Mitsurugi on 23 February 2010
If digital became the new standard and they charged 40 bucks for each digital copy of a game, assuming they had a 80% profit margin, they'd make 32$ per copy downloaded. That extra 5 bucks, while seemingly insignificant, would mean Publishers only have to sell hundreds of thousands of copies, instead of millions, to cover their production and marketing cost.
Oh course, why would developers charge 40 bucks when consumers have already proven their more than willing to pay 60 (80 or 100 with DLC).
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