Remedy: The Sooner We Go Digital the Better

[Traun]

Uhu...Digital Distribution:

- Makes anything but AAA titles available. Without Digital Distribution Minecraft wouldn't exist, neither would Introversion Software at this point.

- There is absolutely no chance you would loose, scratch or harm your copy of the game in any way possible.

- Keep prices low. Wonder why PC games are 10$ cheaper? Because Publishers don't have to pay royalties to console manufacturers, imagine what would be if you take out the price for logistics, manufacturing and the percent retailers gobble.

- Sweet deals - let's face it, Steam is associated with bargain price.

 

[Gladion]

alot of people dont like using there credit cards

Me neither, that's what Paysafe exists for (its pretty much the same as Microsoft Points cards and PSN Prepaid cards). Give it a try!

The problem here is that you would then need to find a way to sell consoles without having to resort to retailers. They don't get a lot of money from console sales (I'd say 10% at the absolute most, probably more like 2-3%) but from games (~ 15-30%). Why would any retailer sell a system he knows he won't get any money from in the long run?
PC hardware should still work, though, as this is not exclusively made for gaming...

Why would a retailer sell a fridge or a tv? I fail to see how thats different than selling consoles.

As I said, consoles (like, for example, photo cameras) don't get the retailer a real lot of money. They sell these just barely above the break-even point because people are already having a hard time accepting a brand-new console would cost them 400, 500 or even 600 bucks. Everyone needs a TV (let's face reality, TVs are a must-have for 99.9% of the population that can afford it) or a fridge. This is why retailers can sell stuff like that for a higher price.

Besides, VG consoles are more like a long-term investment. I don't think retailers even have interest in selling them for a higher price than neccessary to break even, because they need as many people as possible to own those consoles to be able to sell many games - which get them much more money in the long run.

 

[ChillShark]

Why do these developers believe that digital is the way to go!? I like having physical stuff that I can hold in my hand and say I bought it. Didn't they learn their lesson from the Pseudo?

And what's the deal with them and secondhand games? Why can you buy a second-hand car but not the same with games? Damn greedy corporations, alienating their customers and causing their own demises!

 

[zombieeater6000]

analog elitism ftw

 

[Traun]

And what's the deal with them and secondhand games? Why can you buy a second-hand car but not the same with games? Damn greedy corporations, alienating their customers and causing their own demises!

Because they don't get a penny out of the second-hand market. People who buy second-hand are like pirates, except they are willing to pay anyone, as long as that someone isn't on the dev. team.

 

[Coldster]

But.. but...but I like the game cases and the cover art. No one is dumb enough to fully get rid of physical retail...right?

 

[Sniper Team 4]

See, I will always, ALWAYS, get a sense of pride when I look at my game collection:

ALL the Suikoden games.
Final Fantasy VII through XII, X-2 included (not the MMOs though).
The Xenosaga series.
Ace Combat series.
Call of Duty series.
Legend of Zelda series.
.Hack series.
You see where I'm going with this, right? Lots of series..es.

Anyway, my point is, there is something to be said for owning the physical copy of something. After all, sure you can read the very first Superman comic online now, but those original copies are worth a fortune. I like owning my things, and having the actual physical copy.

 

[XT inc]

I don't like all the legal tape around games and ownership and drm. How ever it is hard to argue the price difference and ideals between distributors.

On steam they give you great deals and special sales all the time. On Xbox however their digital distribution is more to the tune of well we let you shop in your underwear so full price for you.

The disparity between console priced games and pc priced games and steam games is ridiculous. I was tempted to buy Need for speed hot pursuit on a whim because today on steam its was on sale for 14.99 where as the console version is 69.99 and will remain so until sometime in 2012-13 where it may get a price readjustment or in some cases plummet to the bargain bin.

I mean really that much of a difference I mean if brick and mortar stores had the balls to do those kind of deals they would move product like nobodies business.

 

[Baresark]

I loves me some Steam... but I don't want everything digital.

I hate jackasses like this. There is a place for both digital and physical media in this world. I love how he slams pre-owned games. "oh, they are ruining the industry"

He admits there is one group it won't be all that great for, however - the brick-and-mortar retailers. "Maybe [it's] not so good for retail ... but then again if you're selling our games as used copies and incentivizing people to do that, then I don't really feel sorry for you."

It's not the retailers fault they sell games for cheaper when they get a trade in. They are filling a market need, and this guy and people like him should really get over it.
They are a for profit corporation, only they do it better than you.

I hate this whiners line here. They just want to stop pre-owned game sales because they are not savvy enough to compete with it. Here is one, maybe only AAA titles should be $60, and not every single title ever for a whole generation. I can see the AAA titles being more, but I can't figure out why some of these other games are so damn expensive. I bought 3D Dotgame Heroes and I still own it. And to boot, it only cost $45.

PS. No matter how many times you say it, Impulse is not a Steam competitor. The term "competitor" implies some sort of competition, and there are 5 digital distribution outlets that are notable. Steam is one of them, and they have 70% of the PC market. So... 30% divided between 4+ services. I don't see much competition.

PPS. This is annoying also because Steam is incredibly open and the DRM doesn't get in the way of the paying customers. Also, they don't take away your software. If you get a Steam ban, it is from playing any of your games online, but you still have access to the single player aspects of your games.

 

[badgersprite]

Considering I live in a country where retail prices bleed us dry, I entirely agree with making downloading and digital games a bigger market. Mind you, from now on, I'm going to be doing everything through prepaid XBL and PSN cards, rather than credit cards, but, hey, I already do that with iTunes so that's not inconvenient.

I already get all my music online, and I'm far and away getting the majority of my games online, so I'm already at a point where buying all my games online seems like a real possibility, and it works for me. I still think retail for gaming should exist, of course, because loads of people don't have the internet and that there are plenty of other factors affecting the ability of people to get all their games online (like, for example, being a kid), but improving the digital end of the spectrum for people who do buy online is certainly a good thing.

 

[Vault101]

great so the added cost of internet....

 

[SenseOfTumour]

I do love Steam but they could take ONE thing from iTunes...

Gift Cards! you go into a store, load some cash onto one, and it becomes credit on your account online. No need for credit cards or paypal or anything involving online or your bank.

I wouldn't be at all surprised if the PS4 and the Xbox 1080 (sure 720 follows on, but you think they wouldn't take advantage of the current idiocy about how awesome HD is?), came with a 1TB hard drive and no disc drive at all.

 

[Baresark]

And what's the deal with them and secondhand games? Why can you buy a second-hand car but not the same with games? Damn greedy corporations, alienating their customers and causing their own demises!

Because they don't get a penny out of the second-hand market. People who buy second-hand are like pirates, except they are willing to pay anyone, as long as that someone isn't on the dev. team.

In his analogy, the car manufacturer doesn't see a dime from the used car sale, only the dealership. It's not the customers fault retailers are A)expensive and B)unwilling to adapt to the market.

I have no love of Gamestop or any of those stores, but companies that whine, ***** and complain about this are simply mad because they aren't able to take full advantage of their customers.

And you should not compare it to piracy because the people who own those games are allowed to do with them as they please, including sell them to someone else who is well within their rights to sell them as well. I can buy a game, give it to Gamestop, and let them sell it. That is how ownership works. You can give your car to a dealership and they can go around and sell it. That is one of your person rights, ownership. No one should be making an argument against it.

 

[Jake Martinez]

100% Digital distribution is going to happen.

Oh I'm sure you'll still be able to pick up copies at Wal-Mart or Target if you really, really want to, at least until the business model completely falls out from under physical distribution. But ultimately physical copies will more or less go away (Caveat: You might be able to go to a Kiosk in the mall and download a game copy to your own media, I can see being a good business model to service customers with poor broadband or usage caps).

I can tell you exactly how this will happen:

1) Companies like Microsoft, Sony and Valve will offer incentives to publishers to sell DLC through their platforms to familiarize the customer base done.
2) Digital Distributors will include anti-piracy methods into their platforms to make digital distribution more attractive to publishers. done.
3) Prices on downloaded games will become cheaper than physical copies to entice customers done
4) Publishers will realize that selling part of the game on-line will make reselling used games less attractive for brick and mortar stores (and capture those consumer dollars - see: Electronic Arts). done.
5) Publishers will ink "exclusive deals" with digital distributors to make games down-loadable before they can be bought in stores (Not sure if this has happened yet?)
6) Some genius at Microsoft or Sony will realize that if they publish and distribute on their own network a triple-a title, they'll make more money than releasing it multi-platform and with physical distribution. First "download only" triple-a game arrives.
7) All digital distributors who aren't currently publishers become so, financing game development for distribution on their networks, potentially as a new publishing house (shell company).
8) First cross distribution contract is signed for multi-platform games from one of these new publishing companies.
9) Sky-net becomes self aware.

Okay, maybe that sounds a little conspiracy-theory-ish, but the truth facts are a lot of that stuff has happened already, a lot of it is just plain economic sense, and I'm positive that as soon as the figures line up in the correct order, the rest of it will happen.

Also, I think people are going to shit themselves when Microsoft releases the XBox VM. Just wait for it - maybe not this next console generation, possibly the one after it, but Microsoft is going to turn the XBox into a virtual machine, you'll be able to purchase a stand alone console, a virtual machine to run on your windows PC, or remote net access through Windows Azure. Hell, RemoteFX is so good right now I'd be surprised if the geniuses up in Redmond weren't already demoing the technology.

 

[dragongit]

Thats right, just as Amazon killed the phsycial book stores, lets continue to monopolize upon digital retalining for console games to drive the physical gaming stores out of buissness, thats exactly what this economy needs, more people without jobs.

I understand convenience, I buy my PC games off steam, but unless its download exclusive on a system, I like to have the physical copy.

 

[mjc0961]

No credit card = no games.
Downloads are limited by internet speeds and bandwidth caps, plus really high speed internet that would let you download a large game isn't commonplace yet.
No real "ownership" of your game.
No re-selling your games when you're done with them (this is what I think really has Remedy's panties in a bunch, BTW [http://www.amazon.com/gp/offer-listing/B0010AYJXI/ref=sr_1_1_olp?ie=UTF8&qid=1304472780&sr=8-1&condition=used]).
*looks at PSN* A bit less secure for the consumer than buying a game disc.

No, I don't think the sooner we go digital, the better. I think we need to stick with what we have now and let technology progress naturally. Plus, discs are still awesome.

 

[MrTub]

Funny, I never had my CC# and personal info stolen when I was buying physical games at a store.

Funny, I never had my CC# and personal info stolen when I was buying digital games at a website.

 

[RobfromtheGulag]

I can't wait for it either.

Then when something like PSN going down happens I'll be reduced to sitting staring at a wall instead of still able to play my games on cd/dvd.