Did the pandemic force people to adopt digital games sooner?

[Gizmo_Duck]

I think this was always gonna be the plan but I think microsoft and sony view the pandemic as the silver lining in order to get people to buy their digital consoles. I think people being stuck at home and a lot of retailers being closed while big games were coming out (animal crossing, ff7, doom etc.) forced people to re-examine their idea on buying games digitally.

I remember when microsoft first tried to get people into the idea of a digital only console with the Xbox one they were met with a fury unlike any other. Now I see a lot of people jumping for joy over the disc-less versions of both the xbox and ps5.

I completely went from physical to digital this gen, even before the pandemic. The convenience is just too nice. I don’t really care about reselling games anymore either, most times you get jerked on prices anyway.

Nice to be at work at purchase and download a game from your phone so its on your system when you get home.

 

[Fatboi1]

It somewhat did but I think the writing was on the wall for years now. The discless edition for PS5 and Series S is showing us that they're steering gamers into that direction. Convenience, preloading, early access all stem from digital purchases and will in the consumer's mind be better than @Kamikaze Revy 's library of games in cases.

 

[DaSk8D00D]

Outside of used game deals or various sales there isn’t really a reason to buy physical anymore, digital is just so much more convenient especially considering you don’t even “play” games off the disk anymore

I’ll only buy physical for Switch games because those cartridges are harder to manufacture than CD’s which somehow means they retain their value for dumb long. They still selling used BotW & Mario Kart carts for $55 at most places

 

[O³ (O cubed)]

Not really. All the games I purchased in the pandemic I bought bar SOR 4 were physical. The only reason why I bought Streets of Rage digitally is because I would've had to wait up to three months for a physical copy.

But I'm older than most gamers and will always prefer physical over digital.

 

[MeachTheMonster]

Nah, it’s been going this way for years. Just a couple of you still holding on.

Physical games are for dummy’s, weirdos, and broke boys

 

[The Mad Titan]

It was the nudge to force a lot of people that were against it to bite.

During the height of the pandemic, re3 and ff7 released.

Then tlous 2 and got

All really big games that either stores weren't open for, or it was super risky to go out and get.

And once you've experienced the convince of just hitting buy and playing at midnight without having to go out, then install and download updates....

It's kind of nice....




This was always coming though, this just pushed some people that didn't want to adopt at all.

 

[Kamikaze Revy]

It somewhat did but I think the writing was on the wall for years now. The discless edition for PS5 and Series S is showing us that they're steering gamers into that direction. Convenience, preloading, early access all stem from digital purchases and will in the consumer's mind be better than @Kamikaze Revy 's library of games in cases.

Ya’ll jealous as hell of my library of plastic

 

[Fatboi1]

Ya’ll jealous as hell of my library of plastic

*Slams $150 Chromebook shut*

 

[Red Shield]

an all digital future is a future where I game on pc only. Console can't be losing all of it's advantages..

 

[Deep_Black_Conscious]

It somewhat did but I think the writing was on the wall for years now. The discless edition for PS5 and Series S is showing us that they're steering gamers into that direction. Convenience, preloading, early access all stem from digital purchases and will in the consumer's mind be better than @Kamikaze Revy 's library of games in cases.

while they force all the negatives of all digital on us w/ no alternatives when everything becomes digital
I know exactly what they're doing

 

[MajesticLion]

Opportunity in chaos.

 

[Hey_zeus]

Bought some digital Switch games during quarantine....I must be crazy trusting Nintendo with this.

 

[Trapperman Dave]

I just got lazy and didn’t wanna drive to GS or Walmart

 

[Baka's Weird Case]

ive just been getting physicals delivered

i buy a mix of both and my buying patterns havent changed

 

[Gizmo_Duck]

Unfortunately i probably spend more money on games because its so much easier to buy them. I have like 50 games i haven’t played between steam, psn, and nintendo eshop sales