After choosing which video game you want to buy, the next biggest decision you need to make is which format to buy it in: physical or digital. Digital games have exploded in popularity over the last decade, but is there a downside to their added convenience?

It's a hotly debated topic in the gaming community and there's no clear-cut answer. But we'll explore all the pros and cons of physical versus digital games to help you decide whether a physical or digital game collection is best for you.

Physical Games vs. Digital Games: Price

Physical and digital games usually release at the same price. However, a physical game usually reduces in price much quicker than its digital counterpart.

If you're looking to buy a new copy of a game a few months after it released, the physical copy is usually cheaper.

That said, most digital stores offer a lot of impressive sales. These feature enormous discounts, sometimes reducing the price by 80 percent, which is much cheaper than you're likely to find a new physical game.

You need to get lucky for the game you actually want to buy to be in one of these sales, but if it is then you're sure to find a bargain.

The only time physical games get cheaper than these sales this is when you buy them second hand.

Winner: It's a Draw

Physical Games vs. Digital Games: Second-Hand Games

With a physical game, you can trade it in or sell it when you're done playing it. Not only does this help you pull together some cash for your next game purchase, but if you buy second-hand copies of games as well as selling them, you're likely to spend less buying games in the first place.

It's also possible one of your physical games could become a rare collector's item. Years from now, you might be able to sell it for many times what you paid for it. Although, by design, this doesn't happen very often.

The only consideration to make is that the second-hand market doesn't support any actual game developers. To do that, you need to buy new copies of games.

While some people try to sell second-hand digital games—by selling their account details or consoles—this rarely works out very well. Someone could easily change their account details after selling them. They could lie about which games are on their account. Or their console with the downloaded games on could break.

What's more, these sales aren't strictly legal, so you get very little buyer or seller protection from eBay or other storefronts with second-hand digital games.

Winner: Physical Games

Physical Games vs. Digital Games: Swapping and Sharing

At first, it seems like it would be easier to share a physical game with friends and family members than a digital game. All you need to do is hand over the disc or cartridge and that person can put it in their own console and start playing it.

PlayStation controller with games on TV2

However, with digital games, you can also share your account details with someone to let them log in and play any of your digitally purchased games. And you can share these details across the globe in an instant if you want to.

Of course, you should only do this if you trust that person with your account details. But if you do, it actually means you can both play the same game at the same time.

You can even play together online using PlayStation Share Play (how to gameshare on the PS4) or Xbox Gameshare (how to gameshare on Xbox One).

Winner: Digital Games

Physical Games vs. Digital Games: Availability

To buy a physical game, you need to find a store that has it in stock. Unless it's the day of release, this usually isn't an issue for popular games. But if you're looking for a more obscure title, you might need to hunt around for a long time to find it.

If it's a particularly old game, it might not be in stock anywhere.

In contrast, digital games are always in stock. You don't even need to leave your home to buy a digital game, and you should have access to almost every game that was ever released on your console through the digital store.

You do need to wait for a lengthy download to complete before you can start playing it. But at least pre-orders let you pre-download the game so it's available to play the second it releases.

Read More: Why You Should Stop Pre-Ordering Video Games

Lots of smaller indie titles never even release a physical game, which means you can only buy them digitally. The same goes for bonus content to physical games, which is usually only available as digital DLC.

Winner: Digital Games

Physical Games vs. Digital Games: Longevity

It often gets pointed out that buying a physical game means you own it for life, whereas a digital purchase only grants you a license to play that game, which can be revoked at any time.

That's rare, but it does occasionally happen. Game developers go out of business or choose to remove their games from digital stores and if you didn't already have the game downloaded, you can't play it again in the future.

PlayStation download screen

However, physical games aren't entirely protected against these problems either.

It's fairly standard practice these days for physical games to require major updates before you can start playing them. The version of the game you purchased may be littered with bugs or lacking important features without those updates.

If a digital game vanishes from online stores, there's a good chance you also won't be able to download and install crucial updates for the physical copy of that game either.

What's more, a physical game can get lost, damaged, or stolen. So you might not be able to play it after storing it for 10 years even if the required updates are still available.

With a digital game, you can always download another copy from your account for as long as the digital store exists. Although you still need to be careful you don't lose access to your account, which can happen through a forgotten password, a hack, or even a ban. If that does happen, you lose access to all of your games as well.

Winner: It's a Draw

Physical Games vs. Digital Games: Convenience

Getting up to change the disc or cartridge in your games console doesn't sound like it should be a big inconvenience, but once you start instantly switching between digital games it's very difficult to go back.

Digital games are all about convenience. You can hop on the digital store, buy a new game, download it in the background, then start playing it without ever getting off the couch.

If you have a portable games console—like a Nintendo Switch—all your digital games are always with you, provided you have an internet connection. And moving home or traveling is far easier with a digital games collection than a physical one.

You can even sign in to your account on someone else's console to access your games.

Read More: The Best Apps to Manage Your Video Game Collection

The only consideration you need to make with digital games is how much storage they take up on your console. Though you can usually upgrade the internal storage if you need to.

In contrast, physical games take up real storage in your home, which is much harder to upgrade if you run out of space.

Xbox controller with Xbox and Playstation video game colleciton

Of course, with the right presentation, you can turn your physical games collection into an impressive display. But as you keep buying more games you'll still run out of space eventually.

And you'll be cursing all those extra boxes come moving day.

Winner: Digital Games

Physical Games vs. Digital Games: Environmental Impact

Not only do physical games take up more space in the real world, but manufacturing and shipping them have real-world impacts as well. Game discs, cartridges, and boxes are all made from plastic. And shipping them across the globe results in a great deal of extra pollution.

Of course, digital games have their own environmental impact as well: most games developers aren't carbon neutral, nor are the servers that hold your digital games library.

But the environmental impact of digital games is substantially less than that of physical games.

Winner: Digital Games

So Which Is Best? Physical Games or Digital Games

Digital games are better than physical games in almost every way. The discounts are bigger, you can use them to gameshare, you never need to worry about stock levels, they're forever linked to your account, it's easy to switch between games, and they have less environmental impact.

Of course, physical media will always have its die-hard fans. If you want to save money or you want to show off an impressive game collection, then physical games are still the way to go. But for everything else, digital games are the clear winner.