Just curious if people do buy both versions and what is the reasoning. Was it a sale and for convenience?

That makes no sense. If I bought the digital PS5 version of Mortal Kombat 1, why would I need the physical version? It's the same game and all the files needed to operate it are already on my system.

This isn't Pokémon, you don't have to have them all. Save your money, dude.

I’ve definitely bought physical copies of games I technically had access to digitally (but didn’t own), like stuff on Game Pass or PS+.

But I don’t think I’ve ever bought a game digitally and then gone out and bought a physical version too, at least not of the same exact version. (So something like the 20th anniversary edition of Beyond Good and Evil wouldn’t count, even though I did get the previous remaster on the 360.)

I do on the switch but it's so that the kids and I can play multiplayer (or so they can have their own copy, since all the digital versions are tied to my account and they can only play on the primary shared console and not their own)

I used to be a physicsl only guy,but due to space and the convenience I am all digital now except on Switch where I still buy physical whenever possible. So I have repurchased many games digitally on Playstation for the convenience of not having to fuck with the disc anymore.
There are also some situations like with the recent Tomb Raider collection, where I bought it day 1 digitally on PS5, then later bought the Switch cart as well.

Yeah, my two daughters were able to share all of our digital games on each of their Switches, but when I bought my Switch, I had a conflict with my younger daughter since we are sharing the secondary account, since only one secondary account can play from the digital library at a time. I picked up a few physical games like Mario Odyssey to play when there is a conflict.

Yes, I usually buy physical and I'll buy the digital if I can get it really cheap. If I buy digital first, I don't think I've bought the physical after.

Same. Buy physical, occasionally buy digital when it's super super cheap.

This is particularly true for Switch titles that I never should have bought physical copies of.

You buy digital copies of games you never should have bought physically? For what purpose?

Jesus, do y'all enjoy flushing money down the toilet?

I've done it once.

When Animal Crossing New Horizons came out in March 2020, I bought the physical version.

A few weeks later, right as the pandemic started and things went into lockdown, I bought my wife a Switch Lite for her birthday and a digital version of Animal Crossing so that we could play together.

That is the only time that I have purchased a digital version after buying a physical version.

That's a different scenario, though. You bought a 2nd copy for your wife. Not a 2nd copy for yourself, of a game you already own.

The switch is also a completely different physical to digital scenario than the other consoles. The switch has very limited external space (of course you can buy a bigger microsd card) and for most carts, there is not a need for huge additional downloads. It actually makes some sense to have a physical collection. Plus in multi console homes you can share digital games with two consoles at a time.

For PS and Xbox, the disc is basically just a license check, so it's an inferior choice. You still have to have enough space on your drive to fit the entire game, and you often need a ton of patches/additional downloaded content so the disc as a standalone won't let you play the game once the online and servers go away. To me the main draw of physical in this case is sales.

Haha - they're games i end up playing a lot on the go that work out better as digital titles than trying to remember to pack the cartridges to go. I should have just bought the digital version to begin with but did not.

But yes, i own a house and German vehicles, I love flushing money down the toilet. *cries in unexpected expenses*

Yep

My wife bought me the XBOX One system years ago and it took me a long time to set it up. I think I finally set it up in 2023 or so after being in our new home since 2021. While it was still in the unopened box, I had bought a few used games from Gamestop, and one of them was Gears of War 4. Well, I finally put up the system and put the GOW4 disc in a year or two ago and the disc didn't work. FUUUUCK!!! Nothing I could do made it work even though the disc was clean with no scratches. I started to wonder if someone sold Gamestop a blank disc and they sold it to me for $5 used.

Anyway, flash forward to a recent MS Store Digital sale in 2024, I figured that disc was a table coaster at this point so I bought the digital version of GOW4 with extras for some really low price like $4.99 or some shit.

Okay some have painted different scenarios on how this works.

I was puzzled by the idea if you only own a PS5 and bought a digital copy of game, why would you need a physical copy of the exact same game? That made no sense.

No, but if I buy the physical version and then have the opportunity to get digital free, I do. It’s convenient not to have to put in the disk.

I bought the Scott Pilgrim game for the Xbox 360. When it came out on the Switch I bought it there, then I bought the physical from Limited Run for the PS4.

I’ve bought the Arkham games numerous times. Both digitally and physically on multiple platforms.

I can’t remember for sure but I think I did buy the digital of Arkham Asylum on 360 on sale but I wanted a physical copy since I had Arkham Origins and Arkham City physically and wanted all three on the shelf.

Bought it used at GameStop so I didn’t pay a ton for it but I did get it even though I technically didn’t need it.