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If you have the ability to purchase a game
a.) Store Bought with Guaranteed delivery on the day the game came out for $X - w/Box Manual all that good stuff
b.) Digital download, the morning it comes out for $X - w/The service you are buying from retaining memory you bought it (a la Steam)
Which do you prefer? and why? Please keep in mind that neither way gives any type of discount or special bonuses.
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Rank: One of the Main Weird
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For me personally, I like to touch and feel the product. Plus getting the thrill out of the trip to the store, buying it off the shelf and manually loading it, makes me still feel more secure from a digital download. Most importantly, personal bandwidth issues prevent me from doing digital downloads, as I am on a Sprint Wireless Network Card, so it's limited and capped (though I've never actually been warned about going over the limit). Ultimately though, as I think you are going to see possibly a continued increase in the percentage of Digital Downloads of products, the majority of products I would assume is going to be retail shelf bought.
However, if they can create massive incentive base to digitally download, I think you'll probably see that percentage increase. Retail packaging does come with some overhead. Material Costs, Package Printing, Overhead in design, CD/DVD, printed paper mailing literature, and most importantly freight. This overhead is reduced by digitally downloading the product. Although you probably pick up some with the bandwidth and servers needed for storing and distributing the content. I am familiar with manufacturing costs of retail packaging costs, but not so much on the digital distribution costs, so I don't know if that's a wash or not.
Ultimately, I would think retail packaging still has the majority of the distribution method.
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Rank: One of the Main Weird
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I like the store bought games and I think the main reason is because that’s what I have been doing for the past 15 years. Its an experience. I can go to the store, look around, play demos and bullshit to the people there about upcoming games. Also the smell of opening a new game can not be matched. When you open that box for the 1st time and get that whiff …. mmmm. That may be because gaming is one of my many addictions in life, but none the less a reason. Nothing against the digital downloads; they are a good option in some situations. Once I spaced out on the release date of a game I wanted to play, I went to their site and was able to download the game that night with out going to the store. That is one of the situations where I see its value.
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For me personally I enjoy the digital downloads IF I trust the company. One thing that in this economy that you have to think about is what happens if the infrastructure that you are using to download the game (just as an example, lets say Steam or SOE) goes under? With the physical product I still have the ability to utilize the game if I were to format my system or anything of that nature. I would not necessarily always have that ability if the company were to go under and the game I am playing is not a single player (non net) game.
The reason I asked this as question of the day (something I am gonna try my damnest to get on here and do every morning) is that I preordered Dawn of War II last night from Amazon (physical box) for $50 total. I was on Steam last night to download the demo and I saw that they will have the digital version on there on release day, but for the same price. I was tempted to order the digital version just so that I could start the download before heading into work and then have it ready when I got home, but the further I thought about it, with no discount incentive for the digital version, I thought I might as well just order it over Amazon and get the physical version. The kicker for me personally was what would happen if Steam were to go under? (not that I think they ever will, just utilizing it as an example) and I am unable to download the game after a system format if steam were no longer present.
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Rank: One of the Main Weird
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Ya, that's a pretty good point also. Though the gaming industry as a whole set a record in 2008 with $120 Billion in revenue and continues to grow.
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If prices are equal, I go for a physical box most of the time. The exceptions are things like Trackmania or World of Goo, where I like the idea of being able to directly support a smaller developer. Given that the actual costs involved are way lower for downloads, I either expect to pay much less or want to send a greater proportion to the developers. What really confuses me is that downloads are rarely cheaper and often actually more expensive. Shadow Odyssey would have cost me, what, $40 from SOE downloaded? So I bought a physical box (albeit a few weeks later) for £12. Even with the exchange rate at the time that was half the price. GTA4 is another example; I just ordered the physical box to be delivered for £25 and was offered a download alternative for £30. Wtf is that about? This is a topic that really bugs me; downloaded content is full of so many obvious advantages (much lower distribution costs, easier DRM for the studios, trivial for them to patch right in the distribution channel...) - so why the hell isn't the industry pushing it hard by simply making it a more attractive buying choice?
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Option A and going for the physical product is always my choice too.
What influences me is that it feels safer getting the disc for when Windows falls apart and I need to reinstall, my broadband is also a little slow too so the digital downloads are less appealing.
If there was a £5-£10 discount though for the downloaded version I would be tempted to give it a go, as it is when the price is the same I just look at it that I'm getting a free box, backup disc and manual for the same price. As long as I receive it by the weekend then time is normally not a problem.
Still finding it strange that no discount is offered, for me that is the big sticking point.
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ahnlak wrote:If prices are equal, I go for a physical box most of the time. The exceptions are things like Trackmania or World of Goo, where I like the idea of being able to directly support a smaller developer. Given that the actual costs involved are way lower for downloads, I either expect to pay much less or want to send a greater proportion to the developers.
This is a great point.
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Rank: One of the Main Weird
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You guys were talking about WORLD OF GO a couple days ago, I saw this Bankruptcy article today, too bad http://www.joystiq.com/2009/01/30/world-of-goo-publisher-files-for-bankruptcy/
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Rank: One of the Main Weird
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Location: Houston, Texas
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Rank: One of the Main Weird
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Dardore wrote:You guys were talking about WORLD OF GO a couple days ago, I saw this Bankruptcy article today, too bad At least it's just their publishers, and not 2DBoy themselves.
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