I had previously written about my fears about the turn in which the game industry might be taking because of all the rumors floating around the internet detailing anti-used game technology. One thing that I forgot to mention was digital distribution. Why is this important? Well, games that go out of print can eventually find their way onto digital distribution platforms like Games on Demand on the 360, PSN and Steam for PC and Mac gamers.
There is one problem I see with this though. Unlike games sold in a brick and mortar retail environment which prices are entirely based on demand, digital platforms rarely are priced according to the market. Most if not all games will drop in price with in a matter of months, thats the way a healthy marketplace works but digital venues don’t function like this. There is no competition from retailers to dictate price when only one distributor is available for your platform of choice. Thats not to say some of these platforms don’t understand their market and the idea of value because I’ve found Steam to be the most generous in terms of sales and deals on their content but with Microsoft’s XBLA and Games On Demand you rarely see this and when they do its usually on games and content that have sold very poorly.
The convenience of being able to shop from your couch is nice but the chance for deals and better prices will always be in the real world retail environment and if we can no longer count on the 2nd hand market for getting those games we want that they no longer manufacturer there won’t be too many choices then now will there?
I had previously written about my fears about the turn in which the game industry might be taking because of all the rumors floating around the internet detailing anti-used game technology. One thing that I forgot to mention was digital distribution. Why is this important? Well, games that go out of print can eventually find their way onto digital distribution platforms like Games on Demand on the 360, PSN and Steam for PC and Mac gamers.
There is one problem I see with this though. Unlike games sold in a brick and mortar retail environment which prices are entirely based on demand, digital platforms rarely are priced according to the market. Most if not all games will drop in price with in a matter of months, thats the way a healthy marketplace works but digital venues don’t function like this. There is no competition from retailers to dictate price when only one distributor is available for your platform of choice. Thats not to say some of these platforms don’t understand their market and the idea of value because I’ve found Steam to be the most generous in terms of sales and deals on their content but with Microsoft’s XBLA and Games On Demand you rarely see this and when they do its usually on games and content that have sold very poorly.
The convenience of being able to shop from your couch is nice but the chance for deals and better prices will always be in the real world retail environment and if we can no longer count on the 2nd hand market for getting those games we want that they no longer manufacturer there won’t be too many choices then now will there?