Digital to overtake physical in 2011

John Riccitiello says there is "no question" in his mind that digital games sales will surpass boxed releases this year

The switch from boxed to digital goods is going to happen far quicker than most of the industry has expected, according to EA CEO John Riccitiello.MCV UK

The above is only an excerpt. You can read the full article here.

I expect a good deal of backlash from the majority of System Wars. Bring it. :P

most posters in SW seem to have a weird thing for DVD cases so will hate the fact that DD is becoming more and more popular.

most posters in SW seem to have a weird thing for DVD cases so will hate the fact that DD is becoming more and more popular.

Vinegar_Strokes

Screw collection, screw holding copies, dd is the future, I will take the amazing convenience of having all my games a click away to some imaginary collectors value.

Disks break, they get lost, they have maxiumum life, digital, good services you can download infinite times, download forever, if your harddrive dies, get a new one and just put the games on again. When a disk breaks, its gone forever, may have to re-buy the game.

[QUOTE="Vinegar_Strokes"]

most posters in SW seem to have a weird thing for DVD cases so will hate the fact that DD is becoming more and more popular.

groowagon

Screw collection, screw holding copies, dd is the future, I will take the amazing convenience of having all my games a click away to some imaginary collectors value.

Disks break, they get lost, they have maxiumum life, digital, good services you can download infinite times, download forever, if your harddrive dies, get a new one and just put the games on again. When a disk breaks, its gone forever, may have to re-buy the game.

110million

That is due to the limited supply of physically distributed games.Hexagon_777

In pc it's already here, in this gen consoles don't think so. There is no point in buying boxes now other than collecting em or whatever other lame thing peoples like to do.

PC: Hasn't it all ready happened.

Console: :lol:

In pc it's already here, in this gen consoles don't think so. There is no point in buying boxes now other than collecting em or whatever other lame thing peoples like to do.

edidili

I think digital is a pretty do idea, only problem is now ill have to do my research for games alot longer now before i buy them....cant resale digital stuff.

[QUOTE="Hexagon_777"]That is due to the limited supply of physically distributed games.groowagon

Box copies are worth more and you actually own the game. I'd be interested to see what would happen on consoles after a generation ends and you can't re-download your games anymore. DD is only good on PC.Parasomniac

.... You would still own the game.. You honestly think that when next gen is released Microsoft and Sony are going to instantly drop their last gen consoles?

I think digital is a pretty do idea, only problem is now ill have to do my research for games alot longer now before i buy them....cant resale digital stuff.FFVIIROCKS

I think digital is a pretty do idea, only problem is now ill have to do my research for games alot longer now before i buy them....cant resale digital stuff.

FFVIIROCKS

Be nice if they went to this fully.. They would lower the game to $50 or $45.. Now that preowned games are not taking out a chunk from the profits of these companies..

Well, it'd be great to see consoles fully support this, but at the same time I'm sure MS and Sony would screw everyone with the prices.

Also, this

"I think that we'll find ways to even sell our packaged goods content in chunks and in pieces and subscriptions and micro-transactions"

its got potential in the PC sector to an extent.

The music one DD has taken off over the past 2 years since Woolies and Zavvi stopped buisness and went into administration.Purely cause of HMV's high street price gouging, game is slowly getting into the same position (they own game and gstation) with their terrible pricing and low stock counts on PC anyway.

Sure it will overtake on PC if it hasnt already but im a bit dubious bout consoles tbh.

And being a ex-sceptic of digital music this is saying a lot.Especially when i can get Liebe ist fur alle da off amazon mp3 for 6.99 and my local HMV wants 15 quid for it kinda shows.

I've fully accepted that DD will surpass physical discs very soon. While I absolutely prefer having actual discs of my games, there's no going back whether people like it or not.

DD salemight overtake Disc sales for PC this year but I stil think consoles are a few years off.

I don't play on PC at all so this suits me down to the ground.

I've fully accepted that DD will surpass physical discs very soon. While I absolutely prefer having actual discs of my games, there's no going back whether people like it or not.

DD salemight overtake Disc sales for PC this year but I stil think consoles are a few years off.

I don't play on PC at all so this suits me down to the ground.

[QUOTE="Vinegar_Strokes"]

most posters in SW seem to have a weird thing for DVD cases so will hate the fact that DD is becoming more and more popular.

groowagon

[QUOTE="MCV UK"]John Riccitiello says there is "no question" in his mind that digital games sales will surpass boxed releases this year

The switch from boxed to digital goods is going to happen far quicker than most of the industry has expected, according to EA CEO John Riccitiello.Hexagon_777

The above is only an excerpt. You can read the full article here.

I expect a good deal of backlash from the majority of System Wars. Bring it. :P

I didn't read the article, but I assume he's looking at the whole of the video games industry and looking solely at the amount of revenue from digital vs boxed... But in that comparison, you're comparing boxed video games vs DD pc games, psn/xbla games, millions of $1 iphone/droid/etc apps, money spent on Facebook apps, onLive game rentals, and subscriptions to MMOs. It's not surprising that all that stuff combined would exceed boxed game sales.

I would much rather have physical copies of everything. I ignore all of the great sales on Steam even because I don't want to only own the game in a downloaded form. [QUOTE="groowagon"][QUOTE="Vinegar_Strokes"]

most posters in SW seem to have a weird thing for DVD cases so will hate the fact that DD is becoming more and more popular.

Legolas_Katarn

You realize you can make a back up of the game on dvd or flash drive with steam? And if steam were ever to close, they would provide you the cdkey to the game.. Or by that distant time in future, the game would be considered more or less shareware.

[QUOTE="groowagon"][QUOTE="Hexagon_777"]That is due to the limited supply of physically distributed games.Hexagon_777

>You realize you can make a back up of the game on dvd or flash drive with steam? And if steam were ever to close, they would provide you the cdkey to the game.. Or by that distant time in future, the game would be considered more or less shareware.sSubZerOo

[QUOTE="Hexagon_777"][QUOTE="groowagon"] this is even when they are available as dd from PS Store.ianuilliam

I've always supported DD. I can't wait TBH.

Sony has already done it with the PSP Go, so they will probably do it with the PS4 as well.

lawl, I argued against his point even though it was helping me. I be a fool! With that particular one it isn't the case, but I would also simply get the game off PSN. I am a GAMER after all and not a COLLECTOR.Hexagon_777

not to make money necessarily, but maintain some value. i've sold a lot of games after i got bored to them, but never made profit. just that i got even SOMETHING from them. think about having a game collection of 100 games and one day you decide you don't want to play them anymore. tough luck if they are all DDs...groowagon

Screw collection, screw holding copies, dd is the future, I will take the amazing convenience of having all my games a click away to some imaginary collectors value.

Disks break, they get lost, they have maxiumum life, digital, good services you can download infinite times, download forever, if your harddrive dies, get a new one and just put the games on again. When a disk breaks, its gone forever, may have to re-buy the game.

[QUOTE="Hexagon_777"]lawl, I argued against his point even though it was helping me. I be a fool! With that particular one it isn't the case, but I would also simply get the game off PSN. I am a GAMER after all and not a COLLECTOR.groowagon

I think the point is that Final Fantasy 7 is going for as much as $550in a case, even though the game is available through DD on the PSN. Obviously the price is not due to not being able to get the game any other way, it's because games are collector's items.

ianuilliam

Man, my brother had a brand new and sealed copy of FFVII and he just had to go and break the seal :x He didn't even play it either :cry:

[QUOTE="groowagon"]not to make money necessarily, but maintain some value. i've sold a lot of games after i got bored to them, but never made profit. just that i got even SOMETHING from them. think about having a game collection of 100 games and one day you decide you don't want to play them anymore. tough luck if they are all DDs...Hexagon_777

that would be the day i would forget about the boxed copies, atleast on PC. i doubt digital distributors would ever do that, though...groowagon

IIRC Stardock was looking at a way to sell on digital copies, but I dunno what became of it. I also don't know if any of the profit would have gone to the publishers/developers.

I'm both a gamer and a collector.

but i also have many of the ultra rare games since i've been playing a long time and take care of my things.

DD may work for PC, and PC people know that if it were to take over it would help the PC gaming community, but consoles aren't likely to go that direction.

Besides I like to borrow and loan my games, saves money and is a good way to have things to talk about with my friends.

[QUOTE="Hexagon_777"]

[QUOTE="groowagon"] this is even when they are available as dd from PS Store.ianuilliam

To be fair the game isn't going for $550, somebody is trying to get $550 out of it. You'll notice that's the "buy now" price and that it also has a "make offer" option. They'll probably get much, much less than that for it ultimately.

...but consoles aren't likely to go that direction.

Besides I like to borrow and loan my games, saves money and is a good way to have things to talk about with my friends.

fadersdream

I think they're likely to remain a mix for the foreseeable future. I only see it eventually going all DD if the parent companies and/or sufficiently sized publishers put pressure on to release solely DD -- say if they earned extra money per copy sold.

Loaning games is also a huge benefit. I just loaned my friend around 5 360 games.

I've been used to digital distribution since I started using the internet back in 1995, so it's not a big deal for me. I prefer it on the PC actually. I still like having physical copies, but I'd only think of them as backups really. Having them on my computer already is super convenient and much prefered. Now I don't need no-CD cracks or virtual disc drives, etc. Definitely a good route for me.

not on consoles

As a gamer I'd love to see old titles show up as DD. As a collector I'd like to keep purchasing hard copies. All my original consoles work, so I can still play everything. Conversely, when I bought the King's Quest Collector's Edition, I had to use DOSbox to run it, because the OS was no longer supported. If they can go DD and still cater to people who actually want to play the same games 10-15 years down the line, I don't see the problem.

I'll never support an industry that goes all digital. Never. I will hang up my gaming hat.
I severly doubt that digital will out pace physical in 2011, or 2012, or 2013, or...ever.
Maybe one day they'll be able to twist the data and say they did more with digital by counting every minute transaction, but the real money comes at retail.

oh no plz no. I really hate digital content.

oh no plz no. I really hate digital content.

da_illest101