Help me ditch physical video games in favor of cloud gaming!
I’ve really taken to cloud gaming lately, specifically with Google Stadia. I love the convenience. I love the speed from a cold TV to a heated gaming session. But there’s one wall I can’t quite break down when it comes to dumping physical games in favor of an all streaming lifestyle. And that wall is literally physical. In this video I’m going to talk about why I find it hard to abandon physical video games and how I’m hoping to change that, so I can embrace the cloud gaming future. Come with me. Help me.
I believe in physical media. Divorcing yourself from a belief can be hard. Wars are fought and lives are lost because of beliefs. Remember the Media Format Wars of 2024? You will.
For me, when I want to break a habit or change a belief, I try to learn as much as I can about that thing. I learn about its history and its psychological power over me. I find that the more I understand about a belief, the easier it becomes for me to deconstruct it. And therefore when the mystery is removed I can disassociate myself from the belief.
Sometimes this level of education and awareness can be a bad thing, like when I was a kid and I learned how cartoon animation cells worked with transparent cells painted over static backgrounds. After learning this I hyper focused on trying to see where the animated portions were over the static backgrounds. I couldn’t concentrate on the cartoon anymore. It was like my own little game where the increasing score measured how much I’ve ruined my own childhood innocence.
But most of the time, breaking things down in this way is a great thing. So I dove in to learn about why I treat physical items in higher regard than digital items. And I want to share this information with you. Because maybe when the apocalypse comes and we all must adjust to a nomadic lifestyle to avoid being hunted by mutant cannibals, I can help you feel not quite as bad about leaving behind your stack of Nintendo Power magazines. But then again, toilet paper is going to be hard to find in the irradiated wasteland of future Earth following the Media Format Wars. On second thought, hang on to those Nintendo Powers.
I found a scientific paper titled “Digital Goods Are Valued Less Than Physical Goods,” published in 2017 in the Journal of Consumer Research. But I’m dumb, so I found an article to explain the paper to me.
The authors of the paper conducted a series of surveys and tests based on the assumption that in general people place a higher value on physical items than digital items. In one test they had a bunch of people dress up as historical characters. The researches gave physical photos of the event to some tourists and digital photos to others. The tourists were then asked how much they would be willing to pay, if anything, for the photos. The recipients of a physical photo were willing to pay more, on average.
In another scenario, the researchers asked participants about how much they’d spend on digital or physical versions of popular movies and books. They paired this with personality type questions. Those who would pay more for physical versions agreed more strongly with statements like “I will feel like I own it” and “I feel like it is mine” and “holding an clamshell xbox case fills my veins with a reverating energy that I must hold back for fear of demolishing mountains with a barely a punch and draining oceans in a single gulp.” That last statement probably wasn’t on the survey.
In the end, the researchers concluded that physical items tend to afford a greater sense of ownership and are more enticing when there’s a possible sense of connection to it. So, if you have great memories playing a specific game with your dad when you were young, you might be more likely to want that game as a physical item than a digital item.
The researchers also correlated that people who are disposed with a need for control will value physical items more than digital. But I don’t believe that. I’m not controlling. In fact, I’ve forced everyone in my family to agree with me that I’m not controlling.
And though the paper doesn’t get into the ability to re-sell video games, reselling is absolutely worth mentioning. Practically speaking my physical games do have a transferable value. I can resell them if I want to. I cannot resell a digital game, at least not legally and not in the United States where I live. But even if I could, because we’ve already learned that in general people value physical goods more than digital ones, it’s a good assumption that the resale value for digital games would be less than physical. And with streaming platforms like Stadia or Playstation Now, well, you cannot resell a service.
“But Caleb,” I hear you yelling, “digital game sales have been growing tremendously over the years.” That’s very true. In fact, in Q1 of 2019 digital games sales eclipsed physical games sales on the Playstation 4 for the first time. And by some measures, if you include computer game sales, digital game sales overall reflect about 80% of all game sales. What this means is that most people are better than me.
My own personal hangup with embracing digital video games over physical video games, I think, is due to the idea that a person’s belongings act as affirmations of their identity, and as we learned earlier in this video, people have a stronger sense of ownership with physical media.
In the same way that my t-shirts, wall art, and bookshelf all reflect that I love games and that games are a part of my personality, the physical games on my shelf do the same. It’s hard to surround your physical space with digital artifacts. Therefore, it’s hard to be confident with your sense of self identity. And that’s probably the most helpful thing I learned in this research binge. Maybe I’m not terribly confident in who I am. And perhaps this room helps to restore my fragile ego…or the games just look really cool. Yeah, let’s go with that.
When I look around my gameroom, my love of video games is showcased everywhere. But the focal point of my game room is definitely the shelf of games. I don’t collect games. I just have games I really like or games I really want to play. I have a few games that are neither, but they are worth a bit of money, so I hang on to them for now. If I got rid of the framed art, the t-shirts, and even the books, I’d be sad, but I’d get over it. If I got rid of the games, I’d cry.
So how will I cope with the inevitable digital future? First, I’ll continue with, what I’ll call, a transition period. I’ll continue to buy physical games while also subscribing to streaming and download services like Google Stadia, Playstation Now, and xCloud, if that service ever offers a way to stream to a TV without buying the console. This way, I can get more comfortable with digital gaming. I can let it live with me, like a stray cat. And over time I’ll get so comfortable with that cat that I’ll forget about its feral history. I start sleeping soundly, certain that this animal I’ve taken in and cared for won’t some day kill me in my sleep. And when that cat does kill me in my sleep, my final words will be “I told you physical games were better!!!!”
The other thing I’ll do to cope with the inevitable digital future is actually more something that will be done to me. I believe that the forthcoming 9th generation of consoles, the Playstation 5 and the Xbox series X, will be the last consoles with physical media. So, the decision to abandon physical games will likely be made for me in about 5 – 10 years. If I want to play a 10th generation game, it will have to be digitally. I may as well get used to digital games now.
Lastly, indications are that games will cost about 14% more in the next generation. If this increase doesn’t apply to digital games, then buying the cheaper, digital version through a cloud service like Google Stadia will be much more appealing. However, I’m very confident that both physical and digital prices will go up. But, maybe digital sales will happen more frequently to help offset the new price burden on the consumer.
So how do you approach digital gaming? Do you prefer one format over another? Do you wrestle with the same anxiety I have about ditching physical games in favor of digital games.
