120°

Why Physical Games Are Not Going Anywhere

A response to a suggestion by Soderlund of Electronic Arts that physical games will be gone in a year, to be replaced by digital being the only available way to get games.

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rantgaming.com
Reverent4265d ago (Edited 4265d ago )

Yeah, because everyone is perfectly willing to sit around for 2-3 hours for a game to download as a mandatory requirement instead of just driving to the store and picking the game up in less than 15 minutes. /s

tachy0n4264d ago

people in several countries DO NOT HAVE INTERNET ACCESS!!

physical games will be around pretty much forever!

attilayavuzer4265d ago

@jose

Bullshit, physical will be around for many more years.

L6RD7BLU34265d ago

I just recently made the switch today I sold all of my ps3 games,vita games to go straight digital from here on out. I got $400 for all of my games, i just thought why not i already have PS plus might as well go all digital.

ScubaSteve14265d ago

tnically you dont own those games through ps plus FYI

L6RD7BLU34265d ago

I know this, this still doesn't stop me from BUYING games on psn FYI LOL

Hicken4265d ago

Why does this sound like a complete lie?

Maybe because of how ridiculous it is?

Not saying they will, but if Sony chose to shut down PSN, SEN, and all such things, you'd have NO GAMES to play. If you buy something you don't like, your money is wasted. And you can't loan out ANY of the stuff you're buying now. And if your hard drive is fried, look forward to hours of downloading again.

That's all horrible stuff.

Smokingunz4265d ago

Interesting topic. I think this is what the industry wants, only because it'll be more money for them. They'll be cutting out the middle man like GameStop and therefore will have controll over price on games. I believe in the future it may be a possibility but for now I really doubt it only because physical media is still selling and most people like myself prefers physical over digital. CDs, DVDs and vinyls are still around, but at the end of the day it's really up to the industry to faze out physical media if they wanted to, but I know physical media won't be going anywhere for a very long time.

Freakazoid20124265d ago

It'll save them more than just cutting out the middle man. They wont have to burn those physical copies any more and last I heard that was around 10.00- of the game price. Physical and digital in most cases are the exact same price so that is even more money they can put in their pockets...

To be honest I'd be all for it if it actually meant cheaper games but it doesnt seem to be having any impact on price at all

greenmeanie4265d ago

Exactly! If the games were cheaper, that might be an incentive for me to buy digital. But they cost the same! How do they even justify charging the same? They have no packaging or shipping costs to worry about. I was thinking about buying New Super Mario Bros 2 on the eshop the other day, until I realized it was the same exact price! And then I thought about it, and figured it would take up a lot of memory, plus I couldnt let a friend borrow it, or play it on another 3DS. So I basically said "to hell with that", and I walked myself to the mall and bought myself a physical copy. If they want the future to be digital, they better start charging less. Thats what they do for music. Albums are always cheaper as downloads.

XXXL4265d ago

I remember being a kid on Xmas and opening those games up. Could usually tell I was getting a game by the wrapped box but was still in awe when I opened it. I hope my kids can experience that same fun and not have me whip out the credit card on Xmas morning so they can download it.

clrlite4265d ago

I definitely agree and there are also a lot of practical reasons to own physical copies of games you really cherish.

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270°

Microsoft’s Surface and Xbox hardware revenues take a big hit in Q3

Microsoft just posted the third quarter of its 2024 fiscal financial results. The software maker made $61.9 billion in revenue and a net income of $21.9 billion during Q3. Revenue is up 17 percent, and net income has increased by 20 percent.

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theverge.com
darthv721d 2h ago

Xbox content + services up 62% while hardware down 31%... seems about right with the way they tout you don't need the hardware to play. People can play on their phones or smart tv or other means. I don't hardly play on my consoles directly since getting devices like the logitech g-cloud and ps portal. Which is to also say I have been playing more digital than physical because of these devices.

solideagle13h ago

you should apply in MS PR team buddy, I think you will do a great job in my humble opinion :)

Sonic188110h ago

I thought darthv72 and Obscure_Observer already work for Microsoft 🤔

dveio10h ago

MS: "Xbox services and content without AB up 1%, with AB up 62%. Hardware down 31%. In total a loss of 350 mill."

darthv72: "Seems about right."

MS: "Excuse m ..."

darthv72: "I don't hardly play on my consoles directly."

MS:

Lightning775h ago

What he said was facts. How he plays games is no concern of you. Don't get too mad about it.

Cacabunga13h ago

I can tell people like you are an absolute minority..

If service is up means their fans and fanboys accepted this model and subscribed to it. The near future you will see a big decline because the service is saturated.

shinoff218312h ago

But that's been ms for years. When things aren't going their way they try to change the way things are said. For instance console sales are down, they stop telling how many sold instead telling us how many hours spent in halo or headshots. So it makes sense console sales down just say people are playing on more devices then previous. What they won't say is how many xbox players jumped ship to ps5.

Cacabunga11h ago

Hardware sales are so bad that Sony and Nintendo are blowing the sales off the water with their hardware.

If Xbox are losers, others aren’t..
Xbox already tried everything with Xbox live then subscriptions went down so much that they had to find something else. Their fans subscribed then reached saturation rather quickly.

Hardware and exclusive games is where it’s at! Keep gamers excited, announce decent software and people will support you

itsmebryan6h ago

@shin
Well keep it simple Sony 's operating income is down 26% and Microsoft's is up 32%. No MS spin there, just facts. 😉
Cheers

romulus235h ago

Odd that a company that touts you dont need the hardware to play is already touting another console in the works.

darthv725h ago

They are not reliant on the HW but still want to maintain a presence (no matter how small) is a good thing. It shows commitment to the craft. It reminds me of SNK and how they made games for their own hardware (Neo Geo) while also making them for others because they knew there was a market to do so. They knew they would sell more to others but also sell to their own niche fan base.

+ Show (2) more repliesLast reply 5h ago
purple10115h ago

Xbox hardware revenue tanks to lowest point of Xbox Series generation

Profchaos15h ago

I'm not surprised surface is struggling they aren't relevant anymore

DOMination-5h ago

In the last two years they've started exiting the consumer market altogether. All of the newest Surface products are business models only. They can't seem to work out what they want to do with it.

XBManiac14h ago

Too expensive hardware when others offer the same or more for less? Good work, Green Team.

SimpleDad14h ago(Edited 14h ago)

"Despite some early successes for Xbox games on rival platforms, Xbox hardware is down by a massive 31 percent this quarter."
"Without Activision Blizzard, Microsoft’s overall gaming revenue would have actually declined this quarter."
"Xbox content and services would have only been up a single percent without Activision Blizzard..."
"It looks like next quarter is going to be a similar story for gaming at Microsoft, too."

That is crazy... so A/B/K is carrying the whole Xbox gaming.
Oh and Microsoft will be fine. Windows, Office and Cloud are growing with each pc purchase.

purple10114h ago

Activision: "we gonna need a bigger rucksack/backpack please"

Microsoft: "why's that"

Activision: "to carry yo' weak ass'

Profchaos13h ago(Edited 13h ago)

Top brass have also wanted to start seeing returns on the 100 billion they have put into various Xbox related moves so seeing more multiplatform games is highly likely especially from abk

It's basically saying that PlayStation is the reason Xbox is afloat right now thinks to Ps5 versions of COD

Kornholic12h ago

So basically PS and PC gamers' money is keeping Xbox on life support.

MrDead5h ago

The only growth MS will get out of the console industry is if it supports it's rivals platforms. Xbox is a pointless machine now. I can see them on a big push for live next, and they won't give up on trying to buy Steam.

+ Show (1) more replyLast reply 5h ago
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140°

Why Monopolies In Gaming Must Not Be Allowed

As of right now, there are no monopolies in the games industry, and for the sake of the medium as a whole, they never should either.

thorstein1d 1h ago

Shouldn't be allowed in any field.

Inverno21h ago

And yet the biggest tech companies in America are essentially that. They buy up all the small comps only to kill them off and steal what they have, and if they can't buy em they bleed them to death.

jwillj2k420h ago

Eventually they’ll realize the value is with the employee not the company. Buying an IP means nothing if the people who contributed are let go. They’ll get it one day.

MrCrimson19h ago

tech is different because they buy threats and then kill them. Twitter bought Vine and did nothing with it. Despite people seemingly liking it. Could've had tiktok a decade before bytedance. go figure.

Zenzuu20h ago

Monopolies shouldn't be allowed regardless. Not just for gaming.

MrCrimson19h ago

They buy IPs not talent. That's why these buyouts never work and the IPs die. Right now it's too expensive to develop games - but I expect that to shift maybe as AI tools can make it easier. The best games have been indie games for awhile as big developers fuck their ips to death with "games as a service" -

120°

This Gigabyte GPU is now among the cheapest RTX 4090s on Amazon after a hefty deal

On Amazon, you can't get an RTX 4090 for less than this one from Gigabyte, which now offers great value after an eye-catching April deal.