Physical Media cheaper than digital

[Design1stcode2nd]

I removed my drive as I rarely used it but now that I have a new GPU I'm wanting to get some new games. I'm seeing prices on Steam and amazon that are 2x what physical versions are.

It's cheaper to ship Farcry Primal from Amazon for $27.75 than buy it from Amazon digital for $64.99.

So now I'll have to buy a few games, plug the drive back in and install, just seems silly. Some are not that bad, Witcher 3 on Amazon is only $4.40 more digitally.

Heck the last couple of games I installed just had me enter steam keys anyway.

I guess I'm not really asking why but just ranting, digital versions should cost the same as physical ones, or I can buy a physical one and enter the key to just download it.

 

[termite]

Yeah I'll buy the cd version on occasion for the same reason. I just keep a usb cd drive in the desk drawer.

It is kind of idiotic that a digital copy, that includes nothing, costs the same or more than a hard copy.

 

[bigdogchris]

Physical version will always be cheaper because having unsold or not moving inventory is one of the worst things that can happen to a retailer. They have to keep inventory moving. Physical will always be more risky and it's one of the reasons it's almost completely done.

Atari is an extreme case of what happens when you have too much inventory.

With digital they don't have to have sales as often because they can infinitely duplicate their data and have no incentive to "move it".

 

[H-street]

You don't need the drive with even physical copies. Just register the code and download.

Look at cd-keys and greenman gaming. They traditionally are retail key resellers (meaning they go buy retail copies and sell you the key)

 

[Design1stcode2nd]

You don't need the drive with even physical copies. Just register the code and download.

Look at cd-keys and greenman gaming. They traditionally are retail key resellers (meaning they go buy retail copies and sell you the key)

I looked at Gog and they were better but some titles where missing like Far Cry Primal.

I think what I'll do is have my SATA power connected and run to and easy to access location and then I can easily plug in the SATA data and do the install when needed. Likely I'll buy several discs at once to make it less cumbersome.

An external drive would be easier but no reason to buy one when I have a functioning BR drive.

I'd actually buy more games if the digital was the same cost as I could have it "right now". Also there are a lot of new PC cases with no 5.25 drive support.

If a game is a year or so old they should just drop the price. People who had to have it already bought it (I've bought games at full price on release day) so someone thinking about playing it would be more inclined to try it if it was 50% off.

For me a case would be Doom, not my typical game although I played the original when I was younger and Quake as well. No way I'm paying $50 for it, maybe if it were $25 I'd try it.