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oniyide on 20 May 2014
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Burek said:
wilco said:

Yes, the games would still be the same price initially, for the first couple years that would have to be the case. But eventually that would change. Xbox going all digital would make retail less relevant and you would see publishers and other console makers untether themselves from retail until they no longer feel duty bound to offer games at the same price. At the very least I think they would drop the prices faster and more significantly.

The real benefit of an all digital console would be more for the industry as a whole. Publishers have been decrying used games for years. The smart ones will welcome digital and use it as an opportunity to undercut gamestop by offering better deals for games and maybe digital game rentals as well. Microsoft would probably not beat playstation in market share if they went all digital but they could still retain a large portion of their fanbase. I don't think it would be a deal breaker for most gamers. Prior to E3 2013 the xbox brand was strong enough to convert atleast 75% of its fanbase to all digital. 

Is this statement some common known fact, or are you just throwing numbers around?

Because I think there is no chance of that happening. My main point of contention is that a great majority of MS fan base is in the USA, and from what I've read and heard, USA is still very restrictive when it comes to internet traffic, with expensive and limited data plans. If you look at today's games, most AAA are and will be weighing 40+ GB to download.

If nothing, it could be argued that Sony would have been better off by going all digital, since a large portion of its fan base is in Europe, which a) has no data caps and b) is fragmented enogh to make buying retail games much bigger hassle to buy.

Not sure about the Sony part but everything else is on the nose. Im not sure where he is getting his info from but i will add. His whole it will take years approach is exactly why it would fail...hard. People arent going to buy an all digital machine where the content is the same price as retail not going to happen. He even states that they wouldnt beat SOny, then what is the point? if you are not the market leader you are not really influencing trends. Does one really think that MS will sit around and be slaughtered by Sony for years until their digital machine picks up steam? Hell one. THE one isnt doing bad right now and they are still doing all kinds of 180s