Ben-DutkaPretty soon, everything will either be wireless or digital and there will be no need for any physical format. We'll just put something on our heads and every last form of entertainment on earth will blast into our brains at the speed of light. …and then we'll all die from a hemorrhage and maybe God will let the human race try again.
But the point is that with electronics going digital at a rapid rate, retailers simply have less to sell. Take the PSP Go!, for instance. The lack of any physical software will definitely put a hurt on a retailer's bottom line and further, it completely erases the possibility of a second-hand game market for the new handheld. Let's not forget that a gigantic portion of GameStop's profit comes from the used game department… And according to Sankaku Complex citing Itai News, many stores are worried about this new and unwelcome development:
"With this PSP Go and its download only system, is Sony saying they don’t need us in the retail distribution channel? We’re no use to them? But we’re business partners aren’t we? Shouldn’t there be some way we can improve distribution? If they go ahead specialialist shops are going to be in trouble. My own motivation is really suffering from all this uncertainty.
Has the time come for us to have to think of getting out of the business completely?"
It's a problem, certainly, but one must always find ways to adapt in this ever-changing world of electronics entertainment. The only problem is that such stores may really become obsolete when all the rest of the software goes digital, which may be inevitable but it certainly isn't something I personally want to see. You're already going to see the demise of brick-and-mortar movie rental stores thanks to Netflix and other digital download services, so might there come a time when GameStop fails to exist? It almost seems impossible to us veteran gamers…
I Suppose they could have a shop full of redeem codes xD
that just might work.
thinking the same thing… do like they did with patapon 2… and things will be all fine and mellow, well, everything but the second hand recycling unit known as Gamestop…
anyways, to say places like Blockbuster, and rogers video (really big up north) will shut down because of netflix is with all due respect(and no offense) a big joke… globally, not everyone has access to internet, and more then half of those have bad internet connections… so live streaming would take forever… and for netflix 2 be so popular as to leave blockbuster with absolutely no customers, it would have to require absolutely every movie lover in the population to have access and subscribe to netflix. and since that's not the case, there will always be business for video rental places…
No more Gamestop? Who do we go to for a biased opinion on video game consoles?
How did they not see this coming? Gamestop and EBgames has been giving a big "screw you" to video game companies with their used games business. They sell the same game 5 times over for only 5 bucks less then a new one, and the developer doesn't see one cent after it's been sold the first time. You can't tell me that that doesn't affect business…
Now that the game companies are retaliating…suddenly it's "Boo Hoo, how can you do this to us?"
Ever since the invention of the Hard Drive, You had to have seen this coming. Wasn't that the whole point of it? To get rid of Physical media?
They have to keep moving forward. Downloading is environmentally friendly and should be better for the consumer as they can now cut out the markup that the middle man puts on the price tag. Factory direct gaming? Yes, Please!
If places like Gamestop want to survive, they're going to have to take a page out of Amazon's books and sell it online. With the price of fuel going up and the economy the way it is, less and less people will want to travel to the store to buy a game when they can get it at home for cheaper.
Now if you'll excuse me, I'm going to go take a picture of a video game store before it disappears. Maybe hang it beside a picture of a T-Rex.
lol i thought i was the only person that thought this way. nice to see there's another one out there
the day all the gamestops/ebgames/planet x's go out of business we should celebrate…its about time they got what they deserved coming to them…
Digital distribution is not as consumer friendly as you say. Procuring the content is friendly, but as more consumers add more music, movie and video game content, storage is going to he a huge issue.
There are limits to storing and accessing electronic media. Not to mention, what happens to content when the storage media becomes obsolete? How will the consumer replace the digital content when the storage device fails?
For the retailers, digitial distribution will kill their resale market as we know it. Perhaps they can sweeten the deal for consumers selling their Go! with the games.
Yup and totally agree. And with the way they talk about Playstation products there and are all 360 fanboys when helping out customers they can go suffer.
Sony's the first to go the digital distribution route which is cool as well. They are the industry leaders. Expect nothing less. We all know when the crapbox 3fixme NEXT comes out in the future it too will have to go that route as they probably won't be able to use BluRay on their next doorstop machine.
And what a joke they give you squat for your trade ins and sell it for 5 bucks less. I never buy used games ever. Screw that. Could care less about Gamestop/EB Games.
@Jaybiv
Great point, that's why I like the idea of buying a game on disc, but having the right to download a copy of it to memorystick or whatever.
That said, I won't lose any sleep over the fate of GameStop.
I have truly had the experience of purchasing a game, getting it home, finding it to be – well, not to put too fine a point on it, it was crap – not to my liking. So less than 24 hours later (the day after the game launched, I went back and they offered me $20, for the same game I had paid $59.99+tax for less than 24 hours before. Not only that I new with absolute certainty, this copy would either be shrink wrapped and sold as new, or put on the used shelf for $54.99+ tax. Daylight robbery. So I sold it on Ebay for $55.
GameStop bites.
@ jaybiv
i dont think storage is as much of an issue as you might think. you can get 1 TB hard drives for like $100. it takes an insane amount of games, music etc. to fill it up. and for the possibility of the hard drive failing, it is really easy to back up these days. takes very little looking into to get it
in my opinion the biggest issue of all digital downloading of games and what not is people's internet. not everyone that owns a console has high speed internet and therefore can't get online to purchase and download any games. they are the ones i am concerned for
Last edited by hart_attack on 6/8/2009 2:41:32 PM
It might be hard for normal people to fill it up, but I'm alreadying have to buy an external 2TB HDD becuz i'm running out of space on my 1280gb dual-HDD =(
I really don't think your going to see cheaper prices. GT5 Prologue was 39.99 at PSN and it was the same in the stores. No savings there. Also what are you going to do if a new rock band comes out and the guitars you have aren't compatible. Where are going to get the guitars from PSN. They call it AIR GUITAR.
I like the whole "I though we were friends" bit!
Sorry seems like you have been playin the field a little too much GameSTOP.
@jaybiv
Storage will not be as much of a problem as all the packaging in the dozens of games you buy. Also, how many current-gen gaming systems do you know that support NES cartridges? You are always going to lose games when a storage medium expires. Just like with disc based games, your games will only expire with the generation of system you purchased them on.
I COULD CARE LESS ABOUT THE LITTLE STORES. THERE ARE RIP-OFFS ANYWAY, THEY BUY YOUR GAMES FOR PENNIES AND THEN SELL THEM FOR 5 BUCKS LESS THAN FULL PRICE. THEY ARE CROOKS.
Thats how they make profit.
I think I know what the solution to your problem is. It's located to the left of your "a" key.
YOU GUYS ARE TOOLS
@nasah: I totally looked to see what was next to the a key lol.
Yeah i stop trading in games cause you dont get nothing back.
GameStop sucks anyways. Theyre used games are dirty an scratched and they cop and attitude when you ask them for a cleaner scratch free copy of the game, they are over priced and they rip you off on trades. The only pro to used game stores is when you want a certain game but dont want to suppose the devloper(i wanted street fighter 4 but im a little irked with Crapcoms lack of effort for the PS3 these days) so i bought it used. Who cares. Wal-Mart is looking into the prospect of selling and trading used games. Once they start, GameStop and EB and kiss their stores goodbye.
Last edited by Jawknee on 6/8/2009 11:35:27 AM
I had gotten a used copy of god of war COO ,when I went home to play it, there was gum inside the umd and I went back to get another copy but they were giving me a hard time to get a good one ,they thought I did it that same day.
As somebody who buys a lot of older niche games (mostly RPGs), I really welcome this development. There are plenty of games that if you don't purchase within the first few months of their release they become next to impossible to find. Even used copies can sometimes cost *more* than what the game originally cost new at retail. I have spent many hours of my life on eBay and the like desperately trying to find reasonable deals…
With digital distribution this problem goes away. Once a game is made available this way there is really no reason not to keep it available. Even if sales trickle off it doesn't really cost Sony anything to continue to offer it.
Gamestop going out of business is actually a good thing.
i like haveing disks you can play it years after it comes out
what happens if your harddrive crashes you have to rebuy the games?
as for the "you have 5 downloads" there are some
games and stuff that you only get 1 and thats it
They could just do what Valve's Steam does and keep your game list online where you can download them again if need be.
Yes, but what about the rest of the world, who have CAPPED download limits on their internet.
i want the PSP go! but i would go over my limit in a day if i downloaded all the games i wanted on psp.
@ akuma
just take it to a hotspot cafe and download there?
It kinda seems like GameStop should have seen this coming. Their used game business has become such a profit center for them, and the game publishers can see that, and see each used game sale as a lost new game sale. Is it any wonder that digital distribution is something that companies like Sony want to use?
My only problem with Digital Distrubtion is that the physical, tangible 'game' is gone. It was bad enough when games that had previously come with a user manual of sorts started appearing in CD Jewel cases with little to no room for any paper work. With Digital distribution, there is zero chance for anything even remotely close to a printed user manual.
Maybe GameStop could sell game manuals? 😉
hahaha, game manuals and strategy guides they always try to push. They still can sell the hardware and accessories. Maybe they will sell hdds for ps3 upgrades.
It blows my mind that anyone would pay $15-$20 for a strategy guide in this day and age.
Most of the time the Strategy guide also serves as a game art book too. It's far easier and more decorative to use a strategy guide than some dude's online game walk-through.
Hey Highlander, did you see that they included the manual for FF7 with the digital download?
I will pull my original old one and see it its a perfect copy of it 🙂
Having sooo much fun playing it again, hope to finish it this time.
My only concern about downloading games is the time to do so, but then again if the games are in the online store in the morning, I could download them while I'm at work. I love the PS3's option on shutdown after downloading, nice!
How long would it take to download 50gb though?
Last edited by vicious54 on 6/8/2009 11:57:58 AM
Download would depend majorly on the server's upload speed and consistency AND your download speed. I've downloaded about 16GB in an hour before. Don't even ask how much I downloaded in a day. LOL
I admit it… I am guilty of buying some games used. it is not the $5 off that lures me in, it is the fact that if I get a game that is a big "Maybe", I want the ablity to return it within a weeks time if it just plain blows…
I have been glad several times to be able to return the game that I was "Not sure it will be all I am hoping for" and pick something up that is more for me.
I hate the store for offering me $20 for a game I bought less than a week ago, and then tack on $30 for thier pure profit as they sell it used.
Generally, I do buy new, but you do come across the "Maybe" title and a $65 dollar investment should be a wise one. Reviews do not come in as quick as I hope sometimes and you need to choose ,new or used, permanant or returnable? Sometimes that is an easy choice.
New this year:
Overlord 2 (Already paid off)
Uncharted 2 (Already reserved)
The Beatles Rock band (Disk only already reserved)
Used or rented first
Ghostbusters
Batman Arkam Asylum (Boring fight mechanics in beta).
Hmmm thats a very interesting point on buying used games, you wont be able to do that with game downloads, which is kind of annoying becuase i frequently do that (I am a student after all).
You know, it's funny, I don't think GameStop are gonna get much sympathy. Their own conduct has kinda spoiled any chance of that. In fact, I get the feeling that asking people to feel sorry for GameStop is rather like asking people to feel sorry for the cockroach…where's that can of RAID?
Heh
It's called going green…I guess
Less trucks polluting our Earth
They can still sell the system and Redeem coupons and such. But since they will still be selling the PSP3000 and UMDs for a long time they have nothing to worry about.
All video game stores make their money off of used games and systems. The store I work at sells New DSi's for less then we buy them for just so we can be cheaper than Gamestop.
For everything we sell new We get 1% or less profit. For used we can sell for 60% or more profit. Its the way all video games business are not just GS, It would be nice if they falter and let some other stores to grow though.
Even though all game stores do some of the same things. The industry would benefit from more competition. Gamestop has a monopoly, and it makes it so they are the one that ultimately dictate prices for used games, systems, and accessories.
Guess I'm an old dinosaur, but I can still roar…..I for one would hate to see GS/EB, and other silular stores simpley go down the drain.
Only for the reason that I'm a collector, so I'm always on the hunt for a game that has hit it's used low price point at $20 or less.
And I love dumpster-diving headfirst into those bargain bins!!!!!
Also since I'm a collector, I also want my games in psyhical disc form, sitting all in a row, up there on my shevles.
Not some 60+ flash drives, where I can't remember what's on them unless I plug them in first.
Good Point
I will never support a digital only system. I'll stop playing games completely.
It's hard copy or nothing.
Call me old fashioned, but I'm going to go ahead and completely agree with that. As much as I like gaming, I have a set way of doing things… Gotta draw the line somewhere, and I've drawn it.
I won't go purely digital downloads just as much as I won't say… oh… pay $40,000 real dollars for digital download BMW to virtually drive to work. Not happening.
I would like to e able to buy the physical disc, but also have the option of a digital copy as well. There is a great deal of convenience involved in having your games on a memory stick, especially on a portable gaming devices. While I agree with you both about the whole "having the tangible product – the game disc" thing, I also know that the convenience of putting your games on Memory Stick is very seductive.
@TheHighlander
I see what your saying about the PSP GO. The thing is it's digital only and I don't like the fact that I'm buying air.
Also, I was mainly talking about the PS4 or any other at home system going digital only. Now this brings me to another subject OnLive. It really makes me mad that there making that. I hope nobody buys it and they go bankrupt. It's things like OnLive that make me wish I wasn't addicted to games.
I just hope I'm not alive to see the day where everything is digital.
Yes, the ability to have things on a memory stick is nice, no doubt. I just went on vacation to see an old friend I hadn't seen in 10 years. I bought a memory card for the XBOX360 to copy over my profile, saved games, and my arcade games. With hard copy media though, you can't really do that unless it's a completely online system with constant activation/account checking… And those things CAN and WILL be broken by people who know their head from a hole in the ground. Even so, UMD discs are small, and there are full games you can purchase as UMD or digital download. This is how it should remain… I don't argue that, but Sony seems bent on a single direction, and there are a handful of reasons the gaming community and retailers should reject this.
Ben can argue Netflix kicking video rental stores around, but we are talking rentals… If you want to "buy" a movie to own, I can rest assured, MOST any will want a hard copy. In terms of rentals, digital makes sense, yes. Onwership, no, not completely.
On a side note… Look at the MP3 industry and what it has done to sales of CDs… This is the only time arguement could be made. Download of MP3s (legally and not) have crippled retail stores of music sales. However, with MP3s you can back these up to discs… Keyword here… Back it up! If you could download these games, burn them to disc, legally… I might argue less, but not give in entirely. But then, that'll open holes in the system so wide that a piracy of console/portable systems would rival PC games over night… If not faster.
Isn't the PSP 3000 still coming out with UMD's? Why is Gamestop even complaining? Sony sells games from three different platforms for them!
Gamestop could just refuse to sell PSP Go's could they not? Sure it would probably be stupid, but don't they have the right to sell or not sell whatever it is they want? If it's out to hurt them then just don't sell? HA, either way I don't care as I'm not getting the PSP Go, getting s PSP-3000
Yeah, I'm sure they probably could do that, but then giant retail stores like Walmart and Target which sell other things like clothing and whatnot far from care about these things. They would have a definately be able to capitialize on this, and most likely it would take away a small % of game sales away from stores that don't sell the Anti-Retail PSP.
Personally, I think EBGames/GameStop and all major retail stores should basically not sell it. If Sony is so set on digital downloads only, then screw em… Let em sell this thing digitally. See how that works out for em. Then they can see how much they really do rely on retail stores.
Digital downloading seems really cool to most of you, but think of this:
What if you loose your PSP Go! or what if it gets stolen? Not only will you lose your system but YOU WILL LOSE EVERYTHING THAT YOU HAVE DOWNLOADED TO IT, including all those games that you had to pay for (at least 16 gb. of stuff will be lost).
If a normal PSP gets lost or stolen, you will only lose whatever UMD game you have inserted in it along with the system (1.8 gb. plus your memory stick will be lost)
Both of the situations above are terrible losses, but I think you will lose a lot more money by digital downloading. It's like comparing Blu-ray movies to digital download movies for your PS3. It also costs less to get a game on a disc than it does to get a storage device (hard drive, memory card, etc.) along with a game to download onto it.
The only way to keep from loosing too much stuff on a PSP Go! (if you loose it) would be by storing only one game at a time on the system, and leaving all the other games on a seperate storage device. But who wants to constantly transfer games between the PSP Go! & a hard drive, when you could instead eject a physical disc & then insert a different disc? It takes longer to swap files between 2 different devices than it does to swap out one disc for another.