150°

Physical Games Will Never Die

Despite what the analysts like to repeat like broken record players, physical games really aren't going anywhere.

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culturedvultures.com
RazzerRedux1430d ago

"Even in the case that physical games do die out, there will always be somebody out there who will look to release it physically to what is still a baying crowd."

Assuming that was meant to say "buying crowd". That's it in a nutshell. Supply and demand. I would love to believe that physical will always be an option. My gut tells me that won't always be the case. There is a reason why GameStop is nearly a dead business and it is because of the rise of digitally downloaded games. It sucks, but it is what it is.

Right now the problem with digitally downloaded games is the congestion the internet due to people staying at home. I tried to run a speed test yesterday as my internet was slow and the speed test said there were too many people using speed test and try again later. That's insane. Imagine trying to download a 50 GB game. Makes physical games look really good right now.

melons1430d ago

I feel Gamestop et al struggling has as much to do with digital as it does them just being awful at pricing, not scaling with the times, and being aggressive with extra sales.

I always go to ma and pa stores over a chain if I can, not only because I won't be sold nine million things at checkout, but also because they are generally cheaper.

If I buy online, I always use ShopTo or The Game Collection over the "traditional" vendors as they are actually cheaper than digital. GameStop, Game, or whatever your regional retail version is, are struggling as they are just BAD places to shop, as well as digital having its impact.

RazzerRedux1430d ago

Pricing is a big problem for physical overall though. Margins are already extremely slim for retailers. There used to be discounts on game preorders but that is gone for the most part for physical games. This isn't a GameStop or Game problem. It is a retailer problem. Game prices have not adjusted with inflation since 2005 and that has impacted the money these stores make on each game sold. And physical artificially inflates the prices of digital for console games as publishers do not want to lower prices on digital until physical inventories are decreased. Physical means actual money tied up in inventory, unlike digital. This puts the squeeze on retailers and it is reflected in their pricing, lack of promotions, and the sales pitches at the counter.

Now take the PC side of things where digital is non-existent, for the most part. You have plenty of preorder discounts from sites like greenmangaming or fanatical. You have a seemingly unending number of sales and promotions. The fact that games on PC are not competing with the inventories of their physical counterparts frees up publishers and resellers to do these things.

This may sound like I'm promoting digital over physical, but I'm not really. I just don't think we should ignore the positives that digital brings to the table. I love a healthy physical market for console where buying, trading, and reselling continues to live on. Those are advantages digital simply does not have and probably never will.

1430d ago
KilluaX31430d ago

DVDs and Blu-Rays haven't died, despite things like streaming services functioning even better sometimes, so of course physical games aren't going to die either.

Latex741430d ago

Not until the price drops digital is a big rip off it may be convenient but not worth it . I only buy sale games digital at most 25 pounds

toxic-inferno1429d ago

The other advantage is being able to share it. My wife and I have two PS4s (one each from before we got married), so we can buy the game once as a download and play it online together. Would cost twice as much to do the same with physical copies.

With that said, we are big believers in physical copies, and even buy two physical copies of some games.

ifrit_caress1430d ago

The author makes some really interesting points. You simply cannot trust that publishers/corporations will keep their game license active and you never have to worry about that if you have the physical disc.

Just look at what Konami did to P.T.

NotoriousWhiz1429d ago

They broke into your home, turned on your console and deleted P.T?

ifrit_caress1429d ago

No, but if I wanted to reinstall it, that would be impossible. Even if I didn't have the game, if I wanted to download it, that is impossible.

Publishers can and have pulled their games off the net or online stores on a whim.

1429d ago
NotoriousWhiz1429d ago

Okay. Companies also eventually stop producing physical content. They aren't required to make it available to you forever. If you want to keep your digital software, create a backup. Now it's definitely preferable if games had both a physical and digital copy, as it's a lot simpler to purchase a 2nd hand physical copy than it is to acquire a digital only copy that's no longer hosted on stores.

1430d ago
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120°

Square & Bandai Namco Being Honest About Quality Is A Step In The Right Direction

Saad from eXputer: "After suffering from massive financial hits, Square Enix & Bandai Namco appear to be turning over a new leaf but I'm still unconvinced."

Nerdmaster14h ago(Edited 14h ago)

I was talking about games with some Japanese guys here in Japan, and it seems like around here Bandai Namco has a fame of making low-quality games, with the occasional gem.

About Square Enix, I believe they lack the capacity to improve. They should learn with Capcom (although even Capcom still makes some bad mistakes), but I don't think they ever will. They keep chasing whatever is new at the time (blockchain, AI...) to say "we innovate", without considering the public perception and if these things actually improve the games or not. Them releasing too many small games with no advertising also shows a lack of trust in its own products. Even with their biggest games, like turning FF into an action game with XVI and the very divisive plot changes regarding whispers and timelines in VII Remake, shows them trying to attract a new generation of gamers without understanding what made the series so big in the first place.

shinoff218313h ago

I want a true ff7 remake. With thatcsaid I'm way happier with 7 remake then I was with ff16. I'd still prefer turn based but square keep chasing these Lil kids

Snookies1210h ago

Man, it is perfectly fine to prefer turn based. Turn based is amazing. But there's zero reason to call anyone who likes action games "lil kids". Liking one gameplay system over another does not make you more mature in any way.

VersusDMC13h ago

People love the new FF's overall...the problem is the abundance of 7's they release that lose money or make very little like diofield, star ocean divine force, Valkyrie asylum, harvestella, foam stars, etc. Advertising wouldn't have saved those games. Apparently Forespoken had a big Advertising budget but we saw how that went.

shinoff218312h ago(Edited 12h ago)

Star ocean divine force actually sold well from what I've read not ff type numbers but well enough. Was a dope game to.

FinalFantasyFanatic11h ago

Bandai Namco is going to Bandai Namco, I do believe that Square Enix can't change without changing the entire management, they've had these issues for more than a decade and haven't learnt, I have very little faith they can course correct. I'll still buy their better remasters/remakes like Star Ocean 2 though (not FF7R).

Asterphoenix9h ago

Namco is just milking the same Sword Art Online with lack of budget as well as anime IPs that don't go to decent developers like Jujutsu Kaisen and My Hero Academia. Namco deserves their losses and no future Dot Hack or Xenosaga remaster :(.

Square allocated lot of their budget on Forspoken was a mistake. Square always had management issues. Star Ocean 2 was a great remake and I found their recent entries of FF(16 and Rebirth) better than 13 and 15.
I think they were better than 360/PS3 generation where Square went really downhill.

CrimsonWing6912h ago

I don’t know why NOW they decide on this, but I guess later is better than never.

290°

Steam’s Refund Policy Change Won’t Affect You Unless You’re A Lowlife

Steam is changing its refund policy, but you probably won’t be affected

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thegamer.com
thorstein3d ago

Should have happened a long time ago. People wanting refunds after 50 hours in game.

fsfsxii2d ago

Pc gamers will take this as an excuse to pirate things

KyRo2d ago

I'm not sure why you're getting disgrees. Whilst not all PC gamers are petty, an awful lot of them are lol

Crows902d ago

Entirely untrue. Not any more petty than console gamers. The only large difference is console gamers don't have much of a choice.

Michiel19892d ago

Not sure why you're getting agrees. an awful lot of console gamers are overemotional twinks ready to go to war over a plastic box, I'll take being a pc gamer then.

Speaking about overgeneralizing much.

Nooderus2d ago

"X" type of gamer conversations are cringe

qalpha2d ago

Daily reminder that 'TheGamer' is a corporate-generated, anti-gamer, anti-consumer, clickbait web site. They are mostly A.I. generated articles that villainize gamers. They provide nothing positive and actively try to provoke and divide the community through extreme view points and politics. Do not give them any clicks.

Inverno2d ago

Only scumbags? As if people don't play their games on console put in the most amount of hours and return it to GameStop and trade it in for another game. But also how many people are actually do this? And what games have been allowed to be refunded?

DustMan2d ago

You can refund any game you've purchased as long as it hasn't been longer than two weeks, and you've played less than 2 hours. I wish they would change it to 3 hours because some RPG's have so much exposition that you may only get an hour total of complete gameplay. That's my only knock on it. I've refunded plenty of stuff I was just curious to try. I typically stay away from Early Access titles which are the only ones affected by this policy change.

Inverno2d ago

Apparently early access doesn't count, only complete games with a play early preorder bonus.

Gaming4Life19812d ago

I definitely know if I want a refund in 2 hours.

SegaSaturn6692d ago

I never liked refunding anything. Even if a film is bad, i dont want my money back. Sometimes things just aren't for me, and it's not the creator's fault necessarily.

Gaming4Life19812d ago

I feel you and i have never walked out on a bad movie cause I payed my money. I also don't refund games cause I'm a gamer and I know what to buy lol. I think having a digital refund is great.

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110°

Outriders Dev's Next Game Has Been Canceled After Publishing Agreement With Take-Two Fell Through

Outriders developer People Can Fly's next game has been canceled after its publishing agreement with Take-Two Interactive fell through.

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twistedvoxel.com
Tacoboto4d ago

"the capital group of PCF Group S.A."

If you're getting funding from a group that needs two different ways of Acronyming itself, things will not go the way you want them to.

banger884d ago

If it was more online-only crap then good riddance.

jjb19814d ago

Outriders was crap. They slapped that game together and threw in a loot system to get players' attention. This game was absolutely jank and the always online nonsense made it stutter like crazy. People Can't Optimize.

thorstein4d ago

I liked Outriders but I could see where the artistic vision was compromised. The way the industry is now, it wouldn't surprise me that upper management would scrap something that didn't pull in money via gaas, mts, or other means.