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Digital games feel like a scam (sometimes)
- Thread starter baron doggystyle von woof
- Start date
Every day that I come to Era and see a thread where someone doesn't know the meaning of the word they use to make their point, I slowly lose more and more braincells.
Digital games are not a scam just because you can't sell them back or cost the same as the physical copy. That's nonsense.
Digital games are not a scam just because you can't sell them back or cost the same as the physical copy. That's nonsense.
When I was broke, reselling my games was vital to allowing me to play more than a couple of games a year.
Now I just give them to friends or the kids hospital. Having to just delete it when I'm done feels awful.
A digital version of a game is disposable for me so it needs to be at a disposable price like 20ish tops.
Now I just give them to friends or the kids hospital. Having to just delete it when I'm done feels awful.
A digital version of a game is disposable for me so it needs to be at a disposable price like 20ish tops.
Scam is exaggerating.
I admit that I don't buy N games in Digital for some reasons, and one of these is the prices higher or the same as the physical even when discounted...
Sure it's quite ridicolous that on day one digital cost the same as physical it just doesnt make any sense...
but that said, digital is a bless and can just get better (well can also get worse, but lets hope not.)
I admit that I don't buy N games in Digital for some reasons, and one of these is the prices higher or the same as the physical even when discounted...
Sure it's quite ridicolous that on day one digital cost the same as physical it just doesnt make any sense...
but that said, digital is a bless and can just get better (well can also get worse, but lets hope not.)
I love them for the convenience and the fact that it doesn't take up physical space in my home, but with consoles--mainly Sony and Nintendo ones, I worry a lot about BC access in future console iterations.
Misunderstood what you said. Yes you can have both Switches online (I know because I play shared online multiplayer games this way with my daughter).
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Wait what? You feel digital games, specially Nintendos, are a scam because you paid full price?
Do the developers owe you a discount day one?
Don't you get rewards coins that translate to real money off from future purchases if you buy digital?
Don't you get double points for buying Nintendo games?
I think this is a shitty entitled attitude disguised as concern.
Do the developers owe you a discount day one?
Don't you get rewards coins that translate to real money off from future purchases if you buy digital?
Don't you get double points for buying Nintendo games?
I think this is a shitty entitled attitude disguised as concern.
You can have both Switches online playing the game at once, just like PS4 and XB1.
People got confused because you can't have two of the same account online at once, but if you use a different account on the primary Switch it's not a problem.
If publishers could destroy the reselling aftermarket, they would. That being the case, it's not surprising they do not cater to such conveniences as it leads to less money in their pockets. As far as they are concerned, they offer one game in two different formats. Pricing shouldn't be affected.
Yup. You get 5% back on all eshop games (and many times 10% back when preordering Nintendo published games)
Plus with credit card rewards...it's really not bad going digital.
So it wasn't great, huh? Then that mean within time Nintendo may become reasonable with their download discounts on eshop, though the pricing comes down to the third parties who list their games.
I think it'll feel less bad when next-gen consoles come with full backwards compatibility. It would suck if you go all digital and they're not supported on next-gen consoles. I don't think this will be the case though.
And I don't think we'll ever see the cost of digital games be less than physical on day 1. Retail has been the reason for price parity - they reason why stock the game if it costs less on the digital marketplace? But we keep seeing the rising costs of game development and publishers looking for more ways to monetize their games, so I think it's a safe bet that digital games will still cost at least $60 day 1 even after brick and mortar retail shops stop being relevant for game sales.
I think console manufacturers need to bring the benefits of physical to digital. For example, what if you could pay a monthly fee to rent any game on the Xbox Live/PSN store. There would of course need to be limitations put in place (e.g. timed rentals, not being able to rent more than X number of games in one month, etc.). Also, they need to allow users to transfer ownership of games to other people. That's the main problem with digital...you don't really own the game. You own a license to play it. Microsoft/Sony/Nintendo could lead in this area by declaring that you own the games you purchase and are authorized to transfer ownership to someone else if you choose to do so.
And I don't think we'll ever see the cost of digital games be less than physical on day 1. Retail has been the reason for price parity - they reason why stock the game if it costs less on the digital marketplace? But we keep seeing the rising costs of game development and publishers looking for more ways to monetize their games, so I think it's a safe bet that digital games will still cost at least $60 day 1 even after brick and mortar retail shops stop being relevant for game sales.
I think console manufacturers need to bring the benefits of physical to digital. For example, what if you could pay a monthly fee to rent any game on the Xbox Live/PSN store. There would of course need to be limitations put in place (e.g. timed rentals, not being able to rent more than X number of games in one month, etc.). Also, they need to allow users to transfer ownership of games to other people. That's the main problem with digital...you don't really own the game. You own a license to play it. Microsoft/Sony/Nintendo could lead in this area by declaring that you own the games you purchase and are authorized to transfer ownership to someone else if you choose to do so.
The ability to sell physical games is absolutely worthless to me as I've never sold any of my games (and I don't think I ever will). On the other hand, the convenience of having everything available without having to change carts on Switch is definitely worth it to me.
uh, Nintendo has been selling digital games for nearly as long. My entire Wii U library is digital.
...and it's not just down to third parties, many of them are making progress. Nintendo's first party pricing continues to be downright offensive.
I decided to go digital for only Nintendo, actually. The thing is, with GCU dead and Prime crippled (for video game discounts), 5-10% cashback on new games + finding cheaper eshop cards is actually cheaper than physical.
Not sure if you are aware but there are lots of sales in the eShop for a ton of games. Mostly 3rd party but even some Nintendonone show up.
Even then all games gice out the reward coins which translate to real money. And all Nintendo 1st party games have gicen double coins gor preordering.
It is already there.
So it is offensive to offer games at the agreed upon retail price?
So it is offensive to offer cash back rewards on all those purchases sometimes even doubling the amount if you preorder?
That's a it too much.
OP
OP
I already said scam is the wrong word. Perhaps feeling ripped off is the beter saying.
I buy so few digital games because I feel like it's making a gamble. If the game is good and I enjoy it then awesome, money well spent.
But if it ends up not being my cup o' tea then my money is just gone for nothing.
With a physical game at least I can sell/trade/give away/donate/burn the game if I end up not caring for it. Don't have that flexibility with digital software.
But if it ends up not being my cup o' tea then my money is just gone for nothing.
With a physical game at least I can sell/trade/give away/donate/burn the game if I end up not caring for it. Don't have that flexibility with digital software.
I prefer digital over physical because, due to my living status, my cartridges/discs will get damaged or lost some way some how. I'd rather just have easy access, a game that will remain tied to my account.
In that regard, Steam is an absolute godsend. If I had these games physically, then I would've lost them ages ago.
In that regard, Steam is an absolute godsend. If I had these games physically, then I would've lost them ages ago.
In general, I would say the benefits of digital are far outweighed by the benefits of physical. Therefore, I wait for extremely deep discounts on digital titles. And even those are typically worse than physical sales. If they manage to catch up, I'll make that jump. But doesn't appear to be anytime soon.
I'm following this guideline and have stopped buying almost any digital games. Feels good.
But like always, the blame is also related go the publishers. Like EA never lowered the MSRP of the likes of Mass Effect and Need for Speed...on Wii U. Despite their low sales and their bad blood back then.
There's an indie game that is put on sale all the time at 1 cent on Switch. So Monster Hunter at $60 on the eShop is because of Capcom, not because of Nintendo.
First party Nintendo sales are relatively rare, but I wouldn't say is a scam. The publishers put them at that price or never lower it, because they know people will buy it anyway. Compared to Sony already lowering Gof of War and Detroit to $40, because they know sales of their games collapse faster.
It may suck for us, but in the end is their business.
With PS, you can have a primary system that allows anyone on the system to play any of the games purchased by the primary user. Then you can have a second PS4 where the primary user from the first system can play any of the games that have been purchased by that user as long as they are signed into the account online.
It's how my wife and I share games. We buy everything through my account. She plays on the primary system. I play on the secondary. 1 copy, allows us two people to play at the same time and even together on two different systems.
This works the same on switch as well.
I helped my coworker sell a bunch of his old games this year. Last batch yielded over three grand, which we split, and that helps fund new game purchases (also paid for my new 65" 4K). Can't do that with digital, but while I will always prefer physical, I think a healthy mix of both is perfect. I do like being able to play the same digital game on two different consoles (home and work) via cloud saves, without having to worry about bringing the disc to/from. By the same token, when I'm done with a game and know I will never play it again, it's nice being able to sell it. If you're patient, digital sales easily keep pace with physical.
Just be mindful of what you buy. With digital gifting and the lack of needing to ship items, getting 4 $5 copies of a game VS being able to let someone borrow a copy you paid $20 for is actually much better. Digital prices generally ARE cheaper after a game has been out for a while. When physical copies get to the $4.99 and such phase on store clearances, you have to hunt all over town for a copy.., if you can ever find it. Digital, you have the ability to buy many, with no lack of copies to fit your demand, no gas spent to get them, and the product isn't worse in any way.
The digital copy also doesn't have the overhead for a publisher or creator to make and print stuff for, and your game experience itself is the same either way. If a game is worth a day 1 purchase, it's still worth a Day 1 price. But digital allows the bottom end to eventually fall much further. So day 200 is cheaper in 2018, than it would have been for a similar game in 1994.
Really, I can buy multiple holiday sale games for the price I used to pay for a magazine with a demo disk.
You could also let a person borrow a console with 200 games on it now, on an account that you've set up for such a thing. Or even just swap account INFO, if you have the same console.
I had more systems than many friends growing up, so I'd let them borrow one that I didn't have a new game on, while I played another. Giving them a backpack with like 5+ games in cases in it was a pain and a half, and something always ended up broken.
Digital has a ways to grow, sure. But in the meantime, there's so many advantages that it brings, that I've never felt a negative from not being able to trade the games away. Of course, as a person that still owns his Master System, NES, TG16, and such games, getting rid of games is a rare experience for me.
The vast majority of games in my steam library were purchased under $10, many under $5. At those prices I'm not concerned about resale or trade-ins. And this is from someone that was strictly pro-physical in the 7th gen, but getting into PC gaming eased me into the idea of digital consumption( of course, being on an open platform is an infinitely easier pill to swallow than closed console boxes).
There have been many more PSN sales than Steam sales this year.
And there are increases in development costs and inflation, but I'm not going to argue that game prices should go up. Pricing doesn't work like that. Publishers are going to charge as much as they can get away with. They're going to do what is best for their bottom line, and we should do the same. That means wait for sales or buy physical when you have the option or only buy a digital game if you're sure you want it.
But if your boss came to you and said, "hey, I see that you're taking the bus to work now. You must be saving a lot of money on gas, so we're going to pay you less." You would tell them to fuck off and pay you. The money you saved is yours. Same thing applies to game publishers.
Not only that, your friend doesn't even have to be on the same country to share the game. Specifically under Steam where you and 4 other friends can have access to your library.
Well that's interesting news as me an my wife play together. Thanks for the input. Looks like I have already spent extra not realizing this, but should save a ton in the future, thanks!
It's not just money saved. Digital is so limited that they're just an inferior product. What you want to look at is value for money, and physical always provides a massive advantage in value for money for the consumer.
Physical games and digital games are the same exact software. There are no "extra options" or "advantages" with physical games, lol.
Realize that a lot of us are adults and aren't sharing or loaning games around (though you can still do this digitally). And re-selling games? Yeah, not worth the effort. Most of the time the game is worth nothing used and I would end up paying just as much to ship it. And if there is a little bit of profit, I don't care. I make enough money where earning $10 selling a piece of plastic is not that exciting.
Regarding longevity, I think the physical guys are again on the wrong side of the argument. It's much more likely (actually guaranteed) that future console will not be compatible with discs than Sony/MS just deciding to revoke everyone's software licenses one day. And when that happens, boom, there goes your BC that you've been saving up for. Your physical collection is toast and nobody will want to buy those useless discs from you. But I guess you can keep admiring those plastic game cases on your shelf, right?
Realize that a lot of us are adults and aren't sharing or loaning games around (though you can still do this digitally). And re-selling games? Yeah, not worth the effort. Most of the time the game is worth nothing used and I would end up paying just as much to ship it. And if there is a little bit of profit, I don't care. I make enough money where earning $10 selling a piece of plastic is not that exciting.
Regarding longevity, I think the physical guys are again on the wrong side of the argument. It's much more likely (actually guaranteed) that future console will not be compatible with discs than Sony/MS just deciding to revoke everyone's software licenses one day. And when that happens, boom, there goes your BC that you've been saving up for. Your physical collection is toast and nobody will want to buy those useless discs from you. But I guess you can keep admiring those plastic game cases on your shelf, right?
What about the fact that digital games require no manufacturing, no materials, shipping or inventory management?
Those things absolutely should figure into the cost of digital games
If digital games were £10-15 cheaper like they should be I would be fully on-board. As it is I'm 100% physical on all retail games