opinion: There are hardly any reasons left for me to buy a game physically in the shop instead of reaching for the digital version. Manufacturers would have to offer me more!
Call of Duty Modern Warfare 2 is expected to land on millions of consoles and PCs in the coming days. The shooter giant takes up over 100 GB on the home SSD of Xbox and PlayStation. No problem, after all, buyers of the disc version don”t have to worry about low download bandwidth, right?..Right?
Wrong! As the Twitter channel Does it play?
has found out, there are a whopping 70 MB of data on the PS5 disc of Modern Warfare 2 say. Seventy megabytes.
70mb … pic.twitter.com/NkgamI1VIs
– Does it play? (@DoesItPlay1) October 26, 2022
You can fit 100 GB on a PlayStation 5 UHD Blu-ray. Even as an absolute muppet in maths, I don”t have to do a lot of maths to come to the conclusion that less than one percent of Modern Warfare 2”s data carrier is used at all. I am not the only one who should have the word “waste “ shoot through my head in view of this realisation.
Other than that, as a buyer of the standard physical version of Modern Warfare 2, I am not in for a welcome surprise when I open the case. Only a discount coupon of 10 percent for the in-house merchandise shop is enclosed. There is no trace of any other goodies
. The free space on the disc could at least have been filled with virtual extras.
But the shooter is in the best of company. In recent years, when buying games, I have noticed more and more often that as a customer I am almost driven to buy digital. It”s a shame, because for me there is still hardly a better feeling than holding a high-quality game package in my hands!
Where are the incentives, dear manufacturers?
Also during the editorial brainstorming on this topic, it didn”t take long before the central problem of buying physical games was voiced: Why physical, there are no incentives anyway?!
And that indeed describes the dilemma extraordinarily well.
Who among you hasn”t opened a game case just to fish out a download code? Some titles even do without the token disc and only use the case as a transport container so that the Steam key arrives at home in one piece. It could rain…
But there are still those positive examples that show us that a retail purchase is worthwhile. Cyberpunk 2077 for example, rewarded first-time buyers of the physical variant with a whole range of great extras that I still dig out of the shelf from time to time:
- An interesting world compendium
- Various stylish postcards from Night City
- A detailed world map
Also Elden Ring positively surprised me in February! Although I went for the standard version (the special editions were sold out in five minutes), my purchase of the physical silver disc was rewarded with a poster, stickers and beautiful artwork, among other things.
I can understand the publishers
You almost get the impression that manufacturers don”t want us to buy games physically in shops anymore. The digital download business is doing better than ever, the balance of power is shifting. The former retail Goliath has become an unloved shepherd boy David, who is only supported by the publishers as long as he is still at least marginally lucrative.
And I can fully understand that, because the figures speak for themselves. Activision Blizzard already closed down the locations in this country that were responsible for the distribution of physical data media some time ago . The reason: digital goods already account for almost 90 percent of total sales.
EA also seems to have similar plans at the moment and could outsource the distribution of physical games to an external company. No wonder, with more than 1.5 billion US dollars that the publisher is expected to have generated in 2021 with FIFA Ultimate Team alone – purely digital, of course.
Sony offers the PlayStation 5 both with a drive and in a cheaper variant without. Official figures are missing, but in my experience the digital edition sells out even faster than its drive sister. And how many physical games have already been sold less because you can download title XYZ conveniently at the touch of a button in Xbox Game Pass?
Physical games must not disappear!
The digital convenience is countered by packaging, data carriers, logistics – all cost items that would not surprise me if they became less and less profitable for the manufacturers. This is a pity, because it also shrinks the second-hand market, which is immensely important in my eyes.
The recent shutdown of the Nintendo eShop for the WiiU and 3DS has reminded me of one of the biggest advantages of physical game versions. You know the argument from the PC as well, usually found in discussions around the pros and cons of Steam or the Epic Games Store:
I can”t suddenly lose an older vintage game sitting on my shelf if a vendor goes offline. The exception is multiplayer titles or games that are subject to an always-on constraint. I can get them out, install them and play them, even if my Internet provider is once again carrying out what feels like endless maintenance work.
Lend a game to friends? Resell the well-preserved retail version for good money after ten years thanks to its collector”s value? Things that are not possible with digital versions, or only via (not always legal) detours.
The social aspect is also immensely important to me. I have spoken above of the shop
. In my case, its owner is called Armin, who is always available for shop talk or a casual chat and has been valiantly fighting off the big electronics chains for over 20 years. But that only works with physical games that can be placed on the shelf.
What does it take? Games that make me want to put the box on my shelf (and dust it off every few weeks). That reward my passion with some nice extras and confirm me in my decision not to have taken the convenient route to the digital shop. Games that don”t stick my tongue out when I open the case – like Modern Warfare 2.
And what do you think?
Now I”ve given you my thoughts on the subject in great detail. But it is immensely important to me what you think about it! Because, as is so often the case, opinions are likely to differ. Some people – like myself – praise physical games, while others swear by digital shops with their accessibility and regular sales.
Which group do you belong to? Can you understand my arguments well or do you have a completely different view? Either way: I would be very happy if you would take part in the following survey and leave me a few lines in the comments below!
You bought a game on Steam and now you want your money back? If you bought a physical game, you can complain to your local retailer, but Gabe Newell might be hard to get a hold of for this kind of thing.
Get your money back!
Enough reading, it”s time to hit the keys! Drop me your thoughts on the subject in the comments and let”s share experiences. Physical games, it doesn”t get any better! or Digital shops, there”s nowhere more convenient!? I”m very curious to hear what the GlobalESportNews community thinks!
