Why does EA hate digital downloads?

[Gizmo1990]

After reading a few reviews and watching TotalBiscuit's port report on Dragon Age Inqusition I desided that I would look at buying it. I go to Origin and the basic game is £50! and it not only stops there as Amazon digital download is also selling it for £50 while they are selling physical PC copies of the game for £40 so I can only guess that EA is forcing them to sell the digital version at that price. To put this into context, new PC releases in the UK are normaly in the £30-£35 price range.

I am not jumping on the hate bandwagon. I don't agree with many of the things EA has done but I cannot falt Origin as a service based on the little I have used it and I still enjoy a number of games they have published but how the hell do they think that having new PC releases at that price can help them?

Edit:
I think Captcha has the answer. Magic eight ball. That would explain why EA have desided the best way to run there online platform it to be more expensive than their competitors.

 

[Morgoth780]

No idea why the UK is getting screwed over. At least in the US, digital downloads on Origin are $60, as are physical copies (until prices begin to drop).

I do think there's little reason for a game to cost $60 if it's a digital download, especially on PC.. $50 would be more reasonable.

I don't know if you want to risk using a site that re-sells keys, but g2a has DA:I for £28.

I also sometimes really wish there was a £ key on my keyboard so I don't have to copy paste that symbol from the OP of a particular thread.

 

[Darzinth]

Buy it from other sites, like greenmangaming in USD. During the coupon sale it woulda been even better.

 

[Mezahmay]

EA doesn't hate digital downloads. In fact, I'm sure they love digital downloads, specifically on Origin. They get a bigger cut of the sale price since you don't have to account for manufacturing and distribution expenses and the retail store's cut, they can't be traded in to a physical retail store, they are harder to get a refund for in general, so by selling them at the same price as retail they get to make more money for the same product. I believe there's a Jimquisition (thank God for Jim) from like two years ago about the price of digital releases and physical box games being the same price that features EA prominently. This doesn't even mention the integration of microtransactions in full price releases, bad forms of DLC, etc.

 

[Gizmo1990]

EA doesn't hate digital downloads. In fact, I'm sure they love digital downloads, specifically on Origin. They get a bigger cut of the sale price since you don't have to account for manufacturing and distribution expenses and the retail store's cut, they can't be traded in to a physical retail store, they are harder to get a refund for in general, so by selling them at the same price as retail they get to make more money for the same product. I believe there's a Jimquisition (thank God for Jim) from like two years ago about the price of digital releases and physical box games being the same price that features EA prominently. This doesn't even mention the integration of microtransactions in full price releases, bad forms of DLC, etc.

The title of my thread was said in anger. I remember the Jimquisition is question (and yes, we all should thank God for Jim) so I see your point. But it is not that they are selling the game for the same price as a physical copy. I could understand that, I would think it was abit of a dick move but I could understand it. What they are doing is selling digital copies for a higher price than physical copies and that just makes no sense to me.

I like digital copies of games because they are more convinent, I am impatient and don't like having to wait for the post and I am lazy so getting up to look through the large amount of discs I own is a pain in the arse but if I can save £20 by getting a physical copy I will and I think alot of people would do the same.

 

[Mezahmay]

The title of my thread was said in anger. I remember the Jimquisition is question (and yes, we all should thank God for Jim) so I see your point. But it is not that they are selling the game for the same price as a physical copy. I could understand that, I would think it was abit of a dick move but I could understand it. What they are doing is selling digital copies for a higher price than physical copies and that just makes no sense to me.

I like digital copies of games because they are more convinent, I am impatient and don't like having to wait for the post and I am lazy so getting up to look through the large amount of discs I own is a pain in the arse but if I can save £20 by getting a physical copy I will and I think alot of people would do the same.

Then I believe you've found the most productive revenge against this kind of practice by supporting third party physical retail instead of direct digital purchase from Origin. Affecting their bottom line is all you've got as a consumer until direct purchase from EA has more value to you than saving the money with a physical retail price.

 

[sanquin]

The same is true over here. Origin? 59,99 euro. On bol.com? (dutch online store) 54,99. So basically, we're already paying more for the game than in the US, and the digital copy is more expensive than the physical one I can order online.

I'm not buying the game yet though. 55 euro is too much of a gamble for me for a game I'm not even sure I'll like. Plus I don't trust EA. I don't hate them, but I don't trust them at all either. So I'll wait a month, see if prices drop and see the reaction people give when they finished the game. After that I'll decide again.

 

[Shadow-Phoenix]

It's not just EA, Ubisoft is having games like Unity at £50 which is ludicrous, I have no idea why at this time the UK is getting screwed when it comes to digital pricing, it seems pretty fucked up and for no real good reason, as far as I know the UK is still the trade central of the world and has been for a long time which is why I don't see why we're having issues like this.