S____M____C____C said:
It's not that far off. Likely not by 2014 or whenever the new machines come out, but governments in all the major markets are upgrading their internet systems as we speak - Australia recently announced a big upgrade for example. I'm certain though that online retail stores will be much more substantial with the new machines. Sony has its Qriocity setup which offers movies and music - what's stopping them integrating games into that service and doing away with the PS Store? Their tablets (s1 & s2) will have games with PlayStation support only available through DD. Microsoft will definitely be there as well, they are probaby slightly ahead. Gamestop, and other retailers could start to offer full games through online DD stores down the line. You also don't have to worry about countries that lag behind, they can be sold older hardware and physical games. Some say the PSP Go shows that consumers aren't ready for such a shift, but there was a lot of other factors holding the PSP Go back. Anyway, I think that a DD future is prety clear. The world just needs to sort out online security, data storage and internet systems a bit before it can be properly implemented. |
I think that isn't a great way to go, since it would make consumers at least the educated consumers feel as they got the shaft because the country infrastructure isn't supportive. While some might say this 10-20% consumer base might not be as important, they still produce 10-20% of the revenue. Honestly outside of Steam, I haven't really seen a perk of buying games on XBL or PSN vs Retail copies (Namely when they are priced horribly compared to retail copies).
DD only is the future, but right now it seems like a distant future, at least for home consoles with huge downloads spaces. Video Game Handhelds should be able to develop by next generation (As in the PSP3 and the next Nintendo handheld), assuming they don't just die off from the mobile cell phone market.
