It's been a long while since the last time I ever purchased something on retail.
Digital all the way, baby.
Digital all the way, baby.
Agreed, I think DD will never completely take over, that would make the industry far to foreboding for newcomers and completely alienate casualsmagnuslion said:No disc= no purchase. sorry Rockstar, I am not buying an imaginary or theoretical product.
You think that's bad, I've got a whopping 0.5 megabit connection giving me an record breaking 50kb/s download speed... Talk about living in the fucking stone age. Between that and having about 700mb of space on the 360 HDD, I'd be pretty annoyed with rockstar or anyone who ever tried to pull this...TLS14 said:Wow...that's...wow. I'm sorry, man.Jack and Calumon said:200kb/s download speed
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.
Just a thought that a friend of mine has: How much do you even have to pay with that kind of speed?Raven said:You think that's bad, I've got a whopping 0.5 megabit connection giving me an record breaking 50kb/s download speed... Talk about living in the fucking stone age. Between that and having about 700mb of space on the 360 HDD, I'd be pretty annoyed with rockstar or anyone who ever tried to pull this...TLS14 said:Wow...that's...wow. I'm sorry, man.Jack and Calumon said:200kb/s download speed
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.
therandombear said:OT: As if, as mentioned above, consoles needs way more built in storage then when you buy the console. And games get bigger, so won't be enough with a 20GB harddrive.
therandombear said:20GB harddrive...
The cheapest PS3s come with 60GB inbuilt hard drives. Either you're deliberately exaggerating, or really need to get with the times. I still agree with your sentiment though, console hard-drives aren't big enough to cope with full-game downloads, selling digitally only would seriously harm sales.therandombear said:20GB harddrive...
Analyst, eh? Isn't that someone who takes it up the ass?Andy Chalk said:Analyst Predicts GTA V Will Be Digital Only
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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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Steam prices (and most DD service I beleive, including e-books) are set by the publisher. Most major reltailers essential hold the DD industry to ransom by refusing to stock a product or in many gaming cases cases the publishers entire retail range if the DD copy is cheaper at launch.Electric Gel said:We have steam sales over here in England, and game prices are often insanely cheap. The sales are probably the only reason that I own steam. But day of release prices are usually the same, or a little higher.Dr. Pepper Unlimited said:It depends on your location then. Here in the US, Steam has sales literally, every week. The entire damn catalog goes on sale during the holidays, no joke.
I can't say the prices for other countries (obviously), but a brand new game sells (in the US) for the same price as a retail one does. Every time, without question.