Retail vs. Digital
If you’re a PC gamer and have visited your local video game retailer lately, you’ve probably noticed the trend–PC games are slowly going the way of the dodo bird, with console and handheld games occupying the bulk of the store’s space. Oftentimes, I see a disorganized single standee of roughly alphabetized PC games, with the selection limited to the latest games or games that nobody has bothered to buy in the past 6 months.
Why? A large part of it has to do with the market itself, in that console games represent more sales than PC games in the US. The retailers want to make money, so they give the consumer more of the product that they want. Sometimes it seems the best way to get a game is purchasing the box online, but then you have to wait for the blasted thing to ship to you. I’m not a man of infinite patience, especially when it comes to video games, so I want my games as soon as possible.
Enter digital distribution. With connection speeds increasing dramatically in the past few years (on up to about 16 Mbps), only to get even faster in the future. That means that, if servers support it, we can download a full game in about the amount of time it would take to get to the nearest game store and back home. Unfortunately, digital distribution has yet to be fully embraced, so the selection of games that you can pay for and download is fairly limited.
Yes, it will become more popular over the years. But is that what gamers want? There’s something to be said for holding that box in your hands. The excitement that mounts while you browse through the manual at your job or school awaiting the moment you get home and install the game. That feeling of solidity. You can’t wrap your hands around something you download.
Where do you think PC game distribution will be in 5 years? What do you prefer? I think we’ll see further consolidation of PC games on the shelves of retailers, with PC boxes only making an appearance for a relatively brief period of time after release. If you don’t get it within a few months, you’ll have to download it or order the box online. We’ll see.
I’d be surprised if PC games were phased out completely. As long as big-name games like (dare I say it) WoW are continuing to be released and get a 4-5 million member subscriber base, I doubt any retailer chain isn’t going to want a piece of that ass.
Personally, I prefer NOT to download, just for the simple reason that I suck at computers and I have to reinstall sometimes. Steve, if you’re reading this, stop laughing. It is difficult to re-download your game library after a footwear-related system wipe. Having the discs on hand speeds up the reinstallation process. I was extremely relieved that I didn’t have to redownload EQII after my most recent issue.
There is a keen incentive for players to buy the old box editions, if only for backup’s (like Nocte said) but also for the visceral fun like you said. That fun of being able to pick up and own the experience in a tangible form is a rush sometimes (witness the recent console frenzies). Also, most retailers will buy back boxed games as a rebate on future purchases, and they have terrific margins on them and so remind gamers all the time whenever they purchase. Personally though the ability to get an expansion “now” over a download outweighs any trip to EB. I am more spontaneous to buy an expansion online than go out to buy it. And for certain games like CxO and Eve, the ability to buy the whole game online was a clincher (spontaneous) decision for me.
Previously, I loved those manuals that came with the box sets, and they usually contain features like artwork and game lore, but manuals seem to be pretty dumbed down these days.
That said, I still prefer purchasing the boxed copy most of the time for a simple reason. Digital downloads (excluding MMOs), such as those obtained from DirectDrive, usually have another layer of protection (license authentication or something) of it which is a hassle. In quite a few cases, patches for the retail boxed copy do not work on the digital version and hence, another version of the patch has to be released for it, and there is usually considerable delay before that happens.
I also detest having to install another layer of software in order to play the game or intrusive authentication methods, such as via Steam.
Living in a smaller rural community about 80 miles from the closest game store, online distribution has worked great. Burning the downloaded file to dvd after completion has also given me a way to archive these games without having to redownload them after a computer repair or new install.
For those games that are not downloadable, the online marketplace has proven to be a great resource for games as well. I can pre-order any game online and have it at my door usually the day of release or following day.
In my situation, driving 80 miles when these options are available just doesn’t seem to make much sense.
Oh and Happy Thanksgiving everyone.
All digital distribution is many years away. It is a reasonable choice for those who know what they want, but it fails to take into account one of the roles that box on the shelf has: Advertising.
That box is brightly colored and full of information because it is one of the more effective pieces of advertising a company has. It is a very effective way to attract the attention of somebody who is already predisposed to purchasing, but is still browsing for the right game.
I pay more attention to games and gaming than the average person, but I still take time to walk that long, double aisle at Fry’s once in a while. And every time I do, I spot things I had not heard about before.
There is currently no substitute for that experience.
I’d go digital download for EVERYTHING if i could. The only problem i see is that some publishers “punish” you for going the easier digital download route. When these situations occur, i’ll always go retail (provided you can actually GET the retail version in the country you live in).
eg. EoF: digital download = just the xpack.
retail = the entire game to date (so another account) + xpack + ingame items etc.
And both at approximately the same price.
I’m with Mooch; I prefer digital now. I like having a cd but I can burn the installation file no problem.
You’re not punished for not buying the reatil copy – you’re just not getting the extra fluff for giving the retailers a little love.
A retail store with limited shelving “real estate” is going to want to know that people asre going to buy the product they’re stocking. They don’t want to buy 100 copies per location only to have 20 sell. If a publisher can promise players a little extra, then the retailers are more apt to stock the product, and the potential for new subscriptions increases.
Retail vs. Digital
Actually, it should only be a matter of years before ALL forms of entertainment media — movies, music, games — start phasing out their retail merchandise distribution and begin solely offering their product via download.
Bill Gates himself has said that the HD-DVD and Blue-Ray will be the last physical media format war. The Xbox 360 is already offering HD movies for download from Xbox Live.
Next to go will be literary market — the magazines, newspapers, journals, mail.
In 20 years the only thing you’ll have to leave your house to buy will be food and toilet paper.
I see it going the same way you say.
Most PC games will disappear entirely from retail stores and will become only digital download (DD) or retail shipped (RS). Shelf space is definately a premium, and I think you might only see one small endcap or so devoted to PC games, and then only devoted to ones the store knows will be a hit and will sell.
But there will always be gamers like me that want the retail box. I like having the discs. And I also like having things that can only come in a box: little maps and coins and such (I’m still mad EoF retail didn’t come with a coin!) that you can physically hold onto. I love art and game art, and I love to hang that stuff on my wall. And you just can’t be having a printed manual or something to thumb through why the game is installing…
I hated the reduction in box size… it was the beginning of the end for the “massive manual” gamers like me. When I got a game with a huge manual with lots of little stats and such (IE, stats for every building type for a city building game or someting) it was like Christmas morning in the box. Smaller boxes made that harder (although I cheered when my Neverwinter Nights game included a nice sized manual to read!).
I think for that reason you won’t see retail stuff ever disappear. Yeah, DD is an “ideal” distribution method in that it’s cheap, but gamers like me don’t want cheap. We’ll fork out that extra $10 to you so that we get our retail box and our map and our goodies. But take our goodies away to get us to go to DD and you’re more likely to lose customers than get us to switch.
Maybe the next generation, one that grows up with DD, will fully embrace it and cause such change. But as long as us ‘retail “dinosuars” ‘ are still around I bet you’ll see us catered too. DD is too new, and some of us just can’t be converted.
We want our “MTV” (the old MTV… not what is has become, haha!) and we’ll have it so long as we still have a voice.
I’m plenty old school, but I love digital distribution. Who wants to fight traffic and wrestle through crowds at the mall? Not grumpy old gran’pa Nick! Now, YOU KIDS GET OFF OF MY LAWN!
Personally, I rather like the idea of digital distribution in the form of having a game tied to your account, so if you have to shuffle games around to jockey for HDD space you can easily re-download the game later. VALVe Software’s STEAM service does a pretty good job of this. Sure it’s not exactly going to stamp out piracy, but neither did retail, so I’d say it’s still win-win. Convenient for the consumer and convenient for the publisher via manufacturing savings. For those people who really like boxes, they should continue to be able to order them, but they might end up being considered the “rare” versions of future titles, which ironically enough, might make them more coveted.
EverQuest 2′s latest expansion Echoes of Faydwer was a good example of giving an insentive for players to actually go buy the box set over the digital download. The download may get you the game slightly faster, but but buying the store box got you both the KoS and DoF for free. While this wasn’t a big deal for those who already had them (most of those players went for the download) it gave new players 3 expansions and the original game for just one fee.
I really would like to see more games use a system like that to promote both versions and keep retail box games alive.
A week or two after release, I phoned ahead to my local Gamespot to ask if they had the new EoF expansion, and I must have been on the phone for 10-15 minutes before the clerk returned and said yes, they had it. When I arrived to pick it up, the whole place was decked out with console games except for a small messy shelf in the back. But to be fair, all the latest PC releases were kept behind the counter under lock and key. The expansion boxes were a foot or two away from the phone where the clerk was. It’s like he never heard of it.
Personally I always felt the biggest strike against PC games is that the developers require you to undergo an “install” process to use them. Consequently, I keep my library to a minimum.
One thing you have to think about is the reason that there is so much self space in stores for games. One thing people are missing is that Microsoft’s Xbox people, Sony’s Playstation Group and Nentendo all PAY for all that shelf space. Thats why games like Cars get the same amount of shelf space as Oblivion, and shortly after Vista’s Launch(and to a lesser extent already) Microsoft is going to be launching it’s Games for Windows program in an attempt to basicly say they have 2 platforms on the market, and give PC game developers the same Marketing Mussle in stores that Consol Devs have had for years, thanks to the Consol Maker buying sections of the store displays and having Demo Systems in the store so people can try the games(both of wich Microsoft will be doing with Games for Windows). Will it work who knows. But one thing I do know is with the new program tool kit Microsoft released free(if you only publish PC titles) it looks like the PC may end up being the source of some cool “Art House” games.
I have to vote for the boxes. Maybe I am a retail dinosaur as well. But I like be able to see and feel stuff I spend my money on. Too many times I have bought stuff online only to be dissappointed on delivery.
My other issue is that I live outside the reach of High-speed internet.
It’s horrible enough to get home with a new game (DAoC) or expansion (EoF) and have to go through a 20-hour update before playing. Updates taking hours to download are bad enough. I don’t even want to imagine WHOLE games. Even on high speed, Ryzom was a 6-hour download. I want to use my computer for other things besides watching the download-in-progress meter.
Personally, I prefer boxes to digital. It’s easier to keep track of boxes than some little code, especially now that they’re making the boxes like that of the console games. Speaking of consoles, I don’t get it. On the PC, I’m a very casual gamer. On consoles, I’m darn near useless. I hate most of the camera angles and char controls on most console games I’ve tried…and they’re so dang expensive!
I dunno if you saw it but I enjoyed reading in the Holiday edition of PC Gamer Magazine about Microsoft’s initiatives to boost PC gaming, including Vista. I’m not a real techy, and I know some of them have some pretty disparaging thoughts about MS, but it sounded promising to me.
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