[Thoughts] Why I Buy Physical Games

There are many reasons why I always buy physical, at least, when I can

source: www.backloggd.com

[ Introduction ]

As time has gone on, it has become more clear that companies are starting to lose interest in having physical copies of games. I wouldn't say it's at a level where it's an issue yet, but five years from now I don't think I could say the same. Physical games are most obviously good for video game preservation. Though, today I will be sharing some of my own reasons why I buy physical games.

~ Cost ~

I am really not sure why but most of the time games are just straight up the same price or even cheaper if you buy physical copies. You would think because the game has to be manufactured they would need to increase the price in comparison to the digital version but this is not the case. As it stands, the standard launch price for a big Nintendo title for example is £50, but on many sites you can find those games for £40-45. Second hand games are another thing that help with costs. There is no such thing as a second hand digital game so you have to strictly look for digital sales for a price reduction.

~ Displaying ~

If you like to display your video game merch and such like myself, cases of games are a great item to have on display. The cases have great artwork on the front of them and sometimes even have reversible cover art that looks just as good if not better than the normal art. Having the cases on display just produces this magical aura, as I can just glance over at my display and relive many memories just by looking at the game's case. 

~ Selling ~

 

I am still quite annoyed that digital games pretty much cannot be returned even for a partial refund. Steam does allow you to do this but even that system is not the best. You are allowed 2 hours of play time until you are not allowed to refund the game. For many games this just isn't really enough time to form an opinion. There was one time I got a game and played it for about 2 hours and a half and started to get bored of it. Sadly I was over by half an hour so I basically just wasted my money. At least this is some type of refund system though, every other digital store doesn't allow refunds at all or at least not easily. 

~ Pre-order bonuses/ extras ~

Physical games and digital games can both be pre-ordered. Digital games sometimes get pre order bonuses but these are very generic things such as a digital soundtrack typically. Physical games pre orders can give you all types of goodies. From keyrings to steel books, there are some really cool things you can get. On extremely rare occasions you may also get something else in the standard physical edition too, like stickers or something else as a nice extra.

~ Borrowing/sharing games ~

This is something that has become more possible with digital games but it is still quite limited. Game sharing also requires a whole process to even do on the platforms that can do it, which makes it really tedious to do. For physical games, it is a simple as giving someone the game. 

[ Outro ]

That raps up my reasons about why I get physical games. Of course there are some advantages to getting digital games but I feel the positives for that are far less important than the ones for physical games. I will be sticking to physical media until It isn't an option anymore, though hopefully this never is the case.

That's it for this blog, stay connected!