@Fruitymachete I think that was a bit harsh, but the principle of what you say is correct. I really do not understand what is so difficult about getting up out of the chair and changing a disc. It's not like modern consoles make this much of a chore.

Or, for that matter, it's hard to fathom what is so difficult about getting out of the house, going down to your local games store and picking up the game yourself.

I worry for this generation sometimes.

Ah, David Darling. The same guy that used to put praise quotes attributed to himself on the back of Codemasters' games as if they were magazine quotes back in the 80s and early 90s. Anyone who knows that fiasco will struggle to take the guy seriously.

As for his claim, well, it's getting as old as the hills and is rather tired. The markets - even PC - will remain heavily split between physical and digital at best, because there are people like myself who, when they buy games, want to keep them in the long term, sell them, trade them with friends and come back to them in 5, 10, 15 years from now. You can't do this with digital, which is a model best suited for renting games and distributing simplistic titles.

I grant that digital has its advantages - it provides indie devs with a good distribution outlet and gamers with access to games that have long been out of print, but people willing to pay full price for premium titles when it is just a digital download are still a very small minority.

Seriously, the "digital FTW" screams from the industry are getting very boring.

"downloadable in-game swimsuit costumes"

A decade later, and DoA is still fixated on boobies.

@myungish Agreed. This is pretty much all we've been seeing from EA lately. The only real innovative work we've been seeing from them has been their boasting of a new business model.

The only thing that surprises me is that Sony started so late.

Of course mobile is not a threat. I don't personally get why people have felt the need to be so aggressively defensive towards it. Not only are the big-screen gaming markets like PC and console completely discrete from mobile, but smartphone gaming and handheld console gaming are two completely different markets as well. You can bet your bottom dollar that the vast majority of people who game on a 3DS, PSP or Vita will also be gaming on a smartphone.

The only reason that specific smartphone games are so profitable at present is because truly good, purchase-worthy games on a smartphone are thin on the ground. If publishers decide that people will spend money on AAA smartphone games, we'll see the margins drop on each one and smartphone gaming will suddenly not be so profitable anymore.

I play simple games like Canabalt, Little Big WarGame and World of Goo on my phone and tablet where the controls best suit those games, and I play core games on my PSP and Vita when I have a little more time to spend and I'm away from my PC and consoles. They scratch different itches.

I personally find it pathetic the way everyone is screaming about "freedom" and "the death of liberty". I suspect the vast majority of whiners here are kids scared to death that it may come to the US and that they won't be able to get their kicks at 3 in the morning.

The fact of the matter is that with freedom comes responsibility. Freedom is granted under the assumption that you will use it responsibly. Those who do not use it responsibly become a burden on society. Take this situation for example. Kids are playing their MMO all through the night and are failing miserably at school. They leave school with no qualifications, no job prospects. They become dependent on social security, and you, the taxpayer, are then responsible for their upkeep because they got to exercise their "freedom". They exhibit secondary symptoms from disorders related to lack of sleep and you, the taxpayer, and then responsible for their health problems.

I personally have no desire to have my hard-earned taxes spent on people like this. Do you?

@paladin125 Yes - having absolute control over your life in a way that is not governed by any laws has a name. It's called anarchy, and it's a concept that Ethiopians are intimately familiar with.

It's sad news indeed. Activision's greed truly knows no limits.

Then again, the staff released will doubtless move on to new and better pastures, some founding their own studios, and they'll rightly steer clear of selling their souls to the major publishers.

Hey, it worked for Tim Schafer.

@krishnanmc3 Indeed. I think those that scream words "freedom" and "independence" often forget words like "responsibility". MMO addiction in South Korea is a huge problem (and in China as well for that matter). Parents there have been given the chance to deal with their children's addictions, and for the most part have failed.