THQ: 'Packaged goods are slowly dying out'

In an interview with GamerZines the creative director of WWE: Smackdown vs Raw 2011, Cory Ledesma, has spoken of his belief that the future of console gaming lies not in physical media, but digital distribution.

[Letros]

I don't see DD hitting consoles in the mainstream for sometime, but it's a very good business plan for PC gaming. I used to be against DD, always wanting a physical product, but as the years go by I get more lazy, and I find myself buying A LOT more games from DD, don't know if thats a good or bad thing though, definately good for the industry.

[HeroXIV]

THQ WOULD say this, I'm with you it's more relevent to PC. THQ have a sale on steam at EVERY opportunity. It's no wonder STALKER sold well, not just because it's critically acclaimed but because it's so bloody cheap!

[Christopher]

The problem is they're comparing DD of small size titled games to full games released on discs. For PC games, DD is okay because it fits the medium, but for console games your disc-based games still make the most profit and sell the most. DD is pretty much the future for smaller sized games like we usually get on PSN and XBL.

[FragGen]

Agreed, the PC will be the cutting edge (as usual). But make no mistake, consoles will follow suit and I think it'll be surprisingly fast.

Not only do we have the PC trailblazing at the high end but also, we have handhelds: iPhone, iPad, Android phones/tablets, Windows Phone 7 devices, at the low end. These will all offer games/software with no physical media.

iPhone has already taken over adult portable gaming. Most adults were not willing to carry around a portable device just for gaming and those who did are starting to leave them at home. It's not that they're better at it (sorry iBots but a PSP still SMOKES an iPhone for gaming): they're just way easier/more convenient. So now, only the hardest of the hardcore adult gamers would actually bother to carry a handheld.

So, the next gen of consoles will have HUGE pressure/momentum from both sides for DD. Sony is already experimenting with "disc quality" PSN games.

People are used to getting more of their media in a DD (and subscription) format, consumers are getting ready for it mentally. It is CLEARLY the direction the industry is moving, like it or not. I'm already getting my movies via netflix, I've stopped buying music completely in favor of Rhapsody. DD is the future.

Time will tell whether it's good for us, but Steam showed, like iTunes before it, that the final key for adoption is that: the price has got to be right.

[Zinc]

But, that's just it. They still charge full retail price for direct download products. What happens if the industry decides to simply keep them all at 50 or 60 bucks? Will they still be complaining about lost revenue and trying to get us to spend on micro transactions? Will DLC become even more virulent and petty? As their cost to get the product out to you the consumer dramatically falls, will they keep that extra profit or lower the price?

If anybody thinks pirating is an issue now...

Not only that, but marketing is bigger than ever before, but really a lot of the heavy lifting is done by 3rd parties like blogs, sites like these, and tv programs dedicated to talking about games. The internet has become a marketing machine the likes of which has never existed before.

Publishers release well timed pieces of information and wait for it to proliferate throughout the world.

[tplarkin7]

The next Xbox will be 100% downloads. No discs.

[Playerz8]

I think some company is just mad about UFC Undisputed 2010 not selling well....

[The Meerkat]

What one of the big players (MS, Sony, EA, Activision) should do is release a big game a week early on DD.
That cuts out the retailers and makes them more profit on each game sold. And if they were the first to do this it would generate a lot of free hype too.

Imagine if Black Ops was to be launched 1 week early on DD, every News channel would cover the story and every forum would be talking about it (N4G) with people both for and against the idea.

[CrazyForGames]

the problem with that though the way i see it if its a shit game people will actually know just how shitty it is 1 week before the retail release

[Stealth20k]

They say this because the majority of there games suck

And the article title is misleading.

THQ doesnt think this, one publisher from a shitty franchise does

[Apotheosize]

Goddamn I hate when these articles show up. Square said the same things. I dont know about you but I like physical media, digital distributions great on PCs, but not on anything else.

[Wikkid666]

Most publishers/studios will say this because of one thing... The "used game" industry. DD will totally eliminate used games.

[Stealth20k]

Again THQ isnt saying this, one publisher from a shitty franchise is. And squares never said that.

[J-Smith]

just like the xbox360 then LoL

[ndibu]

Assassin's Creed, Gears, Halo, COD, MGS, GT, SWFU...all their sales and all the many other +5 million sales IP's prove that packaged goods are slowly dying out.../s
Just cause nobody's buying your games as much don't mean you gotta start being all gloomy and doom to packaged games. They're doing just fine

[All_4_One]

Good luck with that. I`d rather have physical media formats in which we`ve been using for decades. I simply would not have the patience to download games like MGS4, and they`re just going to get bigger from here as long as the media formats used keep advancing.
By the way THQ, I`d like to see some evidence that prove packaged goods are dying.

[Wikkid666]

So you are still using tapes, records, and cds? I personally moved up to mp3s...

I also can't remember the last time I bought a dvd... I stream via Hulu, Netflix, etc.

[CombatEvolving]

It only seems to be certain companies having trouble with used games. Maybe people just don't want to buy their games.

[Brklynty1]

publishers only see that in mind they dont see that not everyone has lightning speed internet and that some come with a data cap. and unless we see consoles with TB hardrives i just dont see this happening all eyes were on the PSP Go and when it failed they were like shit back to square 1

[Brklynty1]

do they have any idea why used game sales are so high this gen? well if they donts....ITS CUZ WHO THE HELL WANTS TO PAY $60 FOR A 5 HR UNFINISHED GAME! geez devs think their slick add all the content u can i swear im sorry but i pray MS swallows their pride and uses blu ray or some new format next gen because really dvd9 caused DLC...

[KYU2130]

as long as there are download caps and major bandwidth restrictions by internet providers, not to mention the amount of gamers that would rather have a solid piece of media in their hands.

Seriously could you really see it, i can't

[DA_SHREDDER]

Yeah, games are too big (ps3 games anyways), to be sitting there downloading something all dog gone day. No way, give me a disc over DD anyday.

[HeartDisease]

im sure they would point to the success of steam as an indicator that packaged goods are dying out. they fail to realize that alot of stuff steam offers are older games. these games are smaller in size and have less demand so getting a fast connection to the server and having lag or disconnects are uncommon.

now try to launch a high profile game like halo reach on DD, and see how your servers perform when you have a million preorder customers trying to DL the game at the exact same time. i can imagine reach will be 5-8gigs, mebe more. i would estimate it would take at least 24 hours to dl that on launch day. thats a very optimistic estimate too.

would be nice to see the DD numbers on new games, not people DLing old games that they may have missed and may be hard/inconvenient to find. this DD talk will happen eventually. im talking next next next next gen after comcast has rewired all of america with larger capacity lines. by that time wireless may be a faster alternative to a standard wire as that seems to be the direction technology is going.

some people have some interesting ideas on how to increase the use of DD such as releasing games early to people who DD. i do recall some games you could download early and then "unlock" at the launch day. i still prefer a hardcopy though myself.

[FragGen]

""now try to launch a high profile game like halo reach on DD, and see how your servers perform when you have a million preorder customers trying to DL the game at the exact same time. i can imagine reach will be 5-8gigs, mebe more. i would estimate it would take at least 24 hours to dl that on launch day. thats a very optimistic estimate too. ""

This happens all the time on Steam with new release PC games (which are often bigger than their consoles versions) now and they don't have any problems... they let people preload the game before launch day and since the game requires a validation, it just doesn't validate until release day. Leave you machine on over night a few days before release and you're covered.

[Wikkid666]

I downloaded the new Lara Croft game, which was 2.2gig. Only took 30 minutes.

[gumgum99]

I don't see this happening anytime soon, or even in the forseeable future. I am currently running on a slow internet connection, so that cuts me out of the picture because dial up = no games.

Also, I just like holding that disc. Its something that the digital product can never match: That new smell, holding the manual, and it just works better as the games get bigger and bigger.

I doubt the average Joe is into upgrading their hard drive periodically just to get that new game that came out, but that is exactly what will happen as a storage space, no matter how large, is gonna run out eventually.