Eagle-eyed community members might have noticed that like many forms of media, physical products are slowly on the way out. Websites such as Netflix and platforms like the Xbox Live Video Marketplace allow you to stream or download movies across the internet direct to you, without the need for any DVDs. In music, CD singles are slowly disappearing from shelves; the UK high-street chain Woolworths recently announced its plans to phase out singles altogether, despite selling an arguably-profitable one in three of them in the country. Other stores such as zavvi and HMV have cut down on the quantity of physical CDs they sell on the shop floor, launching their own digital download services to compete with the likes of iTunes and Napster.
What’s on the way out next then? Games? Speculation awaits through the link below…
Digital distribution for games also seems to be on the rise, following the trends set already by audio and video media. No longer seen as a method of distributing lower-budget ‘mini’-games such as Geometry Wars or PAIN, both excellent, playable games but admittedly low on replay value, the current in-thing seems to be deploying new full games over the internet. Sony, Microsoft and Nintendo are all having a go; the PlayStation Store offers up Warhawk and Gran Turismo 5 Prologue as downloads alongside the Blu-ray versions, the Marketplace coughs up fully-fledged Xbox Originals games such as Halo and Nintendo has seen fit to include specially developed WiiWare titles alongside the repertoire of Virtual Console games, including an utterly huge brand new Dragon Quest.
As much as the console giants are giving digitally distributed content a shot, their efforts are nothing compared to those by Valve with their Steam system. Originally only existing as an optional download to streamline patch delivery, Steam has evolved at a rapid rate, offering complete games from Portal to Peggle for download and near-immediate play, provided your internet connection is up to scratch. Pre-ordered games can even be downloaded early so they’re ready to be played the moment the clock ticks onto their release date. Steam has undoubtedly become the benchmark for digital distribution, so it’s with little surprise that Valve’s president, Gabe Newell, has revealed that he’s expecting the income from games sold on Steam to overtake that from physical media in the next few months.
This revelation came at around the same time as the announcement of Steam Cloud, a remote storage system which will allow users to upload game save data, control configurations and even screenshots and videos from supported games to Valve’s own servers to download on another computer. This means that using Steam you can go to a friend’s house, download Team Fortress 2 onto their PC along with your control preferences and play away as if on your own computer, with no need to fuss over any options screens. This also means a lot of convenience if you’re upgrading your computer or buying a new one. Newell claimed that these features will make digitally-distributed copies of games more permanent, rather than less; it’s almost as permanent as a bunch of discs and an install key.
With features such as this coming on board on Steam and similar features being pimped by the console manufacturers (Sony allowing you to re-download files onto four other PS3 systems as well as your own), could this be the beginning of the end of physical media? The signs are all in place as more and more products are offered up digitally, with Valve also hinting at offering non-gaming video content and Sony’s digital movie store all but confirmed, so it’s apparent that a move to digital distribution is on the horizon. It saves money on printing manuals & box art as well as producing the physical discs and cases, and it means a relatively instant alternative to ordering a game on the internet or wandering down to Gamestop and picking it up for yourself.
Unfortunately, that’s where I worry. For me, half of the experience of buying a brand new game is being able to stroll into your local games shop, picking it up off of the shelf and being able to hold the game in your hands. There’s that excitement of wanting to get home as soon as you’ve got it bagged and paid for, sitting on the train or in the car eagerly reading and re-reading the back of the box to while away the time until you can get home. Then, as soon as you’re home and in front of your console, there’s that awesome anticipation of unfurling the factory-sealed plastic wrap taking in that ‘new game’ smell from the case.
That will all cease to exist if we’re able to get hold of Gears of War 3: THE COLE TRAIN IS SMOOTHER THAN EVER, BABY! and the corresponding electronic manual without even having to leave the sofa. I’d really rather that didn’t happen, because to me nothing beats being able to physically hold a game and stick it in the console for yourself. Convenience is one thing, but tradition is another; I know which one I’d favour.
Source: Digital overtaking retail for Valve – GamesIndustry.biz
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i share your concern.. its impressive when you see someone who has a good collection of games on disc; you know that they went through some effort for each of those games. .. oh well if digital distribution does ever take over i hope they eliminate the download limit that some isp’s impose on their customers, i’d hate to pass my feeble 20G DL limit every month
I doubt we’ll be saying goodbye forever to a physical product and use digital downloads instead any time soon. These big companies like blockbuster would fight every step of the way to keep in in a plastic case. And if your as broke as me then what’s gonna happen to all pre-owned game purchases? It’ll happen, but it’ll be very very VERY gradual.
I agree with your point about wanting to get home and play the game etc, but that is such a small point when you look from the companies’ point of view. They won’t stand for tradition, but profits and cutting expenses.
Until everyone has much faster internet though, I do not think it will become mainstream for all games.
20 G limit! damn, that sucks.
You make a great point about digital game distribution cutting away at costs for printing boxes, discs, and manuals.
So uh…Why the hell does a new game on Steam still cost the exact same retail price? You’d think there would be some savings present.
One main worry I forgot to mention in the article but should’ve is that the internet is essentially too old fashioned to work under heavy strain in some parts of the world.
In the UK, most broadband is provided through ADSL, which transmits data through phone lines. This can work to about 16Mbps maximum (or 2MBps) although it’s very rarely that this can happen. Most service providers in the UK work on the copper wires and only one company operates using super-fast fibre optic wires (generally referred to as ‘cable broadband’). This means that the strain on the copper wire network is huge and as a result everyone’s speed slows to a crawl.
With the rise of digital distribution of music, films, TV (example: the BBC iPlayer) and games, the network is expected to surpass the maximum capacity and may well crash under the strain. British Telecom (the folk responsible for most copper wire networks) are currently preparing to roll out better networks to stop this happening, but this will take years to complete.
I would hate physical media to leave. I much prefer music to be on a CD than on a hard drive. And if games went to downloads only, what would happen to stores like Gamecrazy and Gamestop? And what if you wanted to sell a game you bought because you didn’t like it? And what about game collecting? There would never be another Panzer Dragoon Saga because the supplies would be unlimited. And what would people with cruddy internet do when they wanted a game that was 5 gigabytes?
HA! but sarcastic gamer said how poo the game boxes are getting these days, like the Grid box, maybe they’re hinting? hmmm? You dont need them outdated boxey things anymore…..
I think is far from over. Not only you will require a good broadband internet connection (only available in few countries) but also users will have to deal with different service companies with their respective restrictions (rental/returns/expiration fees, not able to share it, etc). And the most important thing, people will need to get used of the idea of paying for something digital instead of having a “phisical” thing. Believe it or not, it is a HUGE roadblock. Not everyone is a geek like us
I think perhaps that downloads and physical storage can go hand in hand. With so many downloads, you’re going to run out of storage space eventually…
Game stores could have some ultra-high capacity super-futuistic storage device, perhaps similar to the cartridges used in portable gaming.
A futuristic CD-R, if you will.
You walk into a store, grab 50 “cartridges”, download a game to each one, mark it with the game’s name… and *Boom!*, both sides are happy.
Well, one thing this would do is kill used game sales. Can’t sell digital files, you know. As to why games on Steam cost as much as retail, I think it’s because if Steam games were cheaper, stores would boycott Valve (and other games on Steam), and refuse to sell them. That would probably *kill* their sales. You see it ALL the time on company webstores. They *never* give you a discount, except during sales. It’s almost always full MSRP.
Think of the huge profit Valve are turning over from Steam at selling games full price; some gamers might not question the lack of cost difference and pay up anyway. Valve are probably hoping this naivety (or merely an “I don’t care” attitude) pave the way for profits, as it definitely has so far.
@Booze Zombie: With terabyte drives selling now, I’m not sure we’ll run out of space any time soon.
I sorta like digital game buying and actively use Steam and the XBox live marketplace, but my main concern is that one day I won’t be able to play the game, such as the service going down or my licenses being revoked or something. Having a physical copy means that as long as I have a working system, I can play it.
I prefer the physical media since it doesn’t take up hard drive space and it’s what makes a console a console. Digital Downloads use remote license rights to make sure that you can play it… something which PC has been doing and seems to be picking up the pace to fight piracy.
I know that it’ll be hard to lose a license with these software’s “offline modes,” and if the service goes down then the offline will still work or the PC version will get hacked to work. However, I generally feel more ownership when I have a physical copy on a shelf.
I totally agree with this article. There really is nothing better than the moments prior to popping that shiny disk into your console for the first time. I think in the future, both will exist respectively to satisfy both types of consumers. As with previous comments mentioned, hard drive space would be an issue, let alone trading ga,es otherwise. I truly hope it doesn’t become a digital distribution only industry. the shift would be much too complicated.