Is Digital Ready To Replace Retail?

[Dessembrae]

Every time I see a news thread like this, I get more and more pissed off at the retarded speculation based on partial information.

Will download services eliminate retail sales? Short answer, No. Long answer, no, get a brain you fucking morons. Look at music... iTunes didn't kill the CD market, HMV still sells more CDs daily than iTunes sells MP3s. Even piracy, which is free, didn't kill of music sales. So no, games are going to sell retail for decades to come. While digital download carves out its niche, it's just that, a small piece of the whole pie.

And when companies say digital purchases are increasing, they don't tell you the whole story... If a game was only available in download form, such as XBLive Arcade titles, it's not a legitimate statistic because you're comparing online and retail sales for something not available retail. Or if it's available significantly earlier as download, it skews the results.

No, Digital Download is not going to replace retail.

Indeed

1) Steam charges the same amount for data as everybody else charges for data and packaging altogether.

2) When you buy retail, you can re-sell it, trade it in, gift it, whatever you want to with it when you're done playing. Digital? Uninstall and that's about it.

3) I bought the limited edition of Halo Wars yesterday. It came with all kinds of inherently trivial goodies, but they were goodies none-the-less. I've yet to see a digital release with any such goodies.

4) Same for pre-orders. I have seen digital pre-orders that come with extra content or early access, but collectibles? Things I can put my hands on and put on my shelf? No.

And this to!

on a second note, i purchased a retail copy of Dawn of War 2 last week. and i must admit that steam can go and F**K itself! I HATE that worthless crap of a program! you can't even select witch HDD to install a game on! not to mention that i don't want to have to make a silly little steam account for a RETAIL game. especially when it uses GFWL as matchmaker!
I could go on why i hate it with such fervor...but i would just en up quoting my brothers classmate, and i would Definitely get banned for that >.<

 

[lukey94]

Digital is definately the way forward, Wrath of The Lich King is free from Blizzard online, or you can be an idiot and go buy it

Wow...wait...what? It has never been free online from blizzard...

download the trial, then on the trial launcher there is a link to the full game
(very large long download awaits)

You realize that it doesn't change the fact that the content is still inaccessible after the trial ends right? Even if you have wrath downloaded and installed you still can't play it unless your account itself is upgraded (proof being that I have 2 accounts, 1 upgraded to wrath the other to burning crusade. If I log onto my BC account I cannot access the Wrath Content despite it being installed on my PC.)
So while you can download it for free you still have to pay for activating your account to access the content which is essentially what you pay for when you go and buy it from a retail store making your point of saying that people who go out and buy it are idiots...
It's like if you were walking down the street and someone handed you a copy of Halo 4 but when you logged Xboxlive requests Points equivalent to $59.99 in order to play.

Yes but I'm not paying to get a Wrath of The Lich King DVD am I? I will only have to pay for my account - because they pay for a DVD and an account - so theres going to be tax and such to pay - 10 days free with a game for £15 or something like £10 a month :S I'd rather save that initial fiver - spend it on clothes,drinks,hookers or weed

 

[Sylocat]

It won't completely kill retail (as has been mentioned, iTunes didn't kill the CD industry), but it might shift just enough of the cash flow outside of retail that game developers are no longer dependent on the whims of Wal-Mart to get greenlights from the publishers.

Everybody wins.

 

[IsoNeko]

Digital removes things like Second Hand games and Trade Ins, and the instant gratification of buying game, going home and playing.

It'll be a cold day in hell before I welcome Digital over Retail.

 

[jthm]

Hmmm... Walk to my local game store, purchase a game and play it upon arriving home (if it's winter I'll drive, but I like to walk). 30 minutes.

Queue up a download on release day on servers that are already overstrained and pray my connection holds, which it inevitably won't, resume download half a dozen times and finally play a day after release because I had to patch it upon download. Time = about a day.

Yeah, I'm looking forward as hell to retail chains leaving because I'll buy fewer games and go back to playing my Snes.

 

[Cousin_IT]

When downloading a 15-30GB game becomes faster, cheaper (considering broadband usage caps etc remember), & more convenient than simply going to a shop & handing over £30 for a box with a disc in it; Digital distribution will be king. Till then id rather it stopped blowing its trumpet in my face at every opportunity given I still find it useless for anything but getting niche/old games u cant find at retail.

edit: & comparing music to game downloading is like comparing a mouse to a diplodocus

 

[kawligia]

I will only buy a digital download if I am 100% guaranteed to be able to install, uninstall, and reinstall as I see fit just like I can with a retail disc.

 

[Nazrel]

I tremendously dislike this idea.

You have to use your credit card on the internet.
You have a limited maxum number of games you can have (memory space).
In the event you have a problem with your system or computer, you lose them all.

 

[lornb]

I'm already moving towards all digital. For PC gaming at least, haven't bought a PC game disc since... 2006. I find many problems people have with online buying is brought on by misinformation. And anything that keeps me from going to Gamestop is a plus. I really hate Gamestop.

 

[TsunamiWombat]

*glances at the title*

Short answer: No.

Long answer: No.

 

[CeeJay]

Given that Nintendo have got the mainstream and the Wii doesn't have any memory worth speaking about.... No.

 

[Talendra]

We have quite limited downloads in Australia, so retail is definitely the way to go for me with games as large as they are now.

 

[mangus]

I still get paid in earth dollars, but if I'm ever offered the option of internet money I'll... no screw it, having real money is better.

 

[Radelaide]

Would this include purchasing games online for the Xbox, PS3 and Wii? If so, it would be important to keep a retailing aspect for those of us, such as myself, who don't have their console hooked up to the internet.

As long as that is going on, I don't think digital distribution will be as successful as this bloke thinks.

Queue up a download on release day on servers that are already overstrained and pray my connection holds, which it inevitably won't, resume download half a dozen times and finally play a day after release because I had to patch it upon download. Time = about a day.

Why would you queue up on the day of release? Wait a week and then download it. OMG, you play it a week later, but who cares, you don't have to wait around just to get the game.

I still get paid in earth dollars, but if I'm ever offered the option of internet money I'll... no screw it, having real money is better.

At this point in the economy, Internet money is probably more valuable than earth money.

 

[luckshot]

i dont think it will ever fully replace retail, unless you can get rid of all retail stores. if hard copies become worthless and cheap they'll be put by the tooth rot candy in grocery stores and cheap vodka in the liquor store

it will most likely take the stronger part in a coexistence way...

 

[tk1989]

Retail will never fully be replaced. I prefer downloads myself, but many broadband providers place bandwidth restrictions etc, meaning that people will have to still buy stuff from the shop in certain circumstances. My problem is that my university does not allow online gaming or online gaming downloads (for example, steam is blocked on the network) so for as long as i live on campus the number of games i download will be significantly reduced.

 

[jthm]

Queue up a download on release day on servers that are already overstrained and pray my connection holds, which it inevitably won't, resume download half a dozen times and finally play a day after release because I had to patch it upon download. Time = about a day.

Why would you queue up on the day of release? Wait a week and then download it. OMG, you play it a week later, but who cares, you don't have to wait around just to get the game.

If you don't understand you never will. Being among the first is satisfying. Also, some of us have full time jobs and can only play or set up a download on a certain day. I don't want to spend one of my two precious days off waiting on a download.