Poll: Downloadable Content Delivery vs. Physical Boxed Media

[Akihiko]

Mixed. Although I do buy boxed games far more, as I like being able to hold the game.

 

[Iwata]

After Steam locked me out of my legitimately-bought games with no explanation, I have become a fierce opponent of digital delivery.

I don't trust a big name company with holding on to my games for me, and neither should you.

 

[Delusibeta]

It takes 4 hours to download a game. It takes 30 min to drive to any store in town and buy a copy and get back (and 30 min is the longest estimate). I can have the game installed and be playing it while your download is still at 25%.

Problem with that argument: not everyone has a car. Personally, I have to take a bus, which is about 30 minutes each way. Assuming they have the game I want in stock, which is not guaranteed and I may wind up trudging back to order it off Amazon, by which time even the slowest connections would have downloaded (for sake of argument) Fallout New Vegas.

I do not welcome your digital overlords, I think that when we go 100% DD prices will rise or at the very least remain the same. Look at titles that do not have to compete with retail, titles that are download only on WiiWare or XBOX 360 Arcade. They will never drop in price because they don't have to compete. Like Nintendo and Microsoft, all publishers will eventually start their own DD service and your precious Steam will slowly die.

That's just the way I see it.

Problem with that argument is that, well, it's wrong. Ignoring WiiWare, where there's no infrastructure to do regular discounts due to Nintendo's lack of digital foresight (even then, Sega managed to pull off a temporary reduction in some of their Mega Drive games), there's weekly deals on the Live Marketplace (as a whole, some weeks it's DLC, some weeks it's Arcade games, etc). There's no threat of a lack of a bargain. On PCs, there's more sales, because there's more competition on the format (dismissing Direct2Drive is a mistake, it's still up there). Permanent price drops also happen fairly regularly, even on GOG where the most expensive game is $9.99. Basic economics: Prices go down, demand goes up. Since supply is plentiful (at least up to a point, at which the servers basically break), there's more room for the price to go down. You remember Mass Effect 2? It's Collector's Edition is getting fairly rare. It's Digital Deluxe edition, not so and its price reflects that. [http://www.gamersgate.co.uk/DD-ME2DDEUK/mass-effect-2-digital-deluxe-edition-uk] (Sure, it's a promotion. But your theory suggests "There will be no more promotions", which is clearly garbage.) Increasing the price? Again, basic economics: higher price means less demand. If all PC games were £100, no-one would be playing them. Even then, games still compete with each other. Take, for example, Medal of Honor. It's main competition is Call of Duty, so (in the UK at least) it's priced about £5 less than what Black Ops is likely to be priced at. Sure, Activision may hardly ever do deals, but that's their loss, as demonstrated by Garry's Mod, Introversion, Team Fortress 2... (By the way, comparing Live Arcade to Steam is not comparing like-to-like. Microsoft is considerably more stingy with the sales).

Your speculation about Steam being pushed out of the market by publishers setting up their own shops is also fundamentally flawed. More basic economics: if the company is still making profits, it's not going to pull out. EA already has a store, as does Blizzard, and there's no sign of them doing much damage to Steam's (or even Direct2Drive's) market share, never mind their profits. Hell, if Steam can't chase out Games for Windows Live (gearing up for another attempt at the DD market), then what will it take to chase out Steam?

 

[Coldie]

It takes 4 hours to download a game. It takes 30 min to drive to any store in town and buy a copy and get back (and 30 min is the longest estimate). I can have the game installed and be playing it while your download is still at 25%.

I do not welcome your digital overlords, I think that when we go 100% DD prices will rise or at the very least remain the same. Look at titles that do not have to compete with retail, titles that are download only on WiiWare or XBOX 360 Arcade. They will never drop in price because they don't have to compete. Like Nintendo and Microsoft, all publishers will eventually start their own DD service and your precious Steam will slowly die.

That's just the way I see it.

Prices won't just suddenly rise, as an unreasonably priced product would just fail, regardless of delivery system. Digital retailers don't compete with offline retailers, they match the price so the offline ones don't go out of business. Digital copies are a whole lot more efficient for the publisher, with a much higher return from each copy and there is no piracy "Used Games Market".

So what happens if Steam "dies"? Everyone shrugs and moves on and all the other publishers will jump in and fill the market with their own solutions, creating a healthy, highly competitive market with fairly high margins. If anything, the prices will start falling once the offline retailer beast dies and prices for titles start drifting away from the traditional $49.99. And if they rise, who cares? Gamers will grumble for a bit and buy it anyway. Look at Activision's Modern Warfare 2 and Blizzard's StarCraft 2 - both were priced higher than average and yet both set sales records anyway.

And even if I had a teleporting car, I still don't have the time to wander about looking for a copy of whatever it is I'm looking for a copy of. Internet is right here, it never runs out, it always has english originals, no media that can be damaged during use, etc.

 

[No_Remainders]

Relying on ancient optical tech that involves wasting time (and money) trying to find and buy the right disc? No thank you, it's bad enough with video DVDs and print media. If a game is not available in the Blizzard Store or on Steam, there's no chance that I'll ever buy it. Physical media and boxes are just space-filling junk.

Convenience trumps all.

It takes longer to download a game than it does to go buy it in most cases.

But it takes infinitely more physical space to buy a game than it does to download it.

 

[SalamanderJoe]

I'd rather have it all on one disc. Especially for my PS3 seeing as Blu-Ray discs have HUGE memory on them. Yet still, for example, the Borderlands GOTY still has you download the episodes online.

I have nothing against DLC. I'd just rather have it all on a single disc or together in one lump. Hence why I love GOTY editions.

 

[No_Remainders]

But it takes infinitely more physical space to buy a game than it does to download it.

Seriously, this is an issue?[/quote]
Not everyone lives in a mansion with infinite amounts of space to put things. If I had bought a physical copy of every game I got on Steam, I'd be swimming in a pool of video game boxes right now.
Yes. It is an issue. Try to look at things from other people's perspectives from time to time?

Edit: Completely messed up on those quotes...

 

[No_Remainders]

If you have so much money that you can buy that many games (that you would be swimming in them) then buy a bigger house. Seriously, how many games do you have on Steam?

Also, killing the used game industry is a bad idea.

Here is what it means to go full DD:

- It will concrete the idea that you are only renting games, not buying them
- It will kill the used game market, this will shrink the industry.
- It will kill the rental market, although all games will be rentals
- You could lose access to games you bought (notice I didn't say YOUR games) for any reason or no reason at all. A simple mistake by (DD provider) and you're cut off.

Now, getting off your lazy ass to go to a store isn't really that hard and if you need more space to store all the DVD's, then you may want to put a little gaming money towards upgrading your accommodations.

How about stop being such an upper class douche. You basically just said "Buy a new house, it's not that expensive". Seriously? Just because you probably grew up in a nice country mansion doesn't mean everyone else did as well.
I've got about 70, maybe 75 games on steam that I've got since it started up. But the problem is that we have no storage space with all the books, the art stuff, etc. etc. etc.
Look at it from someone else's perspective before you start being a dick head.

As for buying a new house, kinda hard when I'm only 18, no?
I also don't intend to go to my parents (Who, by the way, don't have jobs at the moment) "Here. Buy us a new house."

 

[tharglet]

But it takes infinitely more physical space to buy a game than it does to download it.

This is why I chuck out the plastic cases (I keep the paper and the discs). If I had all the boxes still, I would have ran out of space long ago.

Though for me it's mixed - depends what I'm looking for and what price I can get it. I'm not fussed over not having the physical copy, but sometimes the physical copies work out cheaper.

 

[Kouen]

But it takes infinitely more physical space to buy a game than it does to download it.

Seriously, this is an issue?

Not everyone lives in a mansion with infinite amounts of space to put things. If I had bought a physical copy of every game I got on Steam, I'd be swimming in a pool of video game boxes right now.
Yes. It is an issue. Try to look at things from other people's perspectives from time to time?

Edit: Completely messed up on those quotes...

LOL me too...

278 Games on Steam and counting xD

 

[Coldie]

Also, killing the used game industry is a bad idea.

No, it's the best idea ever. Used game market and rentals are nothing more than legalized piracy. Sure, you can't really do any lasting damage to the "torrent piracy", but they aren't nearly as big a threat to the publishers as the "legal piracy" of used games and rentals. Torrent pirates aren't going to buy your game, nothing lost, nothing gained. Used game "buyers" have the money and are willing to spend, but Captain One-eyed Rrrretailerrr steals every last penny with nothing going to the publisher and developer - and if the buyer was aware that he was buying used, he's a willing pirate himself. And that's terrible.

A market where every game is bound to your on-line account, be it Battle.net or Steam or BioWare Social, is the simplest way to deal with the offline retailers leeching money from your product. Do note that the argument "I'll get banned and lose everything" is meaningless scaremongering, as a retailer that issues unwarranted bans would not last very long at all.

If you like the game, buy it! Don't support used game piracy!

 

[Jackalb]

Boxed. Tis sexier.

 

[3AM]

I prefer digital. My home is cluttered enough and I'm good about taking backups.

Edit - but I voted "Mixed" cuz I never say never.