Physical games or digital downloads, which do you actually prefer and why

[SortedMate]

The shift from physical game discs and cartridges toward digital downloads has accelerated significantly over the past decade, with some newer console models now shipping without a disc drive at all, betting entirely on digital distribution as the future of the industry. Defenders of digital argue the convenience is simply unmatched, no discs to store or scratch, instant access to an entire library, and no need to physically swap anything to switch between games.

Defenders of physical media argue that digital purchases come with a genuine ownership problem, since a digital licence can theoretically be revoked or a storefront can shut down entirely, taking an entire purchased library with it, while a physical disc can be resold, lent to a friend, or simply kept safely on a shelf regardless of what happens to any online service in the future. Which do you actually prefer, and does the ownership argument genuinely factor into your own decision or is convenience simply the deciding factor for you?

[MemoryAnchor]

Digital day one patches and updates make the physical disc feel almost symbolic these days anyway, so I have mostly stopped caring about the distinction at all.

[StormForge62]

Digital exclusively now, the convenience of an entire library instantly accessible without ever needing to dig through a shelf of cases has completely won me over.

[Rose86]

I buy physical for anything I actually want to keep long term and resell value matters for, digital purely for smaller titles I know I will only play once.

[Sookie]

The ownership argument is the one that actually keeps me buying physical, I have already lost access to purchases before when a storefront shut down unexpectedly

[CalmRanger]

I switched to digital mainly for storage space reasons in a small apartment, but I do genuinely miss being able to lend a physical game to a friend easily

[HiggsField41]

Physical for me, purely on principle at this point, the idea that a company could revoke access to something I paid full price for genuinely bothers me more than the added convenience is worth