Current Events > Your reaction... both Sony and Microsoft's next consoles are digital only

(+) Yeah! (+)

Both of them.
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Not care.
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the last time i bought physical media was p4A for the ps3, so i wouldn't care about that aspect

the vocal overreaction would be funny to watch unfold tho

Arent their current consoles digital only? The discs are just permission keys to access the media
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Good. Discs are stupid and a thing of the past. Better nut up and push forward hardware with plenty of built in storage+additional storage for cheap though.
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I'd just stick with the PC in that case, unless there are exclusives that I *really* want (doubtful), or, if by some miracle, they actually do digital distribution as well as Steam, GoG, etc. and stop locking their consoles down.

Dumb idea considering there are plenty of areas of the US that don't have decent internet access.

But fuck them cause they're flyover states, right?
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Dark_SilverX posted...

Arent their current consoles digital only? The discs are just permission keys to access the media

yea, the consumer already lost thanks to obtuse fanboys
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Dark_SilverX posted...

Arent their current consoles digital only? The discs are just permission keys to access the media

I think it depends on the game. If it fits on the disc and doesn't require a massive update, then no. If, like some games, it requires an update that's bigger than the damn game, then it may as well be download-only.

Oh no now you can't resell your games to the company you bought them from for pennies. What're you going to do with all of that extra shelf space now that there's no more worthless plastic shells to fill them up? My collection :(
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Quit gaming
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Smashingpmkns posted...

Oh no now you can't resell your games to the company you bought them from for pennies. What're you going to do with all of that extra shelf space now that there's no more worthless plastic shells to fill them up? My collection :(

You often pay fucking £49.99 (or more) for the pleasure in these parts (not sure what the prices are like in the US) and have garbage DRM / "locked down" consoles to deal with. With physical games, you at least have a number of stores to buy from, with the competition that entails. With digital distribution, Sony, Microsoft or Nintendo are your only option on any given console.

The PC, on the other hand, has a variety of DD platforms to buy from, some DRM-free. That's one of the benefits of it being an open platform that no one company controls (not even Valve, although they do probably have too much control).

Is it bad that for a minute I thought you meant the consoles themselves were digital?
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thecoolgu posted...

Is it bad that for a minute I thought you meant the consoles themselves were digital?

I'm just imagining putting punch-cards into consoles lol. Although, is that still digital?

you joke but never underestimate the yes man fanboys
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Theoretically that would do away with a lot of the costs for mass production...soooooo games could drop in price, yeah?

Yes please.
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Irony posted...

Quit gaming

This. I'll still have everything that came before. I've already stopped renewing the online services. And I'm not missing it even a bit.
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I mean, it already happened.

So... carry on as I am?
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luigi13579 posted...

Smashingpmkns posted...

Oh no now you can't resell your games to the company you bought them from for pennies. What're you going to do with all of that extra shelf space now that there's no more worthless plastic shells to fill them up? My collection :(

You often pay fucking £49.99 (or more) for the pleasure in these parts (not sure what the prices are like in the US) and have garbage DRM / "locked down" consoles to deal with. With physical games, you at least have a number of stores to buy from, with the competition that entails. With digital distribution, Sony, Microsoft or Nintendo are your only option on any given console.

The PC, on the other hand, has a variety of DD platforms to buy from, some DRM-free. That's one of the benefits of it being an open platform that no one company controls (not even Valve, although they do probably have too much control).

$60 per. We're not getting anything back worthwhile unless you're looking for a refund.

Going digital will hopefully push the console companies to try and match deals with competitors, like Steam and GoG. If we have to go digital then they have to give us a reason to choose their service other than the others. This gen has been leaps and bounds ahead of what last gen did with deals and discounts on digital downloads for console players. It's definitely possible.

What I can say is that holding on to a dying media technology has never been a good idea for the consumer nor for the distributor.
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HaVeNII7 posted...

Theoretically that would do away with a lot of the costs for mass production...soooooo games could drop in price, yeah?

Yes please.

Sony, Microsoft and Nintendo:


Smashingpmkns posted...

$60 per. We're not getting anything back worthwhile unless you're looking for a refund.

Going digital will hopefully push the console companies to try and match deals with competitors, like Steam and GoG. If we have to go digital then they have to give us a reason to choose their service other than the others. This gen has been leaps and bounds ahead of what last gen did with deals and discounts on digital downloads for console players. It's definitely possible.

What I can say is that holding on to a dying media technology has never been a good idea for the consumer nor for the distributor.

I'm not saying that we should stick with physical media forever more. I'm just not sure how beneficial for the consumer digital-only on consoles will be.

To be honest, I think consoles be much less common in a few gens. Or at least, the console market will be indistinguishable compared to now.

I hope it does work out though. One thing that could happen is that, like with Steam games, other companies like Amazon (or even GameStop and the like) could sell keys online. Maybe that already happens; I'm not sure. I don't know how much control the console manufacturers would relinquish.

I suppose the console manufacturers want as many (new) games to be sold as possible, as they gain a licensing cost for each one. However, they can make even more by controlling those sales themselves.

Good
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I was resistant at first but now I'm all about digital.

Physical copies are nice no doubt but digital takes up no space in my house and comes along with me wherever i go.

I've moved collections and bought and sold too many collections over the years to care anymore.

They just need to drop the digital price a fraction so you feel like you're getting a deal.
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My reaction would be to not get one. My rural location would make it impossible. I have a 75GB monthly data limit.
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They better make the default internal storage at least 2TB minimum
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I've been all digital this entire generation so good.
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Prices of digital games on consoles are usually more expensive than buying the physical copies. Especially when it comes with older games where online the prices can be controlled so much.

Irony posted...

Quit gaming

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DezCaughtIt posted...

They better make the default internal storage at least 2TB minimum

this. hell even that might not be enough. games are already like 60gb and then you add in patches and stuff and it's probably like 100gb per game. next gen everything will be even bigger so it'll probably be like 100gb a game. i wanna have like at least 20 games on my console so i don't have to take hours to download a game over and over.

Dark_SilverX posted...

Arent their current consoles digital only? The discs are just permission keys to access the media

yes/no

The console can still be operated completely and wholly offline without ever connecting to the internet.

Everything else about the console operates fundamentally the same as a digital only thing.
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I'll be fine as long as there is some guarantee of support far past the lifetime of the system. I just don't want my purchases to be tied to a piece of hardware that won't be supported ten years later and then if the system dies, you're screwed out of all the games.

i will enjoy downloading all my 120gb games

If they fix the fucking download speed on these consoles.

My internet has 1,5 MBps download, sometimes my old Xbox would just downloaf at 500KBps or worse

Even worse my 3ds if you convert the blocks into bytes it would only download at around 300KBps

Downloading something from steam and console thats relatively the same size would take longer on console because sonehow the speed throttle. Dunno about the newet gens of consoles, i have moved on to pc, but they need to fix this ifcthey really want to commit to digital also other stuff that steam does like how easy it is to set up account in multiple machines, cloud saving, etc
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Irony posted...

Quit gaming

No you won't.

They wouldn't do that if they do their assholes...
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And watch net neutrality die shortly before their release, essentially killing their market share if they went digital only.
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Like I care. I don't play them anymore.
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If you want to see how bad of an idea this actually is, all you have to do is look at DLC prices for old games.

Want to play Mass Effect 3? Go to GameStop and buy a copy for $5. Want to play the complete version of Mass Effect 3, including its 4 story DLCs? That will be an additional $50.

People selling and trading in their physical copies, along with stores having limited shelf space, is what drives down prices. Without that, we're completely at the mercy of game companies. We might have to wait a year for a digital sale to happen or have no choice but to pay what they want us to pay.

I'd be done gaming on consoles. I don't use them often anymore anyway. I don't know why I accept digital on pc and refuse to on console but I do.
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Meh.

It's less options for the consumer but overall meh.
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I don't think we're ready for that. Like others mentioned, there are too many places where internet isn't really reliable. Also worth mentioning the music industry while having much more digital sales now still has physical cds because people either like having multiple ways to listen, or they still have older vehicles with no usb port, etc.
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luigi13579 posted...

I'm just not sure how beneficial for the consumer digital-only on consoles will be.

Kind of this a little bit, but for a different reason.

Digital-only PC gaming has been tremendously beneficial for consumers because there is more than 1 market selling digital PC games.

Once you put yourself in a hole where the only way to buy games is through PSN, you're at the mercy of whatever the fuck they want to do to you.

That's also predominantly the reason consoles will die out in the future as more and more people are going digital only and PSN is a shit way to do it.
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