Nautilus said:
I never said that an all-digital console would never happen.I do agree with you, its kinda inevitable.While you are comparing two different types of media, music became more "popular" because of its digital distribution,even though at the same time it did get more pirated than ever.The point here is that we are not there yet.Not even close.You say im the minority, when all the numbers and statistics say otherwise.85% to 90% of games sold are physical(im getting that number out of my head.Fix it if it isnt close).And the prices of digital versions of AAA games arent cheaper to make the retailers happy.Why?Because physical is where almost all the money come from.It will come the time when digital will make for most of the sales, but we are not there.And even when that times comes, why would they not put an option to buy physical?It just dosent make sense.There will always be guys like me, that loves buying the disc,or whatever physical form it gets, and "feeling" the game in its own hands, even if we need to pay a little more.It would just be trowing money away.And yes, while i would not stop playing games just because all became digital, i would ceartanly buy less, because i like visiting stores and sometimes i buy on impulse, and its not the same thing as browsing an online store.So a no-physical console?Its a bad idea, by every angle you wish to see it. An easy example is the early Xbox One problems.While it isnt quite exactly the same situation, i personally believe it would have a similar level of backlash from fans, as not putting a physical option would be an "anti-gamer" atitude, the same as the always online and no used game was.This is just my opinion though. |
No, 85%-90% of games sold on physical platforms are physical. That's a major different, because there's no incentivizing of digital distributon. The introdicution of music, and books, and TV, and film, and games wasn't a slow trickle. It was all a hard stop. Products that were all digital like the iPod, iPhone, Kindle, iPad, Netflix, and Steam are what popularized them. Before those, people were "85%" physical too.
It's time yesterday to go digital. Gaming doesn't need retailers anymore to the extent people are making it out to be. There will likely be NFC download code cards for parents, retailers, and collecters who need something physical, but that's mearly a consession. It would likely be sold in a box just like retail games now, with the same kinds of art and such as retail games now, with the only difference being that instead of a disc inside, there'd be a card. Or a coin. Or an Amiibo. Or literally anything Nintendo wants because the formfactor won't matter as long as it has the NFC chip. Then you just go home, tap it on your NX, and bingo, your digital purchase is complete and downloading now.
It wouldn't throw anything away because the number of consumers Nintendo would lose from this change as opposed to the number they will gain is utterly insignificant. I can't say you won't buy less, but statistically, most people like you who say they would buy less wouldn't, and they're will be more than enough people who buy more in the change to make up for the minority that actually do buy less.
It's not at all the same thing. The XBO literally would not funtion if not connected online. It literally bricked. That was the major issue. Almost everything else was forward thinking and something they would have gotten away with fine. The draconian DRM was the issue, DRM that is still present in massively games like Destiny. (at least it was at launch) Destiny did more than fine with worse. Even still, the XBO still anchored itself to discs, which is a week stance to take when pushing for a digital platform. You go big or you go home. Also, the XBO had a serious PR problem with the way it seamed to be ashamed to be a game consoles, which clearly pissed off gamers. All of which won't be the case with the NX. The XBO would have been fine without the DRM and without the TV focus, and the NX will be even better off than that if it doesn't compromise digital, and I don't think it will.
I think when it's finally proven to be an all digital platform, there will be a little backlash, but definitely nothing even remotely close to the XBO reveal because we will know a lot more about the membership program by then, and there will be a more legitimate source explaining why digital benefits the NX's unified platform specifically.
