Xbox One: Want to go digital but have capped internet

[Dave3000]

I have an Xbox One and I prefer digital over discs because I get annoyed by swapping discs each time I want to play a different game, as a result I'm less likely to play multiple games at a time if I stay physical. I'm more likely to play multiple games at a time if they were digitally downloaded, making more use from my money spent on games. I'm so used to PC gaming and most of my PC games are digital except the really old ones (pre-Steam era) which I don't even bother playing anymore. I don't really care about reselling my console games. I mean, who would want to buy last year's sports game when this year's sports game is out and I would only get a few dollars or very little store credit trading a last years sport games in stores?

Now here is the problem: I have a limited 250 GB Internet but I don't know if it's enforced, however the speed is adequate for downloading large games and watching movies in HDX but I still want to go digital on my XBox One. I read that some people installed the game from disc and then purchased a digital license for that game do be able to play it without the disc. I was considering buying Xbox games used or renting them just to install them so that I don't have to download them, saving my internet usage, and then purchasing a digital license through the Xbox Store and then reselling the used games or returning the rentals. Is it worth going digital this way, just to stay under my internet's capacity limit? Does this work for all Xbox One physical games, I read someone did this for Titanfall to purchase a digital license without downloading the game)? Is it a waste of money? Am I better off risking exceeding my internet cap just to save the hassle? Also someone else pays for the internet in my household.

 

[Lil Frier]

It depends on how close you are to the cap in a given month, and how many games you plan to get. You also have to consider something like the price of rentals in your area ($3 for 1 night here).

Me, I can't see how you care about the data cap money if you're fine with spending extra money to go digital. Physical's so much cheaper, between better and more-frequent sales and Best Buy's GCU membership. If you're fine spending the extra $10-20 on a new game, what's spending extra to go over the cap once in a while?

 

[Dave3000]

Redbox rental prices for games in my area are $3.40/day (inc. sales tax). If I buy a used game and then resell the used game I'd probably be out shipping fees and ebay/paypal fees which would probably cost more than renting but if I can resell it more than I bought it used for then it would probably end up costing as much as a rental but more work involved. I understand that I'm buying the game all over again when buying the digital license but I can offset most of that by reselling the physical game I bought used. I plan on buy Halo MCC digitally, it's an 80 GB download, and was considering renting it first, installing it, buying the digital voucher for the game, that someone is selling on ebay and then redeeming the digital voucher and returning the rental, that way I don't have to download the game and won't need the disc to play it (if it works for this game as well).

 

[xantub]

I feel your pain. I'm in a capped area too (Atlanta suburbs), although my cap is 300GB. This is coincidentally the first month in 4 years that I go over the cap, but I fear it'll happen more frequently. I didn't even download any big games this month that I remember, but I did increase my twitch/youtube watching so that might be the reason.

 

[Dave3000]

If it weren't were the HDX / Netflix HD streaming I do frequently I wouldn't be so worried about downloading the big games. Thing is, I refuse to stream video in SD and I don't want to give up streaming in HDX/ Netflix 1080p. I find HDX the minimum I will accept. HDX/Netflix 1080p is the minimum I will accept for my viewing. I'm not sure if it's worth spending an extra $4-5 and hassle just to avoid downloading those big games.

 

[Bman123]

Don't go digital. I did it on ps4 and seriously regret it. Sure its cool just swapping games without getting off the couch but its not worth it.

Like said above you can get the best buy gamers club unlocked and save a good bit of cash or you can wait a little while after release and get the games for a little bit cheaper.

With sports games I tend to buy the disc and keep them for 2 years then buy the new version and give the old one away.

Alot of places give away gift cards when buying the discs, dell and Microsoft store do this all the time.

All in all don't go digital, its not worth it when your stuck paying full price for the game and get no incentives for buying it digital

 

[Dave3000]

Don't go digital. I did it on ps4 and seriously regret it. Sure its cool just swapping games without getting off the couch but its not worth it.

Like said above you can get the best buy gamers club unlocked and save a good bit of cash or you can wait a little while after release and get the games for a little bit cheaper.

With sports games I tend to buy the disc and keep them for 2 years then buy the new version and give the old one away.

Alot of places give away gift cards when buying the discs, dell and Microsoft store do this all the time.

All in all don't go digital, its not worth it when your stuck paying full price for the game and get no incentives for buying it digital

So what happens if the blu-ray drive stops works and your disc is stuck inside it and the warranty on the console is expired? Or what happens if the blu-ray drive starts acting crazy and starts scratching discs and the warranty is over. Will the manufacturer of the console reimburse you the full market value of the game that was destroyed by the blu-ray drive malfunctioning? You would still have to pay for repairs on the console if it's out of warranty and that might offset the resale value of reselling your used games depending on how many you resell, and I'm just talking about the blu-ray drive, not other aspects of the console that might malfunction. Wouldn't the blu-ray drive most likely be the first thing that malfunctions on a console? However, I won't be playing my Xbox One very much as I mainly play games on the PC.

 

[mmntech]

Modern game consoles are modularly constructed, so it's fairly easy to replace the optical drives yourself. Sourcing parts only becomes an issue a few years after a console has been discontinued.

Bman is right about physical copies being more economical. As I've said before, console digital stores are monopolies. With the exception of new releases, games are almost always more expensive than they are at B&M retail.

Back on topic, I'd say it largely depends on what else the OP is using his internet connection for. Netflix and video are the biggest data suckers. You're looking at about 2GB per hour for Super HD content. Games for current gen systems can weigh in at up to 50GB. Haven't checked console release sizes in a while but I'm sure about half that is typical. About 18-30GB for AAA releases. Some less, some more.

 

[artemicion]

Even if the method of installing from the physical disc works, I can't see how all that work of getting the game and reselling it (or renting it from Redbox) would possibly be worth it.

Just try to make your digital purchases toward the end of your Internet billing cycle, that way even if you do go over the cap and your provider enforces it, you only suffer the throttled bandwidth for a few days.

I generally go with a hybrid approach on digital games. I'll buy digital copies of games that have high replay value and buy physical copies of games that have one and done single player campaigns so I can sell them off when I'm done.

 

[purbeast0]

lol wow talk about #firstworldproblems.

"i wont play multiple games because i physically dont want to get up and change discs"

now that is some lazy ish right there. and people wonder why there is an obesity epidemic.

 

[Aikouka]

250GB... are you on Comcast? If so, they aren't really watching it. If you had a 300GB cap on Comcast, then yes, you would be charged more. I hit 100% of my cap just yesterday.

 

[iluvdeal]

Comcast? Check your account online, it'll say whether the cap is enforced or not. Mine is not.

 

[blurredvision]

Don't go digital. I did it on ps4 and seriously regret it. Sure its cool just swapping games without getting off the couch but its not worth it.

I disagree. I've been 100% digital since I bought Xbox One. Multiple benefits for me:

1. Home share with a friend so we split game costs on games we both were going to buy. I also get to play games I wouldn't normally have otherwise (games I wouldn't have bothered to borrow but since it's installed, why not).
2. No stack of game cases to keep up with. No stack of game cases collecting dust.
3. I'm more prone to skip around and play multiple games at once than just playing one game at a time. If I'm in the mode to play a game, I just go into my installed games list and pick one whereas with discs, I am way more likely to play whatever is in the tray. It's not because I'm lazy, it's just because it's easier. Having digital games is kind of like having a multi-disc changer back in the 90s, you had all kinds of music at your fingertips to play at an (almost) instant instead of having to change discs.

I never traded in many games nor do I care much about the lack of sales with digital games, since I normally only buy games when they first launch. I rarely buy a game after it's been out for more than a week, mainly because I know what I like to play at this point in my life.

 

[Dave3000]

Well I decided to stay physical with Xbox One and I purchased the $30 GCU and 3 XBox One games from Best Buy. The only game I have digitally for Xbox One is Forza 6 but that's because it came with my XBox One as a digital download. I decided it was not worth it for my to go digital on XBox one in my situation, especially with the GCU membership, besides most of my gaming is done on PC and XBox one for exclusives/console exclusives.

 

[SlitheryDee]

My approach would be to slowly install my games over the course of several months. Perhaps you could be as efficient as possible with your internet usage and see just how much of your data cap you can preserve, then use the remaining cap at the end of the month on nothing but games. Afterwards you can install games at the beginning of the month because you'd know just how much headroom you had to work with.

 

[Lil Frier]

Redbox rental prices for games in my area are $3.40/day (inc. sales tax). If I buy a used game and then resell the used game I'd probably be out shipping fees and ebay/paypal fees which would probably cost more than renting but if I can resell it more than I bought it used for then it would probably end up costing as much as a rental but more work involved. I understand that I'm buying the game all over again when buying the digital license but I can offset most of that by reselling the physical game I bought used. I plan on buy Halo MCC digitally, it's an 80 GB download, and was considering renting it first, installing it, buying the digital voucher for the game, that someone is selling on ebay and then redeeming the digital voucher and returning the rental, that way I don't have to download the game and won't need the disc to play it (if it works for this game as well).

The sort-of-douchy solution is to buy a used game at GameStop, install, then return the game (14 days to return used games).

So what happens if the blu-ray drive stops works and your disc is stuck inside it and the warranty on the console is expired? Or what happens if the blu-ray drive starts acting crazy and starts scratching discs and the warranty is over. Will the manufacturer of the console reimburse you the full market value of the game that was destroyed by the blu-ray drive malfunctioning? You would still have to pay for repairs on the console if it's out of warranty and that might offset the resale value of reselling your used games depending on how many you resell, and I'm just talking about the blu-ray drive, not other aspects of the console that might malfunction. Wouldn't the blu-ray drive most likely be the first thing that malfunctions on a console? However, I won't be playing my Xbox One very much as I mainly play games on the PC.

I mean, what happens if the HDD fails and it's out of warranty? That's probably a more-expensive fix/replacement than the optical drive. IF the disc is ruined, that'd be another issue, and it would suck, but you're basically talking about the highly atypical issues.

Well I decided to stay physical with Xbox One and I purchased the $30 GCU and 3 XBox One games from Best Buy. The only game I have digitally for Xbox One is Forza 6 but that's because it came with my XBox One as a digital download. I decided it was not worth it for my to go digital on XBox one in my situation, especially with the GCU membership, besides most of my gaming is done on PC and XBox one for exclusives/console exclusives.

Did you get that sweet Forza 6 painted console then? It's pretty cool, and you should post pictures, if you did, haha.

Also, remember to reserve games with your My Best Buy account. You get $10 in rewards (meaning $10 off your next purchase) onto your account. So, it's basically like getting $22 off, between GCU and the $10 rewards certs. This includes PC games as well, and the eligible titles (now) are listed in that link.

 

[cmdrdredd]

Comcast sent me a letter today saying they are doing a "trial" of the 300GB cap now or I can pay $30 for unlimited. I already pay too much. Anyway I tried to see my usage so far on their site and wouldn't you know it, it's not working and gives an error.

So If there's a lot of games to download I can see it being a big problem.

 

[artemicion]

1. Home share with a friend so we split game costs on games we both were going to buy. I also get to play games I wouldn't normally have otherwise (games I wouldn't have bothered to borrow but since it's installed, why not).

I always assumed this wouldn't work, but does this work on XB1? Can you have your Microsoft Account signed in on two different XB1's at the same time, playing the same digital game? Can you do multiplayer on two consoles with one account that owns the game?

 

[xantub]

Comcast sent me a letter today saying they are doing a "trial" of the 300GB cap now or I can pay $30 for unlimited. I already pay too much. Anyway I tried to see my usage so far on their site and wouldn't you know it, it's not working and gives an error.

So If there's a lot of games to download I can see it being a big problem.

Games are not the only factor (and probably not even the biggest factor). If you watch Netflix regularly, that will probably account for the bigger share of your monthly cap.

 

[blurredvision]

I always assumed this wouldn't work, but does this work on XB1? Can you have your Microsoft Account signed in on two different XB1's at the same time, playing the same digital game? Can you do multiplayer on two consoles with one account that owns the game?

Yes, it works. It basically requires you to login to a friend's Xbox One and set it as your "home" console. Your friend will do the same on yours. After that, you can log out and delete your profiles on each other's consoles. Going forward, if you were to buy a game (digitally), you could play it on your Xbox because you're logged in with your account and your friend can play it on their Xbox because it's the "home" console for your account and can play whatever games you're licensed for on your account.

A nice addition that I wasn't expecting is when my friend buys a game, it automatically downloads and installs on my Xbox (if I have the space), and vice-versa. I currently have an icon for the Halo 5 pre-order but haven't paid a dime (it was his turn to buy the game).

The only two downsides to this are:

1.) If you don't live near each other, you'll have to give out your password to your friend. You have to login at least that first time to your friend's console.
2.) If you have others (family/roommates/friends) who play on your Xbox, they will not be able to play your purchased games unless you're logged in. This is what your "home" Xbox usually takes care of but since you've moved it to another console, that's no longer valid.

And yes, you can both play with each other online using that game.

 

[KentState]

Comcast sent me a letter today saying they are doing a "trial" of the 300GB cap now or I can pay $30 for unlimited. I already pay too much. Anyway I tried to see my usage so far on their site and wouldn't you know it, it's not working and gives an error.

So If there's a lot of games to download I can see it being a big problem.

For some reason I remember a thread about a month ago where we went back and forth on Comcast and their caps and how you are not affected. Welcome to my world Also, you will be surprised at how often the usage page is broken, yet they never stop measuring your usage.

 

[middlehead]

Comcast? Check your account online, it'll say whether the cap is enforced or not. Mine is not.

Do they do overnight exemption? My cable company doesn't enforce their "recommended" cap anymore, but when they did they didn't count anything overnight against you. I think it was 11pm-6am.

 

[xantub]

For some reason I remember a thread about a month ago where we went back and forth on Comcast and their caps and how you are not affected. Welcome to my world Also, you will be surprised at how often the usage page is broken, yet they never stop measuring your usage.

There is an application that will tell you your usage. That one always works.
They do enforce the cap in my area (Atlanta), but I think it was one of the first 'trial' regions.
They also changed their courtesy months. Until not long ago you could go over the cap 3 times in a period of 12 months without paying extra, but looks like they changed it to 3 times ever.

 

[TeknoBug]

I have capped internet, the future of going all-digital bothers me. My ISP offers unlimited but I'd have to cough up $60 more for that and I'm already paying over $200.

If your ISP enforces the cap, you'll either get charged for extra data (mine charges $10 for every 1GB I believe) or your bandwidth will drop to a crawl (my last ISP did that, dropped my download speeds down to 120kb/s).

PS- take very careful consideration into going all digital with your XBL account, if you're caught cheating or someone ever steals it and you report it, MS WILL ban it permanently and you'll lose ALL your digital games.

 

[SlitheryDee]

PS- take very careful consideration into going all digital with your XBL account, if you're caught cheating or someone ever steals it and you report it, MS WILL ban it permanently and you'll lose ALL your digital games.

I have trouble believing this. Standard procedure for stolen accounts for every digital service ever has always been using some alternate form of identification to restore it, not banning it and taking all the games away from it.

I even doubt that cheating would cause you to lose your games. Maybe you'd lose your xbox live membership, which would mean that you'd lose the ability to play online and the games that were "free with gold" that you have, but then you'd have lost those anyway if you ever stopped subscribing to the service.