Console Digital Distribution is Terrible

G

gaugebozo

Member
Xbox has been having its summer Ultimate Game Sale. A few days ago, COD Black Ops 2 was on sale for 50%, and I decided to re-buy it. 50% has to be pretty good since it's been selling on Amazon for like $30, right? Wrong. It was 50% off $60. I went to Gamestop the same day and bought a collection of Black Ops 1, 2, and Modern Warfare 3 for $24.99!

This is not an isolated incident. Why is this the current state of purchasing games digitally? I can buy any game that's been out for a little while for cheaper at a store (even during digital sales), get back and install it faster than I could download it (even though I have a pretty good connection for my area), and then sell it back after I'm done with it for even better value. In addition, DLC never seems to get a permanently reduced price, even if it's been out for years. This leads to cases where the DLC might end up being more expensive than the full game (or even a full game and DLC collection!) purchased in a store.

How do companies expect us to jump into the digital future if this is the state of the industry?
 
Agreed. I buy a lot less sale stuff because the sale prices are terrible. But I also love the convenience of digital so I rarely dip into used gaming anymore.
 
You're using Activision for your example.
Even on PC, the newest CoD games have only gone as low as 50%.

...you also seem to have missed the Flash sale on US PSN where a bunch of games and classics went for $0.99 each.
 
We will never have good digital stores as long as they have to worry about brick and mortar retailers.

That said, digital stores are great for back catalog sales. PSN just offered a bunch of older games for a buck a piece. Hard to beat that. :)


Also, were the games you bought new or used. I'm not seeing this three game collection for $25 on their site.
 
I wouldn't expect much as long as consoles work as walled gardens with no third party markets.

On top of that, Activision has never been that generous when it comes to deals. The Steam CoD sales have been equally unappealing.
 
It's the main reason I still buy physical copies of games. Here in Australa on the PSN store (for ps4) they still have Assassins Creed 4, Need For Speed and Battlefield 4 for $99! You can buy them online from numerous retailers for half that! Why won't Sony/Microsoft/Nintendo see this? I actually would love to see figures for digital sales for each games, for each console, month to month. Sony could not possibly be selling many copies of Battlefield 4 for $99AUD...... Could they?
 
Tizoc said:
You're using Activision for your example.
Even on PC, the newest CoD games have only gone as low as 50%.

...you also seem to have missed the Flash sale on US PSN where a bunch of games and classics went for $0.99 each.
Click to expand...

Flash sales really aren't the point. Games are more expensive in general to download, and it takes longer to get than from a store. It's stupid that Sony and Microsoft sell games for waaay more than their market value when they could be making more money, and moving customers into their online stores. Apple was successful with the iTunes store because nobody wanted to pay $20 for a CD anymore.
 
Xbox sales have always been terrible, PSN has been doing a much better job to get my money. But I don't buy Activision games online they have always been expensive
 
I still remember seeing red faction for 64.99 or something on psn, and it was on sale at play.com for 9.99.

Every new game seems to be £50+ meanwhile online retailers have then for £30 - £40.
 
gaugebozo said:
Flash sales really aren't the point. Games are more expensive in general to download, and it takes longer to get than from a store. It's stupid that Sony and Microsoft sell games for waaay more than their market value when they could be making more money, and moving customers into their online stores. Apple was successful with the iTunes store because nobody wanted to pay $20 for a CD anymore.
Click to expand...

they still need physical stores to sell their hardware so they won't risk upsetting the retail stores
 
gaugebozo said:
Flash sales really aren't the point. Games are more expensive in general to download, and it takes longer to get than from a store. It's stupid that Sony and Microsoft sell games for waaay more than their market value when they could be making more money, and moving customers into their online stores. Apple was successful with the iTunes store because nobody wanted to pay $20 for a CD anymore.
Click to expand...


How many record stores also carried iPods? See the difference? Electronics stores didn't care because they carried CDs as loss leaders.
 
Yeah, prices on digital console games are just terrible. PS Vita is the only current gen system that ever really seems to have respectable sales, and that's largely because it's in so much trouble. They really need to have better sales on consoles before I start buying more things digitally.
 
rapid32.5 said:
Xbox sales have always been terrible, PSN has been doing a much better job to get my money. But I don't buy Activision games online they have always been expensive
Click to expand...

Na, last years Ultimate Summer Sale was pretty great. I do agree with Activision games being stubbornly priced though.
 
I really think we need to draw a line in the sand between recent release and back catalog.

I bought Wild Arms 2 for a dollar. A new copy of the same game is $99 on Amazon. It is an amazing resource for back catalog games.


Also, still trying to figure out how the OP bought all three of those games for $25 at GameStop. Modern warfare 3 alone sells for $30.00 on their site....
 
The12thGripper said:
Digital distribution is terrible in general.
Click to expand...

Except on open platforms. The console environment is a closed platform at the behest of a single platform holder. The problem as described will likely forever exist under this closed platform environment.

To the below question: a resounding hell no
 
It has a long way to go. Assassin's Creed 4 on PSN is $60. I can find it for under $40 on Amazon. There are a lot of other examples.

The digital distribution model is only going to work for certain, new AAA releases and indie games unless they start pricing more competitively.
 
outunderthestars said:
How many record stores also carried iPods? See the difference? Electronics stores didn't care because they carried CDs as loss leaders.
Click to expand...

Are you saying stores are going to stop selling consoles if console makers have online prices that are more in line with brick and mortar prices? That seems like cutting off your nose to spite your face. Don't they generally sell the consoles as loss leaders?
 
SnakeEyes said:
Console digital distribution is terrible because consoles are closed ecosystems where there is no competition on pricing.
Click to expand...
Exactly. This is why when people said "But the Xbox One is going to be a utopia for gamers because it'll be just like Steam!" before the DRM fiasco was such a joke statement.

gaugebozo said:
Are you saying stores are going to stop selling consoles if console makers have online prices that are more in line with brick and mortar prices? That seems like cutting off your nose to spite your face. Don't they generally sell the consoles as loss leaders?
Click to expand...
I don't think retail stores have problems with temporary sales but if prices on digital are much cheaper than retail at the same time retail stores are going to be angry. The problem is console digital distribution the prices rarely ever drop in time with the retail prices.
 
gaugebozo said:
Are you saying stores are going to stop selling consoles if console makers have online prices that are more in line with brick and mortar prices? That seems like cutting off your nose to spite your face. Don't they generally sell the consoles as loss leaders?
Click to expand...


How big is the PC game section at your local Best Buy?
 
I decided to go full digital to support Nintendo and not support best buy or wal mart with my game purchases my money goes directly to Nintendo screw the middle man who cares if it's cheaper buying digi is supporting the game makers more and less big box stores...
 
FStop7 said:
Steam is fantastic.
Click to expand...
It's fine on PC because there's actually competition, while that simply will never be the case on consoles because of the way it inherently is. It's a closed market. There aren't 10 different digital storefronts that are all trying to undercut each other, there's only 3 digital store fronts that aren't trying to undercut each other.
 
gaugebozo said:
Are you saying stores are going to stop selling consoles if console makers have online prices that are more in line with brick and mortar prices? That seems like cutting off your nose to spite your face. Don't they generally sell the consoles as loss leaders?
Click to expand...

The platform holders take the loss, in general at least. There's always a percentage per box that the stores generally want to make from each sale. In fact that's why the BOM estimates that people often use to compare things here is pretty well useless as a judge of profitability.

Anyway, what it comes down to is that the closed system store can't generally be lower prices than the retail channel for a variety of reasons
 
FullMetalx117 said:
Why not put the game boxes in a closet? Or just throw them away and keep the disc?
Click to expand...
I could use the closet to store other things and why would I buy the physical copy, throw the box away, and hten have to store the discs in some binder somewhere. What advantage do I get from owning the disc opposed to just having a button to press on a screen and launching it immediately.
 
Too afraid of retail and this is the LAST industry that's going to take a risk and push digital. They'll treat it like they do now until they have to change and then they'll wonder why everyone is apprehensive about digital.
 
FullMetalx117 said:
Why not put the game boxes in a closet? Or just throw them away and keep the disc?
Click to expand...

lol throw the boxes away? One of the primary benefits people like about physical over digital is that you can then sell it and get some of your money back after you've played it. If you're a collector, then of course throwing the box away is as equally ridiculous.

I still prefer digital where possible though because I don't sell my games
 
SnakeEyes said:
Console digital distribution is terrible because consoles are closed ecosystems where there is no competition on pricing.
Click to expand...

Squishy3 said:
Exactly. This is why when people said "But the Xbox One is going to be a utopia for gamers because it'll be just like Steam!" before the DRM fiasco was such a joke statement.
Click to expand...

Actually, as far as the specific topic of "pricing on digital games" goes, the DRM plans would have actually been better, since you could buy that cheaper retail game, and still get the benefits of having a digital game. Being able to buy a "digital" game from Amazon, Best Buy, Toys R' Us, Wal-Mart, Target, and Xbox Live is better than only being able to buy a digital game from Xbox Live.

Obviously, there were other tradeoffs, but for that specific aspect, the previous plans would have likely been much better for those interested in digital games.
 
Dizzy said:
I still remember seeing red faction for 64.99 or something on psn, and it was on sale at play.com for 9.99.

Every new game seems to be £50+ meanwhile online retailers have then for £30 - £40.
Click to expand...

This. UK pricing is awful on new games. You can sometimes get good deals in sales, though it often takes a while for it to even be on sale.
 
Can't disagree. I'm glad consoles are opening up to it but it's still a substandard experience, especially sales wise.

When a game doesn't get a retail release for the Vita I'm bummed out because I know it's going to be a looooooooong time before it gets a discount, if ever.
 
I guess I don't understand the argument that the prices suck because Y console is a closed echo system with no competition.

What do you mean there's no competition? If the prices are up to Sony for example aren't they then competing against the prices found on Live, The E shop, etc?

If the prices are entirely up to the publishers then aren't they competing against other pieces of software?

It just seems to me that if a customer could consistently get their games for less on one of the consoles that console would do well for itself.
 
soul creator said:
Actually, as far as the specific topic of "pricing on digital games" goes, the DRM plans would have actually been better, since you could buy that cheaper retail game, and still get the benefits of having a digital game. Being able to buy a "digital" game from Amazon, Best Buy, Toys R' Us, Wal-Mart, Target, and Xbox Live is better than only being able to buy a digital game from Xbox Live.

Obviously, there were other tradeoffs, but for that specific aspect, the previous plans would have likely been much better for those interested in digital games.
Click to expand...
There's still nothing preventing them from offering the same benefit for people who would want to do that, but Microsoft's plan limited the amount of retailers you'd be able to buy games from. It'd also mean "authorized resellers" only and would essentially screw out most if not all small game stores because they wouldn't have the clout or systems in place to access Microsoft's program regarding whether a disc still had the license on it or not. Not to mention the mandatory internet check-in to make sure you still "owned" the game. It would be nothing like Steam at all.

But this isn't what I was arguing about. Steam has very real competition. There are other store fronts competing with Steam. Sales are extremely infrequent on all systems (and the best price on PS3/PS4/Vita digital sales are exclusive to people who are already paying a subscription) and offer nowhere near as good a deal as Steam because again, no other storefronts that are all trying to undercut each other. They are very bad at updating the prices on the digital service to reflect retail prices, as well.
 
icespide said:
thread has a poor title. should be "Console Digital Pricing is Terrible" because the actual distribution is fine
Click to expand...

I don't know. Even the distribution policies are pretty far behind Steam and other digital PC stores. Sony and Microsoft are getting there, and there have been a lot of steps forward since the PS4 and Xbox One launched.
--Sony just started doing pre-loading for all regions.
--Microsoft still hasn't allowed digital pre-orders for all upcoming games.
--Consoles only recently started doing automatic background patching.
--PC stores still offer much better pre-order and sales incentives: 10% off the price, digital extras, free classic games, etc.
--Digital items you can buy and sell with credit towards games.
--Customer reviews.
--Message boards for each game (there's MiiVerse).
--Do PS4 and Xbox One let you view logs of what friends have been playing and for low many hours (I honestly don't know)?
--Wishlists.
--Gifting.
--4 packs.
 
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