Digital vs. Physical Video Games - Retro Bird 

Games played: Castlevania: Circle of the Moon (0:01), Mario Kart 8 Deluxe (0:15), Earthworm Jim (1:05), Breath of the Wild (1:20), Super Mario Odyssey (1:50), Sparkster (2:55) Also, some clarification: What Twin Snakes on GameCube experiences may not necessarily be disc rot, and just a deterioration of the art layer on top. I'm not sure if it could eventually spread and compromise the readability of the disc itself.

I feel digital is only good on pc where you can keep copy and pasting your games to different hard drives forever and play it on whatever pc (for the most part) but if it’s console, I prefer physical

I have a serious problem with digital games costing the same as the physical version. The publisher is cutting out manufacturing, warehousing, distribution, and the split to the retail store. It's even worse when the game is published by Nintendo, Sony, or Microsoft since they aren't paying a licensing fee or the fee to host the game files and use the online store.

I'd like to think that anyone who was a child of the '80's and teen of the 90's and anywhere inbetween that time period most certainly prefer the feel of having a copy of a game they love; twist it around in their hands to study it in awe of all angles, study the manual, and realize that game is actually yours. Digital copies just feel far too fleeting. A warm breath of fresh air; exhaled into winter weather.

Dude your sense of humor is amazing.

As a collector I'd definitely go with physical. For most of the reasons that Retro Bird mentioned. Most importantly I can sell the games, and most have gone up in value since I've purchased them so I definitely wouldn't be losing any money. I'd get the same amount back I put into the collection, if not more. For the Nintendo stuff I'd definitely get more. And I don't have to worry about servers on anything before the PS3 generation. I can also experience the games as intended on original hardware with physical. Not to mention I have all the box art and manuals and can see what the game looked like when it released whether it be cartridge or a disc game. With physical you have full ownership. You're in control. The only upsides with digital is the convenience factor, and the fact they are sometimes on sale and can be bought for a good price. Or played as part of subscription service like Nintendo online.

Honestly I just have very superficial reasons for prefering physical, in general I am not worried about the longevity of digital services and definitely I am not concerned about reselling any games. I just like the physicality, the process of physically picking up a game and put it on my console, puts me in the mood for playing and gives me a special satisfaction when I finally beat it and goes back to the shelf like some trophy. With portables games, I even like the inconvenience of not being able to take all your games with you wherever you go. It makes me really think on what I am likely to play, look at all my games and choose a handful for the ride of varying genres and lengths.

I’ll be happy to give my sons all my physical games someday. I don’t think leaving them a bunch of digital games would offer them as much value

Not only can you sell a physical copy, but you can often buy one for less than the digital version. Just for an example; Far Cry 6 is 69.99 on the playstation store, but my local shop has used copies for 7.99. That price difference is so huge, I don't know why anyone wouldn't at least look at discs!

I do both. I end up buying things 2 or three times because of this but that's because i hate collecting money

I laughed out loud several times during this video. That doesn't happen often. Love your sense of humor, man!

Thanks for pumping out these videos every week. I know it must be draining but my friend and I watch your vids like clockwork, appreciated!

Thanks for the great video...as always. Like everyone else before the mid-2000s, I had my stacks and stacks of physical games. There was always something so beautiful about seeing all of your games lined up, cases matching, filling up your cabinets. Of course, those times have changed. Digital games are just more convenient for me, and I can store them on my PS5 and quickly move from one game to another. I also have this odd feeling of seeing a physical game sitting on my shelf collecting dust as lost money, and tend to get rid of them. Also, seeing hundreds of unplayed games give me this sense of anxiety, that I need to play these games but I cant play them all and feel overwhelmed. It's like a constant reminder that I have all these games just sitting there. In the end, there's really two reasons I like digital, firstly, I find digital games go on sale more frequently than the physical copies. Secondly, I dont have to get up and get the game or wait for the game to be shipped, which has the chance of breaking. I like the fact that when a game releases, I can roll out of bed, turn on my PS5 and purchase the game, right then and there without wasting money on gas or shipping. Dont get me wrong, like many of you 30 year olds, I had the cd, dvd, and blu ray collections in my bedroom and enjoyed having them, but it was time to move on. Thanks!!

The problem with physical copies, even for modern games, is the scalpers (or whatever they like to personally call themselves) who buy up all of them so they can turn around and immediately resell them for a 500% markup.

For me, I'm still living in a physical world when available... However, both physical and digital games all have their pros and cons. Thanks for the awesome video dude!!!

In college I went almost all digital with my Wii U games for a while. I liked the convenience and didn't have a lot of space at the time. But I'm more inclined to go with physical nowadays.

for me I don’t really care either way but it’s about price. Im ok spending $60 (or 70) on a physical game but spending $70 on a freaking download kind of rubs me the wrong way. But cheap sales or shit like that? I’ll download any game.

I’m very much a physical collector of video games, as well as movies, music, and books. Helps me limit my internet use at home, which increasingly just reminds me of work. From an archives perspective, digital and physical preservation solutions are more powerful when combined. The tension between laymen preservationists and game companies can be productive--it can light a fire under laymen to do the (sometimes extra-legal) work, and can convince companies to start selling games again. A lot of games fall through the cracks though, in a way they wouldn't if there was more coordination on preservation...

I was eating dinner and just got done when this was uploaded and went to the kitchen to get a brownie so I could keep going to watch this

When I was in the military, digital copies were a godsend since I would move to a new base periodically and it was just one more thing I would have needed to pack up. Now that I'm out though, I'm reconsidering making physical copies my preference since I don't typically replay every game. Those that I really like, I can just keep as a nice display of my favorite games, while the rest I can just sell. That's another benefit of physical copies now that I think about it. If you decide to switch from one console to another, then you can recoup some of the money you spent on the previous/other console (like switching from ps to xb) generation of games.

I grew up in the 80's, so I'll choose physical every time as my main preference. For new games that come out on the Switch/Xbox, I'll download those for my kids so they can play them - they're not concerned with owning the physical copies or collecting the games in general, they just want to play a game. I love the nostalgia of owning games I purchased as a kid, seeing the box art, the physical owner's manual, all great memories for me. To each his own. Power to the Players!

Being a Retro Gamer I too prefer a physical video game. I like Vanilla ice cream, but that doesn't mean I won't try chocolate either. As Retro Bird mentioned a digital copy is money spent for good. However, the upside is you usually get more games for your buck. A great new way to try a game you have not played yet, as we can no longer rent video games. I really do miss renting physical games, but now you can just watch other people play games that you are interested in. Not really the same, but hey, this digital version is rent free!

"called up and given a semi confrontational reminder that your game needs be brought back" triggered my Hollywood video ptsd 😂

I personally got turned off to digital when my phat PS3 broke and I replaced it with a slim model. I called Sony to help get my digital titles on the new console (since I was getting weird error messages stopping me from doing so on my own), and while they did help me transfer it all, I was bluntly informed this was a one time deal. If this PS3 were to ever break on me, I would have to re-buy all my digital games. It's physical for me, thanks.

Physical is preferable, at least for older games that are guaranteed to work without relying on servers for updates (or the other half of the game content). Regardless of the actual longevity, digital doesn't _feel_ like real ownership, and I'm not willing to pay nearly as much for digital games. However- and I've probably mentioned this before- digital games open up all kinds of new possibilities: - They don't have the limits of physical print runs, so they can stay available for decades without the supply running out. - The lower cost of distribution allows for extremely deep discounts during a sale, and even outright giveaways are commonplace these days. - DRM-free games, such as those on GOG, can be easily backed up, bypassing the lifespan of physical media. Just copy your collection to a fresh $100 hard drive every however many years. Or even upload a few of your favourite titles to the cloud!

Legend has it Retro Bird prefers physical bananas over digital ones 🍌

I went the route of going digital from 2020 to early 2022 for the Switch and PS5. I jumped on digital because the pandemic was causing games to release way behind schedule and I ended up really liking getting games at midnight. But I really slowly missed just the act of getting a game in the mail or going to a store to pick it up, have that new game smell, and add it to my collection.

The new F-Zero game looks amazing, so immersive and realistic! 3:16

Great video man, love tuning in to hear your lectures!

For me it's a little bit of both - I really enjoy the authentic feeling I get from firing up any of my older games on the original consoles, but it's also nice to have digital copies of these games on the fly (like Switch and Steam ports).

Awesome. I always enjoy your videos. Rock on, man!

1 other thing worth mentioning surrounding this is system storage space. This is why I prefer physical, since the only extra data for a game that you will have to keep on your system are patches and DLC. With digital games, you will need to dedicate space for both of that + the file size of the downloaded game. If you are a digital gamer, all the data combined will be a lot to store and you will definitely need an external hard drive/micro sd card for it in the long run. Physical games don't have this problem, although you could still argue that if you are an avid collector for it, you would still need that but for sure not one of a really large size.

Really love all your content!

I think you hit all of the main points. I'm not against digital games at all, my only problem with it is ownership issues. I do prefer physical, but mostly only for cartridges. I expect CDs won't last forever but I still want to play on the original consoles using ODE's. I do collect CD games though. Cartridges will last much, much longer and if any piece happens to go bad it's all repairable. But I think for some consoles digital is basically a necessity. One of the things that really turned me off of the PS4 was that there were many cases where I bought a game and it was basically just a digital download code on a disk. As in, the entire game had to be downloaded from PSN before it could be played (no, not just an update!) and I really hated that because Sony throttles download speeds. I'm also really into visual novels and physical copies of those are always awesome because they usually come with a bunch of physical goodies like artbooks, music CDs, and other stuff like coasters, keychains, screen cleaners etc. It's really need to get stuff like that as a part of the game package.

I always get a chuckle out of this mans humour. Keep up the great videos if you see this.

0:28 nice!! Dude I hope you loved it. It felt fun and quick to pick up like a retro game to me. I know being a retro guy myself I shouldn’t obsess about graphics but this game looks jaw droppingily good on a 4k tv.

I enjoy collecting physical games (when affordable) but for me the real divide is DRM vs. no DRM. I don't care if a game is digital-ony so long as I can easily back it up and ensure I'll never lose access to it.

All good points in the video. There's another very big factor that comes into owning physical games if you live in England or other PAL countries though... Imagine that you found out that your old consoles play games 17% slower than they were meant to be in your country. That's what consoles in PAL regions do (consoles before HD TVs). If this is you, there's three main choices: - Play and collect PAL games for a 17% slower console - Play and collect import NTSC games but you'll also need an import/ modified/ modern 'clone' console to play them at the correct speed - Play games using emulation I do a combo of all three things and also use flash cartridges but I would say emulation is the best method to play old games on modern TVs.

I have maybe 120 physical switch games. But since getting a steam deck I am constantly at odds with myself now lol.

I have an excellent idea. For any digital game bought (that doesn't need to be played online or a server to play on)..... For all games bought on digital files Microsoft, Sony, and Nintendo can keep a cloud service for all games bought digitally. When the new system comes out be allowed to download those games again for free on the new system plus a small one time fee for the service and then presto! You'd have gamers coming out of the woodworks for a deal like that. For me I'd still be buying up newer games plus with my digital library I'd be one happy dude. There'd be no need for emulation, would there? That would bring loyalty to a whole new level when it comes to the customer base with these newer consoles. Who's with me on this?

Love this channel 🐤

I buy whatever is the cheapest option (physical or digital). In 10-15 years these games will be playable via emulation or massively discounted anyway so saving money in the present to play them sooner seems to be the most practical consideration.

The full experience of the box, opening up to the manual, the cart or disc, and that they all have artwork. It's a curated experience.

I have lost digital games 3 times so far. Once transferring wii games to my wii u, again when my wii died, and when my x-box 360 got the red ring of death and my replacement system used a different hard drive. Fortunately, all my 360 had was demos so I didn't lose anything important. The games I bought for the wii though, first time was the game was removed from the shop so couldn't download it again, second time the shop was shut down. Do still buy some digital games, but keep an eye out for physical copies to replace them.

Good stuff, I generally prefer physical copies of my games especially for retro gaming. It's all about the ownership, though seeing bookshelves filled with games is really nice too. Digital has its place though, say for sealed collectors, if a game may have become to expensive to purchase (Crusader of Centy, Radiant Silvergun, and etc), or a much improved version is available digitally. The Sega Ages collection on the Switch is a great example of the last reason imo. The series produced the definitive version of Virtua Racing and arguably Phantasy Star with its awesome quality of life improvements. I'll continue to lean heavy into physical games but I won't write of digital ones.

I've had my share of the fun, having a big collection of physical games in my shelf to look at from time to time. I collected games for around 25+ years until very recently I decided It was time to sell my collection and go 100% digital from now on. There were multiple reasons for this, the fact that the times I actually picked any of them out of the shelf got more and more rare each year, and also the favt that my young son didn't seem to pay any attention to the physical packaging of the games rather to just play them. That made me think about it, why would I force that habit on him since there's no reason to. Oddly enough I've been playing way more nowadays that I'm all digital, and only the games I truly like. Still, I admire Retro Birds love for his physical collection and I think as long as you truly enjoy collecting, do it! :)

I’m glad how you talked about discs because I’ve seen people say they never break

Lol you crackin me up rn man. I struggle with this debate on the daily XD

Thanks so much for not spreading around the false idea that a disc is just a download key! This has been an issue where people conflate downloads with installs.

I'm glad you bought up the whole patch requirement fiasco. It's the reason I don't collect physical for 7th gen onwards (with the exception of the Wii).

I’ve engaged in this conversation so many times I just don’t have it in me. What I will say is that zealot physical collectors have really turned me away from that practice. A lot of physical collectors act like they are doing God’s work having a shelf of games. You know what is really gonna preserve games? Online repositories.

You make some great points, RB. Both are cool. Mostly I prefer digital on PC because everything can be backed up to various storage media. This is really convenient for retro games because of how small they are. You can store tons of retro games on flash drives and store them at different locations (parent's house, friend's house, in a sealed box under the soil in your backyard, etc), just in case your house gets destroyed by fire or some natural disaster. Many of these games can be enjoyed on your phone until you can get another home and PC for the heavier games. Obviously, an all digital collection pales visually in comparison to a physical collection, but to me, knowing that all the games I care about are backed up is just better. Personally, their availability is more important than their cases, box art, instruction manuals, smells, etc. I can't really think of any reason for me to own physical copies of retro games. Modern games are different. I have a few physical copies for PS4, PS5, and Switch. I worry about the digital ones.

Hands down physical... but with backups. I love having a physical copy of my games. You hit it perfect with your first point, I have a sense of ownership with physical games over digital. However with most games I have a digital backup for them with either ever drives, or emulation if for some reason tragedy falls upon my collection. On a side note, I'm done collecting consoles that don't allow physical media, which is coming down the pipeline quick (looking at you Microsoft). At that point switching to PC for current gen games.

Until your ps3 disc drive stop readin disc, and the Xbox one, always loved that feeling. digital is sometimes better. but for retro games, physical all the way.

WOW I've Never thought that This video would be interesting 😱

Outstanding video Retro Bird. Top notch writing and editing. Thanks for the great work. I will support physical over digital as long as I can, but it does seems like the digital takeover is already underway. Some physical copies only have around 100mb of data on the disc with the rest waiting for you on a server. That's undercover digital espionage for sure.

Your video brings up good points about digital games. It’s also a reason to jailbreak your Devices….so you can backup those digital games so that You still own them after the servers go down!

Something about you just be making me laugh 🤣 new sub

I like both: digital for convenience and discs for a collection purpose. Although, due to certain circumstances, I tend to buy in digital stores more nowadays. If game catches my eye and I really love it, I try to buy a physical copy of the game just to expand my physical games collection. Also, there are always a possibilities that digital stores will close and users lose access to their games (yeah, that’s a nightmare and almost impossible scenario, but still), so physical all the way.

00:02:58 When I think these gags can't any wilder, then comes stuff like this. 00:03:16 That sudden cut to a bump was timed perfectly.

The humor in this video is Scott the Woz tier. Better, I dare say.

*Looks at my Physical games library* Yeah I'll stick with my Physical games!

Physical all the way. Super Mario 3D All-Stars and Stranger Things Season 3: The Game taught me that lesson.

Dude, you are a fucking genius. I cannot remember the last time a channel was this funny in a single video.

I appreciate that you put your Luigi (and your hand) in the toilet for this.

With some phisical games they even grow in value and you get more then you paid for it.... if you wait long enough. As always great clip ^^

So, for the stuff with digital, I will note that most consoles have modifications that allow you to continue running them after the various servers around them shut down. How well tuned and put together these mods are is--well it is a case by case basis. Some Dreamcast fans are running fan servers for the online stuff on that system. With a fair amount of Dreamcast stuff making use of Optical Disc Emulation. Mostly to reduce wear/tear on the laser and discs Playstation 3, and onward, I mostly avoid due to the lack of reasonable modifications that can be done. Heck, the modifications for the PS Vita are borderline at best for how effective/useful those would be Also remember: if you cannot buy it, it isn't piracy, as they aren't actually losing any money because getting money was never an option. Honestly, they could just set up a GoG type set up for older games with no DRM just "hey, pay us money, and do what you will with these ROMs while being reasonable"--and boom, the only ROMs that would get pirated are the ones that couldn't be sold on that GoG type deal due to licensing issues But yeah... digital works best for preservation--and on consoles that modification tools exist to reduce issues once the various servers/distribution services inevitably shut down

One thing that wasn't mentioned: hacked systems. Thanks to this I can still enjoy P.T. and not pay a arm and a leg for used PS4's with a copy on it. It also helps with preservation and you can back up your physical copies to hard drives.

Here's an idea for a future video: "The Risks/Hardships of Owning MGS: The Twin Snakes and How to Properly Care for It."

You know...I was just thinking that it would be nice to see some more modern game gameplay from you, or at least a slight mix-up in what games you feature with gameplay. I like having physical copies of anything I really enjoy, though I do agree that it is best to use physical and digital means to give us the most accessibility and preservation.

6:31 Luigi the plumber 😍😍

Physical for me but I'm a retro collector who likes seeing the fruits of my labor. I get that it may be easier and more convenient to go all digital if you just like playing certain games or newer games.

I personally love physical copies of games so I can see the wonderful box art and game manuals. I like some digital only games but only because they launched digitally like Sonic Mania. Cool video. ^_^

That’s why it’s best to buy steam games and back them up. If it ever came down to Steam shutting down your games could be made to run without Steam or internet.

Our video game VHS store rental guy used to show up at your house if you were late 😂 big long old beast of a car

The dedication it takes to put your hand in the toilet for a vid!

Imaginary memories vs real memories. Like remembering a dream. It didn’t happen, but it did

Man, Twin Snakes... I FINALLY found a copy in the wild at a local retro game store a few years ago and paid a decent amount for it. Except both discs had excessive cracking of the labels. I made the clerk demo the game so I could verify I wasn't getting a dud. It still worked, but that is literally the only GC game I've seen that happen to. And looking it up after the fact, it's actually quite common for this title.

Sonic Origins needs a physical edition. Just putting that out here

cool video and very funny lol, nbowadays I think depending how much you love the game you should buy both, keeping the physical version sealed

I've gone back & forth on a preference as moving with a large collection can be a lot of work, but I generally prefer physical when it's an option. I find that digital games just disappear into the ether for me, meaning I more easily forget to play the m or come back to them. That said I will sometimes pickup games digitally still if I know it'll primarily be a coop or multiplayer game, that way I can have a disc for my current Singleplayer game in the console & play digital easily when friend want to have some online fun. I do still get Nintendo games physically as I find they require a day one patch less often & I find their carts cuter than discs.

I agree that modern physical games are just place holders for place holders sake, but it's funner to display the cases than just having the game on a hard drive

I love the idea of digital video games. The "Idea", not the practise. Digital games should in theory have much longer longevity than physical games but alas I fear that my physical discs though they will decay one day, they will last longer than many of my digitally bought games. Thats why I have backed up all my physical console games as ISO's. And backed up most of my digital Steam/GOG library with copies of the games found on the high seas;) I think both Valve and GOG does a great job. Escpecially GOG for going DRM free, and making so many ancient games playable on modern systems or at least available for purchase. The downside with digital games is not the services themselves, but the publishers and rights holders, escpecially AAA publishers. I simply don't trust them anymore.

Physically is definitely the go to since if you own physical copies then you can also have digital copies via backups. And then you can go further and move backups onto storage media for another "physical" copy. With most digital options attempting that would require some serious hacking and effort. Buying games digitally is pretty rarely the ideal option, I can't even think through a scenario where it's not as a compromise. Although sometimes I do find its the best option because of having to compromise based on price, availability, or life situations.

Physical for 6th generation an back for their static nature. But for modern internet connected systems, we don't truly have ownership and control over the system and the games which often are just glorified digital keys. Only a matter of time systems don't have a physical option. So for everything else, I've gone digital on PC where I generally have more control and at least some backwards compatibility.

In this world we live in we have to do both now I just finished playing f zero in my head I ran into the wall as well it happens to the best of us that first turn is a doozie hahaha thank you retro bird for your insight and the laughs

If you ever sell merch, you should absolutely include a "Get on My Lawn" hat or shirt.

Both have their pros and cons so I tend to play both sides of the coin. I personally like having the physical copy for collective purposes but I also enjoy the convenience of having a digital copy ready to go, especially for the Switch. A lot of it also comes down to pricing at the time. If I see a used copy of a game that I want for $25 but notice that the digital version is on sale for $7.49, I'm going to purchase the digital (and vice versa). I generally buy a lot of cheaper and indie games digitally but when it comes down to full priced $60+ titles, I like having the physical. Also like you said, if I dont like the game or beat it early, I can at least sell the physical game and get some of my money back.

Your intro literally just reminded me to brush my teeth.

I've come to a compromise: For modern games since the last gen, I go with digital because the benefits of physical media with modern games are just sadly not as strong as they were with older games (no manuals, flimsy cases, games needing downloads anyway, some games not even getting physical releases, etc.) and the conveniences of digital with modern games is pretty strong. But to satisfy my love of physical media, I collect physical media for retro games which has far better physical media than modern games since publishers actually put effort into physical media back then, so it is more enjoyable to collect. This is my way of feeling like I get the best of both worlds.

Personally I will always prefer physical Games on Console and Digital on PC, the feeling of owning a shelf dedicated to my favorite format makes it feel like i am accomplishing a dream, and for digital pc games it's great to have a selection of online titles that you can play with friends on the same platform as discord, etc. And a faster method of switching over to other titles :)

I used to be super-pro physical games, for all the same reasons. Then Nintendo released "ROMs on SD-cards" in a slim plastic box - what's really the point anymore? So I've asceneded to a new plane called "GamePass". I play games while they are available, all my friends have access to them too, and when we're done we let them go, keeping all the good memories. Sure, only PC/XBOX rignt now, but surely a payment tier for all games platforms in the future, whereas "download" and "physical" will be more expensive and more rare. Welcome to the future!

I will ALWAYS prefer physical over digital copies. A big part of being a collector is seeing your owned physical collection in your home. I've been collecting a lot since 2020 and yeah, I probably started late on it as that's when prices started to skyrocket but... as far as sale prices go... digital wins on that front cause the stores hardly puts the games on sales and even when they do, the price drops aren't so big. You could get up to $30 - $50 off in stores, a little more on holidays, but in digital stores you can get up to 95% off the regular price on select titles.

This only applies to consoles. PC has gone full digital quite a while ago. Consoles, as usual, need to catch up. Nowadays, there is only one reason for getting a plastic box: collecting. We all play digital games, the disc is only a key.

I didn’t know Larry Bird loved video games so much 🎉

Physical 99%. There is that 1%…. of not getting off the couch. It is always the worst though when you buy a digital copy of something and it sucks. And you are stuck with it. Physical for life!

Mr retro bird you forgot about digital only physical games that have game codes in game cases

0:11 thought he was gonna say: and the greatest of all Mario Vs Luigi

I prefer physical for console, but things like emulation and rom sites are important because one day that console or cartridge or disc will stop working. When that happens digital will be the only way to play. So for long term preservation digital is important. With PC you can copy paste as many copies of your game as you want, and store them on as many drives as you want. So definitely digital for PC. So both.

As somebody who collects physical games the only time I download digital games is when it’s for the new call of duty game or I get a really good deal on Xbox. Sometimes there are these like gold member discounts and I can’t argue two dollars for the halo master chief collection.