I got to say someone dropped the ball with the PSP go. Great idea...broken entry to digital storefront.  Would have been a massive success, probably wasn't that expensive to make so profit margin and it would have been a shining light for the Vita, because all PSP games would have been available. Now there are still a ton of holes in the library, its good, but not everything. I'm guessing it was a legal thing among the developers/publishers. It can take forever to get approval from people and even longer to push the paper. It's like with ps1 and ps2 classics, some people just won't put the time in for a re-release of old games.

Yes, I believe this to be the best, not the only, way to do it for next gen. It caters to both markets and the market that patrons both (which is quite large now).  I'm not sure what the added cost is to dual release a game in retail and online, but I doubt its anything compared to the cost on the retail side. This set up means more money for everyone.

Retailers will go digital too. They already are.

Many big retails sell PC games via digital download now.

I just saw an article here where Gamestop is selling 3DS digital games.

Basically, you buy a code to put into the consoles store to download the game. This way store fronts can still offer the games, make bigger profit with less space taken up.

Digital delivery is really where everyone (non consumer) wants to go as it drastically cuts down on the expenses of putting out software, thus increasing the margin at the same price.

Additionally, since the costs are down so low, Steam and others have proven that they can offer more frequent and far cheaper sales. In the long run, it should be a win-win scenario for all of us. Only downsides are not being able to share hard copy of the game with others as in parties and such. But, non-consumers want to end that as well, so for them its a benefit.

While I'd personally have to give up used game market (NOOOOOOOOOOOOooooooooooo..............), I am a patient person and always wait for sales. So, I'd be content waiting for a digital sale for the same price area I generally buy used $20-$25. My only real fear is the loss of all competition with stores like EAs Origin where the publisher/developer only allows one store to sell the item. That is a monopoly and will make sales harder to come by. But, I'd like to think that this wouldn't be allowed due to anti-competitive regulations.

But retailers are still selling physical copies and that's not going to change anytime soon. Do you think the future is Gamestop or Best Buy with racks of paper slips with codes on them and nothing else? The only way this would work is if MS, Sony, and Nintendo kill their sales through retailers and opt to sell everything through the consoles themselves. But like I said, retailers won't like that and will make sure this doesn't happen.

Yeah, I understand that digital only would benefit both us and the company. But we're not there yet. Realistically, people won't go out to stores so they can buy things digital only. There would also be the problem of returning your games back as all sales would be final. That's why I think retailers will continue to fight for the option of physical copies. And again, the only viable solution for digial only would be through your actual console like Steam does with PC or the App store, which retailers would be fully against.

Aren't software sales at most retailers final for physical copies? I know that I've never been allowed to return any DVDs or games with the exception of Wal-Mart.

No, I see large retailers like Walmart having areas where sales of digital codes can be purchased etc and game centric places like Gamestop sellign the same thing plus accessories and consoles themselves. All the while other revenue for game sales is shifted to their already existing online models.

Granted, over time Gamestop and others will have to shrink their retail store footprint as game sales move to digital. In the end they will survive, with slightly a different format.

Look what's happened to music. Music stores still exist as does music in retailers. However, the biggest sale of music now is clearly digital and all retailers offer a digital options for download.

It didn't destroy the industry and retailers are still viable. Now with larger and cheaper storage, this will move to the complete loss of CDs as well as the migration of video to primarily digital delivery, same as music. Of course the next to follow will be games.

Again, I don't think it will happen 100% this next gen, but it will be dramatically increased and it will probably be the last gen with any cart/disc format option once these digital deliver systems are prefected over the next 5 years.

If it hasn't already been opened, you should be able to return it for your money back. If it has, it should be possible to return for another copy if you found out your copy was defective or something. With download codes, there's no way you can return it or ask for a new one. If you tried to tell them it was already a blank code when you bought it, they wouldn't know if you're telling the truth or not.

I suppose that you are right although I think that the idea of purchasing a code at a retailer to redeem online is unintuative.

@superchunk

Traditional music retailers are dying, I see another one close every couple months here in Newfoundland.

They can tell if you downloaded it via the account you'd have to create with their digital store. As it is now, all retailers ask you to create a login. These digital purchases would be tied to that and as such you'd be able to download it as much as needed as you already can on these types of stores.

They should implement a return policy like Android does (granted its only 15mins, but that's going to be increased, maybe not the 24hrs it used to be, but something logical like 1hr).

Never, please. I want my games in a box. That's how it always have been.
It should stay like that.