gaming Buying and collecting games: Digital downloads or physical copies?

[Typhoid Libby 1,265]

-snip for space save-

 

Profit is there even if the company is not.

IP's get moved around, and even more, the right to "sell" them.

(Proper term is "distribute" and if the company is bankrupt, distributor get's all lé profit.)

Point being, no matter what is the creators legal standing, as long as there is someone with the right to distribute, games will have a profit margin. Quite a large one as the distributor is not responsible for the deficit of the developer.

Game will sell even without the dev, but not without the distributor.

 

X-Com IP was the propriety of the MicroProse until 2007, when the company was dissolved and the relevant IP's sold to the highest bidder.(Still hazy on the legal owner of the actual X-Com IP, either Infrogames or IGG.)

But Steam acquired the right to distribute X-Com as one of it's first games and has been making steady profit on it since, over three changes in developer IP.

It's not the IP that counts for old games, it's the right to distribute, and that cost is pretty much non-existent.

Publishers and developers are the minimal factor in that.

Steam will be profiting out of Amalur for years if it does become a high-seller.

 

Self space is not the only limiter, so is the saleability, X-Com is not very sellable as it stands, but makes a very good item to stock as all copies will be sold, label price being 15£/$/€ for both EU and TftD.

What limits this particular game on the physical market is the accessibility, none of the bulk stores/retailers stock it.

And chain stores will only stock certain items. I.E, those that sell. That does not include huge variety as each retailer in chain is to assumed to have only a limited amount of self space, including used games and paraphelia.

Chains simply will not stock old games because of profit margin and non-existent support.

Were the old games to be available as "re-packs" in the format of compact SSD units, chains would, I assume, stock them again.

Better even if those said SSD would include (As a matter of necessity), an emulator and support for modern systems.

Then all chains would, I presume, jump on the change to stock old games again.

 

And I must point out here that all modern games have included and will, to the foreseeable future, include physical copies as part of their sales/manufacturing cost that is counted to be part developing expenses.

Repacking old games to an equivalent of an USB drive is an non-existent cost prohibiter in that regard.

Especially if a distributor were to strike a advert deal with the manufacturer of the said SSD devices, splash-screen at boot up would negate all the deficit for this.

And since the distributor is the one holding, for all intents and purposes, the IP at this stage, he may even make bundled copies of assortment of games, lowering the costs even further for physical copies.

(The production costs for a single copy of an modern AAA FPS being 0.15 USD, one would imagine the costs would be even lower for SSD devices as it requires far less sensitive equipment with fewer moving parts once assembly line has been established. Never mind the assembly line being more fail-proof and easier to configure.)

 

Digital has it's bonuses, but so does physical.

In case of physical, there is only the initial workability of the product to worry, digital requires far more in the matter of support as it must work from here to eternity.

"Just a proper Emulator" is not as simple as it seems in that regard. While as those SSD units could be configured to work with only certain systems, digital needs to be configured to work with at least ten different OS's in the start up.

[yehaaa6 60]

as I have almost 100 games on steam, and barely over 10 physical copies for my PS3, I'd have to say digital. while I don't mind having the disc, the possibility of it getting ruined/scratched, and the fact that I never have to find my TF2 disc or whatever game I'm playing at the moment, makes digital, or more particularly, steam, very useful. now Origin, it can go fuck itself. having to access games through a webpage is for the birds. (BF3, I'm looking at you). also, Mass Effect 3 is not on steam because of EA's bullshit. I may never legitimately obtain it for PC because of this.

[Espelancer 108]

I personally prefer owning the physical copy of the games I buy. In fact, I place more value in the box and instruction manual than the game itself, and I will gladly pay extra for special editions of games. The reason is because I very much enjoy being able to show off my collection, which is honestly not as impressive if you are showing someone an online library.

 

The big issue I have with physical copies vs digital downloads are that both copies will cost exactly the same. It is in the developer's best interests to sell the consumer a digital download because they forgo the cost of actually producing a cartridge. Now, the costs of producing the physical game itself has gone down considerably over time, however I dislike the fact that the two mediums should cost the same.

 

The developer's further increase their profit margin by limiting or eliminating used game resells as well, of which they never see profits off of. Since digital downloads cannot be sold or transferred to another person without selling the account or console itself, it forces the consumer to buy the game at the "new" price and download it themselves.

[Tuxedo Kamen! 114]

But......

But......

Ah like meh hard copies.....

 

 

Gaming is huge, when I had started out with my Playstation it was unique. Gaming was nerdy and unpopular at a certain point. As the Industry grew, I distanced myself from it. I still prize my collection like Spike to precious gems, but honestly I am losing my interest in that world. With the emergence of Download only titles, I am only more turned off to it. I wish I could say that I was the only one, but I can't. The classic gamer is going extinct because of the new tech. But It seems like the newer generation is more apt to the convenience then to the experience. I know people who buy a game, beat it overnight, and sell it the next morning. Maybe it's just my Luddite approach to this but I Think That DLC Is For The Birds, And Download Exclusive Games Are Killing The Industry. But I understand that I live in the real world and that I can not change the fact that internet gaming is the future. And yes when the cloud dies, ya'll can come to my house and play my antique games.

 

 

Ironically, I really hope to Celestia that I am wrong.

[BlueBomber 17]

I'd say to really only get physical copies if you want to collect them or want to have your games safe, as in a case of corrupted data. If you're not into collecting, or you just want to start up your system and play a game, go with digital versions.

 

I personally prefer physical copies, however.