Poll: Are physical copies of PC games dead?

[ShinyCharizard]

Paradoxically they can be cheaper sometimes, especially from people like EA or Activision. The big publishers are still utter retards who can't seem to grasp digital pricing. I'm not sure if policies have been tightened but in the past i was able to get PC copies of games lower than their current digital price. I still sometimes buy physical games but Steam has got so cheap that it is fewer and fewer.

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.

**Checks profile** Is that a problem is Oz too? That sucks. Not to rub it in but in the UK unlimited broadband is the norm and we recently go up to 60Mb broadband, with up to 120Mb available in this area (I'm not even that near a city either)

In the USA too laws are so lax as to allow the monopoly of large broadband providers who have no incentive to increase their services.

It's not as bad as it is in the US, but bandwidth caps seem to be the norm here now. Outside of the cities, it's quite expensive to get unlimited broadband.


Our Government is currently building a large scale fibre optic network, so hopefully download speeds won't be an issue. But considering our Government, I expect that to take 10 years before it's complete.

 

[T_ConX]

The only physical PC games I've bought in the last two years were the Enhanced Editions of The Witcher 1+2 (long live the feely!), XCOM:EU (was on sale for $20 and I had a gift card), and Skyrim (gift). The last two were bound to Steam, so the discs are completely optional, which considering my 200GB bandwidth cap* is a slight advantage.

*You know what's fun? Giving the call center guy a lecture on Transport Layer Protocols and how flow/congestion-control mechanisms make bandwidth caps total bullshit. I'm sorry Brian, but I'm a Software Engineering Major, and you work in a call center.

 

[Zhukov]

*has been happily gaming these past two years with a broken disc drive*

Yes, at least for me, physical games might as well be dead.

 

[maveric112]

They sadly are dying but luckily they aren't dead yet. I mostly download my games off GOG or Steam, however I still buy physical copies for a couple of reasons. Mainly because my local game shop sells PC games for a good bit cheaper than getting them online. Plus since my internet connection is quite slow to the point it has taken up to 12 hours to download a single game, so I like just putting a disc into my PC so I can install the game and be playing it in about half an hour.

 

[Robert Marrs]

no point. can't resell it and they all activate on steam or origin now anyways. might as well buy it digitally and save the trip to the store.

 

[BrotherRool]

Today I bought a game I already owned so that I'd have it available digitally. Physical copies are on their way out

 

[Evonisia]

For the most part, yes. Since you can't sell on most games there's little point to buying a physical copy, plus Steam/GOG and so on usually give discounts early on.

I think I remember getting Skyrim as a physical copy, I think it had a discount but I can't remember right now.

 

[ShinyCharizard]

[
It's not as bad as it is in the US, but bandwidth caps seem to be the norm here now. Outside of the cities, it's quite expensive to get unlimited broadband.


Our Government is currently building a large scale fibre optic network, so hopefully download speeds won't be an issue. But considering our Government, I expect that to take 10 years before it's complete.

Well to be fair The UK is is a much smaller, more densely populated place. I guess being 'big and sorta empty' is more of a logistical problem than the masses of endless, merging suburbs that make up many parts of the UK. Then again Canada seems to get by okay by most accounts.

I think the answer is simple; we all move to South Korea, get Gigabit boradband, eat Kinchi and become pro Starcraft players.

Time to start brushing up on my Actions per Minute skills.

 

[Malbourne]

Physical copies are probably becoming more and more obsolete, but I love them for their tactile aspects. Just being able to check out the collection on my shelf fills me with fuzzy, warm, fuzzy feelings.

 

[ProtosOmega]

I would say no. There are enough PC gamers that still like getting a physical box with their games (like my PC copy of Titanfall). Digital copies I feel you will never feel like you truly own the game.

 

[Wulfram77]

With a mediocre broadband connection you start appreciating physical copies.

Also, I can often get a physical copy for less than I'd pay for a digital version. At least, if I'm not prepared to wait for sales.

 

[Zac Jovanovic]

$150 a month for a 50 GB cap from Comcast (literally the ONLY option for Internet for me outside of 56k). No, physical will never die for me. To those that say I should be happy about a pure digital future, go fuck your self.

Fucking hell, that's brutal.
I live in freaking Serbia and we get gigabit fiber for just over 200$ at work. At home I have a gigabit FTTH of which I use only 20Mb for ~20$ per month. Perfect ping, no speed drops and no disconnects for months.
Download caps were a thing only for a short while around 2004 and 2005...

USA is really an internet third world country

 

[Not Lord Atkin]

I tend to go with digital these days but that's just because I move around a lot. It's just more convenient for me.

I do buy physical copies of games that are not available in digital format. Like how I bought the first 3 Harry Potter games from CEX a couple of weeks ago.

I also prefer physical copies of my console games. While I do buy games from PSN from time to time, especially if they have a good deal on, buying proper, physical copies just makes me feel better. Especially since unlike Valve, who will probably keep steam up until they go mad and/or bankrupt, Sony are bound to pull the plug on Playstation 3 online functionality sooner or later.

 

[Ciartan]

Not yet, because for some insane reason that makes no sense what so ever, physical copies of new games are still like 5-10 euroes cheaper, sometimes even more, than steam or origin.

 

[Zipa]

[
It's not as bad as it is in the US, but bandwidth caps seem to be the norm here now. Outside of the cities, it's quite expensive to get unlimited broadband.


Our Government is currently building a large scale fibre optic network, so hopefully download speeds won't be an issue. But considering our Government, I expect that to take 10 years before it's complete.

Well to be fair The UK is is a much smaller, more densely populated place. I guess being 'big and sorta empty' is more of a logistical problem than the masses of endless, merging suburbs that make up many parts of the UK. Then again Canada seems to get by okay by most accounts.

I think the answer is simple; we all move to South Korea, get Gigabit boradband, eat Kinchi and become pro Starcraft players.

That and Comcast and Time Warner Cable are one of the biggest threats of a good broadband infrastructure in the States. They have even started to go so far as to try and block Google Fibre at every turn. BT in the UK at least is rolling out the fibre network at a decent rate, even the little town I live in has it now.

Also on the topic of games for PC I mostly use digital in the form of Steam/Amazon/Origin though occasionally I will buy a boxed copy if its a collectors edition I'm interested in like the HD remake of Homeworld that is upcoming or Gal Civ II and III.

 

[Serioli]

For myself* I voted bit of both and it is purely based on 'feelies' these days. Due to my circumstances, I have not found a base game where the physical copy is better/cheaper or longer lived** than the digital version. Thus I tend to only buy physical for the sake of 'collector-edition' style things that appeal to me and at the moment these tend to purely be kickstarter games.....

* UK resident, unlimited cap and averaging 2MB/s (16Mb/s?) download speed.
** As someone pointed out, physical copies have to be tied to accounts these days anyway, so now one less reason to get physical.