If games became only downloadable...?

[baddude1337]

For them to do that, then there would need to be high speed internet EVERYWHERE. Not just this "up to 50mb" crap. Mine is supposed to get up to 20mb but my actual DL speed is about 800kb. Making games download only would cripple my gaming habit.

 

[Knusper]

I wouldn't mind,I get all my games from Steam any way. I can see why someone wouldn't want it though, sometimes I do wish that I could trade/ resell my old games that I don't play.

 

[rokkolpo]

You know that feeling when walking out of the store with a newly bought game just screaming for you to read it's instruction manual followed by an epic round of gaming.

I wouldn't miss that for the world.

...Well for the world I would, but I'd prefer to not miss it anyway.

 

[CrashBang]

I would hate it. We'd constantly be buying newer, bigger hard drives. I love retail copies, I like the box art, seeing the collection grow on my shelf, reading the manual whilst on the can and smelling the casing when I first open it (awesome smell, almost as good as 'new book'

 

[KalosCast]

Depends on how it's done. I absolutely hate Steam for requiring Valve to be the gatekeeper to play the games that I bought (sometimes even bought the retail box for). But if there was more of an iTunes-ish platform where that simply lets me buy the game and that's the only interaction I need with the store... then I'd be okay with that for the most part.

I still prefer to buy games, because it takes me like 15 minutes to go to the store on launch day, where it might take me a full day to download it.

 

[Rooster893]

There was this one console called the Phantom, unveiled at E3 2003, and it was delayed. And delayed. And delayed. It was never released, because it had this idea instead of cartridges or CDs, they would have this LAN adapter that you could download games through, but the creators didn't have time to write up the software code or something so the console was never released.

It would be a bad idea to do that.

 

[RatRace123]

That'd suck.
I prefer having a hard copy of my games, it lets me know that they're mine.
Whenever I download a game I feel like I'm just renting it and I don't really own it.

 

[Traun]

I mostly download my games, so I don't care about boxes that much. Especially considering that the only thing in the boxes is the dvd and the manual.

 

[Continuity]

Ive been thinking about this alot but If games became only downloadable how would that change your gaming experience? It wouldn't be that hard for them to do it, probably cheaper too. After all does a downloadable game play any different then one on disc in a box?

So tell me how you'd feel if said changes were made. Good, bad, indifferent? How do you think this would effect businesses such as Game Stop and other stores that buy, sell, or rent video games? Lets discuss.

EDIT: One more thing I felt the need to ask. If this really was going to happen, what would be the best possible solution to make something like this work?

Well, as I currently only purchase games via steam and have done so exclusively for about 18 months now, I can't say that I'd be all that bothered.

There is a lot of convenience to having one service to download your games from, plus steam acts as a social network for gamers too which is actually pretty important to me now.

 

[LaputanMachine]

Video game industry would suffer. Some people (yes it's shocking) don't have internet/cant afford it.

 

[Redlin5_v1legacy]

The convenience factor sure is huge, but so is the abuse gap.

- drop of prices highly unlikely, why would they drop the price when people already proven they are willing to pay $60, or in Australia even $110

- you never own the game, should you lose your account for whatever reason all the games you bought are gone, that is a huge issue

- you can't resell/lend/share games, I resell most my blockbuster games that only have 6-8 hours of content, so that money can go into new games, or exchange them with friends who bought other games, with download only you are stuck with what you get forever

- data mining, let's not kid ourselves these online services are used for user data collection and your data get's sold back to marketing people (I don't want them to look at my private life, just as they wouldn't want me to look at theirs)

This. This list explains what I was going to say.

I've always been a hard copy guy and I always will be. The day that stops being offered is the day I stop buying new consoles.

 

[xHipaboo420x]

In terms of console games, I'd be disappointed. I buy most of my 360/PS3 games pre-owned a few months after release, and On-Demand games over Live/PSN is a service that is lacking in any semblance of fair pricing.

With PC games, on the other hand, a lot of us are already there. I buy the majority of my games over Steam and am entirely happy with that.

 

[n.s.c.m.]

My worst nightmare, my sketchy internet would mean I would never be able to play games again.