Completely different markets. Why hasn't consoles allowed me to upgrade my graphics card.
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The physical movie section is disappearing from my local Walmart, could the same happen to games?
- Thread starter MysticGon
- Start date
Good question.
Unsure how quickly or if would change in the same way. Unless the whole ecosystem becomes more like the current TV & Movie market where it's al about digital streaming platforms. Like if Luna, Stadia, and xCloud become the dominant ways to play games, I could see it.
I could also see a much smaller physical place, with digital codes for games and/or subscriptions on cards.
As long as people buy physical things like consoles, controllers, discs, etc...there will probably be space for them.
Unsure how quickly or if would change in the same way. Unless the whole ecosystem becomes more like the current TV & Movie market where it's al about digital streaming platforms. Like if Luna, Stadia, and xCloud become the dominant ways to play games, I could see it.
I could also see a much smaller physical place, with digital codes for games and/or subscriptions on cards.
As long as people buy physical things like consoles, controllers, discs, etc...there will probably be space for them.
It will happen and it will happen a lot sooner than some people here think.
Of course, there will be some physical releases left for collectors (or at least fancy boxes with download codes) but as a mainstream thing physical video games are losing relevancy fast.
Of course, there will be some physical releases left for collectors (or at least fancy boxes with download codes) but as a mainstream thing physical video games are losing relevancy fast.
Vinegar Syndrome, Shout Factory, Second Sight, Criterion, Vestron and other boutique labels are putting out incredible Blu-ray and 4K discs, and there is a tangible difference in quality in comparison to streaming. There is no difference in videogames though, which is why I think physical games will die off before films.
Movies and DVDs are still being made.
It's just that Wallmart have decided that the market is too small to bother. Disney are abandoning UHD in favour of streaming exclusives.
Physical media market share will continue to shrink, particularly with the new digital only consoles. And all it takes is for the market to shrink enough for big stores to decide not to bother.
I'm not acting like it's 80-20. But I can see a lot of big companies moving in that direction. The infrastructure is there. Australia may have generally crappier internet than other places, but we've had unlimited plans for nearly 20 years.
In the future sure, but not until download speeds improve and data caps are eliminated. There will still be a need or at least preference for a while on those people who deal with those restrictions to be able to buy physical copies.
I live off having my consoles tethered to my unlimited mobile data SIM plan through a £150 smartphone. And I collect physical games. No way do I want a physical to go away.
Our local Walmart got remodeled and now the game sections are a fraction of what they were. More accessories, consoles, and TVs everywhere, and more phones and tablets and things, but definitely less actual games in game cases. But there are Xbox/PSN/Google/Amazon gift cards every 6 feet it seems.
You cant answer a question with another question.
What does an upgradable graphics card have to do with PC's switch to becoming an entirely digitised marketplace?
PC sat alongside Console games for the longest time , MMO's took the ownership out of the equation and made the subscription the important part.
Valve made the most anticipated PC exclusive digital only and unsealed the cork of Pc games' move to digital only.
We haven't had that Half Life 2 moment, but we are only moments away From something happening in the console space.
Half Life 2 definitely still had a physical release. It just required Steam.
It's funny you mention MMOs as they're one of the few genres where physical releases are still pretty big. Final Fantasy XIV and World of Warcraft both still have physical releases.
It was a code in a box that installation media included. I had customers at the time to had to leave the game "validating" the content of the dvd for days on end on their 56k modem 😂
Especially painful if you bought the collectors edition of the game That had Half Life and CS included. There was a shit tonne of validating that had to be done.
Just bought like five new physical movies a few days ago, currently bidding on 5-6 movies in a Facebook auction, and planning to order a movie box set next week. Where is your digital god now?
Fuck the digital future.
Why imagine it when I still do? If I really like a movie or I think a movie I'm interested in watching will be a special one, I buy the DVD/Blu-Ray Disc.
I wouldn't go out to the store during a pandemic, obviously, but I'll totally order one online.
Why would you be surprised? MS tried to do it cold turkey and got bit in the ass.
So the natural recourse is to ease in the digital boxes and eventually phase out the physical editions.
Isn't this because Xbox One sales are lagging significantly behind? So obviously companies would be less inclined to port physical games for it
1. ludicrously low prices from key shops
2. no one has a blu ray drive
3. no point when every game has to be tied to an account to even get updates
none of this applies to the console space, so physical sales are on a normal, gradually decreasing level
The United States doesn't, the overwhelming majority of people have a 1TB cap. If they even have broadband.
Physical game sections have definitely dwindled. It's one of those things where not only is digital taking over, but if you want physical, you can just have it shipped to you.
I imagine the market for window shopping games barely exists anymore.
I imagine the market for window shopping games barely exists anymore.
Because they are two completely different markets. I would bet the majority of PC builders don't even put a optical drive in their system.
I can buy a game key for a PC game cheaper than I can buy a console game which is why I don't mind digital on the PC.
But as I've just said I my post, that was not always the case, games started to go digital BEFORE people started building PCs without a drive.
PC games we're always 25% cheaper than the console equivalent, even when we all bought them on CDs. That's not a new thing.
Tell me What was it that caused PC gamers to ditch discs and go digital.
It wasn't price.
It's already slowly going away. Many indie games are digital only, now we are seeing foreign games releasing locally with only digital options. Both Sony and Microsoft are now going to have cheaper digital only consoles. Lots of retail stores have already closed. I'm not suggesting physical is going to die soon, just where to buy them.
The fact is there is less and less of a need now for the disk. They all have to be installed and we always have patches.
You're surprised that they didn't axe a revenue stream worth millions upon millions of dollars?
Indie games are an extremely weird barometer for judging this, there are more physical indie releases now than there were 5-10 years ago
I really noticed it with preowned games this gen, right from launch, less physical stuff was sold , so there was less used in the shelves.
It's crazy how small the preowned sections are when I occasionally go into games shops now
It's crazy how small the preowned sections are when I occasionally go into games shops now
the bigger games get the further and further an all digital future gets
until developers get game size under control, there will still be a sizeable market for physical games
until developers get game size under control, there will still be a sizeable market for physical games
Imagine acting so negatively towards someone for how they want to purchase something.
And yet, looking at this thread, games sections at Walmart are already shrinking.
There's a lack of competition in the ISP industry. That likely won't stay that way.
The shift in games to digital may lead to change there.
My Walmart renovated the movie/games last year. Movies got shrunk down to half an aisle and a bargain title end cap. Games got moved into smaller/individual glass cases by platform, each with their own half aisle. Games/systems in the cases and controllers and random accessories on pegs next to the case. It is much more organized but there are only maybe 10-15 different games in each case so the pickings are slim beyond new releases. I can't imagine it will get remodeled again for at least another 3-5 years.
Data caps will eventually be everywhere too and people who currently don't deal with them now will no longer want to get whole games as much through download.
Netflix killed me buying physical movies. I'll buy one or two a year if I'm lucky.
Video games are way cheaper physical still and outside of gamepass, I still want to own video games because I mainly play on Switch/PS4. PC gamepass isn't as good and the physical market for it is dead anyway, but there's better options at trying to get cheap games.
Video games are way cheaper physical still and outside of gamepass, I still want to own video games because I mainly play on Switch/PS4. PC gamepass isn't as good and the physical market for it is dead anyway, but there's better options at trying to get cheap games.
I was all in to go digital...until I saw the ps5s SSD space. It'll have to wait for Ps5 pro or the gen after when storage space has caught up more.
I was pretty much all digital anyways since getting a regular HDD is cheap enough. It's funny how much this sad sort of threw things back.
I was pretty much all digital anyways since getting a regular HDD is cheap enough. It's funny how much this sad sort of threw things back.
They called that PS4 Pro, but instead of letting you upgrade your gpu they made you rebuy the whole computer.
There will ALWAYS be physical games. The real question is how much of said physical will there be?
Outside AAA titles, I think more and more titles are going to rely on services such as LRG or Super Rare Games.
Outside AAA titles, I think more and more titles are going to rely on services such as LRG or Super Rare Games.
This is exactly the same development that has been happening in physical movie releases.
The more niche titles even from major studios are being released by boutique labels like Arrow or Eureka. There is no way a company like Arrow would have been able licence films like Robocop or Flash Gordon just five years ago.
Absolutely not, publishers are too stubborn to price cut their games online especially Nintendo.
I don't know if this is still the case, but the word from companies like Limited Run Games is that the minimum order for an Xbox run is significantly higher than Nintendo or Sony, to the point where the numbers aren't really workable. And, yeah, when you factor that in with the smaller install base, plus the fact that a lot of people who might buy a physical release on the Xbox One (especially in certain genres) probably also have access to a PS4 or Switch, it can be tough to make a case for it.