Your Purchasing Trend of Full Budget Games...... retail or downloads?

Intellivision

Intellivision

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I'm not talking about download only games, or low budget games that have both downloadable and $19.99 retail discs, I'm talking your typical $60 game.

I've always been a big supporter of retail discs for a number of reasons:

- Often pre-order deals like $20 off, or Buy 2 Get 1 Free
- You can trade back the game
- You can let a buddy borrow it

However, I might be trending to downloadale games more because:

- I got a 3tb external drive. Last gen you could get away with a small stock HDD for years. This gen, the 500gb drive is small, so most people will buy another HDD, so the capacity is right there to use
- Downloadable deals seem to be cropping up quicker and more aggressive
- I've noticed the trade in value is slowly decreasing. It used to be lots of recent games would be worth $35-40.... sometimes $45-50! Now, stores seem to be trending recent games to $30
- The deals are drying up at retail. Best Buy Canada's E3 deal has usually been something equivalent to 30% off games (on avg). This year's deal is Buy 2 games, get 20% off. The worst E3 pre-order deal ever
- This doesn't affect US gamers, but in Canada, games are now $70 or $80. Parity pricing at $60 like the US disappeared a year ago. It's odd though. Some are $70, some are $80. So unless it's a competitive game I have to join in day one, I'll just wait for deals. So if a download deal is solid, I'll just buy it from the Xbox marketplace

Canada pricing is trash. Year's back it was $60. A good deal would make a game $40. Now, a $70-80 game on 20% deal still goes for $56 or $64, which is basically the reg price a year ago!
 
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Retail, because I like having a physical disc, and I like to recoup some of the costs when I resell it. I don't think I've ever bought a $60 game via download.
 
Retail.

Only digital game I have is Forza 5, but that was free with the console.
 
Depends on the game. If it's a good one I've done research on but isn't really..."important," for lack of a better term, it's a download. Things like the metro series, good games but they aren't huge, they aren't a big deal. Otherwise I'd regret buying it since there's no trading it in.

If it's something big, something "important," halo 5, MGS5, it's a disc. If it's something I'm not sure of, also disc, since if it sucks I'd like to recoup my investment as much as I can. Or in the case of lords of the fallen, something superior came along and I just don't have the time for it.
 
Digital. It's easier, I get to play games about a day earlier, and like the OP said there seem to be a lot more digital sales than in the past.

However, I'm going to be trying to move away from buying games at full price. We will see how that goes, but ideally I would like to only purchase at sale prices.
 
Razzel said:
Digital. It's easier, I get to play games about a day earlier, and like the OP said there seem to be a lot more digital sales than in the past.

However, I'm going to be trying to move away from buying games at full price. We will see how that goes, but ideally I would like to only purchase at sale prices.
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Just do what I do. I only buy games at full price that I know I will spend a crap tonne of time playing. So, games like FIFA or RPGs are full price, day one games, because I will spend 100+ hours on them. Other games, like short single player experiences will be left to wait.

Any game, regardless of genre, that I am not 100% convinced on, will wait.

There will be a few exceptions here and there, but in the main, it is working well for me. Example: I wasn't 100% convinced on Destiny, but at £17, I am picking it up tomorrow.
 
Mostly digital for me. I don't sell my games back. I keep them to replay. If the game is the same cost physical or digital, I choose digital. I only buy physical media if there is a good sale on something I want.

I like having my entire library available.

Also at least on X1, physical disc games install fully to the hard drive, so the space vs digital is the same. Not sure about PS, but on X1 you aren't saving any space with physical media.
 
100% digital for each and every game. NEVER buying a game on disc, EVER.
 
Andy said:
Why so adamant?
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I'm full digital as well. A few reasons for me:

- Convenience of not going to a store and not changing discs, or the resulting clutter of a huge game collection.

- Keeping my money invested in the part of the industry that makes the games. It will lead to better games.

I've been a gamer buying my own games for over 25 yrs, so I know first hand that the value we get these days is better than it ever has been. I'm happy to pay $70 (CDN) for a good game, and get enough out of them that I don't feel I need to trade them in for a partial refund.
 
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Sheep Shagger said:
I'm full digital as well. A few reasons for me:

- Convenience of not going to a store and not changing discs, or the resulting clutter of a huge game collection.

- Keeping my money invested in the part of the industry that makes the games. It will lead to better games.
Click to expand...

I see, thanks.

I buy most of my games online, so a trip to the store is unusual for me. And since I periodically trade in almost all my games, I don't have much of a collection/clutter. I like your second reason, but I'm not that socially conscious (e.g., I buy used, don't concern myself with whether I'm supporting devs, etc.).
 
Sheep Shagger said:
I'm full digital as well. A few reasons for me:

- Convenience of not going to a store and not changing discs, or the resulting clutter of a huge game collection.

- Keeping my money invested in the part of the industry that makes the games. It will lead to better games.

I've been a gamer buying my own games for over 25 yrs, so I know first hand that the value we get these days is better than it ever has been. I'm happy to pay $70 (CDN) for a good game, and get enough out of them that I don't feel I need to trade them in for a partial refund.
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Amen-Brother.jpg
 
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In the last two days I've bought six games with two being hard copies. The reason for that is because I was next to Best Buy and figured what the hell. However, I wish like hell I would've waited to get home and bought all of them digitally. Next time I will... I much prefer digital.
 
Depends.

Only online game, i just buy digital.

If i am going share a game with my kid brother, i buy retail disk.(he already does the "home xbox" thing with my other brother)

If i really like the box art, i'll buy retail.

If i'm the only one playing, will just buy digital.
 
Mcmasters said:
In the last two days I've bought six games with two being hard copies. The reason for that is because I was next to Best Buy and figured what the hell. However, I wish like hell I would've waited to get home and bought all of them digitally. Next time I will... I much prefer digital.
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Smart glass ;-)
 
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MW said:
Retail all day. When digital lowers prices in general, maybe.
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Won't happen. The savings from digital over physical is around $5 per copy (box, disc, freight, etc). The industry is looking for ways to make more without raising the base price. Digital helps a bit, and dlc of course.

Prices likely won't go up in the next few years (even though they probably should), but they definitely won't go down for launch games. Sales will get a lot better though, I'm sure of that.
 
So far PS4 and Wii U have both been about 90% retail. For these consoles it really depends on the deals available for digital. Xbox One is 100% digital and will most likely stay that way due to ease of going between games and TV or other apps. That said, it usually means waiting a bit for a deal on some games.
 
menace-uk- said:
Just do what I do. I only buy games at full price that I know I will spend a crap tonne of time playing. So, games like FIFA or RPGs are full price, day one games, because I will spend 100+ hours on them. Other games, like short single player experiences will be left to wait.

Any game, regardless of genre, that I am not 100% convinced on, will wait.

There will be a few exceptions here and there, but in the main, it is working well for me. Example: I wasn't 100% convinced on Destiny, but at £17, I am picking it up tomorrow.
Click to expand...

Yeah, my issue is just that almost every game I've bought this gen I've thought good game, but I could've waited. I don't know, my purchasing habits are definitely changing. I'm going to try and rent a lot more often.
 
Andy said:
I see, thanks.

I buy most of my games online, so a trip to the store is unusual for me. And since I periodically trade in almost all my games, I don't have much of a collection/clutter. I like your second reason, but I'm not that socially conscious (e.g., I buy used, don't concern myself with whether I'm supporting devs, etc.).
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Well, you could look at it this way as well - by buying used, you enabled someone the chance to sell their used game, and possibly buy a new one because of it. Last gen I traded in games a fair bit. I always bought new to support the devs, but I certainly put a lot of used games into circulation! I think any gamers who aren't pirating, are helping the industry to some degree.
 
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DD only.
Started doing it on the 360. Which sucked because I had to repurchase every thing. Reasons
1 people can't break them
2 Convenience
3 Can't resell so I get more value
4 Think of purchases more because of reason 3
5 Save room
6 Save natural resources
7 Games don't scratch up, and stop working because I play them constantly.
 
A lot of good points in this thread(MW & David specially). I always try to buy new. Now I'm not saying I buy $60 games but when I purchase it is new.

And why isn't digital more competitive?
 
Gwyn / Razor said:
And why isn't digital more competitive?
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Probably due to Sony/MS and game devs not wanting to piss off retailers, since most sales are still on discs.

PC gaming is different as most PC games aren't sold at stores anymore except for the big name games like Blizzard or The Sims or CoD.

So most PC game makers get no push-back from retailers. Even for games released at stores, chances are the digital version outsells it anyway.

It's like electronics. Some places eill let you buy direct, but the prices are the same or even more than buying at a brick and mortar. If anything, buying direct should be the cheapest as they cut out the middle man, but they force themselves to sell at prices that make their retail partners look good.
 
David said:
DD only.
Started doing it on the 360. Which sucked because I had to repurchase every thing. Reasons
1 people can't break them
2 Convenience
3 Can't resell so I get more value
4 Think of purchases more because of reason 3
5 Save room
6 Save natural resources
7 Games don't scratch up, and stop working because I play them constantly.
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Where's the stupid emoticon?
 
All digital. Mainly because of the sharing on Xbox One. Convenience is another major point. I run my tv through Xbox and flicking between tv, games and apps with voice commands still brings a smile to my face every time.
For this reason, MS' s original policy would have been better for me. Still would have had the ability to game share (half price games) with the benefit of being able to buy games at retail and benefit from the shop price wars on the big games. Plus I still could have traded the game in if I wanted.
 
Only games I have digital on the consoles are those that came with them or the PS+ and GWG offerings

My PC games on the other hand have been digital for about 4 years. Metro 2033 was the last game I bought PC retail.

I'm not opposed to buying a digital game on consoles, but they're to expensive, usually £50 when new. No way am I paying that for a game I can get for half that on PC, so for now the Consoles are only for exclusive and preowed games
 
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Retail all the way. When gaming goes full digital i'm all done. I won't support it. I have enough consoles and games to last me the next 20 years.
 
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