| Kantor said: Definitely. All through last gen a game cost more on PSN at launch than it did on disc, and the prices never really went down either (occasional PS+ sales aside). If other online marketplaces behaved like Steam, they'd get Steam levels of sales too. |
Ultimately the only way I see this happening is with the formal allowance of competition in selling DL codes for Xbox Live and PSN.
This would only occur if one major manufacturer allowed it (unlikely) or a major regulator in either Europe or the USA required it.
For example, a regulator could decide that right now publishers compete with each other on game quality (product differentiation) and retailers compete with each other and manufacturer-centric digital distribution (obviously this doesn't include PC) on price. With the decline of retail, the same regulator could decide that competition is insufficient (almost like MS being required to unbundle internet explorer in parts of the world), as product differentiation still exists, but price differentiation does not.
The latter is more likely than a manufacturer leading the way, but it would still be a long way off.
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