Download games is without a doubt the wave of the future. While gamer/collectors like me who love having the physical media in hand for a number of reasons are reluctant to accept the new trend, Microsoft is pushing forward with a new full game download service.
The games on demand service is an extension of the Xbox Live Marketplace and functions just as XBLA and Xbox Originals, only it offers up full 360 games for download. While PS3 has offered the occasional game (Socom, Warhawk, Burnout Paradise), Microsoft is the first to really embrace full game digital distribution offering quite over 20 games initially with additional games added each week.
While there are good reasons for consumers to be reluctant in adopting digital distribution, there are several reasons the gaming industry wants this to happen. All of them relate to production cost and profit margins. If you don’t have to actually press the discs and deal with distributors you save a lot on that. Also you cut down the used game market so that gamers who want to buy a game, have to shell out the full cost. Obviously they can’t phase out stores anytime soon, but you can bet this is the goal.
So, how does the games on demand service fare. In my opinion quite poorly, for 3 specific reasons.
1) Size.
The majority of Xbox consoles out now have a 20 gig HDD. While the Elite has a larger hard drive and MS has started pushing 60 gig drives out, the majority of gamers are still stuck with the 20. If you’re the kind of gamer who would download full games, chances are that 20gb is already filled up with XBLA titles and other downloadable content from the marketplace. Upgrading to a larger hard drive is so expensive that it almost makes more sense to buy an entirely new 360 and sell the old one. Xbox 360 games will take 4-8 gigs each which basically means even the 60gb HDD won’t last you for long.
2) Download Speed.
Of course this isn’t Microsoft’s fault. There’s nothing they can do about how fast your internet connection is, but even on the fastest setup it’ll still take a couple hours to download a full 4-8gig game. In this time frame, you could easily drive to the nearest game store and pick up the disc version yourself. Which leads up to number 3…
3) Price.
I don’t notice any difference in the price of these games compared to the NEW prices in stores. Most of the games are from several years ago and charge $20, $30, and in some cases $40. This is insane. You get no box, no manual, and NO resell value for these titles, but you have to pay the same cost as if you did get all that. Not to mention that a lot of these games can easily be found for DIRT CHEAP used. I can easily find Viva Piñata, Kameo, and Perfect Dark Zero used for $8, why would I pay $20 for a download only copy. Especially when I can resell the disc version back for $4 if I tire of it.
This service exists as a testing ground, and I’m sure plenty of gamers will use it, but it’s not a cost effective system. If they aren’t going to be competitive in their prices (and don’t count much on price drops in the future) then they can’t expect most gamers to start using this service.
The games on demand service is an extension of the Xbox Live Marketplace and functions just as XBLA and Xbox Originals, only it offers up full 360 games for download. While PS3 has offered the occasional game (Socom, Warhawk, Burnout Paradise), Microsoft is the first to really embrace full game digital distribution offering quite over 20 games initially with additional games added each week.
While there are good reasons for consumers to be reluctant in adopting digital distribution, there are several reasons the gaming industry wants this to happen. All of them relate to production cost and profit margins. If you don’t have to actually press the discs and deal with distributors you save a lot on that. Also you cut down the used game market so that gamers who want to buy a game, have to shell out the full cost. Obviously they can’t phase out stores anytime soon, but you can bet this is the goal.
So, how does the games on demand service fare. In my opinion quite poorly, for 3 specific reasons.
1) Size.
The majority of Xbox consoles out now have a 20 gig HDD. While the Elite has a larger hard drive and MS has started pushing 60 gig drives out, the majority of gamers are still stuck with the 20. If you’re the kind of gamer who would download full games, chances are that 20gb is already filled up with XBLA titles and other downloadable content from the marketplace. Upgrading to a larger hard drive is so expensive that it almost makes more sense to buy an entirely new 360 and sell the old one. Xbox 360 games will take 4-8 gigs each which basically means even the 60gb HDD won’t last you for long.
2) Download Speed.
Of course this isn’t Microsoft’s fault. There’s nothing they can do about how fast your internet connection is, but even on the fastest setup it’ll still take a couple hours to download a full 4-8gig game. In this time frame, you could easily drive to the nearest game store and pick up the disc version yourself. Which leads up to number 3…
3) Price.
I don’t notice any difference in the price of these games compared to the NEW prices in stores. Most of the games are from several years ago and charge $20, $30, and in some cases $40. This is insane. You get no box, no manual, and NO resell value for these titles, but you have to pay the same cost as if you did get all that. Not to mention that a lot of these games can easily be found for DIRT CHEAP used. I can easily find Viva Piñata, Kameo, and Perfect Dark Zero used for $8, why would I pay $20 for a download only copy. Especially when I can resell the disc version back for $4 if I tire of it.
This service exists as a testing ground, and I’m sure plenty of gamers will use it, but it’s not a cost effective system. If they aren’t going to be competitive in their prices (and don’t count much on price drops in the future) then they can’t expect most gamers to start using this service.
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