Esteemed director of the Super Smash Bros. series, Masahiro Sakurai, weighs in on the topic of physical vs. digital gaming libraries. This is a commonly debated among gamers, especially those who play on consoles, where players will have a choice between having a physical or digital copy of a game to play. For many, having the box and disc is just as important as having the game. As for the Super Smash Bros. director, Sakurai gives his own thoughts in his latest video on his YouTube channel.
The director has been posting plenty of videos on his new YouTube channel, "Masahiro Sakurai on Creating Games," where he goes over various principles and insights about the industry. He occasionally delves into a "Grab Bag" category, where these related topics are more loose, releasing videos about the perils of lag, the price of video games, his company Sora Ltd., or even a video about his cat. This video is another "Grab Bag" video, where he weighs in on whether he has a physical or digital collection.
He starts the video by going over the pros and cons of each side, where players can keep physical releases forever, and it will have less data to install depending on the game, along with mentioning that Limited Edition items that come with the game are also worth collecting. For digital purchases of a game, he lists the appeal of having the instant purchase and download option without needing to run to a store, and they're always in stock while it's on the storefront. For that end, Sakurai is on "Team Digital" when it comes to purchasing new video games for himself.
This is accompanied by a few photos of Masahiro Sakurai's collection of games that he owns physically, most of them being loose cartridges. He notes that when he was with his old company, he had a dedicated room for storage, which is where he kept all of his video games. After going independent, however, he's had a lot less room. This means he now stores games more compactly these days, such as having a binder for video game discs, where he values the experience rather than its packaging. He still notes that digital releases are still quite pricey, still being as much as a physical purchase.
In the lead-up to this video, there were two polls on Sakurai's English and Japanese YouTube Channels, where it asked subscribers whether they prefer physical or digital. The results were released, showing that while a number of English-speaking fans prefer Physical, the Japanese side was split. Viewers note with Japanese houses being smaller compared to a US home, it leaves less room for storing a lot of physical items, which is why some Japanese gamers, including Sakurai, would prefer a digital collection instead.
