So, the recent poll about the quantity of games you own (referring to physical copies) (Found here) brought up a discussion in the shop about whether or not you can consider your digital purchase as ownership or if it is really just rental of that product until the server / service provider no longer offers said item or service or until you yourself expire (that's die).

Is the whole point of everything becoming a "Digital usage license" a key focus for publishers so that they always have direct control over their product and retain full ownership?

How do you do you guys feel about this? Have you found any interesting articles about digital product "ownership"? Let us know!

When I pay R50 for a digital title where the same game still goes upwards of R300 for the physical edition I don't really care if I own it or not lol. Even if I then can't trade it in I still saved money in the end.

So far there has been no game I cannot still download on my PS3 since I first purchased it. So technically the game is still mine and I can get and play it whenever I feel like.

I find the arguments quite silly to be honest, it can happen both ways. People say "but what happens if they take the service offline" well what happens if you lose your physical disc or it gets stolen or breaks? How many people got broken 360 games? lol

I think the first PSN game I bought was Flower, which I can still download and play today, in fact I recently downloaded it again for my PS4 at no charge.

Digital for me is the way of the future, the only people that want physical copies are people that see value in it. I don't see any value in the games I own, they just there to take up space.

It's the exact same with BC, instead of giving us BC with consoles they will sell a game to us again with a few touched up parts. No, this is wrong, digital as it grows should be able to avoid something like this, in a similar case as Flower did. As long as I have access to my account I will always have access to the games.

If I or my disc expires, in some capacity, then I guess I don't own physical copies of games either.

Digital comes with too many other variables that are out of your control imo. I like to know that my games are always available at hand to play and not reliant on servers being up, internet connections running, double storage space being available on the device or number the limited downloads pre purchase being up. If I feel like playing an old game it takes me minutes to get it out the box and popped into the machine. No waiting for the download – maybe a small install and update only, which would happen with the digital anyway I am sure.

As far as game discs breaking or going missing – I have never had this, but then again I don’t use my games as table coasters Once I am done playing a game it goes back into its box. Safe and ready to play again. The continued access to the game is only dependent how I threat the disc and the gaming device. There is no other influence. So if I do break the discs it is on me, but if a gaming service goes down, or the connection internet crashes and I can’t download that game anymore it is due to something I had no control over.

If it's not on disc I don't want it. Unless it's not available in physical form

I consider digital ownership, unless it's like PSN plus or the likes but thats the same as renting a game.

I know all my steam game/psn games and xbox live titles are tied to my accounts, I log into my account it is there.

I have never deleted a game, gone back and looked and see my game is missing on any service or being told I am sorry you cant download that anymore etc...

If the service that goes down that runs them? Download what you want before the service goes down, install to HDD and be done with it. Lets face it no major organization these days with all the communication is just going to sorry folks servers are down this morning and never coming back up again ever. With out giving people notice.

Personally I am over buying physical media, these days If I can get digital I go digital purely because it's less clutter, easier and a lot of the time about 100 - 200 bucks cheaper. Sometimes even more, especially after the games been out a few months or so.

And even though digital has it's issues it has it's advantages. My original Kingdom Hearts disc for PS2 shattered when I moved, now being physical media I would have to go buy that disc again. If it was digital and my hdd broke or something? just redownload it and probably pull my save files from the cloud and carry on.

Biggest problem with digital is no trade in, but services like steam let you trade games with other people after you have owned them for awhile so that also works out great.

IkariX said ...

If it's not on disc I don't want it. Unless it's not available in physical form

Same here.

I agree with everyone on this. If the service goes down and nothing can be done from our side, then it is done.

PS Plus for me is a different thing, its just digital renting, if my membership runs out, I can't play. For R500 you get the service, games every month for 3 systems and you play them an when you are done, delete them if you don't have enough space or keep them and replay. its Renting, just like you would do at video stores, just no over the top fees and allot of games.

I have allot of games that I have gotten for a steal online on PSN and they are mine, but if the service goes down and my console packs up, then its ok...

Thankfully all these online companies are great, fair warning and they will assist you. (Ive dealt with a problem with Nintendo at Core and they helped me and did my download for me at the offices...)

Unless there is a edition with Art Book or killer something, then its physical... But Digital takes up no more space then the console and the Wi-Fi router...

DarkPrince said ...

When I pay R50 for a digital title where the same game still goes upwards of R300 for the physical edition I don't really care if I own it or not lol. Even if I then can't trade it in I still saved money in the end.

This logic right here, I agree with. True if the servers go down we'll probably be unable to play these games again but I think that's only related to games that require full online access, but technology seems to be going in the direction of cloud servers and full on digital anyway so it's not like you won't know when this is going to happen

I think the only time a game will be rendered "obsolete" is when compatibility becomes an issue but that pretty much goes for everything in life

Good and bad.
Digital SHOULD be cheaper than physical, but it isn't always.
Digital SHOULD always be available, but it depends on the supplier (So far they have been playing nice. Taking a 10 year old game of the servers is not that big a deal IMO)

Physical releases are getting shafted. That is just a fact. Physical takes longer to install, is often only available a few days AFTER digital launch, Is generally a hassle (with DRM, downloading ANYWAY and the fact that the disc version is often a few patches behind by the time you take it out of the box. I'm looking at YOU Elder Scrolls!)

That being said, the biggest problem for us is that SA is really kinda behind the times as far as connectivity goes
It's getting better, and if you do your sums right, an uncapped, unthrottled (e.g. expensive) bundle will actually save you so much money in the long run (with digital specials and free games), you would be amazed.

One of the few reasons we still buy physical is because of stores like AWX. If I had to buy anywhere else, I wouldn't

A few years ago I never traded games in, when I bought them, I kept them. My wife one day asked whether I'm ever going to re-play any of my games again, to which I replied "probably not", as I'm not a guy that easily replays games.

a Few years down the line I decided "what the hell" and started trading in all my old games, realising how much I'm saving in the end when I trade, and as I don't replay most games, what exactly is the use of holding on to these games. I started buying games, finishing them and trading them immediately, thus saving each time on a new game I wanted.

I then ended up buying a PC last year, purely for gaming. I also bought hard copies of ALL the games I wanted, seeing as I couldn't trade PC games, these things just started piling up in my game room, to an extent that it actually started irritating me.

I then started looking at Digital Copies, and as many ppl have already stated, you sometimes save between R50 - R250 on a game, the same amount you get for trading games, so it all works out the same in the ned, not just that, I don't need to drive anywhere (and I hate driving), when a game gets released on a week day it's hard for me (unless I get it delivered, which costs extra) to get to a game store and buy the game, with digital you always get to play your games on launch and never have to rush anywhere to or make a plan to go buy a game, and thus far I have never had any delay on a game I've wanted.

So;

1.) It's cost effective.
2.) It's less stress to get the game.
3.) I don't have to drive and waste petrol.
4.) I have never had any game I have downloaded go missing, get damaged or waste space.
5.) I don't have to get off my couch to take out a disc, put it back in its case, get another game, take it out, put it back in and start loading it. With a click of a mouse from the comfort of my couch I change games in a jiffy

So digital to me is better in every way

Tebulot said ...

Good and bad.


That being said, the biggest problem for us is that SA is really kinda behind the times as far as connectivity goes

This is also one of my major concerns. It's not really an issue for me anymore as we finally upgraded to a 4meg line, but when you look in the direction of the way games are going (which isn't a bad thing) you see a lot of it would negatively affect people in third world and developing countries who don't have those types of lines or those access to those types of speeds. It's unrealistic to think people who have little or in a country that type of framework don't like games. Because it puts them at a distinct disadvantage when procuring them.

To be fair, on the flipside being RPG fan myself, I now have access to older games that I could only dream about playing. Or importing for ridiculous prices for only R95.00 as a ps2 or ps1 classic. Which is GREAT! I think digital distribution in this sense, is a great step, stuff is also a whole lot cheaper. I also no longer have to worry about buying games day 1 because of the fact it's quite difficult to get these games anytime later. Now I can hold off and wait for a price drop

I just don't think that "only digital" is the right way to go.

But you know...opinions

Hmmm seems to be a fair split on this. I'm not really just questioning the benefits of Physical or Digital media though but really the fact of owner ship. We spend all this money on our hobbies but at the end of the day, will we really have something to show for it other than serial keys when its all digital.

I sometimes wonder what the new parents of our generation will leave behind? In most cases ownership also ceases once you die, so there's also no real physical value to a digital collection. I mean friends, parents even grand parents used to pass on their collections (book, card, stamps, heck even game collections) to family or friends once they were done with their hobby or pass on. The only people / organisations that really benefit from this non physical medium for product in the long term really is the publisher now. At least when something is physical, you still own it, it has tangible value.

@Tea - I'm with you on questioning what people will leave behind. When I have children (and it'll probably still be a good 10 years before I'd introduce them to some of my old games), it would be amazing to dust off and fire up an old ps2/ps3/xbox360/ps4*.

Explaining something and pictures/videos on the internet are only good for so much. Think of museum exhibits or science/tech events in which you get a hands on experience with the content matter. It makes it tangible and that much easier to understand.

I still support digital for some old PC titles on GOG (which comes with the benefit of being optimised for modern systems) and often download small indie games who thrive without the need for a publisher of physical media, but still there's something great about owning a physical copy of something you love, not just digital access to it (access which is never guaranteed to last).

* We should probably stash away an old TV as well to make sure the inputs don't change!

I would like to keep things physical for the obvious reason.

I have a game that if I sold it today I could get at a minimum R1500,
Thing is if that was digital I wouldn't get anything near that amount.

I want to say that having physical copies are essentially an investment.
Not always an investment that will show profitable returns but there are exceptions.

May just come down to the fact that one day they wont produce DVD/bluray discs and the only way you can "buy" something would be digital.

Well, in terms of music, you don't own digital music. Don't know if it's the same with games but unlike physical CDs and records, you can't give your digital music collection to anyone, not even in a will.

@ Snow - I think you and i discussed this previously but didn't Bruce Willis contest the Itunes ownership policy so he could pass his music purchases on to his kids?

Snow said ...

Well, in terms of music, you don't own digital music. Don't know if it's the same with games but unlike physical CDs and records, you can't give your digital music collection to anyone, not even in a will.

I suppose the argument would be you can just give them your account details but I wonder what iTunes or Steam admin will do in the future when they notice most of their users are over 100 years in age and have spent the last 80 years listening to music or playing videogames?

Haha, A persons legacy; Leaving someone your steam/ itunes password.

Snow said ...

Well, in terms of music, you don't own digital music. Don't know if it's the same with games but unlike physical CDs and records, you can't give your digital music collection to anyone, not even in a will.

You learn something new everyday.

I did not know this and found it strangely...interesting.