The problem is not so much in digital downloads, but different price structures. There is a difference between downloading an album at perhaps a couple of hunderd megs and a game at a couple of dozen gigs. If you were to go down a digital and a physical release then any price difference should only be slight say no more than £5/€5/$5 etc.. Any more than that and you are in effect penalising people based on where they live. Not everyone has superfast broadband or even broadband some are still on dial-up.
Microsoft planning complete reversal of DRM policy for Xbox One
- Thread starter firehawk12
- Start date
The real problem for download only purchases vs. physical is that it directly competes with the old fashioned brick and mortar outlets, which last I heard still accounts for the lion's share of revenue for triple-A game releases. To date, few publishers are willing to undercut the likes of Gamestop and risk damaging what is still a reasonably profitable relationship and loosing most of their income if those shops decide to cease stocking their product.
Granted those same shops really take the piss by making *huge* profits by actively pushing trade-ins and used game sales, which makes it a bit of an abusive relationship when you think about it. Even more so since the publishers seem intent of passing this abuse along to their customers.
I must admit that I'm at a bit of a loss as to why they haven't partnered up with the likes of Amazon as an alternative to in store sales. I mean it would seem the logical compromise as their business model allows for lower price points and yet the customer still gets a physical product rather than a code for a digital service that may or may not evaporate a few years down the line.
Granted those same shops really take the piss by making *huge* profits by actively pushing trade-ins and used game sales, which makes it a bit of an abusive relationship when you think about it. Even more so since the publishers seem intent of passing this abuse along to their customers.
I must admit that I'm at a bit of a loss as to why they haven't partnered up with the likes of Amazon as an alternative to in store sales. I mean it would seem the logical compromise as their business model allows for lower price points and yet the customer still gets a physical product rather than a code for a digital service that may or may not evaporate a few years down the line.
At least part of that was due to the 360 not doing day-and-date digital releases, though. If you wanted the game, you had to go retail. That's supposedly changing with the Xbox One.
I'm... not understanding who that's supposed to help, or how.
Well, those same shops have no qualms about cutting new game sales by offering used games. There's no way you can argue that used game sales have no effect on new game sales. Do you really think GameStop or whoever else will not have Call Of Duty and Madden on store shelves due to damaged relations to with the publishers? If so, I say go ahead and pull that trigger. As a primarily new game buyer who rarely sells his used games, I'd appreciate some acknowledgement in the form of a price cut for a digital download. I'm sure somewhere down the road the cost of used games was factored into the $60 price tag anyway. Why should I continue to subsidize used game sales?
My key point is that publishers have to be willing to give a little something to get rid of used game sales. It can't be all one way anti-consumer policies as Microsoft just learned.
How does Steam do it then? I've seen games that are on console for $60 sell as low as $10-$20 on Steam. If its all digital distribution and no brick and mortar operation to support, how can it not be cheaper? Console manufacturers get a royalty already so they should be set.
Aren't those older releases though? We've all seen the classic GOTY console editions sold for $19.99 in stores, so it roughly comes down to the same thing.
On the other hand, if we look at the ebook model as an example, we see them being sold for more than the paperback price, at least on Amazon, which technically shouldn't happen if we consider that they're digital downloads. In the end, it's up to the publisher to set the price, something I could see the same thing being done for game downloads on consoles. I think sales should happen more often giving people good incentives to download.
I was browsing the Escapist web site, in which they had an article about the price of the XBOX One. According to the economist and author of the The Art of Pricing, Rafi Mohammed,
(http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/125343-Economist-Says-Xbox-One-is-Too-Expensive) Ouch!
Steam does it because the PC is an open platform, whereas consoles are closed platforms. Valve and the publishers that sell through them aren't afraid to compete with the hight street shops in that particular market since it's still considered somewhat of a niche.
Also, since nobody has figured out a way to make console hardware downloadable (stupid laws of physics) they still depend on the shops to sell and advertise their platforms. Drastically undercutting them in game sales could mean they refuse to carry their products. ANY of them. So no games, no consoles, no peripherals, accessories or merchandise.
This didn't happen with PCs because most of the high street companies that sell PCs aren't primarily concerned with games. Mostly they're just interested in selling the hardware an related non-game related software.
This is why I'm interested to see where the 'Steam Box' concept might go. I mean imagine a console like platform that runs Windows (or windows converted to Unix) games? There wouldn't be just one manufacturer exercising a monopoly with proprietary formats, but several competing products. Backwards compatibility would be a huge selling point while the openness and adaptability of a fully upgradable system wouldn't limit or hinder game developers so much.
Don't get me wrong, if they ever get it off the ground it'll be an uphill battle to get anywhere near the install base of the Playstation or X-Box and there's no way in hell Nintendo will loosen their grip on their IPs and their own platforms anytime soon...but who knows. Once, long ago I might have said the same thing about Sega and look what happened to them.
I doubt that a brand new release is sold for for US$40-50 less via digital download than in a bricks and motar store.
Brand new? No. But the price of PC games dose drop way quicker than on consoles and add to that Steam's frequent sales you can get games that are less than a year old for less than a tenner.
I realise it's not the best example since it's more like two years old, but just the other week I picked up Witcher 2 for £5. I'd like to see PSN or XBL match that!
I've also noticed that console games have a very definite minimum price threshold, regardless of age. Very few that I've seen get below the £20 mark and fewer still sell new for as little as £10-15. PC games the other hand go right down to bargain bin £2-5 range. Indeed, I''m pretty sure I recently spotted Batman Arkham Asylum on Amazon for £2.99...for the PC. The console versions were closer to £15.
Is it any wonder why nobody cares that there's no used game market for PC games? Or that the one for console games is so prevalent. Honestly I think the best thing the publishers can do to combat this lost source of revenue is reduce their prices.
I realise it's not the best example since it's more like two years old, but just the other week I picked up Witcher 2 for £5. I'd like to see PSN or XBL match that!
I've also noticed that console games have a very definite minimum price threshold, regardless of age. Very few that I've seen get below the £20 mark and fewer still sell new for as little as £10-15. PC games the other hand go right down to bargain bin £2-5 range. Indeed, I''m pretty sure I recently spotted Batman Arkham Asylum on Amazon for £2.99...for the PC. The console versions were closer to £15.
Is it any wonder why nobody cares that there's no used game market for PC games? Or that the one for console games is so prevalent. Honestly I think the best thing the publishers can do to combat this lost source of revenue is reduce their prices.
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http://www.getloadedgo.com/ -- latest deal for a game through Steam that I picked up. I grabbed Dishonored and Doom 3 BFG together for $15. Would have been a better deal for me if I didn't have most of the other games. I think Disohonored has been available for $20 at its lowest for consoles.
The funny thing is though, that the 'best' deals I see on games for PC are the smaller indie/XBLA type games. Where the same game on Xbox Live will keep a 10-15 price indefinitely they're soon available on sale in Steam for under $5. And of course there are the Humble Bundles if you want those types of games even cheaper.
For example I got Renegade Ops with its DLC for $5.50 (main game was $3.74) whereas all that costs $18 or so on Xbox. I guess Renegade Ops was on sale down from $10 to $7.50 for the main game on Xbox last week, and I think that's probably as good as it got, still twice as much, and I don't think the DLC was on sale.
Though I did get a couple of hundred dollars worth of Xbox funny money for 2/3 off, so I guess everything on there is on a pretty good sale at the moment
. Still, I'm waiting for sales on games I want, and it's generally not as good as what you'll see on Steam. Spelunky is 50% off, but the DLC isn't on sale. Still I will pick it up since it sounds like a great game, almost snagged it at full price last week.
Whatever system you're on, if your patient you will eventually get good deals. But the Steam deals are more frequent and plain better 90% of the time.
The funny thing is though, that the 'best' deals I see on games for PC are the smaller indie/XBLA type games. Where the same game on Xbox Live will keep a 10-15 price indefinitely they're soon available on sale in Steam for under $5. And of course there are the Humble Bundles if you want those types of games even cheaper.
For example I got Renegade Ops with its DLC for $5.50 (main game was $3.74) whereas all that costs $18 or so on Xbox. I guess Renegade Ops was on sale down from $10 to $7.50 for the main game on Xbox last week, and I think that's probably as good as it got, still twice as much, and I don't think the DLC was on sale.
Though I did get a couple of hundred dollars worth of Xbox funny money for 2/3 off, so I guess everything on there is on a pretty good sale at the moment
. Still, I'm waiting for sales on games I want, and it's generally not as good as what you'll see on Steam. Spelunky is 50% off, but the DLC isn't on sale. Still I will pick it up since it sounds like a great game, almost snagged it at full price last week.Whatever system you're on, if your patient you will eventually get good deals. But the Steam deals are more frequent and plain better 90% of the time.
Here is Cracked's Breakup Letter to Xbox.
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It looks like Don Mattrick is leaving Microsoft. Steve Ballmar is planning to restructure the entire company and it seems like any hope Mattrick had for a promotion was killed by the disastrous XBO reveal, so he's jumping ship to Zynga. Either that or he was pushed.
http://allthingsd.com/20130701/exclusive-microsofts-entertainment-head-don-mattrick-leaving-to-take-top-role-possibly-ceo-at-zynga/?mod=atdtweet
http://allthingsd.com/20130701/exclusive-microsofts-entertainment-head-don-mattrick-leaving-to-take-top-role-possibly-ceo-at-zynga/?mod=atdtweet
Why is it that executives of companies with widely-known failed/troubled products never seem to have problems landing new executive-level positions at other companies? Shouldn't they...I dunno...go back to CEO school or something? Or maybe start over, cleaning out the trash cans or working in the mail room? Does nobody bother to actually read the resume...or watch the news???
I thought Zynga was in financial trouble? Good luck there, I guess. At least he didn't jump ship to Sony.
He's rumored to be heading to Zynga. If that isn't a last gasp at grabbing a big paycheck from a company that likely won't be around in its present form a year or two from now, I don't know what is.
I'm no Xbot fan or nothing, but I hope no one at Microsoft is holding the yet to be launched Xbox One against Mattrick at this point. It's not like Microsoft has had any successful consumer electronics launches other than the Xbox and Xbox 360 in the past. Any one remember the Zune Media Player? Microsoft Kin smartphone? The Surface, anyone?
And honestly, does anyone expect the Xbox One to be a flop? It may under perform, but it will sell millions of units and have substantial market share.
What concerns me about Mattrick is how unprepared the Xbox team was for the launch event. 1 executive on one side of the country says one thing, another exec on the other side says something completely contradictory. For instance, the "cloud computing" capability offloads AI processes from the system to the cloud... But when asked about what happens when you loose your Internet connection to the cloud, no one gave a satisfactory response. What? Does your AI become artificially dumb? Is your game interrupted? And this whole 180? What does this mean for unconnected XB1's? How does this effect the cloud computing and AI processing if the XB1 is not on the internet?
Sony had their launch event in February and it took Microsoft 3 months to answer them. It seems to me that they could've used another month or 2 to get right on messaging.
And honestly, does anyone expect the Xbox One to be a flop? It may under perform, but it will sell millions of units and have substantial market share.
What concerns me about Mattrick is how unprepared the Xbox team was for the launch event. 1 executive on one side of the country says one thing, another exec on the other side says something completely contradictory. For instance, the "cloud computing" capability offloads AI processes from the system to the cloud... But when asked about what happens when you loose your Internet connection to the cloud, no one gave a satisfactory response. What? Does your AI become artificially dumb? Is your game interrupted? And this whole 180? What does this mean for unconnected XB1's? How does this effect the cloud computing and AI processing if the XB1 is not on the internet?
Sony had their launch event in February and it took Microsoft 3 months to answer them. It seems to me that they could've used another month or 2 to get right on messaging.
