Take my old Xbox 360 I have that my kid is playing at the moment. I have a box full of games for him to play. He doesn't have to have an Xbox Live account to play. He doens't have to have an internet connection. Could he do that if they were all digital?

I am an almost 45 yr old gamer. What that means is, I have kids and we have multiple consoles. So, I have to decide whether I use my GCU at BB and buy physical or buy digital. Physical being the better price in most cases, but that will change. How do I decide? If it is mostly a multiplayer game, I always go Digital. If it is a single player, campaign style game I buy Physical. That said, we all prefer Digital. Less clutter and easier to access (don't have to locate disc).

Digital
Pros
No disc to start it straight up without looking for the disc.
Can quickly change game to plau with friends due to not needing a disk.
Can have faster loading times.
Can download a game even when physical copies are not being done anymore.
Cons
Large downloads before you can play.
If you delete it off hdd have to re-download it to play.
Dont get anything for it when purchased (minus digital content like themes dlc weapons ect)
Game can be deleted off stores and lost forever.
Cant price match if target ect has it cheaper.

Physical
Pros
Last for ever if looked after correctly.
Can take it with you to friends or family to play without needing to download t thier console.
Dont have to wait for download to play (maybe update if ya want to count that)
Got something in your hands.
Special editions with statue or steelcase ect.
Can get them cheaper then online with price match.

Cons
Can get badly scratched and none playable
Have to get up to change game disc
installs to hard drive anyway

Ill always prefer physical, both have ups and downs and i would have missed some pros and cons for both. But the thing that scares me the most with digital is they can delete the game off the store and u not only lose a game (if deleted) but they dont have to refund you the money if they do delete it. It also goes the same with buying a game like destiny if they shutdown the servers tomoz and u had a physical disc... u have a useless paperweight pretty much.

But this type of topic just comes down to what people prefer and whats easier to get a hold of if shops are a 30min drive ect :)

Both have pros and cons, that's why both always have to coexist.

I'm enjoying disks while I still can. Not going to have the choice for much longer I bet

Physical is better but having all the consoles and games are a room hogger. I'd be happy with digital if it can forever be accessed but unlikely to happen.

Physical

Physical for me.

I'm a gaming collector and enthusias.

Physical, but i don't see why both can't exist together forever.

The conveniences associated with digital do not outweigh the ownership of physical

I think it really depends on the console; I remember one of the Resident Evil games would always stall and the drive would spin up and make noise right before you get jumped. It really took the suspense out of it and broke the experience. I think this is where digital (and its load times) shine. I also have 2 young kids who are pretty good at scratching discs :-)

I don't care either way. I just want to play a great game. I buy physical for xbox one and digital for wii U currently.

Physical until the day I die. I have to as a collector.