Ubisoft reveals profit margins for physical versus digital sales on console

[superchunk]

Cobretti2 said:

superchunk said:

Steam is awesome. However, it is not a Switch (amazing form-factor and portability) or a dedicated console of any form. It is a PC game platform which requires PC architecture and associated problems as well as complexity. There is a reason consoles eclipsed PC gaming and are now the default build architecture. True plug-n-play experience on the TV (or in hand as in Switch). I build my own PCs and am a Software Developer, so please don't reply with nonsense about simplicity of PCs being the same as consoles... I'm not tech-ignorant but I have kids and family who are... guess which platform I get more questions from? Steam will never remove consoles. In fact, as consoles continue to drive more and more of the gaming business and expand their control scheme, I'd see Steam / PC gaming continue to decline.

My issue is this with consoles going all digital.

When a new console comes out and eventually the services goes down and they move onto a new design.  Those old games I had will no longer work on my switch because I will not be able to download them as the online service will shut down.

With Steam it runs on any PC so i can accept digital games because if I uninstall i know I can reinstall it on a new PC later on if i so choose.

If consoles went all digital they need to make backing up easier so 20 years from now it can be played as a retro console.

 

In a world where consoles are following the mobile market upgrade cycle, their services won't ever go down. Instead it would be just like Steam. However, there still is a point in time where certain games just lose support, even if you kept your orig console.

Honestly, I only ever see one legitimate argument against digital and that revolves around long-term ownership. In any game that has a completely off-line gameplay, you could technically play it for as long as you owned a working console. Whereas in an all digital console (even with Steam) there may come a point in time where there have been enough OS or hardware changes that the older game simply cannot function. (or they remove the game from the digital library for some licensing reason and you delete your local copy)

But, frankly, I consider those low risk concerns. Bigger opportunity / benefit is the simplicity of daily usage and no physical storage required of an all-digital library.