Analyst Predicts GTA V Will Be Digital Only

[Andy Chalk]

Analyst Predicts GTA V Will Be Digital Only

A research and consultancy firm predicts that the boxed retail version of Grand Theft Auto V will not include a disc.

Surprise! It's not Michael Pachter! No, this one comes from Newzoo [http://www.newzoo.com/ENG/1494-About_Newzoo.html], "an international full service market research and consulting firm completely focused on the games industry," and it's so out-of-left-field that even Mr. Pach Attack himself probably wouldn't go near it.

"There are a lot of reasons why publishers are pushing towards digital distribution of triple-A games. Speaking out loud might harm the relationship with retail partners, but the benefits have become too large to remain silent about the desire to go completely digital," Newzoo CEO Peter Warman said in a recent report on DLC. "The ultimate objective being to launch games faster, create continuous revenues on a title and simply to make more money. Will retail disappear from the picture? Of course not. Retail will always remain an important channel to promote and distribute games. Retail has a strong hand to play when it comes to eyeballs and... boxes make a nice gift."

And then he gets to the interesting bit. "Boxed games will not disappear, but what is in the box will," he continued. "That is why the boxed GTA V [http://www.amazon.com/Grand-Theft-Auto-V-Playstation-3/dp/B0050SXKU4/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1320168002&sr=8-1] version will contain a collectible piece of merchandise and a download code. No disc."

No disc? That's a bold prediction. I'm not an expert [or even an analyst] but I think it's a bit premature; as hard as it is for some people to believe, a significant portion of the population still lives in areas where high-volume digital distribution is impractical at best. It's one thing to activate a game online or connection to a DRM server, but another thing entirely to download a multi-gigabyte game in its entirety over a connection that may be throttled, capped or just plain crappy.

Those most reliant on retail channels for their games, in other words, tend to be the same people who can't just take home a code and download them, while most of those who can will just order them from home. That leaves a very narrow slice of gamers who are dedicated enough to their title of choice to cruise to the mall and lay down their money for some extra room-cluttering junk, just so they can turn around and drive home to actually get their game. Maybe someday, for some titles, but today? I just don't see it happening.

Source: IndustryGamers [http://www.industrygamers.com/news/gta-v-to-launch-as-digital-only-release/]


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[AndrewC]

If there was no disc, it would cause an absolute uproar.

Not everyone has super internet. Besides, I highly doubt there won't be a disc. I can't see it happening anytime soon.

 

[Comando96]

Hmm... interesting... I'm pro steam and have a shitty internet connection (as of recent BT fumblings in my area) but compensate by leaving my PC on overnight..

Hey, RockStar how about, if this is going to be digital only you release it on PC too (on time, not a year later, a few weeks or even a month, fine... but a year???)

PC for the win!

 

[mjc0961]

If it's digital only, I'll wait until it's super cheap on Steam. After all, if I have to spend half a day downloading, I might as well save some money in the process.

And of course, what about all those people who can't download a copy? Yeah, I'm sure Rockstar is extremely eager to cut their customer base by denying a part of it their product. There will be a GTA V disc for consoles at the very least.

 

[Luke5515]

We can't have a good digital download system until we get a new generation of consoles that have much larger hard drives than the 20 gig that comes with the original. I don't think it'll happen until next generation, and even then there will still be discs for a while.

 

[Kinokohatake]

Probably not going to happen. I don't have internet on my console and I know a few people that don't. I doubt it's going to happen.

 

[wooty]

If its a digital copy only, then they may have just lost a customer. Call me old fashioned, but I like physical copies. Its a real sense of ownership and not some sort of twilight realm ghosty wosty phantom-like spook purchase.

 

[elvor0]

I'm pretty sure this isn't true, even though I buy most of my games off of steam, that's only because I have fast internets, for a lot of people and console users (habit and harddrive space), it'd be completely impracticable and a massive pain in the arse for everyone regardless of whether or not you prefer digital distribution.

 

[Tortilla the Hun]

*gasp*
Egad!!
Great Odin's Raven!!
Holy Toledo, Batman!!
Surely they can't be serious?!
Oh my stars and garters, I don't think my modem can take such news...

 

[ZehMadScientist]

As long as it doesn't interfere with my experience of the game and doesn't raise any problems, they can start ditributing it on flash drives for all that I care.

 

[Baresark]

Interesting prediction. I would say that is skipping a few steps. Why not offer both, but a discount for digital. Like Steam for instance.

Though, it's dumb to exclude that crowd of folks who are gonna hit Gamestop for a disc. This would most likely, ultimately, equate to less sales.

Also... you are making people still travel to get a box. I don't feel I should have to point out how annoying it would be to go to the store, get a box, then wait hours for the title to download when I got home. See, on the PC with good old Steam and others, you can prepurchase it, and if it's a big release, they give a pre-load to the customer, so it's available when the title actually unlocks. I don't foresee this happening with the 360 or PS3. This very thing is what is literally stopping me from purchasing a boxed edition of Skyrim at the store for the cloth map. I will save myself probably about $10 in gas and sales tax. And it'll be available at 12:01 AM on the 11th.

I love analysts. They have to be the people who are the most disconnected from reality.

 

[Jack and Calumon]

This sounds like a bad prediction and I will hate it if this game has this. I have 2 megabit internet. 200kb/s download speed. This is very bad by today's standards and I know, I fucking know, that this isn't the worst, that there are others with much worse internet than me.

Give me a disc, so I can load up, play and move on.

Or, since I own a PS3 and not a 360, load up, wait about an hour for installations and updates, play THEN move on.

Calumon: But isn't the shelf nearly full and probably gonna collapse soon?

Jack: SILENCE! Physical media is better because shut up!

 

[Worgen]

It wouldn't work on consoles but you could do it on the pc, I mean it wouldn't work well on the pc since I think like 40% of the states is still on dial up but the pc is the only platform where you could currently hope to make back your money with digital only.

 

[Shiftygiant]

What? I have steam, and i find it WAY more easier to buy in real life. Why should i not be able to play a game (I have a crap laptop) if the publishers want novelty? I know steams cheep, but i prefer the effort to get to my local retailer, even if its £10 more.

 

[chronicfc]

Two words describe my opinion of this, it may be quite eloquent: Fuck. This. GTA will be a huge download, too huge for many old "standard" Xboxes to take. Plus, imagine the download time. The worst part is that I live in a house where both me and my dad (I'm 15, its all good) play video games, so we share a lot of them, as we have two Xboxes, and this "Digital Only) will force us to only use one Xbox, the one with the memory, mine, I do not want this to happen, at all.

 

[lacktheknack]

I'm blessed with a great download speed and high cap, but even I wouldn't be happy if AAA games all started pulling this. A good disk is a nice thing to have.

 

[Xanadu84]

Seems like it would be more feasible to just charge less for a digital copy. I mean, it makes sense, doesn't it? Retail copies cost the publisher a good deal more, why wouldn't they charge more for things that cost more? Then, rather then alienating customers wholesale, they provide an incentive for the consumers to start getting used to DD, as well as bring about the demand for faster internet.

 

[TheLastSamurai14]

200kb/s download speed

Wow...that's...wow. I'm sorry, man.

OT: Not everyone has internet, or some people (like Jack, here) have shitty connections. This is a bad move on Rockstar's part. Why not offer it as a download on XBL and PSN, while still making retail versions? The cost for disks and boxes can't be THAT high, can it? Hell, they're planning on having a box with a tiny slip of paper for a download code. That's just unnecessary spending, in my opinion.

 

[dalek sec]

If its a digital copy only, then they may have just lost a customer. Call me old fashioned, but I like physical copies. Its a real sense of ownership and not some sort of twilight realm ghosty wosty phantom-like spook purchase.

Likewise, glad to know I'm not the only one who like's having a physical copy. Pretty much for all the same reasons Wooty just posted, it is a proper sense of ownership and not just a bunch of data on a computer that could vanish if it crashed or something.

Pretty much, if the next GTA is digital only they'll have lost another customer as well.