The Problem With Digital Downloads on Xbox One and PS4

Bright Side of News' Gaming Editor Derek Strickland writes:

"If you're thinking about embracing digital instead of physical discs for next-gen consoles, you might want to think again.

"As it stands, digital downloads are handling terribly on both the PlayStation 4 and Xbox One. The PS4, for example, is underhanded and doesn't outright tell you the total download size of a game, and it's play-as-you-download feature actually works against players.

"The Xbox One has terribly slow install times in both physical and digital, and we've seen the folly of Microsoft's touted 300,000 strong Xbox LIVE server banks with the badly optimized release of The Halo: Master Chief Collection.

[oODEADPOOLOo]

Pricing and sales is another, they put alot of emphasis on a steam like store platform, but rarely match the sales. But one thing they have an advantage on is at least there's an option to talk to someone from support or live chat. Steam is more backwards in that regard they have u make a ticket and wait for a response, sometimes unanswered. There's not direct contact option with them.

The other limitation with digital on both is just the Harddrive, it doesn't last long. But, I suspect later versions will get 1TB to 2TB options.

The slow downloads are just a sign that both Sony and MS seemed to rush into the digital bandwagon too soon. Also it would have helped for comparison if the author listed times for download speeds for both PSN and XBL.

That last bit about play as you download seems like something minor to me.

I'll stick to physical unless they have more drastic sales like steam... it's still more fun to collect physical and it gives the option to resell.

[Kane22]

i dont have any issues downloading games on both systems. and for me their not slow. the 2 things i hate about digital is that if i run out of space ill have to delete and then redownload if i want to play that game again. also the pricing doesn't match the disk price all the time. on disk a game would be $29.99 while digital for some stupid reason its still full price.

[RG_Dubz]

Prices agreed they need to be dropped on older games but at the sametime I get 2 copies of the game so essentially it's half price which is great for new games.

Harddrive is irrelevant, it takes up the same amount of HDD space regardless of owning the physical or digital copy.

Slow downloads? Get better internet, don't blame SONY or MS for your slow download speed, I'm on PS4 and my downloads are maxing out my download speed.

You can play another game while you download so it is quite minor.

Digital is the way of the future unfortunately, but when PSN is nothing more then an app on your Smart TV, it will benefit those who purchased digital where as physical copy owners would have to re-purchase their games all over again if they want to play them.

Other benefits of digital, no taxes (some states still charge taxes on physical) save on gas (no driving to the store), as stated above 2 copies for the price of 1, can download and play anytime from any system anywhere as long as I sign into my name.

The only real benefit of physical is the reselling point which I don't do being an avid retro gamer, so that's completey irrelevant to me.. But it's just not worth the hassle of searching through your collection of physical games to insert a disk that simply verifies that you own the game which runs off the games data that is all installed right on the HDD anyways, it's much more convenient to press X on a game you want to play and start it.. Let's face it console gaming has always been about convenience.

If they really want this digital thing to take over, forget pre-download, they need to let you pre-play the digital copy once it's downloaded, having a 2 days to a week early access over the physical copy would really get everyone buying digital.

[oODEADPOOLOo]

If you read the article you would have seen the author explain the speeds are capped on Sony's end for downloads. It seems to be a limitation Sony has placed arbitrarily.

I have a pretty decent connection and even use a powerline adapter, so Im fine. Also, the worlds general infrastructure for internet, espcially in U.S is not that great for high bandwidth downloads, so from a broad overview perspective the general internet infrastructure is still pretty early in its development.

[Deeke]

Yeah that's a good point about the pricing. The sales are usually pretty bad and don't really give substantial deals.

Physical is definitely the way to go for right now, in my opinion. Resale, collecting, and of course letting your friends borrow games is a big plus that outweighs the convenience of not having to put a disc in your system XD

[Volkama]

Prices obviously aren't anywhere near where they should be, but the sales aren't always terrible. Picked up Killzone for £17.50 on the PSPlus double discount thing, and gave my disc away to a friend.

Then I actually played it and must admit it's a bit pants, but that's hardly the fault of the digital download lol.

The rest of the article is pretty flimsy. Prices and potentially trade in value are the real things working against digital. And perhaps data caps for those of you in the States.

[NuggetsOfGod]

If only valve had a widely successful console.. :(

This hoilday steam will rock.

Harder to get the best deals when u have to please shareholders first.

[Volkama]

Don't be sad! Steam works just fine without being a console platform.

[LAWSON72]

Me and a friend are able to share libraries on Xbone so it has been pretty awesome. I bought Halo and DA while he bought GTA and CoD, and we both get to play all 4.

[ShowGun901]

this is what me and a buddie are doing on ps4 right now... got CoD AW, and soon to be Bloodbourne for basically $30 each! that is definetly the way to go!

[vikingland1]

2 things I like about digital.

1. Sharing is better than disc because 2 people can play the same game at the same time with buying only 1 copy. You can do this on PS4 & XB1.

2. No disc swapping. Not because I'm lazy but because it's faster.

[Kribwalker]

Don't forget about preloading and getting to play at 9:01pm on the westcoast :D. I get a solid 2-3 hrs in before bed when I pre-load

[vikingland1]

I agree with that.

[joab777]

Except when it's the opposite like AC:Unity which released at 12AM pdt...which meant 3AM in NY.

I was pissed.

[ShowGun901]

umm, has anybody else noticed on the ps4, that digitally downloading the game and physically buying the game take up the same amount of HDD space? TLoU (on disc) is taking up around 44gb of my HDD, while CoD AW (downloaded) is taking up around 40gb also... AC Black Flag (disc) is also around 40gb, with a disc, and NFS rivals (disc) was over 30gb if my memory holds (not home right now!)... Samurai Warriors 4 (digital DL) was only 20gb!

ALL my disc based games are taking up MASSIVE amounts of HDD space, making digital downloads seem like a good deal right now, cause the only thing that REALLY bothered me about downloading the games is filling my HDD too fast... i had to delete a bunch of stuff this week because i was down to 15gb left!

anybody else notice this? looking into at LEAST a 2tb HDD now LOL!

[LAWSON72]

Discs this gen are just a source of installation, and after that they are just used as DRM. All games are the same size as there digital counter part. Discs are pretty much digital copies with the DRM tied to the disc rather than an account.

[paradigmfellow]

F digital gaming.

[LoveSpuds]

I hate digital because the prices are utterly outrageous here in the UK.

Nearly every new release on PSN is priced at over 50 quid, often at £55 when I can go online a purchase a retail copy for under 40 quid.

If publishers want us to embrace digital then they need to price the games so that they offer a decent saving over a retail copy. Personally I think a £35 price for a downloadable game is about right but publishers are too greedy to treat consumers with any respect while a portion of the community cough up these exorbitant prices.

[Baka-akaB]

Prices and the fact that a game can be removed from a library for arbitrary reasons (like Marvel VS capcom 3 because of the license expiring) are the real issues .

And in some (annoying) countries , retail cost more than the digital prices from both the eu or us digital stores . This morning i even saw PES 2015 ps4 disc version going at 89 euros , when the digital one is discounted at 59 .

Let's not forget that you can literally split costs via sharing .

Download isnt slow for me on either systems , and it doesnt take more space on the hard drive than disc versions anyway .

"Often gamers are surprised mid-game by having their session interrupted because their download hasn’t finished"

It could be clearer but you are told when a download is underway or done . That you chose to play whatever portion is available is something else you decided

[bauer007]

The article is quite inaccurate for PS4, suggesting that all disc installs are less than 5 minutes, ahem TLOU and GTA V. Digital all the way!