Downloadable: The Worst Idea Ever

[Semitendon]

Recently, a trend has emerged with the idea of making virtually every media downloadable.

Movies, books, television, newspapers, comics, and games are all starting to follow this model.
Eventually, the plan would appear to be, to make these media be available in downloadable format only. Physical copies would no longer exist.

This is a gaming website, so for the purposes of this thread, we can focus exclusively on games.

Here are some problems with making games downloadable:

1. Price Gouging: We all know that you can download DLC, and game companies are already jacking prices for in-game items. Call of Duty is coming out with their abysmal "Elite" membership, and everyone is aware of EA implementing their "codes" for play.

If games move to an exclusively downloadable format, game companies will be able to put a price tag on every single aspect of the game. Consider: If you think prices are unfair or too high now, what are the odds that the companies will not abuse the prices when they literally have complete control over their game?

2. Limiting gameplay: X-box has a number of games available on their arcade LIVE system. You can't play those games unless you are online. Other forms of media are already entertaining the idea of having downloadable content being made as " single use, or limited time use".

Consider: What happens if your internet, or their servers, go offline? What will you think if you are made to pay for multiplayer, and an additional payment per mutliplayer game that you play? What will you think when you play a single player game, and then have to pay for the entire game again 6 months later, because your downloaded copy of the game has expired?

I believe these are the two biggest problems that downloadable games will inevitably produce.

The trade off that we as consumers receive for this? Convienence, speed, and space. It is more convenient and quicker to download games than to drive to the nearest store and buy it. It is does save space, as you no longer have the physical game boxes taking up space on a shelf.

However, I believe that the benefits do not come anywhere close to matching the negative potential of downloadable games.

I know that this is the "future". We all want the tech at the latest, greatest, fastest levels. But, I honestly believe that we are rushing headlong into screwing our own pocketbooks for the sake a few inches of space, and a few mintues of time.

For Discussion: Now that I have laid out some potential problems, and have listed the benefits. What do you think about the trend, and future of downloadable games?

 

[Zhukov]

Companies will only be able to do those things if people are willing to keep paying them. You don't want to get price-gouged? Don't buy their stuff. We're talking games here, a luxury item, not a basic necessity.

Me, I like my downloadable games. And, funny thing, they usually cost me significantly less than buying retail hard copies.

Convenience and better prices? Diabolical!

 

[Balgus]

No doubt downloadable games are the future and as technology for the internet (stability, speed and bandwidth) is refined the market for streaming games will also open up. Though i think there have to be some kind of law against dlc for the first two months after release, day one dlc is a joke and the content they sell really ought to be included in the game. The industry must develop standards and not just look like money grubbing greedy business people (they can be but it's just like daylight robbery as it is at the moment).

 

[Thaluikhain]

Companies will only be able to do those things if people are willing to keep paying them.

Exactly. Yes, companies might rev up prices and gouge people for everything. But they could do that now if they wanted to. I imagine there will be some element of this, and there will be much complaining amongst people who buy the games anyway, but there will be loads of us going "Meh" and not parting with our money.

The only reasons I could see for getting upset is if the gamer doesn't know they are going to be gouged when they start buying bits, or if it kills off a popular franchise this way, which always annoys people.

 

[lacktheknack]

Good Old Games and Steam pretty much make your fears borderline invalid. Neither one price-gouges (at all), and both support offline mode.

Specifically, Steam supports a clunky-yet-usable offline mode, and Good Old Games has no DRM whatsoever. if their servers went offline, it simply means you can't download your games anymore. Thankfully, you already have them, and can burn them to a disk for posterity.

Plus, Valve has stated that should Steam fall through, they have a backup server that would allow you to download your games DRM free for a week before permanent shutdown.

At this point it's all the publisher's fault, and they're affecting both downloadable AND physical copies, so I think that downloadable content isn't the problem. At all.

(Hint: The problem is the fact that everyone keeps paying them to do these things. Stop buying gouged games, end of, no argument. Take some responsibility.)