For a Digital Console, the games have to be priced accordingly to make sense

[MadMike]

PlayStation flirted with the concept of cheaper digital SKUs on Vita, but it seems they weren't happy with the results. If digital AAA were all $40-$50, I'd consider going all digital. But being able to resell my games is just so much cheaper than dropping $60-$70 when I want to play something at launch.

 

[regenhuber]

It's actually been shown all these servers etc for digital games running for years is worse than physical games.

Digital game downloads are worse for the environment than Blu-ray discs

You would think that the world would be a less polluted place if everyone switched to digital downloads, lessening the number of physical objects -- and factories to produce them -- in the world. A recent study suggests that even though removing physical objects lowers the potential for future...

www.extremetech.com

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Thanks for the link, I work in Enterprise IT and visit a ton of datacenters each year.... and anytime I talk to people it's mond boggling how little the general population knows about the infrastructure that Netflix (that people keep running in the background) and PSN (where you can download 100GB games as often as you like off one license) run on.

"I'm sitting here on my couch and don't have to drive anywhere, so it must be great for mother nature" is way too simple.

And I always had the suspicion that digital vs physical is either a toss up or worse for the environment too.

PlayStation flirted with the concept of cheaper digital SKUs on Vita, but it seems they weren't happy with the results. If digital AAA were all $40-$50, I'd consider going all digital. But being able to resell my games is just so much cheaper than dropping $60-$70 when I want to play something at launch.

Click to shrink...

Still a rip-off imo
Last gen I did gamesharing with a buddy on PS4 and we basically took turns buying digital games, so my average price per game was 35€.
Some games (those my buddy had no interest in) I bought physicall off Amazon on day 1 for like 55€ and sold on eBay for 40€.

I get collectors that want to put games on a shelf, but they go physical anyways. Don't understand why anyone would go digital unless it's a super cheap sale tbh

 

[antispin]

I hope #4 happens. We need some way to resell/exchange digital licences for credit.

 

[mentok15]

It's actually been shown all these servers etc for digital games running for years is worse than physical games.

Digital game downloads are worse for the environment than Blu-ray discs

You would think that the world would be a less polluted place if everyone switched to digital downloads, lessening the number of physical objects -- and factories to produce them -- in the world. A recent study suggests that even though removing physical objects lowers the potential for future...

www.extremetech.com

Click to shrink...

That is a 6 year old article. They even stated that things could change and they made many assumptions.

 

[Cheesecakebobby]

The plan with digital ownership that almost sunk Xbox One before they did a u-turn would actually be very attractive to anyone buying a digital-only console. Shame they wouldn't implement it only for digital games while allowing physical discs to continue to work as is.

 

[werezompire]

It's actually been shown all these servers etc for digital games running for years is worse than physical games.

Digital game downloads are worse for the environment than Blu-ray discs

You would think that the world would be a less polluted place if everyone switched to digital downloads, lessening the number of physical objects -- and factories to produce them -- in the world. A recent study suggests that even though removing physical objects lowers the potential for future...

www.extremetech.com

Click to shrink...

I see that article in these kinds of threads all the time and people frequently miss a lot of the details of the article.
1 - Digital distribution efficiency is increasing at an exponential rate. The article is already several years old so their findings are obsolete.
2 - Their physical distribution efficiency was based on the UK. They specifically said that countries that aren't as tightly packed together (like the US) would have a much higher carbon footprint from physical distribution.
3 - They guessed on several figures related to digital distribution efficiency so if their estimates were wrong, the findings would be drastically different.

Besides all that, physical copies will eventually end up in a landfill. If you like physical copies, buy physical copies, but don't do it because you think it's eco-friendly.

 

[Iron Eddie]

Instead of focusing on price parity they need to come up with a digital store system that allows trade ins or loyalty discounts.

 

[Azurik]

Digital games will never be priced "accordingly" and will never be cheaper than physical copies, as brick and mortar shops would stock way less and nobody would want to piss off stores as they also stock consoles etc.

 

[shadowsdarknes]

I'm very pleased with digital game pricing.

Stock up on games around Black Friday and Christmas.

 

[Afrocious]

Idk if this thread is indicative of what the mass population of gamers think, but personally I find it interesting that MS wanted to go all digital with the One but were lambasted, and the tune is so different now.

I've been burned a bit too much by digital storefronts on consoles to feel comfortable going all digital. Sony's customer service is awful and they're extremely strict about refunds. I can't speak on current MS though, so perhaps they're better.

I think digital would be more feasible for me if there were more stores we could buy keys from. While Sony does toss up sales, I'd like to see that market open up. Granted, on PC, I tend to stick with Steam but it does feel good to hop onto GMG, GOG, Humble, and other storefronts to get games. I haven't put too much thought into it, but it makes sense these companies wouldn't have other stores sell their digital wares because these are their systems.

I do see how indie games are definitely supported by digital media. Most of my indie games are digital.

I guess there's something to be said about the preservation of games too because going all digital with the current state of consoles would make that impossible. I feel that digital is the future, but these consoles aren't the advent of it - not with how they're handling their digital infrastructure.

Yesterday, I was thinking about how difficult it might be to find a copy of vanilla Kingdom Hearts 2 in 2020 to play in a legal manner. I'm glad we got the Final Mix version readily available. Teenage me would've been happy as hell at this, but it's strange that the de facto normal version of KH2 is the FM version.

And currently, we got companies rereleasing old games in some manner, remastered or not, sometimes without any sort of embellishment expecting a sum of cash. Is Super Mario 3D All Stars worth the 60 bucks it costs? And be aware I own the physical card for it.

 

[DixieDean82]

In the UK and other countries, digital games cost MORE than Physical. Think about that.

 

[Ser_Luke]

Digital is a scam and the whole point of digital is to be a scam.

Click to shrink...

 

[ffvorax]

I am all digital from PS4 and my real complain is one: the price on day one is the same as for retail... really? No real reason... that is why I buy day-one only titles I really wait for or because I have not much time to play, so I cant wait the price to drop...
But its like 1 time a year?
Discounts are really a lot during the year and usually quite decent... a couple of months just to get the game already on discount.
Also they could give some "bonus" for each purchase

 

[Fisty]

Idk if this thread is indicative of what the mass population of gamers think, but personally I find it interesting that MS wanted to go all digital with the One but were lambasted, and the tune is so different now.

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Yeah isnt amazing how different people's reaction is when given the choice of physical vs digital instead of being forced into digital at a time when that segment represented a small fraction of the console market.

 

[Euler007]

The average price of my digital games on PS4 is a fraction of what I pay for my Switch games.

 

[DQDQDQ]

New digital games need to be cheaper than physical for me to make the switch today. I wouldn't lock myself into one of the digital consoles until digital games were discounted at least slightly, and the console itself had equal performance and cost half as much. Saving $100 initially is a losing proposition for any consumer who isn't already primarily buying their games digitally.

However, there is probably an argument to be made that transitioning everything to digital only (even though that's not even remotely a possibility for most of the country, which is why it won't be happening any time soon) but keeping the $60/70 price point will keep games from a larger price hike. In theory the extra revenue to the publishers would negate a need to make games, assuming physical discs were still a large portion of sales, regularly $80+ for a while.

Publishers simply aren't going to voluntarily reduce pricing because their expenses are lower on digital sales, nor should they be expected to.

 

[nanskee]

It should be but it won't, they have to satisfy retailers among other reasons

 

[Possum Armada]

In my opinion, just pricing a digital-console lower will not accelerate the digital model. Any 2 of the below will have a greater adoption of digital-only consoles besides also cutting down waste (packaging), transportation (fuel) and more .. which can be spun as as "eco-friendly".

1. Found this somewhere, may not be accurate but still a digital game should not be priced at the same price as a retail game. A $70 retail game should be $50 digitally at max.
2. Games should be "on sale" more often, i.e. digital games should see price cuts first before the retail games get any cuts.
3. Introduce flex pricing and increase outreach by involving 3rd-party code sellers.
4. Should be easier to "trade" games. For example, you purchase a copy but want to gift it to your friend. They should allow the game to be untethered from your account (new code generated) and then the new code could be used on another console.
5. Digital games should get more content. (to be honest I dont care about this one)

I would buy a digital-only console if 1 & 4 became a reality.

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Here's the thing: the majority of consumers don't care about any of these points.

 

[slothrop]

It's counter intuitive, but without digital games becoming a higher percentage of sales in recent years, new physical game prices would have increased even faster imo. The huge margins on digital subsidize physical somewhat.

 

[zero71]

If you have more than one console in your home, it's much cheaper to game share across two consoles under one roof than buy a game twice on disc..We have been all digital this entire gen on PS4 and Xbox One.

 

[BAD]

this would immediately kill all store relationships they use to sell their systems in, and games already have unsustainably high financial risk. they will not lower them.

 

[AstronaughtE]

I guess it all depends where you live.

I've been digital this entire generation and spent an average of a ~$23.27 per game/DLC.
The MSRP averaged out to ~$34.47.

It drops down to around $6.00 per game if I were to include games with gold.

I check sales at local stores most weekends, and it was only recently that I've even been tempted by physical game sale.

Add Bing rewards into the mix and I'm saving even more money. I'm incredibly satisfied by digital games.