So okay this is kind of bugging me big time why on earth am I seeing like games like Mafia 3 go for 30 dollars on Best Buy and Amazon and yet its 42 dollars on Steam, Xbox Live, and PSN? With a digital version i am not getting either a box or a disc of the game so i see no reason why they are 12 dollars more expensive. Its not even just Mafia 3 go look up Dishonored 2 its 35 dollars on Amazon and Best Buy and yet its full price on every digital store else. This kind of shit has made the black Friday sale on every digital store incredibly underwhelming since I can just physical versions of games cheaper everywhere else. Especially on the PS4 side where It takes forever to download full 40GB games and yet I can go to best buy and pick up a copy of Mafia 3 right now and having the disc installed on my system almost instantly as oppose to getting it on PSN and having it take forever to download.

Overshipped.

How much do you imagine it costs to store all those copies of poor selling games on PSN or XBL? Warehouse space costs money is pretty much the answer to this when it comes to why you can get physical copies of Battle Born for 6euros now. That shit is just wasting space in shops store rooms and it is worth less and less value every week.

Because more retailers, more competition. A digital store is only owned by one company.

This is why I buy my games in Physical version.

Physical > Digital

Can be because of many factors, like stock, demand, etc.

Not like this is a bad thing :p

It's because publishers will not undercut retailers for digital game prices in fear of getting less shelf space. Even though digital is pretty big now, physical sales are still the most dominant. So if a particular publisher started to sell a game for $50 on the digital store while physical copies were still $60, Gamestop and other retailers could stop selling/advertising that game or putting it on their shelves, which would be a huge hit to sales of that game.

Retailers like Gamestop have been forcing publishers to give them exclusive pre-order bonuses for a long time now and publishers don't have much choice but to oblige for this very reason. They are very dependent on retailers to sell their games.

"With a digital version i am not getting either a box or a disc of the game"

Which is exactly why. Do you know why you see items on clearance? Because retailers what them gone. In many cases, they're willing to take a loss on certain products in order to move them off the floor.

Go look in the back room of a Wal-mart. It's jammed packed with merchandise and the people working inventory are in a constant battle to keep it from overflowing. They have only so much room and trucks are coming in every day with new items. Inventory is a war.

That's not even considering the hell at the end of the year when EVERYTHING has to be counted.

With digital, none of that applies. There is absolutely no need for specials or discounts or mark-downs unless their projections show that they can earn more revenue or brand exposure with a planned sale or price reduction.

People look at digital vs. retail from only a consumer perspective. Consider it from a business perspective and it looks completely different.

^ Thanks for educating us.

I always thought that physical was often cheaper, due to the retailers wanting to get them out and make some sort of money on them.... Since you know.... They actually paid for those games.

But the storage space in warehouses and shelves, makes a whole lot of sense as well.

This is why I'm not buying digital games anymore. Physical only, I was hoping digital would be cheaper this gen but that obviously hasn't happened.