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[Pillville]

Digital-only future is going to happen, like it or not.

People thought that about the music industry 10 years ago, and even though digital is huge now, I can still walk into a physical store and buy a physical music CD.

Digital & Physical future is going to happen, like it or not (because it's already here).

 

[Angel_DvA]

lol at people who don't care of paying more for having less with even less advantage... it's this day of age I guess.

 

[Ninja Sharingan]

So now everyone admits their purchases are digital? lol

 

[True Fire]

It's gotten to the point where I'm too lazy to swap discs lol. I haven't purchased a physical game since The Witcher 3.

I love being able to seamlessly switch games. I love not paying tax on the PlayStation Store, which is absolutely essential in C$n$d$ with our 80 dollar games and high sales tax.

 

[farisr]

As long as physical releases are still a thing, I'm cool with it.

I will stop gaming if it goes all digital unless there's a serious reworking of drm, software licensing/ownership (not MS' half-assed attempt).

 

[entremet]

It's strange that people are worried about videos games being disposable with digital.

Outside dedicated enthusiasts, most people treat video games and other media as disposable.

Most people beat a game, sell or trade it. They rent or watch a movie once and never see it again. Same with books. This hoarding mentality that video game collectors have is the minority.

I have a good amount of digital games for the PS1, PSP, PS3, and Vita. If my home were to burn down, I can rebuy compatible systems and my games would be accessible again since they're tied to an account. That's more durable than physical media.

Could Sony possibly shut down access to PSN in twenty years to those legacy systems? Sure, but by then I'm sure all those platform would be hacked and those ROMS available online.

Obviously, I'm not promoting piracy, but if was games I owned already, I would have no problem redownloading them if Sony doesn't give me an official option.

Not to mention that I would also be busy with current generation stuff, so I might not even care.

This concern about owning everything forever is strange. We're all gonna die, brehs.

Just enjoy gaming. It's an experiential medium. Worrying about where the bits are stored is odd.

 

[Man-is-Obsolete]

People thought that about the music industry 10 years ago, and even though digital is huge now, I can still walk into a physical store and buy a physical music CD.

Digital & Physical future is going to happen, like it or not (because it's already here).

Physical music is pushing back in a real weird way even. Where nearly every modern release is getting a vinyl release as well.

 

[Steejee]

This is false, OP.

http://www.extremetech.com/extreme/189268-digital-game-downloads-are-worse-for-the-environment-than-blu-ray-discs

If you read the article, it's not a binary true/false, there's a pile of conditions and assumptions that have to go into the comparison.

The actual study: http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/enhanced/doi/10.1111/jiec.12181/

Points out the break even point is 1.3GB (meaning Digital has less of a carbon impact below that point than disk), the study is based around UK power and distribution, and the study only looked at initial distribution, not life cycle. Life cycle for a digital game is basically 'download and it's over', whereas a physical disk will still have an existence later that could either be benign (gets traded and replayed forever) or bad (goes into the garbage bin).

Places with more renewables in the mix would lean towards download more, and flip that for less renewables. For the US, the average mix would be pretty worthless as it swings a lot depending on where you live.

In other words, it's complicated.

 

[mekes]

Yeah I bought a lot of digital content on PS4 this year. I am still all physical with the exception of sales that have great value (DMC4:SE) and digital only titles. The overwhelming bulk of my digital purchases were for games that are digital only.

I wont go digital only until publishers and platform holders are more open in regards to what happens to our games later down the line. Will I be able to re-download 10 years from now? These kind of road maps just aren't in place yet, and that doesn't sit well with me.

 

[Stallion Dan]

Ugh, I hate ignorant comments like this. You don't pay more for digital. You pay MSRP, just like retail. Both digital and retail have sales (admittedly, retail is faster). Best Buy's 20% GCU discount (or now Amazon's 20%) you say? I'm 100% digital and I've payed GCU-level prices or better for new release game preorders for the last 2-3 years by taking advantage of discounted store cards and PSN's "Spend X Get Y" type deals; and I didn't even pay a $30 membership to get said deals.

lol you should come to UK and look at retail vs digital. You pay 25-37% more for digital games on average, and 2-3 months after launch retail games are about half price while digital pretty much never ever drops outside of a sale every now and again, a sale which still costs more than retail has for several months. With very few exceptions.

Plus you can some get money back when done with a game if you want.

Any platform holder who tries going all digital in UK is gonna lose the market here because not many gonna pay that shit.

I don't think it is much different in EU.

This. Until Consoles catch up to PC's when it comes to pricing, if they ever do, you're either far wealthier than I am or a complete mug to not buy the far cheaper physical copies of games.

Which will never happen, on PC you got multiple suppliers, you got GOG, Steam, Origin and whatever else all in competition, not only do you get discounts from publishers but also from the stores who all trying to outdo eachother.

PSN/XBL etc have no competition. We'll get a discount once in a while to spur some sales on a title but since Sony/MS have nobody to compete with on their systems any discounts are completely down to the publisher.

 

[backbreaker65]

I used to get my games early from this mom and pop, they would always call me when the games would come in and save me one. I have forsaken getting the game early in order to preload and have the games already to go and play with the click of a button.

 

[Darkstorne]

I'll have to disagree, most digital games launch at £55 and I can almost always get them for £40 physical at launch.
The only ones I can think of that are the same are some MS first party games, but even then you can get a few quid off if you shop around.

Where do you shop for £40 games at launch? I only glance at the prices in GAME and at supermarkets, so I don't exactly shop around for the best prices. I always see new games at £49.99+. Seems to be the price I pay for games digitally, except the odd Ubi/Acti/EA big release game at £54.99.

I dunno if it's a sign of change, but I just noticed that Uncharted 4's digital version costs 60€ like the physical one. Although, I have no idea what the digital versions of Sony's own games cost before.

Hopefully the digital stores on the console side begin to offer them as well. There's no reason why they shouldn't. It's pretty odd, that physical versions offer better digital extra content, like soundtracks, than the digital ones. I'd love to have concept art in PNG format instead of small physical art booklets, so I could use them as wallpapers on my laptop. On a side note, they should offer the option to use whatever wallpaper you like on consoles as well, like last gen.

Yep, I'm pretty sure most games are price matched with physical on day one. Some of the big AAA releases will try and price-gouge though which isn't cool. It's usually post-launch that physical gets cheaper but digital stays full price.

I imagine the best way to get devs and pubs to offer more bonus content is to ask them for it. If enough people make enough noise, it's an easy addition to offer for digital special editions and would entice more people to spend extra for the special editions.

 

[Nheco]

I only buy physical copies when they are heavily discounted, I'm too much lazy to move my ass to change a disc, also, is easy to bring with you a hard disk with all your games than a bunch of boxes (and I do it a lot since most of weekends I bring my Xbox One with me to my gf's house).

I even considering to buy another Xbox to leave there, yes, my laziness is this huge

 

[Tal Shiar Agent]

Consumer laws haven't caught up with technology yet so I'll hold out on physical media as long as I possibly can.

I own the games I buy physically, I can do whatever I want with them and I can generally get them cheaper (GCU) than digital. Until consumer laws catch up and say I own the games I buy digitally and I can resell them, and digital prices become more competitive, and Internet infrastructure in the United States massively improves, I will never go all digital.

 

[redcrayon]

Ugh, I hate ignorant comments like this. You don't pay more for digital. You pay MSRP, just like retail. Both digital and retail have sales (admittedly, retail is faster). Best Buy's 20% GCU discount (or now Amazon's 20%) you say? I'm 100% digital and I've payed GCU-level prices or better for new release game preorders for the last 2-3 years by taking advantage of discounted store cards and PSN's "Spend X Get Y" type deals; and I didn't even pay a $30 membership to get said deals.

Not everyone lives in the USA. Digital prices here are ridiculous compared to retail.

 

[AnthonypUK]

Where do you shop for £40 games at launch? I only glance at the prices in GAME and at supermarkets, so I don't exactly shop around for the best prices. I always see new games at £49.99+. Seems to be the price I pay for games digitally, except the odd Ubi/Acti/EA big release game at £54.99.

Simply games, the Game collection.net and i use another that is a banned site.

 

[The Jackdog]

havent bought a single disc based game since 360/ps3

 

[Dremark]

I think it's only a matter of time, to be honest.

If it's a matter of time I'll deal with it when the time comes.

That will involve spending a lot less on games though.

 

[AnthonypUK]

I dunno if it's a sign of change, but I just noticed that Uncharted 4's digital version costs 60€ like the physical one. Although, I have no idea what the digital versions of Sony's own games cost before.

.

Still not enough - digital UC4 is £49.99

£42, http://www.thegamecollection.net/uncharted-4-a-thief-s-end-ps4.html


Streetfighter - 49.99

same site its £39.

 

[Stallion Dan]

Where do you shop for £40 games at launch? I only glance at the prices in GAME and at supermarkets, so I don't exactly shop around for the best prices. I always see new games at £49.99+. Seems to be the price I pay for games digitally, except the odd Ubi/Acti/EA big release game at £54.99.

lol at shopping at GAME. There is your problem. Biggest rip off on the highstreet.

Most online retailers sell PS4 games £40 at release, if you really shop about or find a deal you can sometimes get them knocked down as low as £35 or a bit less. Beats the £50-60 on PSN.

 

[Heimbeck]

Where do you shop for £40 games at launch? I only glance at the prices in GAME and at supermarkets, so I don't exactly shop around for the best prices. I always see new games at £49.99+. Seems to be the price I pay for games digitally, except the odd Ubi/Acti/EA big release game at £54.99.

Amazon, Simply Games, Shopto and Gameseek mostly.
GAME generally have terrible prices, not really ever even worth looking for the most part.

 

[t26]

People thought that about the music industry 10 years ago, and even though digital is huge now, I can still walk into a physical store and buy a physical music CD.

Digital & Physical future is going to happen, like it or not (because it's already here).

I mean there are still stores that sell PC physical games, but 99% of the time it is something I can't get physically.

 

[wenis]

I'm still buying physical when available. I still want to own what I purchase years from now. Like those stacks of PS1 and PS2 games sitting in my closet.

 

[Darkstorne]

Simply games, the Game collection.net and i use another that is a banned site.

lol at shopping at GAME. There is your problem. Biggest rip off on the highstreet.

Most online retailers sell PS4 games £40 at release, if you really shop about or find a deal you can sometimes get them knocked down as low as £35 or a bit less.

Amazon, Simply Games, Shopto and Gameseek mostly.
GAME generally have terrible prices, not really ever even worth looking for the most part.

So there's the problem. You're complaining about digital prices being too expensive when the vast majority of the time they're at RRP and you're just used to scouring uber competitive sites for bargains. EDIT: To clarify I'm not saying this is bad, just saying you can't expect official channels to compete with stores that run on absolute minimal profit margins and don't concern themselves too much with employees and customer service.

I don't think £49.99 for a new game is too expensive, considering we've been paying that much (or £40 before the PS360 gen) for games for decades now. I do think digital games should drop in price as time goes on though, much faster than they do at the moment (many don't ever drop).

 

[KORNdoggy]

Ugh, I hate ignorant comments like this. You don't pay more for digital. You pay MSRP, just like retail. Both digital and retail have sales (admittedly, retail is faster). Best Buy's 20% GCU discount (or now Amazon's 20%) you say? I'm 100% digital and I've payed GCU-level prices or better for new release game preorders for the last 2-3 years by taking advantage of discounted store cards and PSN's "Spend X Get Y" type deals; and I didn't even pay a $30 membership to get said deals.

i'm in the UK. i'm not talking sales. or offers. i'm talking day 1 prices in stores like amazon that offer no discount. a game on disc costs £40 on amazon. the same digital game costs £55 on PSN. more money then sense.

 

[SmokedMeat]

The resell argument ignores the fact that you take an insultingly massive loss that only grows the longer you wait to resell/trade-in a game. I've been gaming a long time and have always purged most of my old gen games when upgrading to a new console, and in each instance it would have been better just to keep my old shit instead of taking pennies on the dollar, but you have a new system and want as many new games as possible so you say fuck it.

Having switched to PC gaming, for the part I've been trading in physical games towards to purchase of the PC versions or Steam cards, whenever a decent opportunity arises.

As an example I'm considering trading in my copies of Last of Us Remastered and Diablo UE. Today I could get $54 for both, which enables me to buy quite a few PC titles. If they were digital PS4 titles I'd have $0.

So situations are different, and I'll gladly take something over nothing at all.

 

[Heimbeck]

So there's the problem. You're complaining about digital prices being too expensive when the vast majority of the time they're at RRP and you're just used to scouring uber competitive sites for bargains.

I don't think £49.99 for a new game is too expensive, considering we've been paying that much for games for decades now. I do think digital games should drop in price as time goes on though, much faster than they do at the moment (many don't ever drop).

Why shouldn't I complain abut digital being too expensive when I can get the exact same game for £15 cheaper?
I agree that £50 isn't too expensive, but why would I pay that when I can get the same exact thing for £40?

 

[NotMyPsn]

Feels good, man. I travel every weekend and its awesome carrying my ps4 with all the games in the 2tb HDD I just installed. All my "day one" are physical thou. I've learned to wait for deals/patches, so I have like 6 physical games...and like 30 digital.
It's super convenient and cheaper.

 

[TheHolyTurnip]

If you read the article, it's not a binary true/false, there's a pile of conditions and assumptions that have to go into the comparison.

The actual study: http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/enhanced/doi/10.1111/jiec.12181/

Points out the break even point is 1.3GB (meaning Digital has less of a carbon impact below that point than disk), the study is based around UK power and distribution, and the study only looked at initial distribution, not life cycle. Life cycle for a digital game is basically 'download and it's over', whereas a physical disk will still have an existence later that could either be benign (gets traded and replayed forever) or bad (goes into the garbage bin).

Places with more renewables in the mix would lean towards download more, and flip that for less renewables. For the US, the average mix would be pretty worthless as it swings a lot depending on where you live.

In other words, it's complicated.

The study also cited 8.8GB as the average download, which is far smaller than the vast majority of AAA games. Your right though, it's complicated and more likely than not will change in the future. The question is how far away is that future?
Also the life cycle for a digital game doesn't end at the download, you very well may have to delete the game and re download for any one of numerous reasons, like for space on the HDD, transferring games to a replacement system, etc.

 

[SkoomaSuckinSwit]

I'll always buy physical when it comes to AAA games.
Unless of course there's rock bottom price on digital that would be extremely rare to match on physical.
A couple of recent PSN games for like $7 were steals.

I still like ownership. Gaming is more than a temporary experience. Just like a good book, you want to keep it on your shelf.
It'd be nice to have BOTH though, for the same price. Just in case, you know, my house burnt down, or drug addicts robbed my house to pawn my video game collection at GameStop.

 

[Darkstorne]

Why shouldn't I complain abut digital being too expensive when I can get the exact same game for £15 cheaper?
I agree that £50 isn't too expensive, but why would I pay that when I can get the same exact thing for £40?

You don't have to buy digital. But claiming digital is expensive when it's normal price, just because you're used to shopping from online sites that shave profits down to pennies, is a little silly. Digital prices are usually the recommended prices, and sometimes (when publishers try gouging for a big new release) over-priced. Usually, they're fairly priced.

I guess at this stage the decision would be "Do I pay the normal price and get the bonus of no disc swaps, no physical storage space, take my game collection with my console wherever I go? Or do I shop for a cheaper price online and forgo those benefits?" Though I understand the physical case is a pro to some rather than a con.

 

[Zombegoast]

I'm still not convinced with DD on consoles. I see Destiny and Blops 2 still at full price on PSN when I can get them for a much cheaper brand new at Amazon.

 

[Hamster Plugin]

I dunno if it's a sign of change, but I just noticed that Uncharted 4's digital version costs 60€ like the physical one. Although, I have no idea what the digital versions of Sony's own games cost before.

Hopefully the digital stores on the console side begin to offer them as well. There's no reason why they shouldn't. It's pretty odd, that physical versions offer better digital extra content, like soundtracks, than the digital ones. I'd love to have concept art in PNG format instead of small physical art booklets, so I could use them as wallpapers on my laptop. On a side note, they should offer the option to use whatever wallpaper you like on consoles as well, like last gen.

Sony games have always been priced well, with digital and physical both usually going for €60. But it's the only case of digital parity that I know of.

 

[Sesuadra]

I mix it up. Games like bloodborne or destiny I buy digital. Wolfenstein or FF Type 0 retail. Every Japanese game I import because that is cheaper than the PSN gift cards.

 

[Heimbeck]

You don't have to buy digital. But claiming digital is expensive when it's normal price, just because you're used to shopping from online sites that shave profits down to pennies, is a little silly. Digital prices are usually the recommended prices, and sometimes (when publishers try gouging for a big new release) over-priced. Usually, they're fairly priced.

I guess at this stage the decision would be "Do I pay the normal price and get the bonus of no disc swaps, no physical storage space, take my game collection with my console wherever I go? Or do I shop for a cheaper price online and forgo those benefits?" Though I understand the physical case is a pro to some rather than a con.

How is it the normal price when last-gen games were also £40?
Also most games are £55 digitally at release which is over the RRP, and Amazon is hardly an unknown site and you will almost always find a better deal there than you would on the PSN store.
I mean if you want to go all digital that's great, but your going to get fucked over on the price.

 

[Jeronimo Jones]

At this point, I often buy digital, especially if it's a game I will be playing longer term. If there's a big discount or I'm not really sold on a game, I will go with the disc version.

 

[x-Lundz-x]

You mean when they try having actual sales and don't keep the price of games at 60 dollars forever when they can be purchased for 20-30 for a physical copy has a benefit? I'm shocked.

 

[lowhighkang_LHK]

Can you take advantage of Amazon's 20 percent off all games via Prime membership in Europe?

 

[Darkstorne]

How is it the normal price when last-gen games were also £40?
Also most games are £55 digitally at release which is over the RRP, and Amazon is hardly an unknown site and you will almost always find a better deal there than you would on the PSN store.
I mean if you want to go all digital that's great, but your going to get fucked over on the price.

1) Last gen games were usually £49.99 at launch. It was the gen that started the price increase in the UK (since it's the gen that VAT was raised to 20%). PS2 gen was usually £40.

2) I never said Amazon was an unknown site. I said it's a site that thrives on bare minimum profits. As a result, they don't invest anywhere near as much into employee care and customer service as stores like GAME and supermarkets do (where physical games typically match digital prices, at least at launch).

I'm mainly digital for the disc-free benefits. I buy most of my games for PC. I could buy most of my PC games on sites like CDKeys to save loads of cash, but that doesn't mean Steam's prices are therefore over-priced as a result. It means Steam's prices are the standard for PC at launch, but you can shop around for cheaper. Same with console prices. Digital prices usually match the RRP also found at GAME and supermarkets. You can get them cheaper elsewhere, no doubt, but that doesn't make the RRP over-priced.

 

[Chastten]

While the collecting aspect is a part of why I buy physical, it's not just that.

When I spend €60+ on a game, I'm paying that money for the complete package, not for the game. Even though in recent years the physical package has become nearly worthless, I still value it over some files on my harddisk. If it was just for those files, I could easily pirate the game and have the same results.

As a result, most of my purchases these days are CE's/LE's, especially if they have artbooks and stuff. That, to me, is worth the €60. A digital file isn't.

 

[DavidDesu]

If the price is right and I know its something I'm unlikely to sell on I'll just get digital. Smaller games I want like The Witness or Life Is Strange I'll buy rather than wait for a physical release. Big one off games or games I'm no sure about I'll likely buy physical. Did this recently with The Witcher 3 and Battlefront. I sold both on. And only lost about £15 to £20 Max from the two.

If then pricing was more enticing I'd go mostly digital definitely. It's just more convenient for me nor having to swap discs discs etc.

 

[Maligna]

Yea but how much time do you need to wait for those prices ? Also, I'm sure you can find used copy of these games for these prices.

Digital sale are good, but for most game it's not worth it (on console at least)

I may have had to wait a while, but doesn't change the fact that Borderlands and Sleeping Dogs will give me lots of bang for my buck.

 

[Heimbeck]

1) Last gen games were usually £49.99 at launch. It was the gen that started the price increase in the UK (since it's the gen that VAT was raised to 20%). PS2 gen was usually £40.

2) I never said Amazon was an unknown site. I said it's a site that thrives on bare minimum profits. As a result, they don't invest anywhere near as much into employee care and customer service as stores like GAME and supermarkets do (where physical games typically match digital prices, at least at launch).

I'm mainly digital for the disc-free benefits. I buy most of my games for PC. I could buy most of my PC games on sites like CDKeys to save loads of cash, but that doesn't mean Steam's prices are therefore over-priced as a result. It means Steam's prices are the standard for PC at launch, but you can shop around for cheaper. Same with console prices. Digital prices match the RRP also found at GAME and supermarkets. You can get them cheaper elsewhere, no doubt, but that doesn't make the RRP over-priced.

1) No most games were £40 last gen, can't think of a time when I spent £50 on a game from last-gen.

2) The RRP is over-priced, that's the whole point.
I find it hard to believe someone would actually not want to save £10 (and often over that amont) on every game they purchase.
I mean, if you want the benefits of digital that's cool. If you want to spend extra on the benefits of digital that's also cool. But the prices are high, they are not the normal price, the prices you find on GAME and on PSN/Xbox are expensive.
I would never expect to pay £50 for a game, despite whatever the RRP is.

 

[b0bbyJ03]

Price is king to me. at the same price, i'll always go physical, but i'd prefer to get lower prices and just go digital, which doesn't seem to be happening in the console space.

 

[radioactivez0r]

I've been using Steam for 12 years and it hasn't bothered me to be all digital on PC, but as noted many times, the discounts are steep and it practically makes games disposable. However, as my life has changed and my gaming time has decreased while my income has increased, paying $60 for a digital version that I play and then delete is less and less a problem for me. Yeah, I can save $12 buying in store at Best Buy, but the amount of console games I buy in a given year means I may save ~$100 total, which at this point is not a big enough deal to make it worthwhile. I also have mostly stopped selling and trading my games; they just sit there not doing anything when I'm done with them, so what good was it that I bought a physical copy? Waiting 2 years for a sale starts to seem like I'm not that interested in a game anyway, so I may as well get it on release (provided it works).

All that said, every PS4 game I own that had a retail release was bought at retail. I'm only now coming around to the idea that digital just makes more sense in my life now. Of course, I can't put this into practice until a PS4 exclusive comes along I really want to play (everything in the new future I am excited for is on PC).

As someone who starts many evenings asking who wants to play what fighting game with me, I'm all digital these days. Fighting games have awful resale value, anyway.

However, I am miffed that no one out there is offering discounts for digital. Amazon Prime and Best Buy at 20% off physical copies only. What the crap? Why are digital customers second-rate?

Because they need to get you into the store. If the discount was the same for digital copies, you couldn't wander in and be tempted to buy a washing machine, or a stereo.

 

[Begaria]

Super fine with it. I'm all digital on PC, might as well be all digital on console.

 

[Teletraan1]

I usually wait for games to be on some sort of digital sale. Even if the prices are higher than retail I prefer digital for the convenience.

I never trade my games in anymore since the local mom and pop game store closed in my town. I used to be able to get some decent games at good prices and get at least a fair amount of money for my used games. I refuse to trade in games for peanuts at Gamestop or EB games or whatever the hell they call themselves. So that is a non factor for me.

I also don't buy the whole "owning a product" mantra that gets posted here. Most games now are either buggy, incomplete, unplayable without day 1-90 patches that having that disc isn't going to do you a lot of good in the event all these digital services and patch servers go down the tubes. Why would you want to play TW3, MCC, Driveclub 1.0 or any number of games with so many online hooks that they will be useless anyway? What value is in that?

 

[SmokedMeat]

I also don't buy the whole "owning a product" mantra that gets posted here. Most games now are either buggy, incomplete, unplayable without day 1-90 patches that having that disc isn't going to do you a lot of good in the event all these digital services and patch servers go down the tubes. Why would you want to play TW3, MCC, Driveclub 1.0 or any number of games with so many online hooks that they will be useless anyway? What value is in that?

Good point. But not all games are like that, and not all patches improve games without breaking something else.
Most big downloads are usually online multiplayer, which isn't exactly everlasting either, as communities dry up.

Regardless, owning a physical game gives you more options then what's possible on digital. More options at cheaper prices is pretty important.

As for this whole topic, I can't help but imagine all of those free Plus and GWG games count as "sales", since you go through the same process. Couple that with a rise in small indie games that are download only, and it's no surprise digital sales are increasing.

 

[Darkstorne]

The RRP is over-priced, that's the whole point.

Then we'll have to agree to disagree. My view on price is that we're lucky it isn't higher. Taking inflation into account the cost of buying games is cheaper now than it used to be, even though the cost of development is higher than ever. The low profit margins on video games are the reason so many developers and publishers have had to shut down, and the reason the vast majority of big budget games are either sequels or playing it safe with well established gameplay mechanics and systems. Devs/pubs need to find a way to increase their profit magins, and $60/£50 digital games are a great way of doing that without raising game prices for the consumer.

If you wish they'd lower their prices to match the likes of Amazon and other online stores that are happy with making mere pennies per unit sold, then you're not thinking clearly about the consequences that would have on the industry as a whole.

 

[Steve Youngblood]

Because they need to get you into the store. If the discount was the same for digital copies, you couldn't wander in and be tempted to buy a washing machine, or a stereo.

Amazon doesn't need to get you in the store. It's bizarre to me that I can have them ship me a largely useless physical copy of XCOM 2 that I'd be buying primarily for the Steam key in the box for $48, or I can buy the Steam key directly from them for the full price of $60.