Posted March 31, 2012
If there's one thing I love, it's a deal. I am the kind of gamer who doesn't mind playing a game 3-4 years after it releases if it means a price difference of 40-50 dollars. The thrill of coming across a gem you have been wanting for a while, priced at $5, just at a time when you have $5 to spend is priceless. I still have my near 100% complete copy of Fallout 3 that I paid $5 for. The dollar/hour ratio on that one will likely never be beaten, even adjusted for inflation!
As my current living situation does not allow me access to a PC regularly enough to warrant engaging in PC gaming, I re-evaluated my digital purchasing. My Steam account for example has approximately 200 titles. Now of course, of those 200, perhaps a third of them I would like to one day play. I am sure at one time I thought I would play them all, but people change.
The one thing that has become apparent to me is that the unlimited supply of digital distribution is a huge problem. One of the biggest advantages consumers have in the market is the fact that a game is a tangible asset, as well as a tangible liability. In retail, all items must pay their own “rent” each month for the space they take up. In the industry, retail space is at a premium, and turnover is highly desired. The advantages of clearance/blowout pricing for retailers are several:
1) Turn a depreciating or completely devalued asset into revenue.
2) Gain additional foot traffic from a different “Set of feet” than normal.
3) Allow children or those on restricted budgets to still patronize your establishment.
As such, there is always a point where a party would rather have $X in their wallet/till than the asset. To coin a euphemism, “everybody has a price”. For a patient shopper, willing to wait for a product to hit bargain price, the savings can be immense. For myself, my weekly trip to a pair of stores on neighboring blocks that sells in used items is a treat. I enjoy the fact that anything and everything can, and will, show up there eventually!
The problem I have realized exists with digital distribution is that there is no stock level, and as such, there is no market demands pushing a price lower. Additionally, without the ability to resell titles (A glaring omission I doubt will ever be rectified due to publishers largely controlling DD sites) the cost of a game cannot be subsidized. In short, the DD axiom of “one CD key for each player” is the publishers ideal. In my opinion, the convenience of DD is offset by this major disadvantage.
When I look at my Xbox 360 game shelf, it is a perfect reflection of who I am now as a gamer, and who I hope to be in the near future. I have 5-6 single player titles lined up in the order I intend to play them in (which often changes!), as well as a disc in my tray that never leaves. I also have a couple of small highly replayable DD titles installed to the machine itself, which function as fillers/relaxation titles. This is a perfect setup for me. I have payed no more than $15 for a physical game, and $6 for a digital game (2 in total). When I look at my steam account by comparison, it is a mess. I can see 50-100 titles that were purchased by an eager gamer that does not exist anymore. I can see another 50-100 that were purchased due to their being super cheap and (mildly) interesting. Unfortunately, I can also see a large number of games I would love to play, but cannot conveniently due to the Steam DRM restricting how I can access them. What this means to me is that I have unfortunately given up control of my digital library. The careful trimming I can do with my Xbox shelf cannot be done digitally. The organizational and financial benefits of the former are huge. I never feel like I have too much on my plate, and I can always value a title based on (cost – resale value)/hours = value/hour.
As such, I have concerns about the future of gaming. I look to “initiatives” such as Online Pass (particularly the recent first instance of an OP-enabled title's servers going down), DLC, and I despair. So much now is tied to an account or an email. I think coming from the generation of plug and play, where the only restriction was that the disc/cartridge be in the disc tray, I have a differing perspective from those who are perhaps young, still using a family PC for gaming, etc. My greatest fear is illustrated fully with titles like Shadowrun, Monday Night Combat, Team Fortress 2 (Xbox), Virtua Fighter 4, and others that are primarily online titles. These titles, if bought digitally are constantly depreciating assets, as the online player base will eventually disappear. At least with a physical disc, a consumer can sell the title as the trend points towards decline, to recoup something, and move on to something else. Out of sight, out of mind.
Perhaps a solution would be the development of a third party market pricing algorithm to be used by DD sites, with publisher buy-in, that would adjust a games price to take into account age, and recent sales. My overall wishlist for a “Gamers Bill of Rights: for digital sales would look something like this:
1) Resale: all videogame licenses, whether purchased attached to a physical copy or a digitally distributed one would come with the right of first sale, via any legally recognized market.
2) DLC Inclusion: all videogame DLC will be subject to the above.
3) Pray to Play: any game with an online pass system enabled will offer a pro-rated refund to users purchasing the pass near the server shutdown date.
4) Refund: all video game publishers and retailers will be forced to fully refund any title within 3 days of purchase provided the title has not been installed/downloaded.
5) Inform: any title requiring the installation of a third party DRM/Application/Client should be required to have that fact advertised prominently.
In conclusion, I think this is a tumultuous period for the gaming industry, as publishers look to extract more from a market overwhelmed with entertainment choices. The path forward must be navigated carefully, and with consideration by consumers. It is demonstrably true that a consumer votes with his or her dollar, and the state of gaming itself is at stake. At the moment, the DD method is far too controlled by publishers, and is in need of regulation to re-balance this disparity.
As my current living situation does not allow me access to a PC regularly enough to warrant engaging in PC gaming, I re-evaluated my digital purchasing. My Steam account for example has approximately 200 titles. Now of course, of those 200, perhaps a third of them I would like to one day play. I am sure at one time I thought I would play them all, but people change.
The one thing that has become apparent to me is that the unlimited supply of digital distribution is a huge problem. One of the biggest advantages consumers have in the market is the fact that a game is a tangible asset, as well as a tangible liability. In retail, all items must pay their own “rent” each month for the space they take up. In the industry, retail space is at a premium, and turnover is highly desired. The advantages of clearance/blowout pricing for retailers are several:
1) Turn a depreciating or completely devalued asset into revenue.
2) Gain additional foot traffic from a different “Set of feet” than normal.
3) Allow children or those on restricted budgets to still patronize your establishment.
As such, there is always a point where a party would rather have $X in their wallet/till than the asset. To coin a euphemism, “everybody has a price”. For a patient shopper, willing to wait for a product to hit bargain price, the savings can be immense. For myself, my weekly trip to a pair of stores on neighboring blocks that sells in used items is a treat. I enjoy the fact that anything and everything can, and will, show up there eventually!
The problem I have realized exists with digital distribution is that there is no stock level, and as such, there is no market demands pushing a price lower. Additionally, without the ability to resell titles (A glaring omission I doubt will ever be rectified due to publishers largely controlling DD sites) the cost of a game cannot be subsidized. In short, the DD axiom of “one CD key for each player” is the publishers ideal. In my opinion, the convenience of DD is offset by this major disadvantage.
When I look at my Xbox 360 game shelf, it is a perfect reflection of who I am now as a gamer, and who I hope to be in the near future. I have 5-6 single player titles lined up in the order I intend to play them in (which often changes!), as well as a disc in my tray that never leaves. I also have a couple of small highly replayable DD titles installed to the machine itself, which function as fillers/relaxation titles. This is a perfect setup for me. I have payed no more than $15 for a physical game, and $6 for a digital game (2 in total). When I look at my steam account by comparison, it is a mess. I can see 50-100 titles that were purchased by an eager gamer that does not exist anymore. I can see another 50-100 that were purchased due to their being super cheap and (mildly) interesting. Unfortunately, I can also see a large number of games I would love to play, but cannot conveniently due to the Steam DRM restricting how I can access them. What this means to me is that I have unfortunately given up control of my digital library. The careful trimming I can do with my Xbox shelf cannot be done digitally. The organizational and financial benefits of the former are huge. I never feel like I have too much on my plate, and I can always value a title based on (cost – resale value)/hours = value/hour.
As such, I have concerns about the future of gaming. I look to “initiatives” such as Online Pass (particularly the recent first instance of an OP-enabled title's servers going down), DLC, and I despair. So much now is tied to an account or an email. I think coming from the generation of plug and play, where the only restriction was that the disc/cartridge be in the disc tray, I have a differing perspective from those who are perhaps young, still using a family PC for gaming, etc. My greatest fear is illustrated fully with titles like Shadowrun, Monday Night Combat, Team Fortress 2 (Xbox), Virtua Fighter 4, and others that are primarily online titles. These titles, if bought digitally are constantly depreciating assets, as the online player base will eventually disappear. At least with a physical disc, a consumer can sell the title as the trend points towards decline, to recoup something, and move on to something else. Out of sight, out of mind.
Perhaps a solution would be the development of a third party market pricing algorithm to be used by DD sites, with publisher buy-in, that would adjust a games price to take into account age, and recent sales. My overall wishlist for a “Gamers Bill of Rights: for digital sales would look something like this:
1) Resale: all videogame licenses, whether purchased attached to a physical copy or a digitally distributed one would come with the right of first sale, via any legally recognized market.
2) DLC Inclusion: all videogame DLC will be subject to the above.
3) Pray to Play: any game with an online pass system enabled will offer a pro-rated refund to users purchasing the pass near the server shutdown date.
4) Refund: all video game publishers and retailers will be forced to fully refund any title within 3 days of purchase provided the title has not been installed/downloaded.
5) Inform: any title requiring the installation of a third party DRM/Application/Client should be required to have that fact advertised prominently.
In conclusion, I think this is a tumultuous period for the gaming industry, as publishers look to extract more from a market overwhelmed with entertainment choices. The path forward must be navigated carefully, and with consideration by consumers. It is demonstrably true that a consumer votes with his or her dollar, and the state of gaming itself is at stake. At the moment, the DD method is far too controlled by publishers, and is in need of regulation to re-balance this disparity.
