Diablo 3 Digital vs. Physical – Which is best?
Every game I have ever purchased for the PC has been in physical form. I’ve never purchased a game through steam, or any other digital download service. With a possible few exceptions for indie games which struck my fancy, but that was merely because these games cannot be found on store shelves.
With the upcoming release of Diablo 3 I was forced to revisit my standpoint on this topic. Which version should I purchase? What are the benefits (if any) of owning physical over digital, or vice versa? I dispense my findings to you now.
Here are the facets I considered:
- Diablo 3 First Play Convenience
- Diablo 3 Materials
- Longevity of Diablo 3 Gameplay
Diablo 3 First Play Convenience
The oncoming storm that is the Diablo 3 release date of May 15th presents a few hurdles. Consider: Ok, the 15th is now, and the game is out now, so I want to play it NOW! Do I really want to stand in line with a bunch of sweaty nerds talking about their WoW raid last night? No, I do not. Do I want to stand outside for 1-2 hours waiting in line to spend money on a game, then drive home and have to wait for the game to install, and hope that my DVD drive isn’t finicky with the disc? No, I do not. On the other hand, do I want to sit at home and make an online purchase, install the game, and be ready to play as soon as the servers go live? Yes, I do.
Diablo 3 First Play Convenience awards 1 point to going Digital
Diablo 3 Materials
There is something awesome about instruction manuals, bonus art, proudly displaying the game box beside my PC, and just having something… anything physical to represent my purchase and serve as a reminder of the game. This has been my primary motivation behind purchasing physical copies of games in the past. The interesting thing is that upon examining this more closely, I realize that the box and materials just become one more thing I have to sort through when looking for a different game. I look at / read through the materials once, and that’s it. When I move on to a new game the materials either get placed back into their box and lost in the abyss that is my gaming storage container, or they get randomly spread to the wind only to be found again on those rare occasions when I’m moving or re-organizing. And usually, at this point in time they are destroyed and ruined, so they get tossed in the garbage.
Diablo 3 Materials awards 1/2 point to going Physical
Longevity of Diablo 3 Gameplay
Although this is the final point I examined, I believe it is the most important. Purchasing games digitally has one main advantage: you own a digital version of the game which you can download and install at will. Unless blizzard goes KABOOM (or KABLAMMY) you’re going to be able to revisit this game for years to come. With most games, this isn’t that big of a deal. There are a rare few games which I revisit over the years. With that being said, Diablo and Diablo 2 are both on that list. I’ve probably purchased 3 copies of Diablo 2 over the years due to lost / damaged discs, loaning the game to a friend because I wasn’t playing it, etc. By purchasing Diablo 3 digitally I will be able to (I hope) install the game on my grandsons computer and tell him that these were the games I grew up playing. In a future with 3D video gaming ROOMS, and physically interactive environments he will probably not be as interested in Diablo 3 as we are.. but I will be. I anticipate playing this game for awhile, then revisiting it every few years when the penchant to hack & slash the demons of hell strikes me again. And, even after Diablo 4 hits on May 15th, 2025, I believe I will still want to revisit the classics every now and again.
Essentially, what this decision boils down to is: is it worth the potentiality of multiple $60 purchases for a few throw away materials? Nope.
Longevity of Diablo 3 Gameplay awards 1 point to going Digital
—–
In summation, I’m going digital for Diablo 3. The only thing the physical version had going for itself (in my opinion anyway) was the materials. And I can always go pickup a physical copy if I feel I just have to have them. Otherwise, I’ll probably be able to read through everything at a friends house. Or better yet, grab digital copies of the mats after someone decides to scan them in and share them.
What do you think?
![[Google]]( http://male.themodernhippy.com/wp-content/plugins/easy-adsenser/google-light.gif)
