While the PlayStation 4 will be able to play games off of a Blu-ray disc like its predecessor, the PlayStation 3, it still represents the most forward looking machine from Sony. In fact, the PS4 from its core was designed to embrace digital downloads. This can be seem in the console’s ability to allow you to play a game while it downloads. In previous generations, you’d have to wait for the download and install to finish before you could jump into the game’s world. To further push the convenience of digital downloads, the PS Vita and your iPhone/iPad or mobile device of choice can be turned into a remote control for the device thanks to a free app. The PlayStation App will even allow you to make purchases and begin the download on your PS4 and have it ready once you’ve arrived at your house or office. So this begs the question, will you buy your game of choice on Blu-ray disc or will you download a digital copy of the game?

After the jump, let’s further debate the pros and cons of each format.

The greatest part about digital is convenience. If you’re going to have multiple PS4 machines, than nothing is easier than downloading say Killzone: Shadow Fall on both machines which can only be done with a digital copy unless you’re planning on purchasing multiple copies of the game. Another great advantage of digital downloads is the ability to jump into games that others are playing.  You see, one of the neat features of the PS4 is to be able to see what games your friends are playing and view their gameplay as it happens. If the game then has say co-op or if they’re in multiplayer, then you can easily join them. If neither of those options are present, then you can simply start off the single player campaign. While all of this can be down with the Blu-ray version of the games, having to swap discs to make this happen loses a bit of the magic versus you owning the given game and simply launching into it. Imagine if every time you wanted to play a game or received a notification that somebody had made a move in a given game on your iPhone that you had to swap out some form of physical media to interact with them. Not as compelling right? But that’s not to say physical doesn’t have its own pros.

There are all types of technical limitations that a physical game can overcome, like slow internet speed or the ability to easily take a title to your friend’s house, that digital does not simply have. If it does, there are sometimes a few more loops to jump through to make this happen. However, the biggest advantage of physical games over digital in my opinion and ironically is price. Physical games go on sale with discounts and promotions while digital rarely ever does. In fact, tomorrow for a limited time period, Amazon is having a buy 2, get 1 free promotion on PS4 titles. This means that your $200 purchase of three games will now only cost you about $130. Not too bad right? Sadly, this will never happen with digital on an official channel like PSN. Does the convenience of digital outweigh the extra $70 in your pocket? If money wasn’t a problem, sure. But for many of you like myself, it is absolutely a factor which brings us back to the original question.

Discuss:

Will you be purchasing disc or digital copies of games this generation?