To buy in store or to buy digital?

I’ll continue my life story a bit later but Since I’m getting back into this tonight, there are a few things to iron out.

To buy in store or to buy digital? The reason I ask this is because about 2 years ago I bought Star Wars Battlefront. It was well reviewed and I’m a Star Wars Fan (yes I’m a geek but I do other stuff too :) ). As you can guess I didn’t play it at all, I put it once into a PS4 when and then it went into the draw under my TV.

Last week I took it out to play and it was badly scratched. Obviously one of my kids took the disc and went to town with it. I called the store I bought it front to enquire about a replacement disc and they said it cant be done! What? In this digital day and age? Surely I have purchased the rights to 1 copy of the game and that should remain with me forever. They are not cheap after all. I walked out the store saying I sill rather buy from the PS Store. Digital copy, forever.

That got me thinking. Is that fair? Are we removing the need of retail shops. Think about how many people are employed due to the need of getting the disc in store. The entire environment which includes, delivery guys (Logistics), clerks (Sales), the Landlords (retail space), builders to build the building etc. The list goes on forever.

So what to do? Buy Call of Duty WW2 online or go in store.

Does anyone know if this problem has been dealt with and a digital copy is acquired simultaneously with a hard copy?

Thanks