Siliconera Speaks Up: The Downloadable Future

It's good to have a choice. World of Goo retail box? Nope, thanks. Limited Edition RPG without cloth map, wallscroll, T-Shirt and humongous box with gorgeous art? Nope, thanks.

Then there is the used market to consider. Many gamers are on a tight budget and want / need to resell the latest blockbuster after they are done with it. When I look at Steam in Europe, its often cheaper to buy the retail product.

On the other hand, rare and overlooked games are impossible to aquire at a retailer. No problem with the digital heaven that is gog.com.

I could go on, but to me it's really important to have both digital and physical worlds coexist.

I'm all for digital distribution, not just for convenience, but also because I'm sick of seeing great games become extremely rare after a couple of years and then end up on eBay for $100. I also like the fact that independent developers can eliminate the middle man (the game publisher) and sell directly to the consumer without having to deal with production and distribution. This could, in theory, eliminate the complications that prevent many great ideas from ever becoming games.

There are, however, certain rules that need to be put in place before I'm fully satisfied. As far as PC games are concerned, I should always be guaranteed the choice to reinstall my game at any time, even if it's on a new PC.

With game consoles and handhelds, it's a little more tricky. First of all, my game downloads should be linked to an outside account, not directly to the console. If my console goes bad and needs to be replaced, I should still have access to all my games with no problems. Second, a system should be put in place to allow me to play my game on a friend's console. This can be done with a disc-based game, so it should be allowed with a digital game as well. Third, I would like to avoid online authentication, at least when a game is played on its native console (rather than on a friend's console). You should still have access to your games even if your internet connection is down. And finally, there should always be an option to try-before-you-buy. I can rent video games before deciding to purchase them, so there is no reason that I shouldn't be able to do the same with digital games.

So long as the above criteria is met, I'd be satisfied with going all digital. Of course, it would be kind of a shame to see retail eliminated entirely. Until broadband becomes as common in modern households as electricity, some consumers will still want access to disc-based games. The digital marketplace is still in its infancy now, so I don't expect the change to happen any time soon. On the current consoles, you get a completely different set of games between the retail and digital marketplaces, but I'd imagine that you'll eventually see some crossover. In the next console generation, I wouldn't be surprised to see certain models of each console that are only capable of playing digital games.

I don't know, guys. The future of broadband internet is pretty iffy at this point, and I can't see DLC doing much except hurting that further. With the rise of streaming media, video on demand, et al, the bandwidth people are using is overtaking the bandwidth actually available, and the result is stuff Nyanyaan mentions: poor speeds, throttled connections and draconian download caps. This sort of thing is kind of a hindrance to DLC.

Then there's how some developers (I'll be nice and not name names) want to use DLC to intentionally cripple the physical game package, and squeeze more money out of customers. Having to purchase/download a game's ending, having to purchase/download unlockable content and things that, a few years ago, would have been packaged in with the rest, having to verify a game online (and placing limits on that verification) in an attempt to weed out the used market… All of that's a dead end, both for developers as businesses and us as their customers and audience.

Plus, like Jenni, I just…like to have some physical aspect to a game. Part of it is the volatile nature of digital things, but most of it's pure sentimentality. It's just something I can touch, or hold, and know that it, y'know, exists. Games are pretty abstract to begin with, so I don't care as much about a DVD or Blu-Ray disc as I might a book, but I still like to have a game in physical form. And I know I'm not alone on this!

On the other hand, with low entry costs and no distribution to worry about, DLC makes absolute perfect sense for indie developers, smaller budgeted projects and older games. I'd like to see it really take off and thrive in that area, and I think it's finally starting to with stuff like Braid, Flower, Noby Noby Boy, Lit and Nifflas' new project. So I'm pretty hopeful there. Maybe this console generation is just a stumbling period as everyone tries to catch up to Steam.

Just speaking generally, the lack of manufacturing and transportation on digital distribution should make it the far more eco-friendly course. However, the flipside to that is the jobs lost if game stores become irrelevant. More personally and specifically, I think it is ideal for handheld games, but there are a number of things I would like to see addressed.
Firstly, if I lose my Wii or DSi, I lose all the games I downloaded too. Come on Nintendo!
Now PSN is much better, but what about anime (or movies)?
If I download anime, it has only english audio, and no subtitles, also, slightly lower quality.
All of that I can live with, but for some inane reason, video does not qualify as re-downloadable.
So when your system crashes, or you just start running out of space… Once it's gone, it's gone.
Considering I can usually find a series boxed set for around the same price it would cost on PSN, it just makes buying video pointless.
One last, petty note, I have seen NEW UMD games for less than the UMD legacy downloads… maybe it's just me, but with the lack of manufacturing/transportation/retail mark-up, I see no excuse for a downloadable product costing MORE than the physical one.

Steam has brought us super great things like weekend deals and all that. When I can get older games and stuff for just a few bucks, it's a glorious thing.

And older games coming onto the services like Sin & Punishment on the Wii VC just makes those games much easier to get then using an arm and a leg for those high prices.

With the current state of broadband in the US, this is a point too early to be arguing. All you have to do is go 20 miles from my house and people still are forced to use dialup as there is nothing else available. I live right outside a city of 1 and a half million so I am not talking about in the middle of Nebraska here.

Add to that bandwidth caps and you see what this would do, push the cost of shipping games onto the consumer while taking that away from publishers. Don't know how well that would go, especially when games already cost some $50-$60 anyways.

Besides, if it is done like Nintendo does, region restrictions would destroy the fun for a lot of us. And even if it is done in the manner Sony has gone with, it is still a pain to put money in the account.

I'm worried about what this will do to our sense of value and willpower.

I don't have a problem with the idea of downloadable games. I think it's a great medium through which to release offbeat games that might not make it in the normal retail market, and it is convenient. Like many people, though, I want an actual disc/manual/case. However, currently the market seems to be making physical purchases more inviting with games going on sale at midnight, game trade-ins, and preorder bonuses.

My only issue is if it becomes more mainstream to the point where games that would ordinarily be offered both ways become digital-only (I want to make the choice myself, not have it forced on me). Also, in 10-15 years are my downloads still going to be valid? Are my Virtual Console games going to be transferable to the Wii 3 or will game companies be evil and try to make me pay again?

I think one awesome thing that could be done is, somehow, letting people who have purchased the physical copy of the game from an online retailer download the digital version the second it's released, to be able to play it until the “real” version arrives. I wouldn't mind paying a few dollars for that luxury, and it would be a nice blending of the best parts of the two concepts.

While it's more available, it's still not widely available. Broadband has gone from like 40% to I think 60%. You're still missing out on a lot of people with digital downloads, like me.

I can't get cable or DSL where I live, only Satellite or Verizon EVDO. I actually have the latter, but that won't be an option for me when my contract is up, because the plans have gone from unlimited (albeit with a bandwidth cap past 5 gigs) for $60 to 25 cents per megabyte over 5 gigs for $60 a month. And thanks to the overloaded network, I can't even stay online for more than a few minutes of a time anymore

Satellite is even worse. Costs $400 for the equipment, then has a huge monthly fee, and you have a bandwidth cap of 6 gigs a month. And if you go over, you get capped to less than dialup speed.

Beyond that, I think there's also a pricing issue. While some games do become rare, most games get a deep discount after a year or two. But online games, don't. Just about every PSP game available from Sony's store is about 2-3x the cost of the game in a store.

Also the whole used game issue. I realize that's the big reason for the digital distribution push, so eliminate used game sales. But if I spend $60 on a game and I don't like it, I like having the option of selling it and getting at least some of my money back.

With Jenni, like to own the game. I don't mind Digital Download but I'd hate to have physical copies phased out.
The physical-ness of the game also gives me incentive to play it. When I look at my shelf I see games that need to be played, the ones that exist solely on my comp feel like they have no worth because they are immaterial, It's probably just a quirk of mine

In a perfect world you could buy the game and then have a digital download of the game made available so you at least have a backup hardcopy. Also, the ps3 and xbox networks won't stay up forever, eventaully they will go down and if your console bites it those games are gone. Sure they might be put up on another network/console but you'll be paying for them again.
While it sounds weird to be mentioning something so far down the road, I still play my Nes copy of River City Ransom from time to time even though I've had to replace my nes a few times. Twenty years on from now, I might want to play some of today's games too.

Hm.. While I certainly appreciate the convenience w/o swapping discs and saving physical space (a conundrum sometimes when I look at the stacks of games/manga/movies I own), I would still prefer physical copies. Unless we're talking about indie games, full games or movies' size are not small, limited broadband & capping all pose issues to the viability of going full digital, that's why I think the music industry has moved to full mp3s relatively easily.

Maybe I'm just sentimental, I still prefer books to Kindle, or movies on DVD to buying from Live/PSN. Unlike songs in mp3s, a book, movie, or game takes a while to finish, so usually I would stay w/ one or two at a time, instead of carrying 5000 songs on a mp3 player which one picks out at whim.

Whenever I think about this subject, it makes think about how books are extinct and rare in the near future, like Jr. keeps them as antiques in Xenosaga. Of course, this probably wouldn't happen in our lifetime.

I'm playing Star Ocean 4 now and installed it on the 360 HDD, but looking at the 3 discs does bring me the joy of “ownership” :)

I'm a fan of cutting down on waste (in terms of game boxes, blister packaging, etc.) too, which is why I'm happy about digital distribution.

As for the Wii and the DSi, it would be great if they could tie it to something like a steam account that's separate from the console so that you can buy another DSi and then have the games just transfer over.

I too prefer books to Kindle. But in my mind, since games are digital anyway, having just a digital copy of it is ok. Plus, it's so rare that I replay games that I just see it as a waste of space when I look at my shelves of games.

I'm a fan of cutting down on waste (in terms of game boxes, blister packaging, etc.) too, which is why I'm happy about digital distribution.

As for the Wii and the DSi, it would be great if they could tie it to something like a steam account that's separate from the console so that you can buy another DSi and then have the games just transfer over.

I too prefer books to Kindle. But in my mind, since games are digital anyway, having just a digital copy of it is ok. Plus, it's so rare that I replay games that I just see it as a waste of space when I look at my shelves of games.