Boy, sucks to be your parents since you clearly don’t value their hard earned money.
About the “digital is the future” c%%p, if you didn’t notice xbox one IS a console and its maket has nothing in to do with pc market. MS is still paying a high price to listening to visionless people like you. Console gamers prefer discs and that fact ain’t gonna change anytime soon. Why should I care if the discs cost more? Physical and digital games are sold at the same price. Buying digital its a pretty dumb move.

LikeLike

“Boy, sucks to be your parents since you clearly don’t value their hard earned money”.
That’s the statement that hits the nail on the head isn’t it? Thinking like you is what will run the industry into a crash keeping the GameStops, that steal from developers and publishers with their ways just to appease to people that can’t afford gaming to begin with.
Xbox One is technically a PC in the guise of a console and he’s right. Xbox may be paying a high price for stupid misinformation, they’re still selling quite well. Buying digital only is the inevitable future and will stop the current trends of devaluation of the gaming industry.

LikeLike

Digital only is the future since 1970 and so are flying cars.
Somehow it never happened, might be because of a reason.

LikeLike

Oh, it’s happening alright. Digital sales are increasing more and more this generation. Like I said, people may not like it, but it’s inevitable.
Flying cars however, it’s just not practical with what engineers have come up with so far.

LikeLike

The fact that they increased doesn’t mean that they will kill physical. TV didn’t kill radio unlike “experts” like yourself said.

LikeLike

TV didn’t kill radio? REALLY? Hahaha. that’s a completely different story.

LikeLike

I know right, it sounds desperate because TV at the moment is struggling hard, especially the smaller networks and stations, because of the internet with streaming and on demand viewing taking away live viewer ratings by the minute.
He’s just one of those people clinging onto the past that’s going away.

LikeLike

Yeah, the same thing happened on PC with Steam and that all turned out great, so I just laugh about stuff like this.

LikeLike

It’s hilarious isn’t it, people trying to fight the inevitable? Let them try, download exclusives are showing up more and more too and at some point they’ll just be SOL.

LikeLike

some of us are still trying to fight steam
we don’t want drm

LikeLike

Well good luck, a digital games industry without DRM doesn’t exist and never will.

LikeLike

its called gog

LikeLike

Yeah good OLD games. It will never exist with new games as developers will never get their money for the hard work they’ve been doing because their work will be pirated day one.

LikeLike

has been new games on the site and witcher 3 is on the site as well

LikeLike

Well let’s see how that version turns out to be the pirated one on the torrents on the first day. I know CDPR likes to be the exception to the rule and is anti DRM, but at some point they will notice it in their wallet.

LikeLike

No. Whats killing this industry is arrogance and incompetence. Not hearing what the consumer wants (like our friend Don Mattrik) and not respecting its consumer releasing low quality and unfinished products in a highly competitive market is a suicidal strategy. Used car saleman didn’t killed the automotive industry so gamestops can’t do that with gaming too. Every industry in the story of the mankind survived used market and the gaming industry is no different. Besides the proper ownership, and the right to resell is a value included in ANY product price tag, and the consumer wont and shouldn’t give it up for free. Steam prove it selling the games at a MUCH lower price point. They are succesfull because they realised that their product (digital games) worth much less. And that is a fact.

LikeLike

Exactly, but that’s because the PC essentially has no more gaming retail to make a fuss about it. The sale of retail games on the PC is DEAD, has been for quite some time. Even copies you buy in stores now are tied to online platforms. It is essentially digital only with the disk being nothing more than a data carrier.

LikeLike

PC is a part of gaming, but a very different part. Pc gamers are VERY diferent from console gamers. That changes everything.

LikeLike

No they aren’t, we’re ALL gamers.

LikeLike

Yeah good point… we are all people too right?
Nice talking to you!
LOL

LikeLike

It’s funny that people segregate that to try to make a point, pretty sad actually. Most people I know are at the point of selling consoles and going back to PC, simply because PCs aren’t the hassle to use that they used to be anymore. Microsoft especially has done a brilliant job in making that happen with their controller drivers and APIs and with Xbox integration too.

LikeLike

WIth 4 consoles(360/ps3/ps4/One) that I actively game on, I feel qualified to disagree with you. I hate having to get from my comfy couch and walk 10 feet to the console to insert a disk, or having so use space to store disks, or to try and repair a scratched disk. The only reason I buy disks is because you can get them cheap off of craigslist.

And I’ve event stopped doing that because there have been so many sales of good games in digital format, I now have more games that will be able to finish in the foreseeable future. In addition, the used disk market has dried up in my area because users have moved to digital download format for their games.

Does that mean no one likes disk based games? Not in the least. Are the indications all over the place of it’s demise? Undeniably.

Will game disks still be around in 5 years? Yes, but just barely. They’ll limp along for a while longer.

LikeLike

test

LikeLike

Well, I started gaming back in the atari 2600 era. After that I moved to master system, mega drive (genesis in the US) and then became a PC gamer. I just came back to console gaming with the original xbox in 2005 which became 90% of my gaming time. 2006 xbox 360 and 2013 xbox one. I still own and play every console (except atari) and games (including pc) I bought down that road. You won’t be able to do that with your consoles because you buy digital. One fact is only physical games can last. Hard drives fails and sooner or later you will loose all your digital games. Digital games depends on servers witch won’t be up much time loger (in the 360’s case), and soon enough that will happen with current gen too. Button line is that you can’t own a digital game, simply because all control is on the server, so the publisher owns it, not you. You can’t also lend or sell the game. Don’t get. me wrong, I own 104 xbox 360 discs and tons on every platform I own. I don’t sell my games, but the ability to do whatever I want with MY game IS value. Steam is one of the only that get digital pricing right. I wouldn’t mind to pay $6 or $10 on a $60 game like steam users do, but paying full price on digital is simply dumb because it doesn’t delivers the same value to the user and cost a lot less to the seller. It just makes no sence.Another thing is that I really hate to browse a digital galery to choose which game I’ll play, brousing physicl boxes is much better. But thats just me.

LikeLike

No there is another VERY good reason for discs to continue in the market – slow internet and bandwidth caps. Until Internet providers upgrade their infrastructure and remove bandwidth caps, there will still be a big demand for physical discs. That has been the main reason I have been selective about which titles I buy digitally (and when for that matter, as to not exceed my bandwidth limit). and which ones I get on disc.

If I could get better internet service (both speed and bandwidth), then my digital collection would be much greater and discs would be fewer. I am sure there are MANY others of the same mind.

LikeLike

Physical media is definitely on it’s way out. Though it may stick around for a while to service a niche market. We have cars, but there are still horses around, for example. People still ride the train as well.

I’d say that physical media ( who remembers compact disks for music? ) will still be around in 5 years, but you’ll have to special order it to get a game or w/e on it.

LikeLike

I’m counting on that! Won’t be easy to put my hands in one but I wont give up without a fight.

LikeLike

Good luck with that, people that are trying to clutch onto retail are fighting a losing battle. Even the retail chains know that, that’s why stores like GameStop are coming up with ridiculous plans to stay in business.

LikeLike

We are? Interesting… Do you remember what happened with xbox one before it launch? Thats a pretty clear mensage to me and I would hear it if I worked in this industry…

LikeLike

Hahaha, as if anything is any better now. I completely understand why MS (and there is no doubt in my mind that there were many developers and publishers behind it too) was trying to control the thieving tactics of retail stores. Watching so many chains go down in the last 5 years, things haven’t changed for the better and it’s going to get worse for retail soon enough.

LikeLike

“Thieving tactics”, what like DLC and season passes?

New Batman coming out, it costs $99 to have the complete game.

LikeLike

You think $60 30 years ago is worth the same $60 now?

LikeLike

Don’t talk to me about inflation when America is part of the problem.

Americans claim to have the biggest gamers in the world yet continue to pay $60 for so many years now, while the rest of the world has realized games have to go up a little.

Most of the world is paying almost double of what America pays. UK prices have gone up £15. Yet America sticks with $60 when it clearly should have risen to $80 years ago.

Maybe if American gamers paid that extra $20 a game, publishers wouldn’t try ham fist us with DLC and season passes, because the biggest share in games are paying that bit extra.

LikeLike

Well, wouldn’t you think that maybe the industry deserves to crash?

LikeLike

Maybe it does, I’ve seen boogie2988 say that it’s coming for quite some time too, but even if the industry does crash, it will still go digital because of practicality, maybe even faster and it will definitely cut out the middle men like the publishers.
Like I said before, in the end the only ones left standing will be the content providers and the platform holders.

LikeLike

Yea it’s does deserve to crash. Releasing unfinished broken games, which are lacking in content which have been sold to us at marked up prices as DLC and season passes.

Publishers / counties making people pay double of what other counties are paying which have nothing to do with taxes or the exchange rate. ( Don’t I look stupid for nearly paying £500 for a X1 day one when it’s now £299 barley two years out )

Copy and pasting 99% of games instead of at least trying a new IP. Got to spend money to make money.

All those and other things which have added up make me remember ET and the shovelware we got which caused the first crash.

LikeLike

Sony’s doing the exact same thing, if not worse because they lied and overhyped about so many things and had many, many people fall for it.
I know it’s hard but it’s the entire industry moving in this direction (and god forbid streaming like that terrible PSNow).

LikeLike

I’m sure Microsoft is going to launch their own alternative this E3, I’ve seen things about Project Arcadia floating around. At least it will be better than PSNow because it will use Azure, but I’m holding off on using that for quite a while.
I’ll still mostly stick with PC as it’s the superior gaming platform anyway.

LikeLike

Like I said they’ll do whatever we accept. It is in the hands of whoever holds the money and thats allways us, consumers! I won’t accept all digital and certanlly won’t accept streaming, so I’ll vote with my wallet and I have no doubt that someone will want my money and will do it right. Otherwise I’ll just sit and look this industry crash and burn again.

LikeLike

GOOD LUCK! When there’s no more retail left, you’ll have no other choice. Just watch it burn then and don’t enjoy any games in the meantime.

LikeLike

If that’s the case I will.
But not without gaming. I alredy have plenty of games to replay since I allways buy physical.

LikeLike

Id blame your VAT and the fact if your in the UK your currency is worth less up against the US Dollar. Add to that the fact that businesses will usually charge as much as what the market will bear and that differs region to region. Want to pay less???? Stop paying more.. supply and demand.

LikeLike

In fact todays $60 is worth a lot more!
30 years ago games where made to sell 100000 copies, today they are done to sell 5000000 copies.

LikeLike

NO, it’s the opposite. The $60 you had 30 years ago is worth much less, what you state is because of industry devaluation.

LikeLike

Wow, I can’t believe he actually said that.

LikeLike

No. This industry is MUCH bigger now that it was 30 years ago. It revenue and profit (and thats what really matters) is MUCH bigger now that it was then no matter how you update the value (inflation…). So the $60 *5000000 from now its much bigger then the $60 * 100000 from before.

LikeLike

Unfortunately that isn’t the case because of products losing their value so much faster than they did back then. That’s what you get when you come with things like PSN+ ripping off developers and smartphone toilet game prices. Nice try though.

LikeLike

Only a losing battle because publishers are pushing it onto people.

I hate digital, I don’t see any value in digital and I won’t be going full digital.
If publishers make me go full digital then I’ll only pick up games I feel are really worth the price tag which might only be one game a year.

LikeLike

Like I said, good luck. There isn’t a platform out there that isn’t doing the same and maybe that is what you should be doing now as well.

LikeLike

Agreed, and THAT’s what can kill an industry. Not respecting its consumer is really dumb strategy!

LikeLike

Well if that’s how you both feel, go and talk to Activision.

LikeLike

I’m talking to activision about that! This is a highly competitive industry so I’m talking to activision with my wallet. If they don’t hear me, someone else does!

LikeLike

Well like he said: “Good luck”. Let’s see how many people will buy this game digitally versus retail.

LikeLike

Until Internet infrastructure is improved and bandwidth caps removed, there will be no victory for an all digital platform, especially with 40+ GB size of many games nowadays. And with US IP providers fighting the FCC about upgrading their networks, we won’t see this happen for a while.

The battle is far from over.

LikeLike

Do you seriously believe that?
You know PC is basically all digital now with Steam the lead platform accepted by millions of users?
And you also know the Xbox One was originally planned to be an all digital platform?
Right, right?
It’s so obvious that physical media is going away. Places like HMV are closing down, game stores and cinemas will be closing down a lot in future as digital becomes more and more prevalent. Music, movies, games … it’s all going digital.
This is probably the last console generation with physical discs.

Every game indie and AAA is downloadable now … people are warming to it and it’s coming, even on console. Look around man!

LikeLike

Yes, I believe the FACTS.

Much of what you state is true, no arguing that. But with IP providers in the US fighting tooth and nail against the FCC regarding upgrading their infrastructure and changing their policies regarding bandwidth caps and throttling the digital future is not coming as soon as you think – nor should it until these issues are taken care of.

Yes the Xbox One was at one point considered to be a completely digital format. But guess what? Microsoft actually thought better of that idea because:

a) a large portion of the gaming community would not support this for various reasons, which would have resulted in a larger backlash than what we saw at the reveal. Remember how well the PSP Go went over?

b) The internet infrastructure (at least in the US) is not ready for an all digital platform, especially with the size of many games now. The IP providers are more interested in protecting their insane profits than investing in improving their networks and service to their customers.

We are headed that way, but it will not come as soon as you think, at least not until something is done regarding internet infrastructure, improving service, and removal of bandwidth caps and throttling. Once the threat of Google Fiber is more widespread, we might actually see the other IP providers do something to improve their networks and service. But until then, they are going to do nothing and let the profits roll in and hold back the digital future you envision.

LikeLike

Of course it’s not over yet, but we’re getting there and a faster pace too.

LikeLike

But we would be getting there a WHOLE lot faster if IP providers were not protecting their insane profit margin instead of investing in upgrading their infrastructure and service. This will be the biggest hurdle going forward and the only thing that seems to be pushing IP providers is the threat of Google Fiber, which unfortunately isn’t coming to enough areas fast enough to make significant change.

LikeLike

Took me about 3 hours to download on my 100mbps line yesterday and even though I have unlimited data my ISP isn’t going to love 40GB downloads every month.

Specially when windows 8 is telling me I’ve used 238.09GB of data on my wifi in 60days.

I’m lucky, I get decent speeds with unlimited data and I don’t pay through my nose for it. Most of the world have very poor internet.

LikeLike

It’s not. You can pick it up on physical disk on May 15th. ( At least in the UK )

LikeLike

Well I saw it wasn’t available in the US, so it must be for the UK only. There was another title that was like that, I can’t remember what it was off the top of my head.

LikeLike

Yeah I think we had the exact same conversation too. I don’t remember the game either.

LikeLike

I want to say it was Plants vs Zombies: Garden Warfare, but I just can’t remember.

LikeLike

I looked at my comments and it appears to have been for Zombie Army trilogy.

I was comparing digital to physical price and you said UK get it on disk then and wonder why Canada didn’t.

LikeLike

That could be another example, but not the one I was thinking of though. It was an earlier title that I saw on Amazon which had a price higher than the digital, then when I looked it up saw it was changed to UK only (I bookmarked it when announced, then it appeared to change to a UK release with no more US release on disc – and the sellers wanted $10-$15 more for the disc!). So I think the other one was PvZ:GW.

LikeLike

Think you missed it a few weeks ago, The only game I had on physical was The New Order and Watchdogs,

LikeLike