Business-wise, a direct download only console makes perfect sense. You cut out a lot the manufacturing, storage, and distribution costs. This being said, I agree it is too soon because there are many folks like myself who feel ownership when we purchase a hard copy. Direct download be it a NetFlix subscription or direct download video gaming leaves me with the feeling that I am renting access to the product, not owning it. |
You don't only have a feeling that you are only renting the product, you actually are just renting the product. You can't sell the game and companies have every right to remove games from servers when ever they want and with some DRM-protected games they could even disable gaming completely at any time (especially if DRM requires server connection even for single-player experience). And IMO you don't own anything you can't sell. But if game prices for direct download games are lower than physical games, this won't matter to most people (proven by success of digital music). And most people buy games just to play them now, they don't think about resale value or that they might not be able to play same game 10 years in the future.
