I have known for a long time that I am more disc-averse than your average person. I understand that there are plenty of people who don't mind managing physical media. That's cool. I can't stand it. But there's something about this whole thing that I don't get. Assassin's Creed 3 came out; I could purchase it and download it on PSN direct to my PS3; I did so. I got a game, Ubisoft got my $60, everybody won. Today I thought to myself "Hey, it would be great if I could grab Lego Batman 2 for the Xbox. Check Xbox live. There's a free demo! But I can't buy the game. "Oh well, maybe I'll pick up Forza Horizon." There's a free demo! But I can't buy the game. What. The. Fuck? I could understand if it was the year 2002. I could understand if Xbox Live (or Playstation Network) didn't exist. But these networks are already in place. They've already built infrastructure, they have my credit card number, and they are able to let me buy some games via download. But the pickings are awfully slim. So completely apart from me complaining about it -- which is a part of this, yes -- I want someone to explain the economics of this to me. I am about 200% more likely to buy any given game if I can buy it online. I can't be the only person like this. To me it just feels like these publishers are senselessly leaving money on the table. Surely I must be missing some aspect of this. Educate me.
I don't think this is a PSN-vs-Xbox-Live thing - the same limited selection complaints apply. For example, you can't buy Lego Batman 2 on PSN (unless my search-fu failed me).
I'm not sure what you want anyone to explain to you. On XBL, at least, you can generally only download full games once they've been out for a while. New releases come on disc. If you want download-only versions of all new games, play PC.
Once upon a time (2005) these people and their brethren were important to the success of a console: They needed little shrink-wrapped bits of plastic to put on their shelves and make a profit margin on. Hence you need discs for the console. Now, not so much. Whilst the network (live) is there, the console is sitting on 2005 hardware. The hardware may not be there. I suspect there are also massive DRM implications for offering online copies of triple A stuff - I suspect it would make piracy much easier as the DRM is all tied to the disc somehow. Also, whilst it might be accepted now that online sales of multi gigabyte titles is great, cast your mind back to the state of Steam circa 2003/2004, when they would have been designing the X360. (hint: It was shit) The necessary takeup of very fast broadband internet into homes was not there in 2005 either. (the OECD reckons broadband penetration doubled in the United States from 2005 to end 2011, from 13 subscriptions per 100 inhabitants, to 27 per 100) Basically, you need discs because your console is still 2005 hardware and more importantly 2004/2005 Business model The next series of consoles will of course allow online sales of everything. Unless you are Nintendo, who knows.
I'm saying I don't understand the economics of "New games are only available on disc." For me, personally (and I acknowledge that I may not be typical) that usually translates directly into "I guess I"ll wait a year before giving these guys my money, since I can get a new game on my iPad, right now." What possible advantage accrues to either the publisher or Microsoft (or Sony) in shipping a game only on disc? (Related: I do occasionally buy games on disc if they're something super-special for me. But even with those, I tend to play them less, because now I have to keep track of the disc, pull my fat ass out of the chair, etc etc. That in turn creates a feedback loop where when I contemplate buying another game on disc, I say to myself "Meh, I probably don't care that much about this game, I guess I'll hold off." I am totally willing to posit that I'm some sort of superhumanly lazy person that is completely atypical. But I bet not really.)
I would think that the DRM story would be stronger in an Xbox Live world - but perhaps you're right? :-(
Reviewing the Xbox Live "on demand" list, I might be overstating the case somewhat. There are actually quite a few games available for purchase; it just struck me in the face today because both of the ones I was ready to take my wallet out for weren't available. I suspect this may reduce to "Xbox (and PSN) are perfectly willing to sell games whenever, but the specific publishers of the games I want are dumb."
You may find the Publishers ALSO still have 2004/2005 business models that revolve around cutting sales up into arbitrary "regions" and online in your region gets the shaft.
It's not a technology issue. It's really a very old problem that affects more than just digital distribution like this. Retailers don't want to feel like they're competing with the publishers, selling a product for the same price but in a less convenient form. Publishers still make a majority of their profits through retail and so don't want to piss the big retailers off. Also, Microsoft and Sony absolutely need retailers to promote the sales of the consoles themselves, and often the bargain is that the retailers will not make much profit off the console sales (but will promote them heavily) in exchange for making it up on accessories and game sales. PC has bucked this trend because... well, you don't see a lot of shelf space given to the retail sales of PC games or PC hardware outside of a handful of major releases and specialty shops. But as long as MS and Sony need Wal-Mart to be hawking the physical goods that enable the entire ecosystem to function, any changes will be gradual.
Sony has been making some strides in this area. I believe they offered the latest Madden as a digital purchase from day one. And Nintendo, of all people, has committed to day one digital releases of all first-party games on both 3DS and Wii U. Microsoft has the best selection but they always get games late and priced well above market value.
Yep, the platform owners will have a tough time getting the big retailers to even stock their hardware if it's designed to undercut the physical market. Nobody knows how the digital distribution plans for the next generation will work but there will have to be some compromises made if they want GameStop or Wal-Mart or Amazon to play along. In one scenario, I could actually see physical versions of certain high-profile games becoming retailer-exclusive, maybe even ahead of the "release" of the downloadable version. What a wonderful evolution of the whole exclusive pre-order bonus thing that would be. Or maybe the pre-order bonuses will simply start becoming even more awful.
Channel conflict and marketing issues, specifically discoverability. If the market goes digital and the local retailers die off, then the publishers lose the "gramma walks into a store looking for a gift for Billy for Xmas" sales.
I am following up to myself here because it turns out I was wrong about the Sony side of things. It is both better and worse - but let's say mostly better - than the Xbox side. BETTER: The Lego Batman 2 game is in fact available from the PSN Store. Yay! WORSE: Jesus christ on a pogo stick the PSN store is a huge pile of garbage: (1) Searching for the game on the device is practically impossible (this is why I couldn't find it in the first place). I found it on their web site, then went to grab it on the PS3. Even knowing the game was there and knowing the name, I couldn't find it. Because there's no actual search function on the PS3 (again, that I could find). Eventually, I told the PS3 "show me all games, and sort them alphabetically". Then paged through until I found it. Brilliant. (then, when the PS3 returns to the game listing, it forgets the sort order. Ha ha ha.) (2) After adding the game to my cart, trying to add subsequent games resulted in "An error has occurred." (3) Same with trying to remove the game from my cart. (4) "No problem," I said to myself. "There's a 'buy download' button on the web site. I'll buy it on my computer and download it to the PS3!" So I go to the computer and click "Buy download". This triggers a popup window which says "You should buy a PSN points card and then go type the code into your PS3 and download it there." The popup window also has an ominous countdown from 15 with no explanation of what said countdown is for. I closed the popup because I was afraid that if it reached 0 it might cause the world to explode or something. Summary: Kudos to Sony for making it possible for me to buy these games as downloads, but please, please, please, fire all of your interaction designers and hire new ones.
Download 5 GB game? CHECK. Run 10 minute install procedure? ROGER. Entire thing followed by immediate need to download a patch? I GUESS I AM USING A PS3. #firstworldproblems, but still, what a pile of crap.
