Update: Activision "Might Have to Stop Supporting Sony"

[Jumplion]

The thing is that games are already sold in digital format for the PC and it works, via Steam or other download methods. And I would think that companies are actually making more money from it. Companies still charge the same amount whether or not you download it from them or get it on a disc. They don't need to put it on a disc, they don't need to make art covers, don't need to ship it out, and they don't need to deal with a middle man. Also by going to a digital format you gain money by replacing the lost profit from games that are sold used.

The problem with Digital Distribution is that it's advancment is only as good as the hardware the masses have. I wouldn't count on games evolving or pushing hardware limits if they have to be concerned about minimum specs.

I've said it before, and I'll say it again, Digital Distribution will never fully take over Physical Media, they can only compliment each other. And even if DD did overtake PM, it won't be for a VERY long time.

The main place for DD games are the small, easily downloadable, easily installable, and easily playable games. Of course full games can be distributed digitally, but those games are mainly meant for the physical discs. With those you can push the limit much farther and you're not hindered by bandwidth, minimum specs, or hacks or any other crap.

But like I said before, DD can only compliment PM and vice versa. Hell, there's supposed to be a new disc that holds up to 500MB of storage, 10x more than Blu-ray (I'd link it but for the love of god I can't find it!). Let's see a DD transfer a 500MB game (and don't say it isn't possible, MGS4 took up an entire Blu-Ray disc)

 

[Jumplion]

I think you mean 500g, it's a matter of light intensity, and layers on DVD's. Then again, the same is capable for Blu-Ray discs as well, 400g multi-layered BR discs are possible also.


Morne

It was either Megabytes or Gigabytes, either way it's quite impressive.

 

[Pendragon9]

Well when you think about it the 360 is Japan's favourite console.

I'm gonna stop you right there. That statement couldn't be more wrong. I think I actually got stupider from reading that.

Not to be mean, but have you checked the sales' numbers? How about the fact that the japanese do not like FPS games, and yet the 360 excels in that department?

Right now the Wii is Japan's favorite console, with the Ps3 in second place. I don't think the 360's even sold over million units there.

 

[Pendragon9]

Well when you think about it the 360 is Japan's favourite console.

I'm gonna stop you right there. That statement couldn't be more wrong. I think I actually got stupider from reading that.

Not to be mean, but have you checked the sales' numbers? How about the fact that the japanese do not like FPS games, and yet the 360 excels in that department?

Right now the Wii is Japan's favorite console, with the Ps3 in second place. I don't think the 360's even sold over million units there.

They passed a million a little bit ago, but your statement still holds true. Wii's vastly out ahead, PS3 has ~3 million, 360 has ~1 mil.


Morne

Ah. Thank you. It's hard to find valid sales numbers that aren't completely wrong, like the sites that say the PS3 hasn't sold over 21 mil for example. If only we had a legit sales counter. Right now I'm going off of Wikipedia, which is eerily more accurate than the official sales numbers they keep putting out. That scares me.

 

[Rednog]

The thing is that games are already sold in digital format for the PC and it works, via Steam or other download methods. And I would think that companies are actually making more money from it. Companies still charge the same amount whether or not you download it from them or get it on a disc. They don't need to put it on a disc, they don't need to make art covers, don't need to ship it out, and they don't need to deal with a middle man. Also by going to a digital format you gain money by replacing the lost profit from games that are sold used.

The problem with Digital Distribution is that it's advancment is only as good as the hardware the masses have. I wouldn't count on games evolving or pushing hardware limits if they have to be concerned about minimum specs.

I've said it before, and I'll say it again, Digital Distribution will never fully take over Physical Media, they can only compliment each other. And even if DD did overtake PM, it won't be for a VERY long time.

The main place for DD games are the small, easily downloadable, easily installable, and easily playable games. Of course full games can be distributed digitally, but those games are mainly meant for the physical discs. With those you can push the limit much farther and you're not hindered by bandwidth, minimum specs, or hacks or any other crap.

But like I said before, DD can only compliment PM and vice versa. Hell, there's supposed to be a new disc that holds up to 500MB of storage, 10x more than Blu-ray (I'd link it but for the love of god I can't find it!). Let's see a DD transfer a 500MB game (and don't say it isn't possible, MGS4 took up an entire Blu-Ray disc)

It is GB. But the problem with the 500GB blu-ray is that its a costly and non standard process which would most likely incur a price hike in games, people are already bleating (myself included) at the prices of games; another increase could be the straw that breaks the camel's back. In terms of MGS4 taking up almost a full Blu-Ray, you have to consider that it is like 30 something GB, which is a FAR cry from 500GB, you'd have to have like hundreds of hours of content (which I don't think is going to be developed anytime soon) and you have to consider that a lot of the space is taken by the hefty cut scene length. This makes MGS4 an oddity in the game world, most games range from 5-10GB (rough estimate) which is feasible to transfer in parts, and have newer parts download during play. The 500GB is 4+ years away and even then that is an initial market release, tack on a few years for a company to even consider making a game that needs that much room and tack on time for making it feasible to mass market.
I think that a possible route for developers to take would be to put the engine on a disk and then make players download the game like a mod and have it run that way. That way you don't have to fully rely on shoving the entire game down the internet and don't have to force everything on a disc.

 

[Rednog]

I think you mean 500g, it's a matter of light intensity, and layers on DVD's. Then again, the same is capable for Blu-Ray discs as well, 400g multi-layered BR discs are possible also.


Morne

It was either Megabytes or Gigabytes, either way it's quite impressive.

No it's definitely gigabytes, 500m discs would be a huge leap backwards in tech. More importantly though, I read a similar article. The big hub-bub is that it's standard dvd tech, and so it shouldn't require a new player or something along those lines. That'd be problematic for BR for certain. Will just have to see if the tech takes off.


Morne

From what I understand it is a tech in the process of writing info on the disk, it adds more and more layers to any disk, essentially making the standard dvd increased to blu-ray sizes and blu-ray disks into super blu-ray disks.

 

[megapenguinx]

Then, Sony actually did respond, but it was much less interesting than Pachter had predicted: "We respect our third-parties' opinions and their right to express those opinions but we will not be commenting on this story."

You know you aren't helping anything with this Sony.
Also side note to Activision: Stop milking franchises! That is all.

 

[AceDiamond]

Also side note to Activision: Stop milking franchises! That is all.

You'd have to tell this to Capcom, EA, Nintendo, Capcom again, Konami, Tecmo, THQ, Capcom AGAIN, and so on. I don't get when people started thinking franchises were bad (actually I do but I won't further elaborate)

 

[Low Key]

When Microsoft and Nintendo switch to blu-ray next generation, then all of the consoles will be expensive to develop for, so I don't see how complaining about price cuts will help. That has got to be the only thing that cost more money, just to switch formats from DVD to blu-ray. Everything else is just copy and paste.

No, components and technology drop in price to manufacture as time passes, so if either of those companies ever do it next generation, it will be a cheaper price tag than the PS3. Not to mention the PS3 has the cell, which is very expensive.

We're not talking about the console itself. I know why the PS3 is more expensive than the 360 or Wii, but the games shouldn't be anymore expensive between systems because the only thing that changes is the format. The coding stays exactly the same. For example, you might be viewing this webpage on Internet Explorer, but it also works on Foxfire and Opera. Or how about different computer games? All will run on Windows, but if the devs include drivers allowing Macs to read it, then it's multi-platform. The reason for this is because it's much easier to include a patch than rework the entire code.

Don't be so sure that Blu Ray is the way to go. Apart from the PS3 games and some DVD's I can't see anyone else who really cares about blu ray. And if Nintendo or MS hasn't given two shits about it by now I don't think they ever will. Plus they would have to modify their consoles' current design. Then MS and Nintendo will have to sell DVD AND Blue Ray discs. Nobody will want to pay extra for games just cause they bought their consoles a few years later than everone else.

Blu-ray is definately the way to go. Not only are the discs 4x larger than DVDs, allowing more content, but the lasers are much more powerful, allowing much faster read times and less loading. PS3 decided the latter option wasn't important and just made it so the entire game would be run from the hard drive, but that completely eliminates load times.

The thing is that games are already sold in digital format for the PC and it works, via Steam or other download methods. And I would think that companies are actually making more money from it. Companies still charge the same amount whether or not you download it from them or get it on a disc. They don't need to put it on a disc, they don't need to make art covers, don't need to ship it out, and they don't need to deal with a middle man. Also by going to a digital format you gain money by replacing the lost profit from games that are sold used.

Valve does release games for full price, but they also offer deep discounts on games after they make their money back. Console companies don't want that because that affects how much money they get from licensing royalties.

But I would prefer if games were released digitally rather than on hardware, but that would require expandable hard drives. And since they are way more expensive than they should be for consoles, eliminating discs would be detrimental to sales. As soon as the companies who release consoles stop making periphrials that only work for their machines, then we might see how great the gaming industry could become. $150 for 120GB of space is ridiculous. I just bought a 500GB external hard drive for about $90 with tax.

 

[Gladion]

Activision only releases shit anyways so who cares?

 

[Credge]

It makes business sense.....still, that's crazy.

No it doesn't. Not at all.

 

[scotth266]

*Sighs heavily*

Why can't we have a SINGLE thread that talks about a console without a flamewar erupting? At this point the Lighthouse of Alexandria reference seems remarkably ironic.

To be on-topic: what an uninformative update. C'mon Sony, you're gonna have to do better than "no comment."

 

[Jumplion]

Condense

You're right, that 500GB disc would be very expensive to produce at first and it would hardly be a standard for a while, but eventually it would be easier to produce and if it's marketed right it would be an industry standard. We can't keep using DVDs forever people, it's time to move on already!

And honestly, I wouldn't be surprised if some games could fill up 500GB worth of storage. Data fills up quite quickly when uncompressed audio, textures, AI, animations, ect...(I haven no idea how many of those are feasable) are placed on a disk.

 

[Teh_Doomage]

It makes business sense.....still, that's crazy.

No it doesn't. Not at all.

It does make business sense, if something is either hard or time consuming, or if the platform just isn't performing like it was expected to, cutting out the developer department does make business sense, you cut costs. A few jobs as well, but if the business has to float, it has to float.

 

[Silva]

It's just amusing to me that a businessman would talk about dropping support for a partner company on the basis that it is doing comparatively less well. That's a reason for cuts in aid and cancelled game releases, not for a complete freeze. He would lose billions completely dropping Sony for a reason like that.

Therefore, I agree with Pachter. This is definitely a bluff statement or some other kind of misinformation.

If it works out that Sony eventually listens to him, the consumers will benefit, though. I'll be happy if that happens.

 

[QuidProQuo]

Activision leaving Sony would be a death shot to Sony. If games like COD are not marketed with the PS3 in mind, then more gamers will shift to the Wii or 360. It's a very daunting and jaw-dropping announcement. But, if you think about it, Sony had it coming. The PS3's multiple processors make developing games really aggravating and money consuming. Even Valve will back me up (and they're probably the biggest nerds in the industry). Shovelware is removed, which reduces game library. Activision leaves, there goes COD, GH and Tony Hawk (like anyone plays that anyway.) essentially leaving Sony with 3rd parties like EA and so on. And a console can NEVER rely on those kinds of developers, being that they can develop games for whatever console they want (example being EA or Konami[MG]). And even ACTIVISION saying they can't develop because of pricing makes me doubt the 3rd parties' ability to develop also. Aside from my monstrous wall of text, I am beginning to believe Sony has their knees deep in trouble....... Maybe they should go back to TVs and stuff (I can't believe I said that.)