Do people care about owning content yet?

[CyberKnight]

Every time I hear someone say "the disc is dead, DLC/digital distribution is the future", it makes me mad. Like, want-to-reach-through-the-intertube-and-strangle-the-poster mad. While they're arguing over the "convenience" of buying something online and getting it instantly, without the "hassle" of having to insert a disc, I'm thinking of all the rights and privileges that are being stripped away, in favor of giving control to the companies that run the DRM services: you can't borrow a DLC game, loan it, rent it, re-sell it, buy it used, or in some cases let a family member play it on another machine not connected to the internet in your own house.

Now, Microsoft is killing support for Xbox 1 titles on Xbox Live. Whether this is good or bad, or even necessary, is debatable, but it's happening anyway. And, in typical Microsoft bone-headed fashion (I love my Xbox, I'd even consider myself a fanboy, but that doesn't mean I don't think Microsoft's Gaming Division makes some pretty brain-dead decisions way too often), they took down the Xbox 1 DLC two months early. So, while Bungie is announcing the end of the service for Halo 2 and suggesting people get online for a few last games, the maps required for those games are suddenly no longer available.

Bungie's got some pull at Microsoft to get that content back online, as an "exception". It's a shame there's no one that can do the same for Crimson Skies content, or any other Xbox 1 game that someone might want to play one last time.

I find it interesting to note that, while the maps are free now (and have been for some time), they were all originally released at a price -- which means people paid for this content. I've also noticed that this content doesn't transfer from machine to machine -- when I've had to replace a 360 (which, surprise, has happened), Halo 2 reports the content as "corrupted", and I've had to reinstall them. (For me, that means installing most of the maps off the map pack disc I purchased, but the last map pack was only released online.) In two months, that won't be available anymore.

So, is it enough that we can stop hearing "the disc is dead" now? Or is it "ok" because Halo 2 is "so old"? So what if you bought those maps and can't get them again; that was three years ago? Are people really satisfied with leasing games and content instead of buying?

 

[Nincompoop]

I think it's okay that everything gets digital. But I think we need to make it more user-friendly.

 

[dududf]

I'm with yeah. I'd rather be able to own my stuff.

I will admit however that I buy stuff off steam, but that's because my pink tinted fanboy glasses tell me that I'm convinced Valve will never go under, and that they have a garentee somewhere that dictates that they will make a patch for the game, that will be availible for 2 months. It'd then be up to me to back up my copy of the game.


I'm not buying Bioshock 2 because of the DRM, as Shamus put it, we don't OWN our games at this point, we're merely renting it.

 

[Sephychu]

I agree with the OP there. I like the concept of game lending, but I don't have any friends within lending distance that have gaming PCs.

 

[felixader]

Someone should probably add that the so to-be-happening advantages with DLC Only games for the consumers still have to happen.

Old Xbox360 games are far to expensive, movies cost far to much for rent per download, too just name some examples that are easier to check on for every one.

I especially wana hint to the old 360 games again. Some of them cost 30 bucks when i can get even new Versions of the same games for a third of that price.
And we are talking about old games here not new.

I apparently have no idea how this is exactly handled on the different download platforms for PC, and i think i only can be better.
Problem is, rigth NOW there is still Retailer based, packed games to buy, but how will it be when they are gone and there is no other choice than to go to the download Services?

In the end, as time should have teached us, the interests of shareholders and leading managers where often much more interesting to companys than those of the customer.

 

[Void(null)]

With Console Titles, there is no way in hell that I am buying games digitally. It would seem to defeat the entire purpose of having a console.

For PC, I actively seek out digital distribution over retail. It just seems to have better synergy with my play habits. There are a lot of restrictions, but also a lot of freedoms, the least of which is being able to carry your PC Game Library with you world wide, without having lug around physical media.

I also tend to live in remote areas, so getting to the store to buy a title when something takes my fancy, isn't always an option.

The downside is that I have to connect to the internet to initially install. (I can make physical backups myself if I choose.)

 

[mikecoulter]

Hard copies of games will always be my preferred method when available.

 

[Mr. GameBrain]

I'm not a huge fan of digital downloads.

But I do like Steam, because, for the most part, price their games fairly.

Old games are usually put on offer, and new games generally reflect the retail pricing of the hard copies, (with a few exceptions of course!).

(I just wish Steam had a multi-pc mode or something, as being offline can be so inconvenient, (as the sign in data is quite erratic, meaning Steam hardly ever switches me into offline mode when my internet suddenly cuts off))

 

[Mylon]

Steam allows users to make backups of their content onto discs if they so choose. I have not tested this feature, however.

This doesn't translate well to the realm of Xbox where making a backup disk is impossible, but I'd chalk it up to one of the down sides of using consoles.

 

[MrLumber]

Down with console DLC and Downloadable titles! Discs provide for mobility beyond stripping down your TV to be able to play that fun split-screen game. Also lending and all that cool jazz.

I am not against downloadable classics as it is great to get in on some of the great games of the yesterage. Although some people (Nintendo) need to get their licenses under control so we can have a better variety of quality classics.

 

[b4k4]

Digital distribution isn't going anywhere. It's very convenient, it provides an alternative for people who don't want to clutter physical space with hard copies, and it's the new "hip/cool" thing that everyone's gonna be doing.

But that doesn't mean physical media's going to die. There will always be people who want a hard copy, whether for security's sake or just because they like something physical. Plus companies make a lot of cash by offering collectors sets, and those become much less viable of a product when the main portion is a string of binary ones and zeroes on a memory device.

Finally, there's just something about the experience that the digital copy doesn't have. Reading a book on "electronic paper" or looking at album art or game art as a .pdf or .jpg just isn't the same as having it there to hold in your hands for real.

There's room for both distribution methods. If you want proof look at the music industry; How long has mp3 been around for? How many generations of iPOODs and other digital players have been made? Are CD's still around? Yes, because there will always be people who want to have their own copy, and having a digital copy sitting on your computer just doesn't cut it in that department.

 

[SnootyEnglishman]

I'd prefer the disc...that way i know i OWN the game and can take it wherever i please and not have to deal with the anti-consumer laws that are called DRM

 

[ma55ter_fett]

I like the disc, call me grandpa but I like haveing something of substance when I make a purchase.

 

[Void(null)]

Steam allows users to make backups of their content onto discs if they so choose. I have not tested this feature, however.

This doesn't translate well to the realm of Xbox where making a backup disk is impossible, but I'd chalk it up to one of the down sides of using consoles.

Last time I backed up my games using Steam, it even saved all of my Mods for Fallout 3 and Morrowind, so it doesn't just save the original game state, but the entire new game directory.

A very convenient feature for heavily modded titles.

 

[CyberKnight]

Yeah, the prices are another thing that make me very angry.

Again, being rather an Xbox fanboy, my "world experience" is pretty centered around Xbox Live, so that's my frame of reference. (I used to be more of a PC gamer, but my PC aged faster than my bank account could keep up with the upgrades, and that was before Steam or other digital distribution systems for the PC became common.)

The problem with the Xbox Marketplace is that it's not a free market. The marketplace is completely owned and operated by Microsoft. Prices are fixed. They don't compete with any other store for downloading content. They can, and do, dictate the rules.

Epic, Bungie, and Valve have all commented about how they've wanted to put something on Marketplace for free and have been denied (Gears of War maps, Halo maps, and Left 4 Dead DLC, respectively -- Bungie had to "pull some strings" just to get the one Cold Storage map for Halo 3).

I bought a copy of Samurai Warriors 2 for $6 off of eBay. There's a DLC add-on pack on Marketplace for thirty bucks. The chances of it being on sale as a "deal of the week", being one of their lesser-selling titles, isn't good. The chances of a permanent price drop are even worse (look at all the XBLA games that were launched when the console launched -- they're all still there at their original prices, even when you can't find disc-based games released at the same time for that price).

I bought a copy of Forza 2 at Best Buy last January. It was a "Platinum Hits" edition that came with all of the DLC, on disc. The price I paid at Best Buy for the discs, not on sale, was $20. I checked the price of all the DLC that came in the package. On the Xbox Marketplace, the total of all the downloads is $25. I saved $5 on the DLC, got the game free, and have it all on a disc that I can take to any Xbox and play under any account on or off the internet at any time.

 

[Hobo Joe]

Internet downloading is generally cheaper and more convenient but I'd rather have a hard-copy in the long run; you can't get a refund on a corrupt file like you can a faulty disc.

 

[Sheltron]

People give away their rights as consumers in exchange for ease of use all the time. Apple have a bunch of runaway successes despite their platforms being closed, implementing heavier DRM, being inferior to alternatives on the market and seriously overpriced. I honestly don't think most people think about it - it's an issue that the average consumer knows nothing about, and doesn't care to learn. And companies want to lease you content. It lets them resell it, over and over.

When digital distribution becomes the big thing people say it will be - and this isn't as close as they make out - then you really have to hope Milton Friedman wasn't as horribly wrong as the last century has made him out to be, and that with sufficient demand, the Market will provide. I'm not optimistic.

 

[Pompey71]

how many times have you PURCHASED a game because a friend lent it to you once? I've done it LOADS of times and without being able to borrow it, i'd never have purchased it down the line. Therefore, the company got money from me having something to borrow than locking it all up with Digital Gaming. I hate the idea and i LOVE having my boxes on the shelf. The only way i'd ok it is if the prices were significantly lower due to lack of need for physical media plus---- how would you refer to a manual during the game if you didnt have one to hand?

 

[Katana314]

Taking away the ownership of a paid product with no negotiation, reason, or prior warning?

Sounds ripe for a class-action suit to me.

 

[UnravThreads]

I'm going to go out on a limb and put forward the idea that I don't think the balance will change for a while.
Games are getting bigger at a fast rate, but internet connections aren't improving that much, or at least not at a comparable rate. Maybe when the infrastructure in the EU and the US improves (at least) then we'll see a much bigger uptake of Digital Distribution, but for now I can't see it happening.