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[PdotMichael]

55% quite a lot.

I was expecting claiming (and got attacked for it) something closer to 50% instead of the infamous 30% claim but nice to see some real official numbers.

 

[The Lamp]

Ahem.

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Physical media is for adults who are bad at interior design and for children who naturally want to hoard their toys.

Or for people who like to tangibly own things or don't have unlimited bandwidth cap.

 

[7DollarHagane]

Well, I think his point is that people celebrate materialism by putting it on display, and they stubbornly stick with physical media because they think it is important to feel "true ownership". That's a sentiment the world would be better off without. People should stop assigning personal value to their stuff, they would arguably be happier. It's debateable that one should not feel happy simply because they have a bunch of things. Happiness should stem from accomplishment, buying a collection is not an accomplishment. Making money is hard but spending it is very easy.

Your dad actually rebuilds old machines. That's pretty cool. That's an accomplishment.

Well provided you didnt just buy them all on eBay and not work for it, there is a lot of hunting and luck involved in collecting games. If that's what people like to do and they take pride in their finds theres nothing wrong with that.

The people who have these "fullsets" and thousands of games do probably have some issues though. That's not very healthy for anyone.

I tend to sell anything expensive I find or buy.

As for current games they usually get sold when I finish them unless they are worth only a few dollars and I'll keep them for some reason.

 

[outunderthestars]

I'm trying to go all digital this gen, but fuck it's hard. Between the fact that stores put on sales on physical discs so much and the fact that I see steam with sales every 4 seconds it feels weird to log into the Playstation store kind of excited about a game I saw a sale on only to see it's like 2-3 times the price. Then I just don't buy it on any platform....

The Playstation Store has 2-4 sales a month, and several seasonal sales a year. I have only bought one game at full retail since buying a PS4, and currently have a 60+ game backlog across the PS1, PS3, Vita, and PS4.

 

[Obliterator]

In some ways, retail mitigates risk. Kind of like a little cash safety net.

Retailers buy in advance. If I forecast a million units sold through in my fiscal, my job is to get retailers to buy like 1.4mm units in advance of launch to stuff the channel. That's a big chunk of cash for me in my current fiscal. Even if the game sells thru half of that, under forecast, I don't really have to worry as much about that right now - I got all the cash upfront.

Via digital, if I forecast 1mm units and the game sells half that or totally tanks.... Despite higher margins per unit, I'm SOL this fiscal as I won't see any big cash influx. Better hope big sales and discounts get you the revenue longer term.

It's also a very different audience buyer.
Mom isn't going to PSN to buy their kids Christmas presents. You want a well trained GameStop employee to inform her what your biggest games are this holiday for gifts. To do that, you gotta play ball with the retailers. The browsing experience on digital stores is shit compared to a shopping experience for the majority of gift buyers and broader consumers. People hit digital marketplaces when they know what they want. Log in, buy, play. Very little browsing. Lower catalogue sales too unless you're one of the few games to "trend."

So, lots of reasons retail is still important despite digital being what most would want. It's just a slow evolution but clearly happening as younger generations grow up with this shopping behavior and digital stores update to accommodate more casual shoppers.

That's why the key big wins going forward are huge retail sales for big blockbusters, but these big titles are primarily service oriented and have constant digital updates and simple transactions from within the game itself.

Retail gets it into your home, and digital makes it easy to keep it there and increase ARPU

Harker is the real MVP of the thread. Just dropping knowledge and education on the business model of the industry in here.

 

[outunderthestars]

Harker is the real MVP of the thread. Just dropping knowledge and education on the business model of the industry in here.

Agreed. Love it when we get to learn about parts of the industry.

 

[tuxfool]

It really won't be. There is a difference between being still able to play the game trough with some bugs and performance problems and not being able to play it at all.

Depends on the game. Personally I wouldn't want to deal with that stuff.

 

[Doctor_Thomas]

So, digital titles are horrendously overpriced? Good to know.

 

[impact]

So, digital titles are horrendously overpriced? Good to know.

If you only shop on PSN, XBL and Steam, yes.

I buy most of my stuff from GMG, G2A and the GAF bst thread. Great time to buy digital games imo.

 

[outunderthestars]

So, digital titles are horrendously overpriced? Good to know.

With the number of people buying digital games increasing every year I would argue that in and of itself is proof that they are not horrendously overpriced....

 

[lawnchair]

With the number of people buying digital games increasing every year I would argue that in and of itself is proof that they are not horrendously overpriced....

a lot of people have bad spending habits, or have enough money that they don't have to care, or don't do research into pricing.

the amount of digital games being sold doesn't have anything to do with whether or not they're overpriced, necessarily..

 

[Ninja Scooter]

a lot of people have bad spending habits, or have enough money that they don't have to care, or don't do research into pricing.

the amount of digital games being sold doesn't have anything to do with whether or not they're overpriced, necessarily..

That is literally all it has to do with. If your product is selling well then you've priced it correctly.

 

[TGO]

If the industry is serious about digital taking over, it can't have the same pricing as physical retail disks. It makes no sense.

They're not, digital is more expensive
And sadly just like Horse armour DLC we will not have a choice soon enough as the decision will be made for us by the moths
I have a mate who buys digital only now because he thinks it's cheaper and he don't have the wait, oh the fun conversations I have before release day when I got cheaper with extras and days before release.

 

[bobbychalkers]

Ahem.

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Physical media is for adults who are bad at interior design and for children who naturally want to hoard their toys.

Because bandwidth caps are totally not a thing.

 

[FunkyPajamas]

I don't get why people are saying "let's go 100% digital"... the margins are so high for the company because they basically charge the same for physical vs digital. There's no incentive for the end user to go digital if the "margin" isn't going to be passed down to them; and frankly, why would a company pass the savings on to the end user? It's been proven that the end user will buy digital at the same price as retail. What am I missing?

 

[lawnchair]

That is literally all it has to do with. If your product is selling well then you've priced it correctly.

so you disagree with the notion that people buy overpriced shit all the time?

i guess you could say that if they bought it "it was the right price for them" and that there's no such thing as overpriced merchandise.

 

[outunderthestars]

a lot of people have bad spending habits, or have enough money that they don't have to care, or don't do research into pricing.

the amount of digital games being sold doesn't have anything to do with whether or not they're overpriced, necessarily..

Yes, yes it does.

People are buying it, therefore it isn't overpriced.

so you disagree with the notion that people buy overpriced shit all the time?

i guess you could say that if they bought it "it was the right price for them" and that there's no such thing as overpriced merchandise.

Value is subjective. Just because you consider something to be overpriced doesn't mean that other people think the same way.

 

[jimbobsmells]

The division is £54.99 on PSN for a digital copy. I've got a preorder up at retail for £39.00. Seems there's some wiggle room in that margin to me.

 

[entremet]

I'm enjoying digital. These consoles are basically PCs these days, with ever growing patches and updates.

Not only that the disk is only for checking the license. They're all fully installed.

If you resell a lot, I get buying retail.

But digital is so convenient!

Also from a collector's point of view, stuff like full color manuals are a thing of the past.

 

[Greddleok]

I really wish they'd give the finger to brick and mortar stores (seriously fuck GAME, it should die anyway) and lower digital prices. I'd buy way more AAA games if they were £40 instead of £60.

They probably won't though, if they keep digital games at £60, they are effectively increasing the price of games, without pissing off the consumer.

 

[Ninja Scooter]

so you disagree with the notion that people buy overpriced shit all the time?

i guess you could say that if they bought it "it was the right price for them" and that there's no such thing as overpriced merchandise.

Overpriced by who's standards? Yours?

 

[Green Yoshi]

I enjoy having retail versions on my shelf. Digital only is OK for little download games as Firewatch and Unravel, but full price games I want to own on disc.

 

[HotHamBoy]

Well provided you didnt just buy them all on eBay and not work for it, there is a lot of hunting and luck involved in collecting games. If that's what people like to do and they take pride in their finds theres nothing wrong with that.

The people who have these "fullsets" and thousands of games do probably have some issues though. That's not very healthy for anyone.

I tend to sell anything expensive I find or buy.

As for current games they usually get sold when I finish them unless they are worth only a few dollars and I'll keep them for some reason.

The difficulty and cost in finding certain old games kind of makes the case for digital, though.

 

[Aztechnology]

I want your accountant.

Wut ?

95% OP had it I just didn't see it. 5% due to processing fees.

 

[lawnchair]

Overpriced by who's standards? Yours?

sure, mine. i think some shit is overpriced. you disagree? nothing is overpriced?

 

[outunderthestars]

sure, mine. i think some shit is overpriced. you disagree? nothing is overpriced?

The marketplace is what determines if something is overpriced. My opinion doesn't really matter as again, value is subjective.

For me, I love the fact that I just bought a game on the PSN flash sale. It is downloading to my PS4 at home. I didn't have to go to a store, or wait 2-3 days for Amazon to deliver it to me. When I get home it will be there, already installed and waiting. No need to get up and put a disc in or anything. That game can't be stolen, damaged, or lost.

That, to me, has way more value having a physical disc. Others will find value somewhere else. That is why pricing is determined by what the market will bear. Digital sales continue to grow at a rate much faster than the overall market, signifying that increasingly people are not viewing digital downloads as overpriced.

 

[Yabberwocky]

Physical media is for adults who are bad at interior design and for children who naturally want to hoard their toys.

My kingdom for your internet!

 

[ForsakenLotus]

Why is there a 5% difference in the retailer cut versus the digital storefront cut?

 

[lawnchair]

The marketplace is what determines if something is overpriced. My opinion doesn't really matter as again, value is subjective.

For me, I love the fact that I just bought a game on the PSN flash sale. It is downloading to my PS4 at home. I didn't have to go to a store, or wait 2-3 days for Amazon to deliver it to me. When I get home it will be there, already installed and waiting. No need to get up and put a disc in or anything. That game can't be stolen, damaged, or lost.

That, to me, has way more value having a physical disc. Others will find value somewhere else. That is why pricing is determined by what the market will bear. Digital sales continue to grow at a rate much faster than the overall market, signifying that increasingly people are not viewing digital downloads as overpriced.

are you really that worried in the first place about a game getting damaged, stolen or lost? i'd much rather buy a game and be able to sell it, trade it, loan it. makes it feel like actual property. i guess this is the subjectivity of it .. to you owning things apparently has little value.

for me, if i have the option of buying, say, Bloodborne for $60 new the day it comes out physically, or buying it digitally for $60 new the day it comes out i'll take physical every time. being able to trade or resell it greatly increases its value vs. digital. to me, the digital version is lacking because i don't feel like i have true ownership .. not to mention that with the digital version a company didn't have to print the game for me, or put it in a box, or anything. the digital version should in theory be cheaper anyway, but add in the fact that i can't do anything with it after i've played it and i can't help but come to the conclusion that it's overpriced at $60.

 

[ethomaz]

So that means they can sell full digital games at $45 holding the same gross of a retail at $60.

Please be fair Ubi.

Edit - Digital games needs a way to resell , trade and loan ASAP.

 

[TheHolyTurnip]

The difficulty and cost in finding certain old games kind of makes the case for digital, though.

The difficulty and cost of finding certain delisted digital games kind of makes a case for physical though...

 

[joecanada]

So that means they can sell full digital games at $45 holding the same gross of a retail at $60.

Please be fair Ubi.

Edit - Digital games needs a way to resell , trade and loan ASAP.

they do . you just share accounts with a "family member" or two ....

also I wish they would pass on some savings, but honestly I buy all my games on PSN sales now which may in fact be a saving I'm not sure... but I know I haven't paid more than 49 for a game since last summer, and that's cheap in Canada.

of course they are still 69 day 1 though.

 

[outunderthestars]

they do . you just share accounts with a "family member" or two ....

also I wish they would pass on some savings, but honestly I buy all my games on PSN sales now which may in fact be a saving I'm not sure... but I know I haven't paid more than 49 for a game since last summer, and that's cheap in Canada.

of course they are still 69 day 1 though.

Combine flash sales with PSN card sales from time to time (10% off at Best Buy this week)
and you can really save some money!

 

[Miles X]

The sooner Nintendo, Sony, Microsoft, EA ect all have a big secret meet up to discuss ALL driving down digital prices (so they can't face punishment from retail) the better.

Though I suspect the publishers secretly like hiding behind this excuse given all the extra money they make from it.

 

[Matt]

The sooner Nintendo, Sony, Microsoft, EA ect all have a big secret meet up to discuss ALL driving down digital prices (so they can't face punishment from retail) the better.

That's called collusion. It's illegal.

 

[Panajev2001a]

It is amazing that they are still charging the ridiculous prices in Europe for digital in this case (on psn /XBL).

Why don't they want to push us towards digital?

They feel it is inevitable, that our laziness is getting us there with occasional loud complaints and that they can enjoy the rise of DD while getting as much money out of every sale as they can.

 

[joecanada]

Combine flash sales with PSN card sales from time to time (10% off at Best Buy this week)
and you can really save some money!

ah good tip, I didn't even know psn card sales were a thing. why would they put something with dollar for dollar value on sale?? sounds good though.

 

[outunderthestars]

ah good tip, I didn't even know psn card sales were a thing. why would they put something with dollar for dollar value on sale?? sounds good though.

No clue. But it happens. I stock up when I can because an extra 10% off is always nice.

 

[Miles X]

That's called collusion. It's illegal.

Everywhere? ;-)

But seriously, I'm sure if a couple clamped down on it when digital becomes even more popular.

 

[Ushay]

Exactly why I'm 90% digital this gen, the more money the companies get the more likelihood we get games.

That being said the prices are still too high.

 

[HotHamBoy]

The difficulty and cost of finding certain delisted digital games kind of makes a case for physical though...

It's a sticky situation. Right now we have the luxury of most games getting physical releases and everything getting digital. Not every platform supports physical, like mobile/tablets. But again, the issue of patching games to perfection (or at least, acceptable) means that when those patches are gone those games will be busted, or crappy. Of course, having patches is a good thing. We didn't used to have the luxury of post-release content and bug fixes without entire re-issues which would need repurchased. The old quote from Miyamoto about the delayed games doesn't necessary apply anymore. Not that I'm defending releasing games that publishers know are broken or incomplete, but due to the complexity and scope and pressure of development today you can't always catch everything or meet the deadline. I'll take the patches over nothing.

I do think game preservation is an issue, but it's one that physical releases aren't necessarily going to solve anymore. What confounds me, though, are people who refuse to buy anything digital-only. Why pass on a potentially great experience? Not every developer or platform has the option for physical release, it seems silly to be so possessive that you won't pay for the privelage to play, especially considering people have no problem paying $10 to see a movie at the theater.

 

[icespide]

frankly, Sony and Microsoft have been a lot better about digital sales and flash sales than I was expecting. So much so that I'm pretty much all digital at this point.

 

[RMI]

Ahem.

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Physical media is for adults who are bad at interior design and for children who naturally want to hoard their toys.

I'm starting to come around to this line of thinking. I would have more room for anime statues if all these damn games weren't taking up space on my shelves.

Seriously though, there is absolutely no incentive to go all digital on consoles (steam is another thing entirely) this generation beyond convenience of not having to deal with discs and wanting to keep free of clutter.

if digital was cheaper, say like 30% cheaper than physical then it would be compelling to do away with the discs, since it's rare to recover much more than that on a resold game. Unless you're one of these people that just chews through new games and can sell them back for $40+.

 

[BennyBlanco]

I think it's only a matter of time before one of these big publishers cuts gamestop/best buy's throat and starts offering cheaper digital games at launch.

 

[Thraktor]

I don't understand this argument, Gamestop live or die on games, consoles so why do they dictate anything, they should dance to the tune of manufacturers. I think the only reason digital is expensive is because publishers are greedy and die hards stump up the cash anyway like people buying collectors editions. Do you really think Gamestop etc. are going to refuse whatever they are given, come on!

"Publishers are greedy" isn't really an argument for how they make business decisions. Of course they're greedy in the sense that they want to maximise their profits. But, unless you believe that not a single person would switch from physical to digital if it were cheaper, the profit-maximising price for digital games has to be lower than the price for physical games. How much lower is a different matter, but even if Ubisoft, say, reduced the prices of all their digital games to $1 less than the physical copies, they would make more profit because customers would start to switch to digital downloads, and 70% of $59 is still a lot more than 55% of $60.

 

[lawnchair]

Seriously though, there is absolutely no incentive to go all digital on consoles (steam is another thing entirely) this generation beyond convenience of not having to deal with discs and wanting to keep free of clutter.

also if you're pro-letting companies restrict what you do with a product after you buy it, digital is definitely the way to go.

it's the way to make that sentiment heard by voting with your wallet and buying digital only.

 

[xamidoxhua]

I don't like digital at all. Its just creating a retail monopoly, there'll be no price competition if physical goes the way of the dodo.

 

[Wagram]

Not surprising considering the cost of materials to manufacture discs, boxes, and all the other stuff. I'm curious if they count the shipping fees in as cost of goods sold.

Physical isn't going away though unless manufacturers can figure out a way to sell their products without the Walmarts, Bestbuys, and Gamestops of the world.

 

[HotHamBoy]

I'm starting to come around to this line of thinking. I would have more room for anime statues if all these damn games weren't taking up space on my shelves.

Seriously though, there is absolutely no incentive to go all digital on consoles (steam is another thing entirely) this generation beyond convenience of not having to deal with discs and wanting to keep free of clutter.

if digital was cheaper, say like 30% cheaper than physical then it would be compelling to do away with the discs, since it's rare to recover much more than that on a resold game. Unless you're one of these people that just chews through new games and can sell them back for $40+.

But digital is really cheap if you wait for the right sale. As a handheld owner, I like going digital because I have all my games on the system - no need to carry all my games around in some dumb case and risk losing them or hassle with swapping them out. As a Vita owner, I like have digital PS4 games for remoteplay. I also gameshare with my friend. I like being able to take my entire library of PS4 games to a friend's house by merely packing up the console itself.

Oh, as far as re-selling goes, rare is the time I've gotten a decent amount for a used game. By the time I'm ready to sell the prices have bottomed out. Hell, I sold Senran Kagura SV the same week I got it and got about a third of what it cost me. They had no interest in the art book, either.

 

[KingdomHeartsFan]

Ill stick with physical, I have no reason to go digital, I'm not too lazy to change discs.