Digital Distribution - Why physical media should stick around

So firstly I'm a fan of digital distribution, it is a great concept. Buy the product, download it then enjoy it. I'm set up just fine to use it, decent internet speed, reasonable storage etc.

So the question is why would I want discs? The answer is not for me for for a number of reasons that affect more people than we imagine.

1. Internet Access:
Whilst I have unlimited internet access, there are many people out there who can't get access to the internet - not because they can't afford it but due to the service providers dropping the ball. There are still places in the US that can't get decent speed internet. There are other countries that have similar problems. China, the largest internet community in the world, is still getting the nation "online". It takes time.

2. Bandwidth Caps:
Yup, now more and more tiered internet plans are surfacing. In some countries like Australia bandwidth caps are already prevalent. I look at my friends list online and people can't play online / download a game as they have "maxed out" their account, to break through this limitation they have to pay more. This new business model presents a definite barrier to Digital Distributions growth.

3. Storage Space:
Looking as this objectively, the most accessible gaming experiences come with paltry storage space. PS3 has 250GB, 360 has the same, alot of PCs (the ones most would be able to afford) are 250-500GB. Apple's devices max out at 64GB. This sounds like alot but with HD gaming destined to get more HD plus providing 3D options space will start to become a precious resource. If you are an avid iTunes user, you could fill your iPad up quite quickly especially as you can import your iTunes purchases from previous devices e.g. iPod, iPhone etc. For consoles some games are weighing in a 12GB+ for a DL. That's 5% of your space in one shot. Plus most consoles provide multiple entertainment DL options such as Movies, TV, Music etc. It gets quite easy to fill this space up.

4. Pre-Owned Games and the power of retail:
Yes, Pre-Owned is a touchy subject. The big guys - Sony, MS etc - hate it. You buy a game, trade it in at which point Mr. Retailer essentially sells the game for a 2nd time and the big guy sees none of this revenue. However the pre-owned marketplace is sizable and efficient-ish. If we switched to exclusive DD alot of people would buy alot less games that is for sure. Gaming is a luxury to many so if they can't use their games inventory as collateral for their next purchase they'll buy less often.

Also consider the power of retail network such as Walmart, GameStop and so on. Their relationships with the big boys would become very strained if Sony, MS etc essentially pulled their games on the shelf and made them available via the cloud. The issue then would become would these mass retail networks still want to sell the hardware? At first sure, but later on who knows?

There are probably more reasons to support this case but I think these 4 present a decent case for keeping physical media around - again I reiterate - I myself don't need physical media anymore but there are lots of us who do. So here's hoping that the entertainment world still keeps them in mind when looking at the services of tomorrow.

[dedicatedtogamers]

I have a fifth reason: customers still want physical retail. It's game companies - not an outcry of customers - who keep clamoring for digital distribution. Buying a PC game used to be a fantastic experience. You got a solid box, a nice manual with a ton of information and cool artwork, a jewel case (not a crappy paper sleeve), and often times you would get bonus items included with the standard game (you didn't have to buy some high-priced Collector's Edition) like a cloth map in Ultima or a keychain or something.

PC devs wonder why their games don't sell at retail? It's because the boxes are covered in ugly artwork, they're flimsy, and inside all you find is a two-page manual and your disc tucked into a paper sleeve. Booooring.

[SnipingPenguin]

PC games just don't sell as they used with pirating becoming easier and easier and the public is more aware of it.

[bozebo]

no, PC games are selling more than ever before. And that is all because of digital download and the record low price for gaming hardware. The big AAA titles sell worse on PC, but that is because they are usually console ports so deserve to get pirated for the crappy effort the devs/publisher put in (especially when the engine is multi plat already and is capable of providing a perfect PC experience if the dev bothered to use it's capabilities: ie, bioshock 1+2 and mass effect 1+2 are failures in this instance). Entire developer offices have been brought from the brink of closure to success from a single Steam sale in the past.

Also, piracy is infact getting harder and harder. If you want to play a pirated game you'd better wan't the virus/backdoor malware that comes embedded in it too.

[SnipingPenguin]

This is something that EA has already tackled. Now all games come with a code that allows online play, if the next owner wants to go online he must buy a new code for 10$. There EA just ensured themselves a peice of the pie whenever a game shifts hand using digital distribution.

But the days of the CDs are over. Publishers, developers, governments and the public knows this. More and more publishers are using websites to sell their products, the price for making the music drops and so does the final price that the customers pay for. Win-win.
Developers are even skipping publishers because this becomes so easy.
And many governments are working on ways to make dowwnloading legal, most of them don't work as all they want to do is charge us extra for internet.

But I like having something in my hands. I want to buy something, and I'd probablyr ather buy something in a large package. Ever bought a sim-card? The packaging is 20 times the size of the sim-card.

[news4geeks]

The day physical media dies is the day I'll finally be happy. I hate any physical media from books to CDs to games with a passion.

[DelbertGrady]

I'm with you. I didn't have any issues going from music CD's to Mp3's and I won't have any problem storing my games digitally either.

[Pandamobile]

There will always be room for both the digital and fading retail market. Eventually digital copies of games will start catching on on consoles just as they have on PC in the last couple years because more and more publishers will start pushing for digital sales vs retail sales because of the HUGE leap in profit margins.

[theonlylolking]

Physical FTW!

[Oldsnake007]

you forgot the obvious one: Renting. without physical copies there would be no renting games.

[Godmars290]

Though an online rental service is possible. All that's needed is a timed access key. A service similar to Onlive.

[kyl277]

Why bother renting if you get steam sales, I got every GTA game bar 4 for £5 on steam. Same price as a rental but I got 5 games I can keep for life rather than renting 1 for a week.

[s45gr32]

Physical meh!!!! STEAM has proven time and time again the beauty and success of digital distribution. You can have DSL at 1.5 mbps and still buy, gift, and participate on all the STEAM deals, summer and winter sale. No cd keys, or DRM to deal with. The physical media days are numbered and fading rather quickly. There is plenty of service providers willing to charge customers $15.00 a month for the internet service provider. Storage space seriously you can put a one to two terabyte on the PS3 due to the fact it uses the same Hard Drive as your typical PC... I'm done digital distribution is the future and is coming faster than people think.

[jke82]

you cant go up that high on ps3 hard drives somewhere between a 1tb-1.5tb hdd they have to increase the thickness of the drive by a bit, doesnt matter for PCs but matters when you have a specific spot with out extra wiggle room in a ps3....

[jjohan35]

You guys who rave about digital distribution apparently haven't been reading the news about PSN being shut down for at least two days...

At least I can still drive to blockbuster and rent games while PSN is still down.

[kyl277]

When steam goes under maintenance I can still play all of my games with no issue and steam doesn't piss off hackers.

[jjohan35]

You can't rent new games when steam goes under maintenance. But you can still rent new games with physical media.

[s45gr32]

That's Sony's fault but Valve and the guys at Onlive have proven that it can be done.

[RoninRaven]

Physical for me. I like having a dedicated shelf for my games next to my books and movies.

[kyl277]

Digital for me, I doubt I would have the physical space to hold the 150+ games I have bought on steam over the past year. I DO have the hard drive space though, 1.5TB to be exact.

[cpt_kaos]

Physical for me one reason would be dip shits like Anonymous on one of there crusades to save us the consumer by hacking and bringing down distribution networks for there own self serving interests.

So as long as pricks like them exist physical will always have a place with the consumer.

[bozebo]

How can people only afford 500GB in a PC? Fast 1TB drives are only about £40 now. Stop buying from crappy high street retailers unless you enjoy getting thoroughly ripped off.

But anyway. I like physical for big release games (like the witcher 2, skyrim and bf3) but theres a whole load of other games that I would really rather just download: like indie games and small developer games. The only reason it's possible for indie devs and small devs to stay in business is because of the digital download market - and they are the people who will bring the next range of talent to the industry. Rather than games being made by companies who only want money and don't care about actually making fantastic games. If they are able to release games from their own site then they don't need to adhere to publishers' demands (who ruin fantastic franchises regularly and ditch them into the bins of gaming history - never to emerge again)

I can see how the internet connection issues come into play. But how about we solve that problem rather than avoid it? ISPs have NO right to limit people's bandwidth at all. The server admins already pay for that bandwidth, why should it be paid for twice? In the end - the running costs narrow down to the same physical network operators from both sides (service user at home and digital content provider running the servers).

[unicronic]

@bozebo,

Solving the problem is something most ISP's aren't interested in when it comes to developed countries. For developing / emerging nations we just have to wait for the internet to spread. In countries like US/UK, areas that can't get high speed connections now are unlikely to get them anytime soon.

For bandwidth limits/caps, you are right about the ISP's having no right but still they do. They offer tiered connections, once you exceed certain amount of usage you get restricted. In the early days on ISP's you would pay a monthly fee just to be connected online and then pay per minute to your telephone operator. Now the low quality high cost model is dead, but ISP's want to bring it back as fast as they can.