72% of UK/74% of US gamers prefer buying physical games

[Noir Angel]

Makes no difference to me, I'll buy whatever option's cheapest. These days, even when I don't order digitally I do mostly still mail order my games, I rarely go into brick and mortar stores these days apart from buying older titles that it simply wouldn't be cost efficient to pay shipping for.

[neoadorable]

On PC I only buy digital copies, because I'll end up downloading a "No CD" Crack out of lazyness, and the disc will never get used again. Is there even a 2nd-hand PC game market? What with serial keys etc. I bought one digital game on Xbox One (Battlefield 4) and it took 19 hours to download. I could have walked the 20 miles to the store and back in the time that took to download (Xbox One had just launched, so the servers might have been taking a hammering). 

 

I also trade in my Console games when Im thoroughly done with them. 

 

Hahaha that was an aberration, downloads don't take that long usually. Watch Dogs came through in like 40 minutes, which isn't bad for a 20GB file.

 

Downloads are awesome because they cater to the impulsive shopper, and as one who's addicted to buying games as opposed to actually playing them, that's a wonderful thing :laugh:

Like i just bought Sine More and Violett on Steam for the weekly deals. Chances of ever actually playing either? Close to zero.

 

However, as Larry and jerzdawg said, you can't beat trade ins, that's up to 50% off your next purchase, which these days mean much, as we have to stretch that dollar far as it can go.

 

On PC Steam's runaway success (no pun intended) simply killed the physical market, and that success was due to the lacklustre state of PC gaming sales when Steam finally became a major force circa 2009.

[Raa]

If it's a good game, (usually has multiplayer) and comes in a collector's box, i'll get it.

 

Otherwise I'll go digital or not at all.

[ctebah]

I usually wait then buy used. Great way for saving money. Internet caps are enforced at every ISP.

[McKay]

Hahaha that was an aberration, downloads don't take that long usually. Watch Dogs came through in like 40 minutes, which isn't bad for a 20GB file.

 

Downloads are awesome because they cater to the impulsive shopper, and as one who's addicted to buying games as opposed to actually playing them, that's a wonderful thing :laugh:

Like i just bought Sine More and Violett on Steam for the weekly deals. Chances of ever actually playing either? Close to zero.

 

However, as Larry and jerzdawg said, you can't beat trade ins, that's up to 50% off your next purchase, which these days mean much, as we have to stretch that dollar far as it can go.

 

On PC Steam's runaway success (no pun intended) simply killed the physical market, and that success was due to the lacklustre state of PC gaming sales when Steam finally became a major force circa 2009.

 

Who knows with me, Battlefield was around 40gb I think, my download speed ranges between 4-8MB, the fastest I've seen my download speed go was in steam where it peaked at 1.1mb/s for a few minutes.

[neoadorable]

Who knows with me, Battlefield was around 40gb I think, my download speed ranges between 4-8MB, the fastest I've seen my download speed go was in steam where it peaked at 1.1mb/s for a few minutes.

 

What kind of connection do you have? And are you quoting Mb/s or MB/s heh heh? Makes a big difference, Steam i think uses MB/s. I get around 40Mb/s to my X1/PS4 via Wi-Fi, which is fine but not the greatest. They are putting in 300-500Mb/s connections where i am, and providing customers with 802.11ac routers as part of the bundle. Will be nice to have if available!

[Emn1ty]

Just because you prefer something doesn't mean you avoid the alternative. I think most gamers will have a healthy balance of both physical and digital, with a leaning towards preferring one. 

 

I think it's safe to say that PC gamers will primarily buy digitally, console gamers will buy physical.

 

But gaming in general? It's moved quite significantly to digital if you consider phone/tablet gaming as well. Then Arcade, PSN... It's really not a stretch of the imagination that most titles bought physically are going to be AAA titles, and those are the minority of games.

[McKay]

What kind of connection do you have? And are you quoting Mb/s or MB/s heh heh? Makes a big difference, Steam i think uses MB/s. I get around 40Mb/s to my X1/PS4 via Wi-Fi, which is fine but not the greatest. They are putting in 300-500Mb/s connections where i am, and providing customers with 802.11ac routers as part of the bundle. Will be nice to have if available!

 

Yeah sorry was on my phone and didn't it randomly capitalised words. Its a 20Mb of which I only get between 4-8Mb. The download speed ranges anywhere between 500kB to 1.1mB

[Brian M. Veteran]

I buy physical for consoles, and via steam on PC.

I don't think I'd ever buy digital on consoles unless the pricing changes. It's normally much more expensive (for example Watch Dogs ?44 on Amazon, ?59 on PSN), and downloading anything from PSN takes forever, since I can never get more than 10Mbps from them.

[HawkMan]

Yeah sorry was on my phone and didn't it randomly capitalised words. Its a 20Mb of which I only get between 4-8Mb. The download speed ranges anywhere between 500kB to 1.1mB

 

I'm guessing you're on DSL on fairly low quality copper and at the very edge of the area covered by your closest central. 

[+Audioboxer Subscriber²]

I'm guessing you're on DSL on fairly low quality copper and at the very edge of the area covered by your closest central. 

 

Most of the UK is on crappy ADSL broadband. My speeds are 300-425kb.

[McKay]

I'm guessing you're on DSL on fairly low quality copper and at the very edge of the area covered by your closest central. 

 

It's a 60 year old Exchange box, which wont get replaced for probably decades. Seeing as its on an Air Force base, separate from the Village, which has already been upgraded.

[HawkMan]

Most of the UK is on crappy ADSL broadband. My speeds are 300-425kb.

 

ADSL doesn't have to be crappy though.

 

I'm on ADSL out in the middle of nowhere, I get 16-18Mb. up is max 700-1024kb though.

[+Asmodai MVC]

All other things being equal (same edition, DLC, price, etc.) I prefer to have a physical disc.

I'll consider digital only if it is significantly cheaper (at least $10) or obviously if it's the only option.

I have FiOS so it's not a bandwidth thing and I have never sold a used game in my life, I just prefer to have the discs and not be tied to some online service.

There really isn't a point buying a disc for a game that requires Steam for me though so typically if I have a disc for a steam game it's because I didn't realize what was on the disc required steam.  In those cases I typically just use the code in the package and don't bother installing the disc (I was it was more clearly labeled on the packing so I knew not to waste my time buying the disc)

[HawkMan]

Physical or digital is really irrelevant to me, there's no game stores in this town or nearby so I would have to order, I Rarely pre order games because I find the concept stupid, so when I buy games I usually decide I want it and then the fastest way to get it is digital. 

 

I rarely care about collectors editions, sometimes I wan the figures in them if they have a cool figure, if they just have an art book and digital in game items and a fancy book I don't care. but even when they have a nice statue/figure I rarely find it worth the money. 

 

So the only times I get physical copies is if I pick up something when I'm in a city shopping and I find a new game I haven't bought yet that's interesting and it's interesting enough for them there and then.

[neoadorable]

Most of the UK is on crappy ADSL broadband. My speeds are 300-425kb.

 

 

It's a 60 year old Exchange box, which wont get replaced for probably decades. Seeing as its on an Air Force base, separate from the Village, which has already been upgraded.

 

Not wanting to come across aloof or insulting, but what the hell are these speeds? You guys live in the birthplace of modern industry. Even Martians mistook it for the center of the world when they invaded :D

 

All joking aside, those speeds are not funny. As Hawk said, rather confusing. Technically those are below the minimum requirements for XBL and PSN, which is 1.5Mb/s i think? It will work at lower speeds, but not very well.

 

McKay - if your connection is 20Mb/s, which is good, why are you getting only around 1Mb/s?

 

Either way, you need to voice your displeasure with these speeds. ISP's can't get away with such low performance anymore, this is 2014, not 1994 or even 2004. I mean buying physical won't make a difference if ISP's can't provide adequate speeds - discs on all platforms these days are little more than glorified installers, unless you're on an offline console.

[McKay]

Not wanting to come across aloof or insulting, but what the hell are these speeds? You guys live in the birthplace of modern industry. Even Martians mistook it for the center of the world when they invaded :D

 

All joking aside, those speeds are not funny. As Hawk said, rather confusing. Technically those are below the minimum requirements for XBL and PSN, which is 1.5Mb/s i think? It will work at lower speeds, but not very well.

 

McKay - if your connection is 20Mb/s, which is good, why are you getting only around 1Mb/s?

 

Either way, you need to voice your displeasure with these speeds. ISP's can't get away with such low performance anymore, this is 2014, not 1994 or even 2004. I mean buying physical won't make a difference if ISP's can't provide adequate speeds - discs on all platforms these days are little more than glorified installers, unless you're on an offline console.

 

Xbox live requirements are 4mbps, mine hovers anywhere between 4-8mbps. Its 20mbps being piped to me, the the 60 year old exchange box only allows that much through. I live in the middle of nowhere. Because the Air Force owns the exchange box, it isn't going to be upgraded. The village the base is in has its own exchange boxes which got upgraded to handle 20mbps, and that's the speeds people outside the base enjoy. Which isn't bad for the middle of nowhere. 

[neoadorable]

Xbox live requirements are 4mbps, mine hovers anywhere between 4-8mbps. Its 20mbps being piped to me, the the 60 year old exchange box only allows that much through. I live in the middle of nowhere. Because the Air Force owns the exchange box, it isn't going to be upgraded. The village the base is in has its own exchange boxes which got upgraded to handle 20mbps, and that's the speeds people outside the base enjoy. Which isn't bad for the middle of nowhere. 

 

Wow didn't realize XBL wants such high speeds now. Well if you're getting 4-8Mb/s, you should be OK. Of course 20Mb/s would be better, but before you mentioned much lower speeds, around 1Mb/s, unless you meant upload.

[McKay]

Wow didn't realize XBL wants such high speeds now. Well if you're getting 4-8Mb/s, you should be OK. Of course 20Mb/s would be better, but before you mentioned much lower speeds, around 1Mb/s, unless you meant upload.

I didn't know either, I've been a member since 2004 I think, back then 512kb broadband was the standard where I lived.

I've done a speed test in bytes and bits. I meant 1 megabyte. That's the fastest I've seen my download speed hit, which was in steam.

[neoadorable]

I didn't know either, I've been a member since 2004 I think, back then 512kb broadband was the standard where I lived.

I've done a speed test in bytes and bits. I meant 1 megabyte. That's the fastest I've seen my download speed hit, which was in steam.

 

 

Is this on your phone or something? That would explain the connection speeds :blush:

Otherwise, 5-6Mb/s is OK, not great but enough. Besides, latency is the main thing. You could have a 10Gb/s connection, if your latency to Titanfall or any other such MP is more than 150ms, your fast connection is almost entirely negated.

[McKay]

Is this on your phone or something? That would explain the connection speeds :blush:

Otherwise, 5-6Mb/s is OK, not great but enough. Besides, latency is the main thing. You could have a 10Gb/s connection, if your latency to Titanfall or any other such MP is more than 150ms, your fast connection is almost entirely negated.

I'd get identical results on my desktop, it fluctuates between 4Mbs-8Mbs down.

[neoadorable]

I'd get identical results on my desktop, it fluctuates between 4Mbs-8Mbs down.

 

Got it. I know it's military and therefore they're on a different upgrade schedule than the town, but you guys need to push for faster speeds. Show them a calendar, then the average file sizes for a movie and a game. :argh:

[+Audioboxer Subscriber²]

Not wanting to come across aloof or insulting, but what the hell are these speeds? You guys live in the birthplace of modern industry. Even Martians mistook it for the center of the world when they invaded :D

 

All joking aside, those speeds are not funny. As Hawk said, rather confusing. Technically those are below the minimum requirements for XBL and PSN, which is 1.5Mb/s i think? It will work at lower speeds, but not very well.

 

McKay - if your connection is 20Mb/s, which is good, why are you getting only around 1Mb/s?

 

Either way, you need to voice your displeasure with these speeds. ISP's can't get away with such low performance anymore, this is 2014, not 1994 or even 2004. I mean buying physical won't make a difference if ISP's can't provide adequate speeds - discs on all platforms these days are little more than glorified installers, unless you're on an offline console.

 

Many parts of the UK, especially Scotland, have really ###### broadband. Here are my speedtest results http://www.speedtest.net/my-result/3529968597

[neoadorable]

Many parts of the UK, especially Scotland, have really ###### broadband. Here are my speedtest results http://www.speedtest.net/my-result/3529968597

 

This is not acceptable in this day and age. If it's free then that's one thing, but i have a sneaking suspicion you actually pay for that :(

I thought BT was good, they have 1Gb/s on their site i think. How big are the British Isles do they think? It's not REALLY Westeros, someone needs to tell them it's same to send the crews to put in FTTx, no white walkers will attack them. 

[+Audioboxer Subscriber²]

This is not acceptable in this day and age. If it's free then that's one thing, but i have a sneaking suspicion you actually pay for that :(

I thought BT was good, they have 1Gb/s on their site i think. How big are the British Isles do they think? It's not REALLY Westeros, someone needs to tell them it's same to send the crews to put in FTTx, no white walkers will attack them. 

 

For the size of the country, the dragging of feet to get superfast broadband everywhere is shocking.