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Forums - Gaming - Platform holders: make Digital more like Physical

teigaga on 25 June 2013

 

1. Digital games can be played permanently offline, no strings attached; however, consumers could opt-in to (and subsequently out of) a plan that allowed any or all of their digital games to be downloaded and played on other consoles, provided they checked in online to make sure they couldn't just copy their games to multiple consoles.  Consumers could take individual games on or off of this plan as they saw fit.  One console could be listed as the primary console, on which anyone could play the designated game(s) at any time, and you could change which console was listed as the primary one at any time.  Secondary consoles could only play the game(s) when the owner is logged on.

2. Family sharing.  A certain number of people can be put into your family list; anyone on your family list will have full access to your digital games, provided they check in online so that they can't pirate the games.  People can be put onto and taken off of the family list at any time.  The owner can always play his/her digital games; details on how many people could be on the family list and how many could play shared games at a given time would have to be carefully negotiated, so as not to harm developers/publishers.

3. Digital trade-ins.  This is something I haven't seen discussed much at all.  At any time, you could "trade-in" your digital game back to MS/Sony/Nintendo and get cash added to your account to spend on other digital games.  When a game is traded in, it is immediately removed from your hard drive, and your licence disappears as well so your family list can no longer access it and you can no longer re-download it for free.  This would allow for consumers to get cash back for games they are no longer using, while avoiding the problem of middleman retailers turning around and selling the used game and taking all the profit of it.


2. The Ps3 already does a similar thing where you can download a game on several (3?) different consoles provided your profile is already on it.
The problem with promoting it further as family sharing and having a list of friends who immediately have access to your games is that you are then providing a product more valuable than actual discs. you cannot lend your friend you game disc yet still still play it. I know I would certainly but fewer games if I autmotically got access to my friends games. I don't think it will be healthy to industry or go in toe with digital game prices being reduced.

3. I've seen it suggested a few times but never understood why such a thing would exist. Digital games cannot be resold to anyone, so there are no middle men to be concerned with. That being the case, why would sony or Microsoft have any intention to give you money for digital content which hold no value to them. Its not something they can resell, essentially you are just asking for a refund?

I personally think all thats needed is cheaper prices and garunteed offline functionlity. 



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thekitchensink on 25 June 2013

They should just do what the film industry has profitably been doing for years: include a download code inside the box of a physical copy. That way they still offer the convenience (and retain the after-market control) of DD without taking away the consumer's rights regarding their physical products.

The downside for the publisher is, of course, that they are selling two copies for the price of one, but this model Is also a CONSUMER-FRIENDLY way to deter used sales. After all, when someone considers buying a game used, they'll have to consider that the download code has probably already been used. Unlike online passes, which used a similar system to limit access to certain parts of the game to new buyers, this would allow used buyers access to all of the content while heavily incentivizing us to buy new so that we can access the game in whatever method is convenient to us.

In short, they take a bite out of used game sales by offering additional convenience to those who buy new, and our experience when it comes to buying used items remains the same as it has for thousands of years of human civilization. Seems like everybody wins to me.



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KungKras on 25 June 2013

Fuck digital.

Make physical good again with things like maps and lorebooks and the like.

Bring back big PC game boxes!



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curtiswolf on 25 June 2013

i think digital is the smarter way to go, but alot of people including me just want to have the case and disc and all. i could go all digital but lets run this train out until the brakes stop working :)