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The story
A thread titled “The despair of buying a digital game at full price and immediately realizing it’s garbage” popped up on 5ch’s Hardware & Industry (Geha) board. With a physical copy, you can resell it secondhand or return it if it doesn’t click, but digital downloads offer almost none of those options — meaning regret is locked in the moment you hit “buy.” That structural problem became the thread’s main talking point. Posters shared their own “garbage game” horror stories, from shock at a ¥13,900 price tag to someone who gave up on Diablo III after just three hours. The discussion also touched on rumors that the PS5 will go fully digital-only starting in 2028, with some arguing consoles badly need a Steam-style refund system, and others noting that subscriptions like Xbox Game Pass limit the downside.
What people said
Getting burned by a garbage game teaches you to actually do your research beforehand.
Both turned out to be garbage.
Re: #3
If you bought it without knowing the original, that's just dumb.
Sadly, the way it's built just doesn't allow for the same thing Steam does.
You really think Sony would do something that user-friendly?
Don't talk trash about MHWPDE (Monster Hunter Wilds Premium Deluxe Edition)!
Turns out it wasn't a promo, it was a debuff.
and you're gonna drop ¥10,000 on a download?
That seems about as risky as spending money on a mobile game that's about to get its servers shut down.
"It's always your own fault" — same old line every era (classic recurring take)
Physical media culture is the best, since you're at least guaranteed to get some money back!
Any manufacturer that announces they're ditching discs never belonged in this industry to begin with!
Oh wait, there are consoles where you won't even be able to do that anymore.
And yet on Steam you can buy R18 games with a prepaid card just fine.
if AI-driven cyberattacks keep getting worse, who knows what happens down the line…
Online shopping ends up the same way anyway, so buying in-store without signing up for membership is the strongest option
…though that's a different story when you go to sell it back.
I bought Diablo III digitally on release day thinking "I'll definitely sink hundreds of hours into this…" but it didn't click, and I stopped after three hours.
Well, there was also a chance you'd have gotten hooked and it'd become an irreplaceable game for you, so that's just the cost of learning
At least now you know Diablo-type games aren't for you, so you can avoid them going forward.
Ever bought a digital game so bad that you're furious just having the download sitting on your drive?
Me… I've got some indie games like that, but they're small so I just leave them installed.
I pretty much delete it once I've beaten it.
Yeah, once I'm satisfied I delete it
Storage space has its limits too.
🤖 "If you're just gonna delete it after clearing it, why not buy the physical copy instead?"
Game Pass just doesn't have enough games though.
I get that it narrows down once you filter by your own taste
but for me, considering the price,
there are way too many games I get to play and discover
so it ends up feeling like incredible value for money!
It's perfect for occasionally trying genres you'd never normally touch
and being able to play it on PC too is a big plus.
Most of what people call garbage games are really just mediocre games.
Even for a mediocre game, I don't want to pay full price though.
>Aren't you just calling everything that isn't a masterpiece "garbage"?
>Most of what people call garbage games are really just mediocre games.
No — if you end up feeling "something about this doesn't click, it's not worth my time," then it's garbage to you personally, regardless of its reputation. Of course the opposite can happen too.
And honestly, that's something you can only find out by actually playing it.
Booted up the PC version for the first time since September.
There are platforms where even that won't be possible anymore though
and a physical box with just a download code inside can't be resold secondhand.
but it turned out to be a Joy-Con-only gimmick hell and I regretted it.
The plane sections force you to use motion controls,
you can't freely explore Wuhu Island (or whatever it's called here) — there's some bizarre 5-minute limit — and even then the controls are motion-sensor flying in the air, while on the ground it's nothing but a skateboard that forces mouse controls.
Can someone let me return this? I've probably played less than 30 minutes total. I only did the 5-minute free-roam twice.
No idea if a real free-roam exploration mode gets unlocked later or not.
Sure, physical products can't go back on the shelf once the package is opened, but that's not really true for digital downloads.
If a company's attitude toward refusing returns is basically "Ha, too bad you didn't check the trailers or official info, tech-illiterate loser — no refunds now, lol, thanks for the full price, lol," that's just not an honest way to do business.
It just came out today, so quit pretending you've actually played it (エアプ, 5ch slang for faking game experience).
It's fine
I only play free-to-play games anyway.
Background and Key Points
Home consoles’ digital download versions generally lack a Steam-style system that lets you get a refund if your playtime is short and it’s within a certain window after purchase. While physical copies offer an effective fallback — reselling them secondhand if they don’t suit you — digital versions mean regret is essentially locked in the moment of purchase. That structural issue was the point repeatedly raised throughout the thread. The claim mentioned in the thread that “the PS5 will switch to fully digital-only starting in 2028” is only a statement made on 5ch, and it should be noted that it has not been confirmed as an official Sony announcement. Also, since what counts as a “garbage game” depends heavily on individual taste, much of the discussion centered on the gap between a title’s broad critical reputation and one’s own personal satisfaction with it.
※This article is compiled and summarized from the 5ch (Hardware & Industry/Geha) thread “The despair of buying a digital game at full price and immediately realizing it’s garbage.”
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