A future gaming world of 100% digital games?

Pravkebab: I love collecting games and not just playing them and I think that one day we will see a world of pure digital content.

[NYC_Gamer]

well,most of my games are brought digital except the ones that are only available on console.some of us believe in the future many publishers will opt to go digital.

[limewax]

I see no problem with it. I like having a physical collection but there comes a point where the collection becomes too big. Most of my games now are digital downloads and it has saved me a lot of physical space. It has saved me money through steam as well. Once PSN and XBL prices start to hit the right point too, I think people will really take to it. Though I feel for now we need some physical media available as not everyone can get internet with an acceptable speed for downloading such large files

[guitarded77]

I see a huge problem with it... removing physical copies from retail lessens competition ultimately making prices higher. Unless retailers will be offering downloads without price restrictions, we will be paying more.

The good thing is money will make its way to developers since the used market will be dead, the bad thing is we will see a major increase in pirating.

[hellvaguy]

@ guitarded
The $5 price tag I pay for online games 1+ year old at steam, indicates lack of competition won't be a problem to get low prices.

[Gamer1982]

I'm 100% digital on PC while with consoles I still prefer physical media as tbh they look cool on a shelf and also on consoles the mad thing is the digital version is always more expensive than the physical media version sometimes upto 300X more expensive. Madness when you think about it.. Yet MS and Sony both claim its the developers who set the costs not them so the developers are slowing down the digital age when unlike with PC they should be embracing it and releasing new titles for less if bought digitally.

[badz149]

I really like the idea of digital copies, but some places are not ready for it yet. my place for example, where a decent internet speed cost too much, I bought SC Conviction from Steam sales last night, and now, 15 hours later, the download is still @ 25%! painful, YES!

[hellvaguy]

Dang, it downloaded in like 30min for me. Are u even able to play online with those dail-up like speeds?

[Jio]

I do occasionally like buying retail, because it's what I grew up accustom to. But digital is much more convenient.

[gnvr]

guess it is convenient but then there is more to worry about like disk space etc. prefer to have it hard copy so you can lend out games and stuff

[kaveti6616]

"prefer to have it hard copy so you can lend out games and stuff"

Publishers are making it difficult for us to do that now.

People who prefer to have physical copies of games might do so because they think it implies ownership. They get a sense that it belongs to them, but it's very clear now that publishers do not want gamers to share games, sell games, lend games or what have you.

I see no real advantage any more in owning a physical copy.

[DigitalRaptor]

That stuff is really only for online play though. You can still lend games to a friend if they wanna play the campaigns. I borrow games all the time for that. And not all publishers have done the "Online pass" yet.

I will always retain that the sense of ownership comes from having a physical copy, even if publishers want to restrict the online play. Because really as long as the pass is tied to my account, I still consider the game to be mine.

Anyway, let's face it. Games are getting bigger. L.A. Noire is over 20GB. RAGE is something similar. Some PS3 exclusives tend to be huge in size. Next-gen games will likely be even bigger. Whichever way you look at it, there's no way 20+GB sized games are going to be the most popular choice for gamers any time soon. Who really wants to download that, when you can order a physical copy online and it will most likely be cheaper?

Also, ISPs won't be fast enough for a reasonable length of download and hard drives won't have enough space for all these games. I've covered this before. Imagine you have a collection of 30-40 retail PS3/360 games stored digitally, each one varying from 10GB-30GB (average of 20GB each). That's 800GB for 40 games. What if you want more? A total of 70 for example? That's 1400GB. Imagine next-gen's games are 40-50GB in size by default.. That's 2800GB for 70 games. What if you want to have your 70 PS3/360 games from this gen on the same hard drive as the next-gen consoles. That's 4200GB. Get the picture?

Do you think parents buying a Nintendo console for their kids want to figure out how to sign up an account to access the WiiU store, to wait for ages to download a 10+GB game, to start playing? Nope, they want to set up the console, pop in the disc and start playing.

Physical will be here for as long as there is demand for it.

[-Mezzo-]

Physical Media: FTW.

[NeXXXuS]

Physical media makes me feel good knowing I have it in my hands and not just in cyberspace. I wouldn't like everything to go digital. Minis on the PSN and older games are fine. Though I still try to get the older originals on amazon or ebay if I can.

[vickers500]

I'd like it if both options were 100% available. They both have their benefits, well at least physical media does all the time, when digital only has it some of the time.

The benefit of digital games SHOULD be that it's significantly cheaper, but looking around at full retail games on the PSN/360 store, that's not the case. The benefit of physical media is the feeling of ownership, that no one can take the game away from you (although that's becoming less true with the introduction of online passes), and the nice feeling of having a collection on a shelf dedicated to all the gaming memories you have. Also it only takes up physical space and not hard drive space.

I like both options quite a lot, but unless they reduce the price of every single digital game by at least 20-30 bucks (not counting special sales), then I'm sticking with physical media for the most part.

[kcuthbertson]

As long as it's as fluid and customer friendly as steam is, I'm all for it.

I haven't bought a retail game on PC since UT2004, and couldn't care less. No discs taking up space, all my saves in the cloud (well most), And Ease of finding all of my games in one place.

[Baka-akaB]

Only thing that matters is wich is/will be cheaper and gets me games faster

[aquamala]

depends...

with prices and sales like Steam - awesome

with prices on PSN and XBLA stores - not so good

[Tru_Blu]

Exactly! It's cheaper to go to the store and buy a physical copy of a game then it is to buy it off PSN. If they go all digital expect the cost of gaming to go through the roof.

[SKUD]

Till residential networks improve speed / stability / availability / no data caps / cost effectiveness as well current issues. Relying one hundred percent on the network is not possible. The battle at this pace could drag on for 5-10 years before its pointed in a decent direction for the consumer.

Then there's the issue of having a proper backup's of digital content. There's less mechanical moving parts in a disk then a hard drive.

[Hicken]

Don't forget the issue of ownership. As it currently stands, they could shut down servers for any game you've bought digitally, and you'd be left with nothing.

[SoapShoes]

I don't see it happening unless we get faster internet speeds. Most people in the US can't download big 10+ gig files without waiting hours upon hours. No one here is even that patient, considering we have people complaining how long it takes to install games...

[Matrix2k]

not a chance

75+ percent of game sales that companies receive are through physical game sales

Take that away and you dont have an industry

[falcon262]

I'm am so surprised to see so many people open to the idea of giving away their freedom of actually OWNING a physical product. But I guess the corporate elites have been doing a great job at training the future brain dead to accept this eventual reality since the 90's.
I cannot express enough the importance of opposing a digital only gaming world. Look how much the music industry and now film industry have been gutted by executives who are more willing to make a quick buck than support actual talent. They prefer fads over actual substance.
A digital only world:
-Cut out a huge portion of individuals who do not have internet access. (Some may think its odd that this day in age everyone doesn't have adequate access) but look @ urban, heavy Latino population areas, rural areas as proof the nation still lacks a viable solid infrastructure.
-You're nuts if you think prices will drop. These SOB's will turn around and 'claim' they need to keep prices as is to invest heavily in servers and digital distribution technology.
-Lets face it, gaming can be an expensive habit. Many Gamers routinely trade their games in, sell on Craigslist, amazon or even to a buddy to get much needed cash to afford their next pick.
-Hundreds of thousands jobs lost from the retail, manufacturing, marketing, communications, shipping and gaming industry.
I could still go on and on. I don't mind a digital option....but it should not be the only option.

[Merivigian]

I like having a physical copy of anything I buy. I'm not too cool with paying $30 for a download token, but I've always been that way. I don't even like to buy DLC because of the fact. I only play arcade games if they have a physical copy like the Limbo 3-pack, etc.

[Gohadouken]

You're surprised ?

It's not even truly a physical medium . The disc and boxes are mostly a wrapping and distribution method around what is in a fact a virtual product and intellectual property .

Bare people that love collections , the general public wont care beyond the ease to access the product (wich isnt indeed yet there) , and the cost . Same public wich easily ditched the cartridge for the cd , the cd for the dvd , then the bluray .. portable games' cartridge for sd card etc

Even now , save again collectionners , what drive most current purchases of limited and collectors editions of games , arent truly the teddy bear , status or cloth maps , but the exclusive ingame items , characters and other dlcs sold with it .

Freedom ? What was that again ? As if owning a shiny plastic disc ever prevented dealing with the hassle of online pass and drms .
The pc gaming world has gone mostly digital , and yet they have far more freedom that disc based console players so far .

"You're nuts if you think prices will drop."
I believe in it , but obviously to an extent . As a matter of fact , i can at least deduct the cost of importing or plainly shipping a product .
And as a matter of fact there are bargain sales that simply dont even exist in retail stores . A retail will at best offer you 2-3 6-12 month years old games for the price of one , while steam will laugh at them with the entire collection of a game's serie for that cheap .

"Hundreds of thousands jobs lost from the retail, manufacturing, marketing, communications, shipping and gaming industry. "

Tired of that excuse . An industry evolves or die . Forceful stagnation doesnt work ... just ask the fellow giants from Marvel and DC comics how it has working out for them to force the purchase of paper comics in specialized comics books store ? At some point they had to court back retail chains , with little success .

And now that their best selling comics only roughly sells 200-300k per issue , and movie licensing deals the only thing saving their a**es right now , they are suddenly jumping into the digital era .

And in the end , while playing catch up , they got insanely popular franchises such as spiderman and batman , while most kids wont bother picking up the books , and purchase mangas instead .

[rattletop]

not sure. the size of the game files are increasing every 2 years or so. there are lot of details that can be added to the next-gen games(graphics, physics and voice acting). also people with bandwidth cap can't download many games. sure the connection speeds may increase but downloading a 30-40gb game might take too long.

[JasonBloodbourne]

when and if this happens think about the people that will lose their jobs gonna be a tidal wave from the top too the bottom or the other way around.

[N311V]

I don't think digital will ever be the only option. It's not like iTunes killed CDs, they still make them and you can still buy them.

[GrandTheftZamboni]

I didn't know I was playing analog games. Damn, they still look good.

[paddystan]

Since I got a gaming PC and a bigger HDD, I have bought and pre-ordered all my games from Steam. Last game I purchased from a retailer wfor my PC was Crysis 2 in March.

But, of course, I buy all my PS3, X360 and Wii games at a retailer. :)

[2pacalypsenow]

well yesturday my internet went down for 2 hours and couldnt play any of my games..... So hope not

[hellvaguy]

Digital also means yur able to download onto yur hard drive. So if internet does go down for a few hours, u won't have to worry about being emotionally scared forever.

[2pacalypsenow]

I still have my Ps1 Game CD's from 1997 in mint condition

[--Onilink--]

i think the biggest problem besides internet speed on some countries, is that console manufactures for all the talk they could make of going digital, dont really support what they say when it comes to hardware. It took 4 years for the PS3 and 360 to have consoles with 250gb, which is still nothing when you think about how cheap HDDs are right now. Nintendo doesnt even seem interested in adding HDDs to their consoles, but i hope they reconsider that position for WiiU.
And the latest consoles, the 3DS comes with just 1GB SD card and Vita doesnt have any memory at all, and you would need to pay $100 for just 32gb or around $85 for a 64gb SD card for the 3DS.

At this rate, it doesnt really make sense to think we are going all digital any time soon.

[Ness-Psi]

I like the smell of brand new game cases too much to give it up.

[gcolley]

i dont want my only choice to be paying XBL or PSN prices. i want options

[Kasumi]

I prefer buying in stores, I like having boxset for my games. but I know we wont be going digital anytime soon there are still plenty of time.

[kingeo]

Yes if you like to pay 30-60 dollars for 0 and 1 which you can't hold and see, you may as well pirate them for FREE as it would be exactly the same content.
I always buy new physical games as I like to have my physical collection.If the games go digital only then why I will pay for something which I can get for free using the other way?
And to all those people who think that the prices will go down when there will be digital only: You're very stupid-the digital games are very expensive NOW that physical with very low prices exists,you think that when there will be only digital and no other way for you to get the games(except for piracy),they will lower the prices?

[B1663r]

I am against the digital game movement. Bring back analog games! Real live pinball machines. The pneumatic gun range fps. And... Horses and planes and tanks that you ride in the front of the department store.

I have a soft spot for the all mechanical put money in and get a gumball games.

[theeg]

i'd buy more digital games on my consoles if they weren't such a huge freaking rip-off

pc games the deals are insane both digital and physical.

today on STEAM i picked up oddworld strangers wrath for $2.50, it looks better than many xbox360/ps3 games running in 1080p at a perfect 60 v-synced.

i got red faction armagedon for $7 and bulletstorm for $5

recenetly got sacred gold for $2.50, neverwinter nights 2 platium for $5, alien breed for $2.50, it's crazy

on xboxlive you can get halo reach for $30 and they act like thats a deal, i can get it on amazon used for $17.
the next gen consoles need to step it up both in pricing and graphics, the old $65 for a game and day one dlc aint working on people anymore, they are waiting for better prices. if they wanna compete, they need to step it up, pc digital gaming like steam, direct2drive, gamers gate are eating into the market big time, they gotta get competitive.

[PirateThom]

Actually, the digital services aren't affecting retail at all. The majority of games are still bought in store. Digitial is basically competing with digital and that's, really, PC only at the moment.