Between XBox Live, Sony's PSN, Nintendo's online feature on the Wii (the name escapes me) and most especially Valve's Steam, it seems that video games are moving more and more towards digital copies. At the moment, it's mostly (except for Steam) relegated to classic or smaller games. Admittedly, it still has some bugs to work out (Steam, I believe, had some issues with Aliens vs. Predators on its launch). But like movies, I'm starting to wonder if the next generation of our entertainment media will be digitalized.
For the past decade, downloading has become more and more normalized. Ticket sales at the box office, at least according to Hollywood, have slumped because of downloading. Music, most especially, has changed because of downloading. I haven't bought a hard copy of a CD in ages, and iTunes has become a household name. I'm noticing the music section in stores such as HMV are shrinking every couple of years, as they introduce other product to put on their shelves such as movies, games, and even books. iPods and other mp3 players have now become the norm. Rarely do I see someone with a CD player or a walkman anymore as I did growing up (Note: I'm 32).
Gaming is becoming the same thing. Demo discs have already gone the way of the dodo. Actually, I'm not 100% certain on that, as I believe PC Gamer still provides a disc with their magazines, as does Xbox's magazine. But the idea of plopping in a disc to play a demo is gone. Now, it's a matter of logging into, say, the Playstation Network and downloading it.
At the moment, though, downloading is relegated to classic or smaller games. The PSN provides a large assortment of PS1 games, for example. The Wii provides games from the NES, SNES and a few N64 games. Rumours are growing every once in awhile that PS2 games will soon be available on PSN.
Steam, on the other hand, doesn't seem to be...pardon the pun...running out of steam. At first, it started as a means to register your game, a form of copy protection. To play Valve games such as Half-Life 2, you were required to log into Steam. Soon, you also had the option of downloading Valve games. In the last few years, other game companies joined in being available on Steam. Today, almost every single new PC game is now available for purchase and download through Steam. More and more classic games are becoming available, as well. In fact, I fell prey to their dasterdly Christmas holiday sales, spending about $30 on at least a dozen games in total.
Another company that has been phenomenal with online purchases is Telltale games, creators of the episodic adventure games such as Bone, Sam & Max, Wallace & Gromit, Strong Bad, and most recently, Monkey Island. Their online policy is similar to Steam: once you have purchased a game, you can download it again at any time at your leisure. Additionally, if you've purchased a full season directly through their website, you can pay just the shipping costs and have a hardcopy disc of the game.
I think Telltale's example of gaming will be the first step that other companies will follow. Imagine buying God of War III on the PSN, then having the option to have the game mailed to you? Admittedly, a disc game is not fully installed onto your PS3 and still requires the disc, so the example doesn't quite work the same, but the idea in theory is no different.
Already, Sony and Nintendo have begun the pure-downloading idea in portable fashion. Both the Nintendo DS (the DSi, specifically) and the PSP-Go can have games downloaded onto them. The PSP-Go, in fact, is purely download only, with a large catalogue of games available on PSN. It would not take much of a jump to go to next-gen systems. Companies could cut costs on manufacturing and shipping, which might (but not likely) lower the hefty price on games.
What do you folks think? I'm all for the idea of a purely digital gaming business. Already, I'm beginning to move my movie collection into digital, instead. But I know many people who like to have those movies or games on their shelves. Thoughts?
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