I have been looking into possibly going all digital on the PS4. It seems to be much more convenient and I've always been a fan of simplicity & ease of use.

However, upon reading up on it, some people claim that it takes forever to download a game...is this true? Like 10+ hours. Also, some are reporting issues with not being able to access digital games when PSN is down. Is this true?

TLDR: What has your experience with buying retail games digitally been like?

Thank you to all who shared their knowledge on the subject. I've decided to stay with retail versions

Just don't do something illegal or against the rules, then you will be fine. If you get banned on the other hand, then ur pretty fucked

I am full digital on PS4, and am so pleased that I am definitely never getting another disc.

As for your questions:
- Downloaded games are available even when offline. Always.
- DL times depend on your internet speed. As a rule of thumb, say that 8Mbps connection gets you about 3.33 GB/hour, and 20Mbps gets you 9 GB/hour. See where you stand and decide, games average 20-25 GB (some like Little Big Planet 3 are 11GB, Destiny is 20, and GTA V is 50GB.

I have an excellent speed and unlimited plan, so I don't even pay attention, and with preloading, all games are available the first minute of release, and I slept while they were being downloaded.

My suggestion if you should decide to go digital: Buy each game on a separate account. You can still play them from your main account, and when you're done you can resell/trade them with others.

Being a good guy will make the download times faster? 

IMO console gaming already has DRM which is bound by hardware. So getting digital is not a wise idea. When PS / Xbox servers will be closed for PS3 / Xbox 360 those digital games cant be downloaded. Get retail copy in consoles. Go digital with steam.

Not really, that will depend on ur internet speeds loll.

I am full digital on my ps4 and it mostly works very well. You
Can predownload all the big games before they come out. If you buy a game that is already out, sure it takes a while to download, but you can usually start playing pretty quickly. It will let you play the beginning or some small part while the rest downloads.

One thing to be wary of us know what you are buying. You can't return or trade in digital games. Obviously. So if you are buying a game people have recommended, make sure you are going to like it before you buy it. I bought bravely default digitally on the 3ds and that game was horrible and I had no way to recoup my losses...

i love digital especially in this market.

allow me to hight by telling you my story about little big planet 3.

ps blog did a piece about pre-order bonuses and it got me excited so i went here while i was at work and clicked pre-order.   a few days before lbp3's launch i was given a notice that lbp3's download had started (digital preinstalling).   the day before lbp3 launch i saw a notice that a day-1 patch for the game was downloaded while i was at work (it kicked off automatically).   that night (the day before it's official launch) i was playing destiny and a notification popped up at 11:00 and said lbp3 could be played.   i wrapped up my last bounty and at 11:11 i was playing lbp3 (without getting up off the couch btw).

so my experiense is really really good.

with discs i'd either be playing late (fuck amazon) or would have had to have gone to the store (fuck that shit).  with discs the first thing that would have happened when i put in the disc would be the installation and download of the day-1 patch.  with discs i would have had to get off the couch.

10+ hour downloads entirely depend on your internet.   i have 5 Mbs internet and i'd say a 10 Gb game takes a few hours to download.  i've seen similarily sized downloads at a friends house (20+ Mbs) take minutes.   if your internet is less than 1 Mbs i'd suggest not gaming anymore because games are soo dependant on patches these days.

i also like that i can't lose a disc.  i've lost so many games/movies to scratches and misplacements.  the worst one was on a train i left 15 of my best DS games in the seat pouch and didn't realise it until much later.   i never got those back.   with digital i can always redownload even if i lose my console.

you can play your digital games even if psn is down.

- Alright cool. I heard it had something to do with the last time you logged in & if the account is set to primary on the PS4. If not, people were locked out of their games. Glad to hear this is false.

- I get around 25Mbps on my iPad but only like 17 on the PS4. My microwave also interferes with my Wifi. Anyway, I should download games at a reasonable speed I guess. I also have an unlimited plan so I'll be fine.

That's actually pretty smart. I'll look into doing that.

Titanfall came free w/ my Xbox One back when that bundle released. It took so long for that game, KI, and Max and the Curse of Brotherhood to download that I couldn't play a thing on the first day. Just update and wait.

Other experiences haven't been so bad. Wii U downloads full games in no time (RE:R, Game N Wario, MH, etc.--because they aren't that big). PS3/Xbox 360 games are playable on multiple consoles as long as I log in on the secondary consoles. PSP games instantly got ported to the Vita with no issues.

I only have indie games and free games on my PS4. It's pretty convenient to fire up remote play without even having to go into the room and change discs but, truth be told, whenever there's an option for physical, I will go physical. I think the good outweighs the bad.