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Digital is definately the way forward, Wrath of The Lich King is free from Blizzard online, or you can be an idiot and go buy it | |
Well I don't know that is the best solution, since I do not own a credit card yet and there is no way I'm going to ask someone to buy games for me! So In my opinion retail is important! | |
If only Steam fixed its pricing for Europe....
You can use a debit card as long as it has the online purchase opetion. | |
The only problem i've found with digital purchases is trying to get highly anticipated games quickly on release, then it seems better to go the shop for it. Of course you could just give it a few days and prove your not a junky. | |
Digital distribution would sell like hotcakes if they got any of the pricing right. If we're not paying retailers for downloading a game (or making the making of the box, for that matter), then why are the prices always higher than in a decent shop? The only guiding light for me in making my buying decisions, is the cost - and as long as it remains cheaper to order online than to download, while giving me a nice, solid disc and pretty manual to adorn my bookshelf, the choice will always be obvious. | |
There is a right and wrong way to do this. In the "right" corner, is Steam. Download all your games onto all your PCs on which you are able to access the Internet. You can be logged into Steam on only one PC at a time, so that's a decent DRM scheme. The games are updated with no intervention, and extra content is always being added. In the "wrong" corner, is EA. I am not sure if they are continuing the practice, but they charge to keep your "version" of the game on their server. All that you really need is your license key, and an available image to download, not pay some outrageous fee to basically line EA's coffers with. With EA, I suggest downloading once, skipping this "insurance" and burning your image to SEVERAL DVDs, including a text file that has your CD Key. Lock em in a fireproof safe, send some to safe deposit boxes at different banks. I understand that if you lose your file, you are charged AGAIN to download your purchased game another time. I am simply commenting on my experience with EA downloading and registering Red Alert 3. If they have changed their ways, I withdraw this opinion of EA. I like downloading. It fulfills my need to have something in my hands quickly. Quickly being a relative term to ordering a retail boxed game online from Amazon, paying shipping, possibly tax, just to have this box arrive, get the DVD or (dear lord) CDs to load (please insert CD 8 of 12). Having the image readily available to download, even going so far as to have the image updated with every patch for the newcomers, that is a better step in the right direction. It also has the side effect of saving paper, plastic DVDs, cartons, retail space at a store, warehouse space at Amazon, and if one is so inclined, it cuts out publishing fees almost entirely if they choose to go it alone online. | |
Wow...wait...what? It has never been free online from blizzard... | |
I think it's going to be awhile before it is fully replaced. | |
In a word, no, no it isn't; as long as a large proportion of the world does not have internet access, digital distribution will not replace retail | |
As said above: I'd love online downloading if they realized it's much cheaper to sell games online and that at least *some* of this saving needs to be returned to the customer to make getting a transient file over a disk which if you take care can last a very, very long time better. | |
Every time I see a news thread like this, I get more and more pissed off at the retarded speculation based on partial information. Will download services eliminate retail sales? Short answer, No. Long answer, no, get a brain you fucking morons. Look at music... iTunes didn't kill the CD market, HMV still sells more CDs daily than iTunes sells MP3s. Even piracy, which is free, didn't kill of music sales. So no, games are going to sell retail for decades to come. While digital download carves out its niche, it's just that, a small piece of the whole pie. And when companies say digital purchases are increasing, they don't tell you the whole story... If a game was only available in download form, such as XBLive Arcade titles, it's not a legitimate statistic because you're comparing online and retail sales for something not available retail. Or if it's available significantly earlier as download, it skews the results. No, Digital Download is not going to replace retail. | |
I still prefer my boxes.. Though I do use Steam for a few games. | |
1) Steam charges the same amount for data as everybody else charges for data and packaging altogether. 2) When you buy retail, you can re-sell it, trade it in, gift it, whatever you want to with it when you're done playing. Digital? Uninstall and that's about it. 3) I bought the limited edition of Halo Wars yesterday. It came with all kinds of inherently trivial goodies, but they were goodies none-the-less. I've yet to see a digital release with any such goodies. 4) Same for pre-orders. I have seen digital pre-orders that come with extra content or early access, but collectibles? Things I can put my hands on and put on my shelf? No. Digital will never replace retail. It is a fine supplement, one that I am glad is there, and is certainly the best market for indie games as it is low cost and relatively low risk. However, the only advantages that digital has over retail is the fact that I can shop--buck-naked--from my desk, drinking Mt. Dew Voltage and eating Dorito's. Paying the same for less or being able to at least pretend to socialize with like-minded sales people (I'm lucky enough to live near a Gamestop where everybody there actually plays games) is worth giving that up. | |
I still prefer my games in a box. I'd hate to unknowingly do something that requires a steam account ban and loose all my games (from steam) for example. Even with said annoyances, it is obvious that digital distribution is coming fast. I mean, for fuck's sake. Look at airplanes 100 years ago. People were still dreaming about flying. Now we have supersonic jets and trips to space. Technology is developing at an ever increasing pace. Predictions will be met or even broken in record time. | |
download the trial, then on the trial launcher there is a link to the full game | |
I don't think digital is ready to replace retail for most of the population of gamers. Console gaming is going to need more storage space. For PC gaming, I'd mostly agree... if I could get Quake 4 on Steam. | |
In my country, you need to be 18 or older to get a debit card. Or enter into any kind of legal agreement unless the law specifically states otherwise. BTW, the country is Ireland. | |
Hmmm...well when all fails you can always ask your family. Or you can steal it, cause for online purchases you dont need the password/code thingie. :p | |
You realize that it doesn't change the fact that the content is still inaccessible after the trial ends right? Even if you have wrath downloaded and installed you still can't play it unless your account itself is upgraded (proof being that I have 2 accounts, 1 upgraded to wrath the other to burning crusade. If I log onto my BC account I cannot access the Wrath Content despite it being installed on my PC.) | |
Indeed
And this to! on a second note, i purchased a retail copy of Dawn of War 2 last week. and i must admit that steam can go and F**K itself! I HATE that worthless crap of a program! you can't even select witch HDD to install a game on! not to mention that i don't want to have to make a silly little steam account for a RETAIL game. especially when it uses GFWL as matchmaker! | |
Yes but I'm not paying to get a Wrath of The Lich King DVD am I? I will only have to pay for my account - because they pay for a DVD and an account - so theres going to be tax and such to pay - 10 days free with a game for £15 or something like £10 a month :S I'd rather save that initial fiver - spend it on clothes,drinks,hookers or weed | |
It won't completely kill retail (as has been mentioned, iTunes didn't kill the CD industry), but it might shift just enough of the cash flow outside of retail that game developers are no longer dependent on the whims of Wal-Mart to get greenlights from the publishers. Everybody wins. | |
Now there's something smart on the pro-download end of things. Thank you for pointing it out Sylo, yes, digital is going to crack WalMart's hold over game content. Developers will be able to have whatever content they desire in the game, if WalMart refuses to shelve it, they can just go online. That being the case, WalMart will either adjust, or lose control of the game market, either way we win. | |
Digital removes things like Second Hand games and Trade Ins, and the instant gratification of buying game, going home and playing. It'll be a cold day in hell before I welcome Digital over Retail. | |
Hmmm... Walk to my local game store, purchase a game and play it upon arriving home (if it's winter I'll drive, but I like to walk). 30 minutes. Queue up a download on release day on servers that are already overstrained and pray my connection holds, which it inevitably won't, resume download half a dozen times and finally play a day after release because I had to patch it upon download. Time = about a day. Yeah, I'm looking forward as hell to retail chains leaving because I'll buy fewer games and go back to playing my Snes. | |
When downloading a 15-30GB game becomes faster, cheaper (considering broadband usage caps etc remember), & more convenient than simply going to a shop & handing over £30 for a box with a disc in it; Digital distribution will be king. Till then id rather it stopped blowing its trumpet in my face at every opportunity given I still find it useless for anything but getting niche/old games u cant find at retail. edit: & comparing music to game downloading is like comparing a mouse to a diplodocus | |
I will only buy a digital download if I am 100% guaranteed to be able to install, uninstall, and reinstall as I see fit just like I can with a retail disc. | |
I tremendously dislike this idea. You have to use your credit card on the internet. | |
I'm already moving towards all digital. For PC gaming at least, haven't bought a PC game disc since... 2006. I find many problems people have with online buying is brought on by misinformation. And anything that keeps me from going to Gamestop is a plus. I really hate Gamestop. | |
*glances at the title* Short answer: No. Long answer: No. | |
Given that Nintendo have got the mainstream and the Wii doesn't have any memory worth speaking about.... No. | |
We have quite limited downloads in Australia, so retail is definitely the way to go for me with games as large as they are now. | |
I still get paid in earth dollars, but if I'm ever offered the option of internet money I'll... no screw it, having real money is better. | |
Would this include purchasing games online for the Xbox, PS3 and Wii? If so, it would be important to keep a retailing aspect for those of us, such as myself, who don't have their console hooked up to the internet. As long as that is going on, I don't think digital distribution will be as successful as this bloke thinks.
Why would you queue up on the day of release? Wait a week and then download it. OMG, you play it a week later, but who cares, you don't have to wait around just to get the game.
At this point in the economy, Internet money is probably more valuable than earth money. | |
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Is Digital Ready To Replace Retail?
While some observers have predicted that conventional retail channels will dominate the videogame market for many years to come, GamersGate CEO Theodore Bergquist and Capcom VP Christian Svensson predict that major changes are coming to the way you buy games sooner than you think.
GameStop CEO Dan DeMatteo predicted last year that the infrastructure required to facilitate full-scale digital distribution of mainstream game releases won't be in place for another 10 to 15 years, and more recently a survey conducted by the NPD Group found that a significant majority of gamers prefer boxed retail copies of videogames over downloads. Nonetheless, Bergquist expects things to change much more quickly, saying the GamersGate digital distribution platform experienced 100 percent growth last year and is looking at as much as 200 percent growth this year.
"When I talk to all the publishers - both small, and really, really, big - digital distribution is on everyone's lips," he said in an interview with GamesIndustry. "Obviously some publishers are really ready to take these steps, while others aren't. Some still see digital distribution as something awkward, and they don't really know what to do with it, while some are really professional and they have it as a main strategy."
"Whether it'll happen this year or next, I'm not sure - but I think it's that kind of time frame we're talking about," he continued. "Look at the music industry, look at 2006 when iTunes went from not being in the top six of sellers - in the same year in December it was top three, and the following year number one."
He claimed that digital distribution is "absolutely the biggest threat" that has ever faced game retailers, but said the advent of digital didn't necessarily mean their days were numbered - simply that they would have to adapt to survive. "I think they'll get better on the hardware side, selling hardware together with games," he said. "But if it's games only, then no way - I can't see [them surviving]."
Bergquist's comments were echoed by Capcom Vice President of Strategic Planning Christian Svensson, who told Rock, Paper, Shotgun that the company is working hard to build up a digital distribution network because "retail is falling away."
"What are the reasons for that? Partly it's that return rates are very high. Returns of a PC title are usually double that of a console title - why? Because it's not a great consumer experience because there's variation in minimum spec, and it requires a lot of consumer knowledge to figure out exactly what is in their box, and what that will run," he said. "If we can improve that, if we can improve issues with DRM and create an anti-piracy policy that is friendly to consumers, that will remove barriers to sales, and improve the ecosystem."
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