PlayStation 4

[XiiXii808]

I was thinking i have all my ps4 games downloaded and have about 30+ and counting games on there and i thought if i came back 20 years from now to play ps4 would it be better to get the physical copies instead since the ps store for ps4 most likely will be offline by then? i was gonna download all my ps3 games at one point but thought maybe the having them physical would be better? any thoughts?

[Crunchy Dragon]

I prefer to have physical copies of just about everything.

 

We don't know what's gonna happen to the console industry in 20 years, but I personally don't see it going offline.

[Stefan Payne]

We don't even know if the physical copys would last 20 Years+.

The Discs of other consoles are dying because of discrot and other stuff... 

Though having physical copies makes it easier to find what you want and install it, if you don't have a fast Internet connection...

 

I have most of my stuff as digital download on the PS4, mainly because I have to order online, get them off ebay or shit like that.

There isn't one store with reasonable prices close to me. The next one is at least 1h away...

 

So its easier for me to order it in the DL Shop...

Also because I have it immideately...

 

 

But if you are in a region where you could get your stuff offline for good prices, it makes sense to use that...

[ono]

I don't know how long the physical discs will last in your climates or whatever affects its life. But you also have to consider patches. The version on your disc probably isn't the most playable, so you may want to backup the patched installs to external drives since PS4 supports those if you're concerned about the future. Of course you can backup your digital games in that way too. 

 

One thing I'm not sure about is how transferable an external drive with games is to another PS4 console, like say if your main dies and have to switch to a second box. Does the new PS4 need to phone home to recheck DRM and such? That wouldn't work at some point in the future when the servers are gone. I dunno. At least you'll have the unpatched discs to fall back on. I guess at that point we may have good CFW, so maybe you'd be ok.

[B16CXHatch]

Disc rot is not as much of a problem as you might think as long as the discs are properly stored. I have original PlayStation games I've had for nearly 20 years, as well as games I've bought used more recently that are just as old (if not older) and they all work fine still.

 

The issue with newer systems is the online connectivity and the volatility of their storage (drives dying). I would say you definitely stand a better chance of having the games at the ready with physical assuming the system still works 20 year from now but there are no guarantees. The lack of patches could make a game near unplayable, or at least buggier.

 

I would hazard a guess that eventually, maybe, just maybe, Sony might work out some system to give access to our digital libraries in the future where the old system won't be necessary. That's my hope at least. Though, if I'm honest, they're not doing a good job. It's not a big deal for me cause I have two PS3s, a Vita, a PS TV, and a PSP, but the PS4 still has no access to PSOne and PS2 Classics. I have several in my library and I have to use my other systems to play them.

[SteveGrabowski0]

I don't get the love for physical discs when it comes to longevity since the games on those discs are usually unfinished and need Day 1 patches that aren't going to be downloadable in 10-15 years. For instance I can't imagine playing an unpatched version of Bloodborne with the horrible load times that game initially had.

[SupremeGOAT]

lets get physical~ physical~! copies of everything