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Why would people go digital only when it’s so financially bad compared to physical?
- Thread starter Dave
- Start date
I live in Argentina. Here, retail games usually cost more than their digital counterparts (at least on PC, and when Steam is involved). They are usually late compared to digital games too.
I don't buy day 1 typically and that Amazon 20% discount being removed from pre-ordering new games pushed me towards digital. Plus I'm lazy. It's nice not having to get up and swap out a disc.
I don't buy day 1 typically and that Amazon 20% discount being removed from pre-ordering new games pushed me towards digital. Plus I'm lazy. It's nice not having to get up and swap out a disc.
?
Outside of their own first party games, how can they control how games are priced?
How I see it. Downloads take time. Time enough to motivate someone to buy a copy (oh look, cover art someone got paid to do... and it looks great!) and return home. It's just too authentic.
Take less than 30% cut so they have more room to drop the price
Only games I will buy digital are fighting games due to the fact I generally play them for years, but single player I need physical so I can sell
This. I generally wait for sales as games simply aren't worth $60 to me anymore.
I don't play multiplayer games and can wait for a game to be marked down to $29 or less.
Sales happen less frequently and are less significant because publishers know that if they want the game, they pretty much have no other market to go to. It's been getting better, slowly, much like PC. PC didn't get massive price cuts and sales until other markets started coming up. Competition, as always, is good. Consoles sort of remove that ability, as there is only one real advertised ecosystem for digital. Again, it could change in the future much like PC.
Thinking it's about Sony/MS pricing their own games is really missing the point. AAA games will always be $60 (or whatever the acceptable max price is) forever. It's the deep sales and price drops that are effected.
Digital doesn't bother me, i am cheap ass bastard, it's $5 or less, rarely do i cross that line, in the last 10 years i have only purchased 3 games at full price, GW2 and it's 2 expansions..
lol I forgot SFV...
lol I forgot SFV...
I buy my games either on sale or from a third party like CDKeys. Rarely do I shell out the full $100AUD for a game when I can get it for $69 easy the day it came out. Though it can be frustrating, there's nowhere to buy RDR2 digital for an even remotely acceptable price, so it does have its downsides. Really wish retailers just sold codes for console at this point.
Because it hasn't been financially worst for me. Outside of the occasional stuff like the Final Fantasy XII being priced higher digitally than it is sold retail, I haven't noticed any price discrepancies. There were a couple of games lower priced physically for this Black Friday, but there was also quite a few games that got deals digitally that weren't present physically.
So for me, it comes down to personal preference. Frankly I don't want all those games cases in my apartment. I've kind of grown past the idea of looking at wall of games with pride. Data caps and internet speed isn't so much an issue for me either.
Storage space isn't much of a determining factor either since with the PS4 you have to install the entirety of the game as well.
So for me, it comes down to personal preference. Frankly I don't want all those games cases in my apartment. I've kind of grown past the idea of looking at wall of games with pride. Data caps and internet speed isn't so much an issue for me either.
Storage space isn't much of a determining factor either since with the PS4 you have to install the entirety of the game as well.
They do in the states. Just a little piece of cardboard/plastic that you grab off the shelf. They almost never go on sale, though. They will typically just be whatever the digital MSRP is.
Cover art is on digital. Downloads are fine if you live someplace with moderately decent internet. Also preloading is nice
Once my GCU is up I'm going all digital. Fuck it
Like many things in life people will pay more for convenience and not having to fight crowds. Plus steam sales and PSN sales are there for bargain hunters if you're patient. Discs last gen offered an inferior experience in many cases too due to load times and texture loading errors and such.
The breakdown for a typical $60 physical game goes:
$2 in production and distribution of the disc
$12 to the retailer selling it (Amazon, Best Buy etc)
$10 to the platform holder (Microsoft /Sony)
$36 revenue to the publisher
The breakdown for a typical $60 digital release is :
$18 to the platform holder
$42 to the publisher
So yes, the publisher does make $6 more from digital. But they'd rather just make an extra $6 rather than pass the savings on. It's actually not that big of a margin relative to retail.
When I was 12, a tornado destroyed my home and I lost every single game I had, except for FFVII which I was able to grab off the shelf and stuff into my gigantic JNCO back pocket when my dad came home early from work and rushed us to the storm shelter. Digital is the way to go for me.
I'm all digital except for Super Nintendo/Super Famicom. I love the aesthetic look of cartridges sticking out of my Super Nt.
It's more expensive usually, but I don't buy games very often. The last game I bought at full price digital was Octopath Traveller. Last game I bought was Skyrim which was half off.
The reason I do it is ease. If I owned a PS4 I probably wouldn't care if it was digital or physical.
I don't buy drinks at the convenience store, or use ATMs with surcharges though. I guess I save some money there. I also make my lunch every day. It's like only 200 yen a day!
Being an adult and deciding when to spend more and when to save is fun.
It's more expensive usually, but I don't buy games very often. The last game I bought at full price digital was Octopath Traveller. Last game I bought was Skyrim which was half off.
The reason I do it is ease. If I owned a PS4 I probably wouldn't care if it was digital or physical.
I don't buy drinks at the convenience store, or use ATMs with surcharges though. I guess I save some money there. I also make my lunch every day. It's like only 200 yen a day!
Being an adult and deciding when to spend more and when to save is fun.
The reason why the vast majority of games don't have a lower digital MSRP than physical MSRP is because undercutting your physical distributors is a fast way to destroy good relations with your physical distributors.
Can't even think of the last time a paid full price for a game physical or digital. Sounds like it is a different story on consoles, but on the PC 10-25 percent off deals day one are pretty common for most games. As a PC gamer it is not like I had much of a choice anyway. I have no regrets going digital on the PC but that choice was pretty much made for me when it became harder and harder to find physical PC games and this was before Steam really hit is stride.
I mostly buy digital, We have two Xbox's, it makes sense. I can play and my kid can play in his room or vise-vs. Plus play-anywhere and I almost always buy on sale. I just bought Lego Undercover yesterday for $9, retail is mostly $15-20 bucks. both me and my kids Xbox has the game now. No switching discs, can play together.
Went all digital well over 10 years ago on PC, and just after on PS3.... have never looked back. Did the same thing with movies/dvds, and I have been digital only in music since the 90's.
For gaming though...
Steam Sales = PC Gaming savings nirvana (well used to anyway ;P) and a backlog spawned of evil.
PSN = Flash sales & free monthly games
I think in the last 4-5 years I have not paid full price for any game. And I have never sold a game so not an issue.
Basically I see no reason at all for physical media. I gave away all my old consoles that had discs or carts, well except a Dreamcast that is sitting in a box in my garage with a stack of games. I should really give that away too lol.
For gaming though...
Steam Sales = PC Gaming savings nirvana (well used to anyway ;P) and a backlog spawned of evil.
PSN = Flash sales & free monthly games
I think in the last 4-5 years I have not paid full price for any game. And I have never sold a game so not an issue.
Basically I see no reason at all for physical media. I gave away all my old consoles that had discs or carts, well except a Dreamcast that is sitting in a box in my garage with a stack of games. I should really give that away too lol.
This. Means I can be lazy, I can also play a game instantly on launch and not wait for the 50gb day one patch haha
I said pretty much the same thing earlier in the thread. It's not just convenience. Some of us have legitimate reasons for going digital to take advantage of certain benefits that physical just doesn't offer.
Like you literally can't do what you said with one physical copy. You would have to buy two copies.
https://www.kotaku.com.au/2018/02/why-ubisoft-is-obsessed-with-games-as-a-service/
Digital actually gives a bigger margin to publishers/developers than physical does.
With physical 45% cut is taken away from them while it's only 30% with digital. So if they can drop the price of physical, surely they can do the same for digital too.
Only thing we can blame the console maker for is the pricing of their own first party games, nothing more.
I prefer the convenience of digital game purchases. I have over 300 games installed on my Xbox One X, since I have an 8 TB external hard drive attached to it. The pricing isn't that much worse as long as you wait for sales.
Your ability to play anything that old on Win 10 is based highly around you having a digital emulator on your PC, right? Modern OS computers can't even play games like The Sims even with a functioning disc without one of those babies.
Your half-life isn't the day the disc is dead, it's the day digital support for it dies to make sure it works in the modern world. Trying to go online to get The Sims to work with a disc or digital is a chore on a modern PC.
Without those digital (downloaded or otherwise copied) translators you're carrying hardware for years. Most people do not even finish games let alone go back and play old ones on old hardware.
I don't know about you, but for the every day consumer that's a bit deeper than just "my couch is two steps from the PS4." the other thing you also see the most on this forum is "I want my PS4 games to play in my PS5" as a huge deal for people." Why? No one wants to bring the hardware forward. So even when people are buying physical media, they still don't want to be physically tied to the hardware that ran it. Welcome to the all-digital future, baby!
I love convenience and as a person who has a closet full of a couple hundred games I'd like to have room in my house. I have over 200 games on my xbox one alone, there's no way I'd have room for that. Plus I buy most my games during sales like this. If I'm paying full price for a game I know I'm going to love it (excluding Andromeda).
my brother and i switched over to digital only for this gen, the ease of not having to swap discs (sounds lazy but we have purchased roughly 90 games and dont want to be flipping through cases), and digital sales allow us to scoop some for real cheap. A 5TB HDD attached to the XOX and you're set.
There are ways to be thrifty and still go digital. In the US it's been fairly easy to find 15%-20% discounts on pre-paid store cards for Nintendo, Sony and Microsoft. (though less so with Sony of late). All the stores tend to have frequent sales, rewards programs, and in some cases offer promotional discount codes or credit back for spending a certain amount in a specified date range (especially with Sony), Granted, a gap in price between digital and physical is less common (or at least not something I've noticed). US options for discounts on physical games are drying up with GCU being discontinued (though BB does offer $10 back on certain pre-orders) and Amazon discontinuing their prime deals.
Being able to resell games is nice and I still purchase physical media from time to time if the deal is too good to pass up or if I'm uncertain if I'll like the game and want the option resell, but for the most part I prefer the convenience of a digital library and the lack of clutter related to physical media. From a collectors standpoint, the versions of games that come on discs are outdated before you even put them in your system which makes the media feel pointless and a waste of space.
Being able to resell games is nice and I still purchase physical media from time to time if the deal is too good to pass up or if I'm uncertain if I'll like the game and want the option resell, but for the most part I prefer the convenience of a digital library and the lack of clutter related to physical media. From a collectors standpoint, the versions of games that come on discs are outdated before you even put them in your system which makes the media feel pointless and a waste of space.
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PC? Yeah, physical isn't even really an option on PC anymore. I was mostly talking about consoles.
And yeah, if all my digital purchases worked forward I would be a lot more in favor of it. But as of now:
1. All the PS3 games, PS1/PS2 classics I bought on the PS3 will not work on the PS4. I can understand the PS3 games, but PS1 could easily be emulated.
2. More than half of the iOS games I bought don't work on new phones.
3. Wiiware, Virtual console, etc don't transfer over to the Switch.
Even though I bought digital it is still locked to the console generation. In that case I may as well have physical where I can trade, resell, gift, etc.
If Nintendo, Sony and MS came forward and said "We promise all games bought now will work on all future platforms" I would still be loosing the ability to get money back if I buy a crappy game, but at least it would be an easier pill to swallow.
If I buy physical, I can sometimes get a $10-$15 discount. If I buy digital, I can sometimes get a $10-$15 discount as well (I paid $44 for Smash pre-purchase digitally a couple weeks ago between eshop card discount and gold point rewards).
If I buy physical, I must maintain and not lose the discs/cartridges; if I damage/lose them, I must buy them again. If I buy digital, I can always redownload for free. That's a big financial liability for physical games that doesn't exist for digital.
I hate changing out discs/carts, I hate carrying them around. I like playing new games right when they come out without having to go to the store or wait for a delivery.
Even from a financial aspect, it's not as one-sided as OP makes it out to be. Beyond that, convenience/timeliness is worth it for many, anyway.
If I buy physical, I must maintain and not lose the discs/cartridges; if I damage/lose them, I must buy them again. If I buy digital, I can always redownload for free. That's a big financial liability for physical games that doesn't exist for digital.
I hate changing out discs/carts, I hate carrying them around. I like playing new games right when they come out without having to go to the store or wait for a delivery.
Even from a financial aspect, it's not as one-sided as OP makes it out to be. Beyond that, convenience/timeliness is worth it for many, anyway.
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OP it's like no one read your post.
Yeh the prices can be ridiculous. Most games are priced a tenner higher than the physical release. So instead of the standard 60, it is 70 euro. Plus the difference is more, if you consider the fact that there is always a retailer selling games for cheaper (50).
I have really gotten to appreciate the convenience of digital. But only get games that are cheap, or have no resale value.
Yeh the prices can be ridiculous. Most games are priced a tenner higher than the physical release. So instead of the standard 60, it is 70 euro. Plus the difference is more, if you consider the fact that there is always a retailer selling games for cheaper (50).
I have really gotten to appreciate the convenience of digital. But only get games that are cheap, or have no resale value.