Consoles Aren't Going Anywhere, Says GameStop
- Thread starter Logan Westbrook
- Start date
Recommended Videos
Gamestop, and used game sales in general are part of the reason so many console games are sold. Being able to recover some money on a bad new game is why some people even risk buying new at all. PC's don't have that advantage and it's why people wait for those Steam sales.Ultratwinkie said:
Of course consoles aren't going anywhere. Do have any idea how long it takes for people to stop using old technology or to change to more modern standards? There are people using IE5 with dial up right now! Not to mention the QWERTY keyboard. Console aren't going to suddenly vanish in a puff of smoke. Course that doesn't necessarily mean that they will continue to be profitable or that Gamestop won't vanish in a puff of smoke either.
- Nov 27, 2009
- 5,791
- 712
- 118
- Country
- The Dreamlands
- Gender
- Lose 1d20 sanity points.
I hope cloud gaming doesn't become the main part of the industry anytime soon, because the fastest Internet connection available in my city is 8mbps and I'm not sure that's enough to run games as well as I would with either a download or a disc.
Also those 8mbps are too expensive for me.
Also those 8mbps are too expensive for me.
I have to agree with the whole "Consoles aren't go anywhere", and GameStop does bring up a point. No matter how good the downloaded content is, it's usually not as good as the physical copies.
Cloud gaming is convenient, but I see downloaded titles for that and stuff like apps for things like 'popcorn' games, stuff that is reminiscent of old Atari or Nintendo games, or even stuff in arcades. Basically, easily-playable timesinks. You play them because they're there, they're easy to understand, and they don't take that much effort to play.
However, the Playstation and Nintendo 64, and even some old SNES titles have brought forward games that require great time and effort, as well as dedication to play through. Stuff like Silent Hill and Final Fantasy VI, or competitive games such as Halo and CoD can't be easily transferred to a digital media, as their quality would suffer as a result. Plus, you have to consider the vast amount of people that are very speculative about digital media, namely the issue that the access to the game is totally reliant upon the connection and operation of said service being active. If, say, Steam were to be unplugged, all of the games available for it would become inactive. At least, with a physical copy of TF2, you can still play it.
Though I do agree about how these things can coexist. Physical copies for high-budget games that people can invest a lot of money in won't be going away for a long time, as games such as Battlefield and Mass Effect have proven, although smaller games like Fruit Ninja are picking up a lot of steam and popularity, and their appeal, blatant as it is, obviously isn't taking away from the audience that players the aforementioned two games.
Cloud gaming is convenient, but I see downloaded titles for that and stuff like apps for things like 'popcorn' games, stuff that is reminiscent of old Atari or Nintendo games, or even stuff in arcades. Basically, easily-playable timesinks. You play them because they're there, they're easy to understand, and they don't take that much effort to play.
However, the Playstation and Nintendo 64, and even some old SNES titles have brought forward games that require great time and effort, as well as dedication to play through. Stuff like Silent Hill and Final Fantasy VI, or competitive games such as Halo and CoD can't be easily transferred to a digital media, as their quality would suffer as a result. Plus, you have to consider the vast amount of people that are very speculative about digital media, namely the issue that the access to the game is totally reliant upon the connection and operation of said service being active. If, say, Steam were to be unplugged, all of the games available for it would become inactive. At least, with a physical copy of TF2, you can still play it.
Though I do agree about how these things can coexist. Physical copies for high-budget games that people can invest a lot of money in won't be going away for a long time, as games such as Battlefield and Mass Effect have proven, although smaller games like Fruit Ninja are picking up a lot of steam and popularity, and their appeal, blatant as it is, obviously isn't taking away from the audience that players the aforementioned two games.
right and before pc was dead. now consoles are dead. and browser shams were an exciting new market oh boy (farmville? really? I'd rather get a labotomy)!
buzz word over analyzed bullshit of the minute.
PC and Console are going nowhere. Mobile games DO NOT currently compare at all. I don't think they ever will in a way. "Well you know technology is increasingly smaller and more powerful!"
Right true. Which is why more of it will be packed in a big system or pc that kicks ass and used to it's potential. Most people want to play games after work or school. Sit and chill and not be a subservient workbot for a minute. Most people don't want to take their game on the go with a touch screen to be a highly active vegetable sitting in their friend's car. Mobile gaming a diversion, like Tetris on my phone while I poop at work or wait in a doctor's office.
buzz word over analyzed bullshit of the minute.
PC and Console are going nowhere. Mobile games DO NOT currently compare at all. I don't think they ever will in a way. "Well you know technology is increasingly smaller and more powerful!"
Right true. Which is why more of it will be packed in a big system or pc that kicks ass and used to it's potential. Most people want to play games after work or school. Sit and chill and not be a subservient workbot for a minute. Most people don't want to take their game on the go with a touch screen to be a highly active vegetable sitting in their friend's car. Mobile gaming a diversion, like Tetris on my phone while I poop at work or wait in a doctor's office.
I would use my xbox more if there were decent AAA games coming out more often. Currently I have two games on pre-order and nothing else really looks worth it. I'm sick of generic FPS' coming out every 3 days (I'm looking at you, CoD) and not enough games with variety.
Bring on October, I'ma be drugged up and playing Batman for a week!
Bring on October, I'ma be drugged up and playing Batman for a week!
It isn't all good news for GameStop as I'd say consoles are going to move increasingly towards digital distribution. The publishers simply get to keep a lot more money since they won't have to deal with giving a piece of the pie to the retailers. They also simultaneously get to nearly obliterate second hand sales.
For the consumer, this could mean lower prices for games. It would definitely mean higher accessibility. There's no doubt in my mind that if the Wii had sufficiently better support for digital distribution, Xenoblade would have been brought to North America long ago.
For the consumer, this could mean lower prices for games. It would definitely mean higher accessibility. There's no doubt in my mind that if the Wii had sufficiently better support for digital distribution, Xenoblade would have been brought to North America long ago.
I miss the days I could go down to the local game store and pick up a used game for 5-20$ a pop...
I mean, I prefer to have a hard copy of my game... In front of me. so that you know, I don't have to worry about being held to some silly ToU about how I use it.
And before someone yells at me about used games... Please tell me another form of media who throws such a huge fit about wanting to resell their media piece they've already sold.
Eh, gamestop can suck it though.
There's a question: If selling used games suddenly became illegal, than would the Escapist ban people for supporting used game sales?
I mean, I prefer to have a hard copy of my game... In front of me. so that you know, I don't have to worry about being held to some silly ToU about how I use it.
And before someone yells at me about used games... Please tell me another form of media who throws such a huge fit about wanting to resell their media piece they've already sold.
Eh, gamestop can suck it though.
There's a question: If selling used games suddenly became illegal, than would the Escapist ban people for supporting used game sales?
Fix'd.CBanana said:
Sorry if I seem pessimistic, but... More money for developer + same demand (or even slightly less demand) = more profit coming in... So, from a business perspective... If I can sell a digital copy for the same price as a hard disk copy, and sell the same number of said copy. Also note that I'd be paying a small fee for the broadband usage for download compared to the amount needed for all those hazardous chemicals used to manufacture CDs, and wouldn't have to go through a middleman like gamestop or gamecrazy...
Why would I lower prices?
This should be an obvious statement. This should be like when people say PC gaming is dying and everyone jumps up to defend it.
Consoles arent going to go anywhere quickly, they'll still get made. eventually, yes, they'll be gone, but then again, so will PCs at that point. But they'll still be around.
Consoles arent going to go anywhere quickly, they'll still get made. eventually, yes, they'll be gone, but then again, so will PCs at that point. But they'll still be around.
The supply and demand curve can work in a way to make lower prices more profitable. Usually as price decreases, demand increases.Kakashi on crack said:
Let's say very simplistically that it costs a publisher $20 to sell a game at retail and $10 to sell a game via download. Also let's say that 10,000 people will buy the game at $60 while 13,000 will buy the game at $50. At a retail store, the game costing $60 makes you ($60-$20)x10,000 or $400,000 while the game costing $50 makes you ($50-$20)x13,000 or $390,000. With direct download the game costing $60 makes you ($60-$10)x10,000 or $500,000 while the game costing $50 makes you ($50-$10)x$13,000 or $520,000.
While it may not seem like a very large difference proportionally, you can still see that when your cost per unit goes down, it's less risky and can sometimes can be more profitable to lower the price per unit.
Besides, what happens if you stop subscribing or the internet goes out? I usually resort to playing single-player games then, but I guess I'm SOL if all my games are on Onlive or something.Waaghpowa said:
The main difference being that Steam has an offline mode and you can still play all your games. You're screwed if Onlive's servers crap out though.FelixG said:
used games, physical copies, and consoles will be around for a long while yet. Looking at your collection of games on the wall is much more satisfying than looking through a digital library of the titles. Used games are still cheaper, even if some publishers are doing code shit, many games are sold only for single player anyway, and used games become much cheaper after the games been out a few weeks or months.
