People still mostly buy physical copies of games

I love digital distribution when it comes to Steam and GoG, but only then when there are sales.

Oh, and the game has to be old. I refuse to buy digital copies of new games instead of a physical copy.

Its always nice to look at a shelf of games even if it is more convenient to look at a list of games

The word 'duh' comes to mind...

Do they not track Steam downloads?

I only would purchase digital if its less than half the cost of the physical copy. Why else would I ever want to digitally purchase my games that I can't resell, or let my friends borrow? Not to mention having a nice case sitting on your shelf looks far better.

I think more people would be willing to purchase digitally for new releases. Unfortunately by the time a game becomes a digital release, most of us already have the hard copy.

I don't mind digital distribution, I'll buy XBLA games or games on my iPhone and don't feel the need to have a physical copy of a game...but if I'm doing this, I shouldn't have to pay the same price as the physical equivalent. If the retail copy is $59 and the digital download is $59, then why go digital? There should be savings in there somewhere in comparison.

I really only use Gamefly and Steam, personally. There aren't many console games I feel I need to own rather than rent.

Biggest problem i have with the digital games is once the game is attributed to an account it is stuck there forever not to be transferred or moved. The problem attached is say an XBLA or PSN id is banned destroyed corrupted or rendered otherwise unusable then the said digital content that has been paid for is also lost.
My buddy was having some problems with his XBLA account he was on the phone with XBOX support and they were remote accessing his xbox360 when the power went out. He lost his account it was not accessible through any means. He tried to get in contact with xbox support again but to no avail. He ended up getting another account.
If you download a psp game you can actually have it downloaded to up to 5 psps.
So far i have yet to pay full price for the xbox content. I always wait for the deals of the week to be decent enough to get. 400MSP or 5USD to me is the most a digital download will ever be worth. and make that movie download/payperview a dollar or stick with netflix. It makes sense to make game add-on content digitally distributed but then again sometimes they see hard copy release also, HALO 3. As much as possible i purchase disc versions of XBLA games popcap arcade, konami collection, arcade unplugged ect, those are hard copies of otherwise digital games.

hmmm, i wonder if this has SOMETHING to do with the fact that MOST games are only available in retail, physical format? this news is worthwhile if it only considers games that are available in physical and digital forms, otherwise it's useless information.

Physical > Digital
Every time.

Y'get nice casing, artwork, manual, media format, tradablibity, resellability, and it's aesthetically pleasing to have a shelf with titled spines that you can always pull out, open and play.

If digital is a lot cheaper then it would beat the heck out of physical. Money talks.

I hate it too, I like having physical copies. It's easier to insure also.

Maybe digital distro will be the standard one day.

That day will need fast internet for cheap/free.
And hd space up the whazooo. I'd personally have a game i like sit on my shelf than take up what little hd space i have :x

We're American. It's what we do. Go about your business. Sell your soul.

For PC, I vastly prefer digital copies. The discounts run much deeper than anything I could find in a store. For consoles, we don't have any options, other than the overpriced copies MS and Sony will sell us. The lack of competition on consoles makes DD pointless.

IN YOUR FACE DIGITAL FUCKING DOWNLOAD!

Generally I prefer physical copies with a few exceptions.With things like XBLA and PSN games there usually isn't a choice to buy a physical copy. The only time I actually make the choice to buy downloadable vs. physical is when Steam has a ridiculous sale... which seems to happen constantly.

Reason I still buy Physical Copies is because its always mine and it will never get deleted or remove completely off account

I wish Steam put out a feature to "sell" your games that you purchased from Steam. I mean Steam has all the records and associations between the game and your account, so I don't see why they can't just dissociate the game from your account and give you credit. This is an opportunity for Steam as used PC games on physical media market is dead thanks to 1-time-use-serials and draconian DRM.

I can't see how digital distribution will completely take over the market in some years (like analysts keep saying) unless they force us to buy everything this way.

Like others here I like to trade in or sell some games when I'm done with them.

1/10 being digital downloads is still a lot! especially when so many of the top games are disc-based only. You're competing Flower with LittleBigPlanet. You're competing Warhawk versus a cheaper version of the same game with a bonus headset. And then you still have to wait for the culture to accept having their games permanently. These things take time and effort which just isn't there yet.

At the same time though, digital downloads are really nice for some games. Think of buying PixleJunkMonsters on a disc. that's when you scratch your head and go "that'd never work".

I buy both Physical Copies and Digitial.... But I dont really Like having to purchase Physical Copies any more.... its so 2000's.

I would Love to be able to purchase New Releases on DAY ONE, thru XBOX LIVE...If I can do it on STEAM why not XBOX.

Oh they will, because That way they dont lose any money with people buying used...

Its coming soonner or later..(I'm thinking in the next 4 years)

Hell, I still buy music in physical format...

Heh, The Orange Box, I see what you probably didn't mean to do there.

I think if Microsoft and Sony offered full retail games at competitive prices, like how Steam operates, then digital distribution would take off in a major way. The pricing structure on most Xbox Games on Demand and digital PSP games is a bit out of hand. For digital distribution to work, they need to not only compete with the cost of new retail hard copies, but take used copies (like Amazon, Ebay, ect) into consideration as well.

I think most XBLA and PSN titles are priced fairly. Its the pricing on console full retail versions of games they need to work on.

I'm not against physical copies, but let's move past optical discs and drives. I would like to see more of a SD card type of storage. This would do away with loud/slow optical drives. It has to be loud to be fast or it has to be slow to be quiet.

Newsflash: NPD doesn't track digital distribution (or Wal-Mart). So...

I don't actually LIKE the idea of the box itself. That is, I sort of do, but the box itself is not a dealbreaker. What I like is having a transferable game license. Until digital provide a way for me to delete my game from my hard drive and turn my license into a code that I can sell, give away, or trade, the box will beat the digital copy at the same price.

But I also like the benefit of a well-executed digtal copy. Steam's sale prices provide enough of a benefit to me to push it over the edge, and I'll generally buy games at those prices. Another thing that has impressed me has been Telltale's distribution system, which basically gives me a physical disc license on top of my digital one.

But paying as much as the PC Special Edition that has physical extras for the digital extras, and the privilege of playing it without a disc? Not interested there. And I don't see why cutting a cost on their end does not cut a cost on mine on most new games.

I'd love to go digital, but the cost and the hassle of a lot of the stores and licenses are too much for me to easily make the conversion. I have my Steam games, sure, but it's an uneasy alliance at best.

I will wait until the PS4 before I worry about digital copies. I am ok paying $5-20 for a game I will play for a bit and never again, but not for a $70 game. I only play games ONCE, no matter what the game, and what DLC they throw at me, and then I move on, otherwise I will never get through my list
http://www.joystiq.com/2010/01/12/video-game-release-date-calendar-q1-q2-2010/#top

Plus, the idea of a "used" copy of a digital game is inherently wrong. I do agree with some sort of credit though. Not really sure, but it doesn't seem like gamerz will ever get the better deal.

Well it's not like you can download a game like MW2, Darksiders, Halo, etc... For the console like the PC doe sit.

The only way I will choose the digital copy over the physical is if the price is alot cheaper. If I get the same value but can still have an awesome box to add to my ever growing collection then I would strongly prefer the Boxed copy over simply purchasing 1s and 0s.

its because nobody likes buying additional memory.

The reason I have not purchased an "on demand" game via XBL is because I have no idea if I can transfer or re-download on the next version of the Xbox. I'm going to assume physical discs will be backwards compatible...

I'm not concerned with owning a physical disc or packaging and have no interest in trading in games.

In regards to letting your friends borrow; then Microsoft/Sony should create some sort of "license" transfer/trading between your "friends". Once I let friend-A borrow GTA4; I cannot play it until he/she transfers/trades the license back. Friends would of course need to download the game. Maybe even the owner of said game can force the license back... protecting against theft or forgetfulness...

digi distro is the future. Apple is already doing it and its called iTunes.

I'm about to move to a city where 3G net access barely has any coverage, and the best broadband speeds are akin to narrowband ISDN.

Where the ISPs have said that they want the residents to club together, pay for the core line upgrades and the council permission to dig up the ground.

I'm now regretting my digital download purchases and wishing I had physical copies of them all because I won't be able to access most of them, especially with steam if I have to re-install the software or so much as forget to 'restart in offline mode'.

Even if I did manage to get the ADSL, I'd be under strict monthly bandwidth limits, and I used 100gb last month grabbing the steam games, ISOs and software updates, let alone surfing youtube.

It's only just outside Leeds in the UK, too. A major city.

Props to physical copies.

People prefer physical copies because they want to actually OWN a real copy of what they buy, not some software code and a license that can be revoked. I like being able to sell off a copy of a game if I get sick of playing it. Unfortunately, the game companies will eventually switch to a full digital format because they've made it clear they don't want us selling or buying used copies.