Note: I'm a casual collector of games, so my spending can be higher than most.
In total, I've spent $510 on 26 games, averaging out to $19.62 per game. A large majority (19 games, costing $475) are playable on my current system of choice, the Xbox Series X. The full table is below.
The Digital-Physical Divide
What was particularly interesting was the even split in my purchases: 13 digital games from the Xbox Marketplace and 13 physical games. This parity perfectly illustrates the contrasting value of the two formats:
Format... Quantity... Cost... Resale Value... Profit/Loss
Physical... 13... $92... $162... + $70 (if sold)
Digital... 13... $418... $0... $0
My physical games, the ones I can actually sell, have an estimated eBay resale value of $162 (based on a sellable, not asking, price). If I were to sell the 13 physical titles I purchased for a total of $92, that would represent a +$70 profit. Conversely, the 13 games I purchased on the Xbox Marketplace have a current resale value of $0.
The Takeaway
The data makes my conclusion clear: impulse buying on the Xbox Marketplace is essentially a sunk cost. It's like paying for a movie ticket, a purely consumable experience with no residual value. Moving forward, I see the financial logic in prioritizing physical games.
While digital purchases offer the convenience of instant access, the Xbox Series X, with its disc drive, may one day serve as an archival time capsule for the Xbox brand, making those physical discs even more valuable, but that's a story for another day.