Benefits of Physical
- Own the Game Case/Disk ✓
You also own the physical aspect of game and the right to play any time, any any place
- Resale Value ✓
Benefits of Digital
- Takes up zero room in your house ✓
- Does not deteriorate over time of use x
Can be taken from you at any time, relies on online connectivity and servers/service provided. Eventually lost to time.
- Does not rely on a working Disk Drive to play ✓
- Cannot be lost or stolen x
Access can be revoked at anytime as written in the Terms of Service of the software
- Cannot be damaged ✓
Can be affected patches which physical can role back, but this is usually a non-issue and generally fixed quickly
- Zero Maintenace on the condition of the game x
Updates are far more frequent in the digital age, the opposite is true.
- Universally played on multiple devices (Disk or Diskless systems) x
This is generally true for PC and steam deck but most games are tied to their platform and it's rare for a game to be brought and played on all platforms of choice. I hope we see a push away from there where we buy our game license and can play it across any and all platforms of our choosing including PC and Console outside of just the Xbox ecosystem.
I really just wanted to point out and add that many games from the 80's and 90's that people collected over the years are still fully playable and people in this day in age still enjoy retro gaming; which one day current gaming will one day be considered and possibly not preserved. All those games can still be obtained and enjoyed. Since the digital age so many games have been lost to time that are digital only and yanked from existence. You can no longer buy them or play them and you can't even get your money or investment back. Your time, money, and the game completely lost. There are a lot of advantages of digital games but there are many eye opening disadvantages that the OP did not consider. Also didn't list any real advantages of physical game and just jumped right into the deep end of the digital ocean.
