It can be a hard choice between the convenience of downloading the game to your console versus the different advantages to having a physical copy like being able to resell your game. On the PS4 and Xbox One it’s a bit of a different ball game, because you’re dealing with game discs vs. the cartridges that the Switch has, which we will go into below. 2023 Update Nothing much has changed, but I’d like to point out that the DS e-store is closing. This really pushes it towards “you should own physical media of your games that last a long time (very long time)” over virtual stores which can and will eventually close. 2021 Update As a note, some Switch games now include two important concepts: cloud gaming & physical copies containing download codes for games (vs. all games being on the cart). For cloud gaming, I’m not exactly sure…
By David Piner