy of a game in nearly five months.

I would say that physical copies of new games are still becoming less prevalent, but they're not gone yet.

 

[Supernova1138]

They're still around, though most retailers won't carry most of them anymore and you have to order them off of Amazon or something. More and more games, even some AAA releases are also starting to drop physical PC copies altogether, and sell them exclusively in a digital format.

I'd say physical copies will be largely gone in the near future outside of maybe each game getting a small run of physical copies for the crowd that has really crappy internet connections, and thus can't really go digital only yet. It could get to the point that only physical collector's editions of games would get a disc release.

 

[WeepingAngels]

The point of buying physical over digital is so that you can:

- Sell it on
- Play it many years from now after the servers have been taken down

Most physical PC games fail both of those. You can't resell because the disc is worthless once registered to your Steam/Origin/Blizzard account. You can't play it after the servers are killed off because they are dependent on the servers for activation.

 

[AgedGrunt]

The need for physical copies is tested by digital advantages everyone talks about, but it's undeniably necessary to continue making them.

Not every country is South Korea. Here in the US we overpay for commonly poor Internet service that's saddled with data caps. Titanfall just came out -- what was that, 40GB? My data cap is 250GB a month. The digital model (movies, music, games, television) is simply not compatible with service throughout much of the world.

 

[Raikas]

I think they may be dying, but they're not dead yet.

I haven't bought a physical copy of a PC game in years, and even console releases are 50/50 for me - I think the holdouts on the physical copies are probably split between people who like to see their collections and people who want to sell their games on (although given the relevance of sales these days, I think that market is shrinking more and more all the time).

 

[duwenbasden]

The only physical ones I got recently are Skyrim because I get employee discount, Starcraft Hots because it's not on Steam, and Dragon Age 2 because I was a fucking idiot (also not on Steam). Everything else I got on Steam, because I don't have a CD drive in my tower anymore.

It's the same thing with music, I have paid streaming service, but I still get albums I enjoy.

 

[Soulrender95]

for me it really depends on when i'm buying. If it's launch day/pre order or even with the first couple of months then I can guarantee I'll be buying the physical copy because I don't know about anywhere else but 9/10 in the U.K the digital price is £10-20 more than a physical copy, the most recent example of which is South Park: Stick of truth, the physical copy I bought was £28.99 , digital copies were either the same or higher (up to 39.99 on steam).
I tend to aim for physical first in equal price because I live in a rural area that doesn't have super fast broadband and only supports basic broadband so downloading large games can take awhile.

now if it's a game I didn't buy at launch and the digital price isn't more or equal to a physical copy's price, I certainly don't mind buying digital but until
A) the price is consistently lower than physical
B) I see more improvements to rural broadband

I really can't justify choosing to support a digital only distribution.

 

[antidonkey]

Not dead but certainly heading that way. Most places that sell PC games usually only have a very small section dedicated to it. Hell, I think the only places where I live that have an ok PC selection are Wal-mart and Best Buy. My local Target used to pretty damned good but that's no longer the case. While I've pretty much switched over the digital distribution entirely, I don't rule out the physical for two reason.

1) You can sometimes find a boxed copy for a lot cheaper than steam.
2) Thanks to bandwidth caps, it might be better to get a boxed copy rather than download it if it happens to rather large.

I still tend to buy physical copies of Blizzard titles are I can never get decent download speeds from their servers. Which reminds me....I never did get the Star Craft 2 Xpack. Steam sales keep distracting me.

 

[Tuesday Night Fever]

I don't think it's dead - yet. There are a number of stores in my area that still stock PC games, albeit in much lower quantities than the console versions (and generally only the biggest of the AAA games, like Call of Duty and Blizzard Entertainment titles). It seems like it's really only a matter of time though until online purchases are required for physical copies.

That said, I like both, but for different reasons. Any game that I really want, I like to have a physical copy of. These are typically the games that I'm willing to make a Day-1 purchase (or buy a collector's edition), where the price is going to be pretty much the same no matter where I buy it, physical or digital.

For everything else I tend to prefer digital these days. I don't have a data cap with my ISP, and digital games are great for filling the time between those games that I really want. The prices tend to be quite good, especially during sales, and I don't even have to put on pants to buy them like I would with a store.

 

[gmaverick019_v1legacy]

I don't even have to put on pants to buy them like I would with a store.

I'm not even sure if this is sad, or is a good point these days....

(honestly I share the same opinion *downloading 4 games off steam as we speak*)

not having to put on pants and deal with people are two big positives on why I like digital.

OT: Due to digital copies being so fucking cheap (in sales and such) it's been sooo fucking long since I bought a boxed copy of something...even then, it was a years old game that I saw marked down like 80%, otherwise all boxed copies tend to sit at a 30-60 dollar spot in retail stores in my area. Why would I pay more when it's more of a hassle to get the boxed copy?

 

[Kinitawowi]

Even physically purchased copies today now just have a download code in the box and a Steam installer on the disc.

Outside of indies - who can't even get their game onto physical media any more - it's pretty much now non-existent for a physical PC copy of a game to hold a self-contained installer for entirely local play and never need some form of internet connection. Physical's days are numbered, outside of hobbyists who want to see a shelf unit full of their games and loonies who have to have the Limited Special Ultimate Collectors' edition.

I come under both of those categories.

 

[Vivi22]

The need for physical copies is tested by digital advantages everyone talks about, but it's undeniably necessary to continue making them.

Not every country is South Korea. Here in the US we overpay for commonly poor Internet service that's saddled with data caps. Titanfall just came out -- what was that, 40GB? My data cap is 250GB a month. The digital model (movies, music, games, television) is simply not compatible with service throughout much of the world.

It's only "undeniably necessary to continue making them," because ISP's have still got people buying into the scam that is download caps. They serve no purpose aside from letting them invent a charge with zero relation to any actual cost incurred so they can charge people more money/upsell them to a better plan.

If we could get enough people to realize that these are a scam then maybe something would be done about them.

 

[Whispering Cynic]

No, they aren't. I don't trust Steam enough to fully rely on it and prefer to have a physical copy on hand if something goes wrong. Also, if your internet connection is kinda crap (like mine is) it's easier to pick up a boxed version than to wait for those twenty gigs to download.

Oh yeah and a new release on Steam costs 50 EUR, in a retail store I can have the same game for an equivalent of 35 - 40 EUR (and get all the goodies that may come with a boxed version). Until that changes, digital distribution can rot for all I care.

 

[ShinyCharizard]

Not dead no. My local game store has a ton of PC games. I just bought a hard copy of Titanfall there yesterday (because fuck downloading 50GB).

And with the way games are increasing in size while bandwidth caps are being lowered, I see physical copies having a solid future.

 

[Denamic]

It took me almost 2 years to remember I never plugged in my DVD drive on this computer. I didn't use it even once in that time. Physical copies aren't dead - yet. They're going to be eventually.

 

[Zac Jovanovic]

Pretty much, they're just obsolete in most of the developed world. The last physical copy I got was Warhammer online, in 2008 i think.

Hell, I didn't even have an optical disc drive in my two last PCs, there's just no use for it.

Oh yeah and a new release on Steam costs 50 EUR, in a retail store I can have the same game for an equivalent of 35 - 40 EUR (and get all the goodies that may come with a boxed version). Until that changes, digital distribution can rot for all I care.

That's the thing with Steam though, their prices are absurd for me too. Even higher than retail box price if you can find one. But I buy pretty much all my games from key retailers far cheaper than either, and just activate them on steam and play like I bought them in the steam store in the first place.