Sony Not Interested In Digital Distribution For PS3 Games

[Logan Westbrook]

Sony Not Interested In Digital Distribution For PS3 Games

Sony has no plans to offer PS3 game downloads through PSN, according to SCEA's Chief of Operations Eric Lempel.

There's money to be made in digital distribution, the success of the Steam service from Valve and Apple's App Store have proven that, so it's not really a surprise that other companies want to get in on the action.

This is perhaps best demonstrated by Microsoft's announcement that they would start selling Xbox 360 games via Xbox Live later this year.

Unfortunately for PS3 owners, Sony will not be joining the party, at least not for the foreseeable future. In an interview with Industry Gamers [http://www.industrygamers.com/news/sony-sees-great-opportunity-in-games-on-demand/], SCEA's Chief of Operation Eric Lempel explained Sony's decision:

"[Digital distribution is] not something we have planned, just because the size of the games is massive. With Blu-ray we can put up to 50 gigs on a dual-layer disc, while [Xbox 360] is still on a 9-gig media. So technically it's possible, but I think the issue would be, 'Do you want to download 40 gigs and keep that on your hard drive?'"

All I have to say to that is, 40 gigs? Ouch.

Source: 1up [http://www.1up.com/do/newsStory?cId=3175100]


Permalink

 

[irrelevantnugget]

Well. My monthly download limit is 20 gb. Don't think I can actually even think about caring about this. Sigh.

 

[Jumplion]

Eh, there's already Warhawk and Burnout: Paradise on PSN, but when it comes to full retail games I prefer to own a hardcopy.

Mmmmmm, I love the smell of a freshly opened video game case in the morning!

 

[murphy7801]

Ha most ps3 games are 9 gig anyway due to multi console

 

[KSarty]

Ha most ps3 games are 9 gig anyway due to multi console

I think they're trying to say they don't plan on making the entire PS3 catalog downloadable, not necessarily that they won't be providing downloadable games at all.

 

[murphy7801]

hmm maybe I think they mean if comes on a disc they wont.

 

[Gladion]

Ha most ps3 games are 9 gig anyway due to multi console

As far as I'm concerned, both the audio and video files on the PS3 are not compressed, which is why they are much bigger than 9 gig. In that case it would make sense what Sony stated. Otherwise they'd just lose some potential customers on purpose, which they probably won't do.

 

[Gladion]

Edit: pardon for the double post, had some weird error on this site.

 

[Jimmyjames]

I don't care about retail games released online (I like my AAA titles in a freshly-sealed case), but it WOULD be nice if they tried to catch up to XBL just a little in terms of downloadable "arcade" type stuff. There's truly some great stuff out there for the XBox crowd to enjoy, and I feel a little left out.

 

[KSarty]

I thought people already downloaded games from disc onto the PS3 hard drive. Am I mistaken?

No the installation from the disc is not the entire game, just a few files that will be accessed quicker and easier from the hd rather than the game disc. This is referring to full games downloaded through the PSN.

 

[Anton P. Nym]

Sony has a vested interest in promoting Blu-ray (just as Microsoft has a somewhat-lesser vested interest in staying the heck away from Blu-ray) so this doesn't surprise me in the least.

-- Steve

 

[IntoxicatedKnight]

I'm glad about this, I like my game cases!

 

[Eruanno]

The answer to this: Sony should start putting larger hard drives into the PS3s.


Oh, and give away better internet connections... ehhm... I didn't think of that. Crap.

 

[Irridium]

Eh, there's already Warhawk and Burnout: Paradise on PSN, but when it comes to full retail games I prefer to own a hardcopy.

Mmmmmm, I love the smell of a freshly opened video game case in the morning!

I'm with you on that one, I just love that new game smell.

Oh, and they also have SOCOM Confrontation on PSN, just thought I would add that to the list.

 

[GonzoGamer]

Eh, there's already Warhawk and Burnout: Paradise on PSN, but when it comes to full retail games I prefer to own a hardcopy.

Mmmmmm, I love the smell of a freshly opened video game case in the morning!

I'm with you on that one, I just love that new game smell.

Oh, and they also have SOCOM Confrontation on PSN, just thought I would add that to the list.

That's what I thought.
So what the hell are they talking about? EVERY game being downloadable? I have over 300gigs on my ps3 and even I think that's a stupid idea. I'd rather have a disc I can lend to friends and resell if it sucks.

 

[Treblaine]

Bullshit Sony. If Crysis can be downloaded for PC in a package only 5.8GB in size then you can't give the "we're using 40-50GB" excuse.

It is bloody obvious from how multiplatform games for PS3 and 360 and how similar they are, the 50GB capacity is not needed, even the 25GB single layer capacity is not needed if an 8.54GB DVD can handle just as well.

Plus the following PS3 games have been released via PSN and retain the same quality as the Blu-ray (and DVD) release:
-Burnout Paradise = 3.24GB
-Gran Turismo 5 Prologue = 1.9GB = installs to ~5GB on HDD
-Ratchet and Clank: Quest for booty = 2.3GB = 3 to 4 hour download
-Siren: Blood Curse, total = 7.2GB or 600MB per episode (might as well distribute via CD) = 10GB on the HDD
-SOCOM: Confrontation = 2.65GB = about 4 hours
-Warhawk = 750MB
-Wipeout HD = 997MB

OK, a few of those weren't released on disk but are as good in quality and content as one sold on disk at retail.

I mean just look at GT5P, only 1.9GB to download. I can give a long and dull technical explanation for why blu-ray is so inefficient with its space but it is a bit pointless really. Ultimately, it is too slow and has been rendered obsolete by DVD+HDD combo = cheaper + more effective.


The ONLY reason I can think that Sony would not support a massive online game distribution like XBL or Steam is their network cannot take it and they just don't have the money to upgrade it and continue to support distribution of that scale. PSN struggles in America and is completely neglected to the point of being nearly useless in Europe as I can testify from experience.

 

[Frank_Sinatra_]

I'd rather have a hard copy of the game. The only games I DL are the PSN titles, and PS1 Classics.

Mmmmmm, I love the smell of a freshly opened video game case in the morning!

Gah! My roommate thinks I'm crazy for liking that smell.

 

[Pendragon9]

I'd rather have a hard copy of the game. The only games I DL are the PSN titles, and PS1 Classics.

Mmmmmm, I love the smell of a freshly opened video game case in the morning!

Gah! My roommate thinks I'm crazy for liking that smell.

You enjoy the scent as well? It's a nice refreshing feeling to come face to face with, don't you think?

 

[IamQ]

I'm glad about this, I like my game cases!

Here here! Need to get the pile'o games nice'n big!