When it happens? Yes.

That is still pretty far out. The fact of the matter is peoples connections and bandwidth caps still dont support full 20Gb game downloads on a regular basis.

People on here clamboring about the digital age of AAA titles are fringe.

exactly. I dont trust EA as far as I can throw them. IMHO they were probably in MS' ear the whole time pushing them to make all that DRM crap and as soon as they saw the backlash, they turned tail and ran, like some yellow cowards. I almost feel bad for MS

I'm not so sure. So many other eletronic entertainment devices are going this route. Smart TVs, cellphones, tablets, PCs...

Once people see that downloaded games auto update while disk based games update when you insert the disk...

Once people see how fast app switching works for digital while for disks you have to wait for loading and switch manually yourself...

Once people see that PS4 offers game streaming to the Vita any tiem anywhere, but only for games you bought digitally, while CD games you have to put the disk in and play from home...

they'll never see this if there internet is not up to par. and for alot of people it isnt.

The backlash came from all over the internet, not only gamers. Practically all mainstream sites made fun of the Xbox One. If this was gamers only, nothing would have changed, at least imo.

If EA comes with something like DRM in the future, they will continue with it. The backlash will come from the gamers only, not the mainstream audience. It will be just like gamers complaining about on disk DLC.

I agree digital has some awesome benefits.

The main issue in the way is bandwith caps. A modern next gen AAA game is a 20+ GB download. That is a massive chunk of many peoples monthly allotment.

We arent as close to full digital in the console space as some think. The Massive MS backlash is a testament to this.

Why are these people buying an Xbox One and a PS4 in the first place then? Social media and game sharing, multimedia features, multiplayer skewed games, app multitasking all of which require internet in one way or another...

Do people buy PCs and tablets if they don't have internet these days? I don't think so and those devices sell 100s of millions of units per year.

If the future is indeed all digital, if it is indeed an inevitability, then would it really have been worth it to potentially damage the Xbox brand in a big way by attempting to hasten an inevitable process?

What I think publishers are going to focus on is creating more incentives for purchasing digital titles, likely through extra content available only with digital purchases. I think all of the console manufacturers know that the market is going closer and closer to digital, I just think Microsoft went the wrong way about it initially by restricting disc-based gaming. If you want to push people towards digital, create incentive to do it, not punish the alternative.

I don't know...next gen = current PC gen in reallity. Very few games cross the 10GB install size, even if they are 30 GB in size. 

And top end steam games are between 6-10 GB in download when it comes to install files. When the file isntalls it becomes 20-30GB. Crysis 3 isn't more than 10 GB and that game has crazy high end textures and its very doubtful that next gen games will look better than Crysis 3 maxed out.

And yes, I agree that masses arent ready. I am...but I can wait I guess :)