No Physical Media for Next Gen?

[0D0]

RaptorChrist said:

Can someone explain this to me?

When a $60 game sells in a store, the store gets a $10 cut of the sale. When a digital sale is made, those extra $10 go back to the developer. Why don't game companies offer a discount for digital purchases (as an incentive to sell more digital copies)? In some cases, digital is actually more expensive than physical (I've noticed that oftentimes when a game gets a price cut, the digital version stays the same).

I suspect that maybe stores like Wal-Mart and Target are pressuring the big three to maintain equal pricing, otherwise they would perhaps refuse to sell their brand in stores anymore. Is that really the reason? Or is there more to it than that?

* I just made up numbers here to make my point; I don't actually know how much a store gets on a game sale.

First, yes, I guess the big three don't want to sideline Walmart, Amazon and others like this.

Second, price is not the sum of all costs, price is whatever the market value the product. People just go and pay full price on digital regardless, so, that's the value of a new game. No matter how it's delivered to you, its value is $60 and people just pay. Of course, we can't forget the cuts that come later on. Full price is almost never forever (unless we're talking about Nintendo, lol). (I hope I don't get banned for that small joke but I can't resist -- no console wars: peace and love).