Topic: Why would anyone pay same price for digital over physical copy of a game?

Digital copy of a game should never be the same price of a physical copy for 2 reasons, one it doesn't come with a box and most importantly, two it has no resale value and it can't be resold. If Super Mario 3D World becomes rare in 35 years, that physical copy will be worth quite a bit or if not rare will have some resale value. Digital copy has none of these benefits and even worse if the game system breaks and Nintendo discontinues the eShop, people who downloaded the game are out of luck. It's unbelievable from a business and consumer perspective how anyone can charge or willing to pay the same price for a digital copy when it's actually worth substantially less than a physical copy. Game companies should bundle digital copies with the physical copies like companies that release blu-ray discs are doing.

Digital game prices are most likely priced the same as retail copies to most likely to not encourage buying the digital version?
That's the only reason I can imagine why, if you at it another way could be the price of convenience despite being the inferior format.

If digital copies costed considerably less, you would have several angry retail shops boycotting Nintendo.

I just think that companies are greedy.....digital games are also on sale more often then physical games. I never buy digital unless its exclusively digital or its on slae.

but the biggest reason I think digital games are the same as retail because if digital games were 45 but retail were 60 thats like telling gamestop and bestbuy to F-off and I dont think that would be good for business.

mmh do you think if Sony started selling digital games for $39.99, GameStop would boycott Sony?!
The point is that videogames have a set value of, say, $60. This is something publishers have decided (though we don't really know why that amount instead of any other amount, higher or lower) and we general audience agree with when we buy games.
Therefore a videogame's value is $60.
If they started selling digital copies for $39.99, that would actually tell us that what we agreed on paying $60 before, was only worth $39.99 to begin with. This would be dangerous for the industry because people would actually start to question the value of what they are buying, and they don't want you to do that.
As a matter of fact, companies have been giving away games for peanuts for years, but always with a justification: promotion, discount, subscription plan etc.

Look at the music business. By now is pretty much a fact of life that mp3 is worthless. I'm not talking just about the abysmal sound quality, but about the fact that you can listen to mp3s on streaming services or youtube for free. You can also make your own mp3s (of higher quality!!) if you buy the original CD copy. And yet those crappy wastes of digital space are still sold for $9.99 per album on iTunes. Why? Because that's the value publishers and audience have agreed on.

Convenience.

Either way though, you're paying for a license. The box, the physical disc, that's a cost on the publisher, not the consumer.

And people need to stop pretending that physical media is indestructible and lasts forever.

This. Convenience, accessibility, longevity, no boxes lying around or games getting lost, no dependency on retail channels, postal service, time spent away from my wii u...

I buy digital only now.

@Don,

I totally agree! When I can get it physical, I get it physical!

I always buy digital when I can - more convenient especially with my 3DS. No taking several cartridges with me when I go away etc and easy to switch between games etc.

"convenience" has to be one of the biggest lies in the industry.
It is convenient for the publishers, not certainly for the users, who are stuck with an intangible good that can't be brought back to the shop, borrowed or traded, that requires additional costs to be obtained (internet connection and HDs), that forces you to give away credit card information and that nobody has assured us will be still there in 15 years time.
Physical is not indestructible but so is digital. If you lose your digital copy and the service is not available, the game has been removed or the licence expired, then it's more lost than a broken CD.

Sure it has drawbacks, but there definitely is plenty of convenience. I love how clutter free my house has become since my music, books, comics, magazines, movies and games became digital. I love that I don't have to hunt through cupboards to find a disc when I want to play a game. A lot of people obsess over ownership and will it still be available in 15 years, but then a lot of those people don't even play their games from 15 years ago. It's just this obsession with having it for a collection that ultimately nobody cares about.

Well, considering that I had to switch discs 4 times yesterday (Splatoon -> Mario Kart 8 -> Bayonetta 2 -> Metroid Prime 3 -> Splatoon), while switching games on my PC happens with a double click on the the game, I'm more and more inclined to go digital on consoles aswell. (yeah, I'm lazy)

It's likely done to keep retailers happy. Even if games were sold digitally, retailers are still needed to sell the consoles. If Nintendo digital games were much cheaper than physical, but this didn't happen with Xbox and Playstation, then retailers will be pushing the non-nintendo consoles much more strongly.

The advantage of buying digital is that you can download it and play very quickly without having to go out to shops or wait for a delivery.

When I sold my 3DS a few weeks back I also got rid of nearly all of my games, which I have so far gotten almost $250 for.

Had they been digital games, I would have gotten zilch.

On my new PS4 I have downloaded a couple retail games which have been on sale. Wolfenstein was $12 and Alien Isolation was $36 including all DLC. For a price that low, I will buy a digital download. However you have to be nuts IMO to pay $60 for a digital game. It has no tangible value and if you don't like the game or don't want it anymore, too bad, you are stuck with it.

Jesus, you got ripped off. It's regularly on sale on Steam for about half that. I picked it up in March for $13 CAD, but it and all DLC was 80% off a couple weeks ago.

The only real issue I have is Ninty doesn't drop the price after it's been on sale for ages like you would get in stores otherwise yeah, digital isn't meant to not undercut the shops and offer an alternative. Saying that I buy all my stuff physical as apart combo packs like Bayonetta 1&2 and bundless like Yoshi Wooly World with an Amiibo all my day one games are around £20-27.

@CaviarMeths:

I'm not Jesus

this is how i role:
physcial > digital
50% off digital > full price physical

in my opinion

I like going out to buy my games and getting street pass.

Apart from 2 games I got at launch, I have gone all digital for Wii U. The production costs of game packaging is probably less than 50p.
The convenience of not having to change games (especially for off TV play games) is a god send. I mostly have the game pad upstairs, with the Wii U set up downstairs.
As long as you back up your digital purchases, there's no reason why you would lose your games. I can see it being an Issue if you sell your games machines on, I personally keep all my systems, still have stuff from the 80s