KylieDog said:
Pemalite said:
I can't wait for last-century physical media to be abolished completely for everything.
Not only do you have the cost concerns where it drives up prices for consumers (Even digital-only consumers), but it's slow and archaic, developers would probably benefit greatly if they removed the slowest common denominator in a console like the optical drive, suddenly streaming assets becomes significantly more feasible and load times are reduced for everyone.
However, for it to become a reality, console internal storage capacities need to increase, when games start pushing 50-60Gb+ that anemic 500Gb HDD is not going to last the distance... And who want's ugly external hard drives clogging up their entertainment area?
I wish both Microsoft and Sony had the foresight and supported the option of user-replaceable multiple 3.5" internal drives so power users could rock 6,000Gb or more in their machines.
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Physcial/retail actually keeps costs down, since it creates competition. All digital means you by from your consoles marketplace at whatever jacked up price they like, or you go without.
This isn't music or movies where the end user (us) has multiple platform options. You want PS4 games, you're forced to use a PS4, want XBO games, forced to use XBO. Want music? Pretty much anything plays it these days.
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Retail keeps prices up, for instance Digital "needs" to price match retail because retailers wish to maintain their archaic business model instead of evolving with the market.
You also have competition with digital.
Take Steam for instance, it may be a "Platform" but dozens of digital retailers will sell you games for that particular platform.
For example, you can buy a game from Steam, Green Man Gaming, Humble Bundle, etc' but they all activate on Steam.
There is no reason for consoles not to have a key-system so a similar thing occurs on those platforms, in-fact the infrustructure to do so already exists.
Retail keeps prices high, we see it with PC games all the time, it's the excuse most publishers use when doing price increases on Steam in Australia to match retail price rather than the cheaper American price.
http://games.on.net/2014/08/civilization-beyond-earth-just-went-up-40-on-steam/
http://games.on.net/2014/09/middle-earth-shadow-of-mordor-just-went-up-22-on-steam/
http://www.kotaku.com.au/2010/11/why-do-videogames-cost-so-much/
http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/117433-Australia-Asks-About-High-Game-Prices
http://www.gamespot.com/articles/why-australian-game-prices-will-not-drop/1100-6401518/
