I saw this coming as soon as people started screaming about "going digital" and how wonderful it was. The end result is of course that unless there is a really cheap deal going on, or I'm dealing with an indie/less distributed title, I don't go digital. I'm also becoming increasingly wary of supporting any game that requires the Internet to run and I've been reasearching that more intensely than is probably healthy recently due to some problems with games that I got which required internet connectivity rather than just a disc in drive.
I am increasingly beginning to agree that consoles seem to be like the de-facto way of the future simply because the people running the PC gaming side of things manage to hit a level of stupidity that is both rare and disturbing. To be honest it's very sad because I prefer to game on my PC given the chance.
In the end the bottom line is that the PC game companies are going to keep pushing digital because of the massive profits to be made, and really don't care about the consumers. It's all about gouging us, and with their eyes on the potential flow of cash they figure no matter what the inconveinence we'll keep coming like a group of junkies. Sadly, that's probably true when dealing with a disturbing number of people.
The Escapist just had an article where the head of the 1C company was talking about on a $20 title they were taking in $4 per unit through conventional sales which was enough to make it profitable (since they were in business). With digital distribution this jumped to $14 per unit giving them roughly 250% returns from what they were getting before (more or less). No consideration even being given to lowering the prices to consumers, as was the original "point" of digital distribution when the possibility was first appearing years ago. The only ones who seem to be lowering their prices are STEAM and they only do it periodically.
That right there is why the industry is saying "Digital Distribution IS coming" there is too much money to be made to not do it, no matter what it subjects the consumer to, and what we lose in the process. They are basically relying on the fact that gamers are going to whine (and loudly) but will never actually stop supporting their product. Too many impotent whine rallies and internet petitions have basically made the consumers a non-factor with the industry that caters to them.
I am increasingly beginning to agree that consoles seem to be like the de-facto way of the future simply because the people running the PC gaming side of things manage to hit a level of stupidity that is both rare and disturbing. To be honest it's very sad because I prefer to game on my PC given the chance.
In the end the bottom line is that the PC game companies are going to keep pushing digital because of the massive profits to be made, and really don't care about the consumers. It's all about gouging us, and with their eyes on the potential flow of cash they figure no matter what the inconveinence we'll keep coming like a group of junkies. Sadly, that's probably true when dealing with a disturbing number of people.
The Escapist just had an article where the head of the 1C company was talking about on a $20 title they were taking in $4 per unit through conventional sales which was enough to make it profitable (since they were in business). With digital distribution this jumped to $14 per unit giving them roughly 250% returns from what they were getting before (more or less). No consideration even being given to lowering the prices to consumers, as was the original "point" of digital distribution when the possibility was first appearing years ago. The only ones who seem to be lowering their prices are STEAM and they only do it periodically.
That right there is why the industry is saying "Digital Distribution IS coming" there is too much money to be made to not do it, no matter what it subjects the consumer to, and what we lose in the process. They are basically relying on the fact that gamers are going to whine (and loudly) but will never actually stop supporting their product. Too many impotent whine rallies and internet petitions have basically made the consumers a non-factor with the industry that caters to them.
