There’s a lot of good reasons to go for digital games these days. Primarily if you’re a lazy bugger like the staff here, whose buttocks have fused to the couch, in an unholy union of fine leather and wrinkled ass-cheek. But the main reason to say with physical games these days is value. You can’t flog a digital code, and it’s always going to be reassuring knowing that your buyers remorse can be salvaged with a quick posting on Gumtree that will soon be inundated with ludicrous offers and a chance to swap said game for a Samsung Galaxy.
But with the Rand having tanked recently, game prices are going to go through the roof this year. This luxury pastime is going to require luxurious funds, or a hard think about how canned dog food doesn’t actually taste that bad. So what are the current digital prices like then? Worth a jump? We did some research on that. Here’s what we found.
PlayStation 4
We used a simple format for the PlayStation comparison: Current pre-order prices, from the local storefront and the usual retailer suspects. The big takeaway here is that EA games appears to have a heftier price tag outside of the digital storefront, although Takealot had yet to have any listings put up for most of the games from that publisher. Otherwise, prices were mostly similar between digital and physical:
Street Fighter V
- PSN – R899
- BT Games – R899
- Raru – R949
- Takealot – R899
Far Cry Primal
- PSN – R799
- BT Games – R879
- Raru – R893
- Takealot – R899
Plants vs Zombies Garden Warfare 2
- PSN – R899
- BT Games – R1069
- Raru – R1037
- Takealot – Not Listed
Tom Clancy’s The Division
- PSN – R799
- BT Games – R879
- Raru – R893
- Takealot – 899
EA Sports UFC 2
- PSN – R899
- BT Games – R1069
- Raru – R1037
- Takealot – Not Listed
Battleborn
- PSN – R899
- BT Games – R978
- Raru – R979
- Takealot – R999
Mirror’s Edge Catalyst
- PSN – R899
- BT Games – TBA
- Raru – TBC
- Takealot – R799 (Price to still be confirmed)
Naruto Ultimate Ninja Storm 4
- PSN – R899
- BT Games – 978
- Raru – 979
- Takealot – Not listed
Uncharted 4: A Thief’s End
- PSN – R799
- BT Games – 899
- Raru – TBC
- Takealot – Not Listed
Xbox One
The local Xbox One storefront was a bit trickier, as a lot of the games listed on retail sites weren’t seen on our marketplace, especially upcoming heavy-hitter Quantum Break which is expected to easily breach the R1000+ mark. Retail prices for Xbox One games were about the same as PS4 prices, while digital prices also had a similar gap in prices. Once again, EA was charging a heavier price for physical copies of their games:
Far Cry Primal
- Xbox marketplace – R799
- BT Games – R879
- Raru – R893
- Takealot – R899
Plants vs Zombies Garden Warfare 2
- Xbox marketplace – R899
- BT Games – R1069
- Raru – R1037
- Takealot – Not Listed
Tom Clancy’s The Division
- Xbox marketplace – R799
- BT Games – R879
- Raru – R893
- Takealot – 899
Quantum Break
- Xbox marketplace – TBC
- BT Games – TBA
- Raru – R1123
- Takealot – Not listed
EA Sports UFC 2
- Xbox marketplace – TBC
- BT Games – R1069
- Raru – R1037
- Takealot – Not Listed
Battleborn
- Xbox marketplace – Not listed
- BT Games – R978
- Raru – R979
- Takealot – R999
Mirror’s Edge Catalyst
- Xbox marketplace – TBC
- BT Games – TBA
- Raru – TBC
- Takealot – R799 (Price to still be confirmed)
Naruto Ultimate Ninja Storm 4
- Xbox marketplace – R649
- BT Games – R978
- Raru – R979
- Takealot – Not listed
PC
And here’s where things got interesting. The local Steam market also had numerous other games not listed, as did local retailers for the PC market. What’s really curious however, is that Street Fighter V is more expensive on Steam than it is in the shops, by a good margin of R100 or more:
Street Fighter V
- Steam -R720
- BT Games – R625
- Raru – R604
- Takealot – R599
Far Cry Primal
- Steam – R599
- BT Games – R625
- Raru – R604
- Takealot – R630
Plants vs Zombies Garden Warfare 2
- Origin – R599.95
- BT Games – R699
- Raru – Not Listed
- Takealot – Not Listed
Tom Clancy’s The Division
- Steam -R599
- BT Games – R879
- Raru – R604
- Takealot – R630
Dark Souls 3
- Steam – TBC
- BT Games – R899
- Raru – R862
- Takealot – R899
Overwatch
- Battlenet – €59.90 (R1050)
- BT Games – R899
- Raru – R862
- Takealot – R899
Battleborn
- Steam -R599
- BT Games – R699
- Raru – R690
- Takealot – R699
Mirror’s Edge Catalyst
- Origin – R599,95
- BT Games – TBC
- Raru – TBC
- Takealot – Not listed
XCOM 2
- Steam – R599
- BT Games – R625
- Raru – R604
- Takealot – R630
Last Updated: February 2, 2016
