Australian PSN and Xbox Live users get the jitters when some point to the inevitability of digital downloads. Let's take the PSN store for example, for a quick comparison of some new and upcoming releases:
PSN:
Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare - $99.95
Lords of the Fallen - $89.95
PES 2015 - $84.95
GTAV - $99.95
Now here's the comparable prices for disc editions from major retailers:
Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare - $59
Lords of the Fallen - $79
PES 2015 - $84
GTAV - $79
For some, the difference is minor or non-existant, but for major titles, the differences are huge. A near $40 difference for the latest Call of Duty is two thirds of a new release game. All this comes to a lack of competition. PSN and Xbox Live are closed systems, and unlike PC models of distribution, their digital stores have no alternative - it's locked to the system you own.
To appease publishers, Sony and Microsoft let publishers charge whatever they want on their respective stores. Even older games are not immune, with digital prices for 12 month old titles showing little difference from release date pricing.
Compare this to the competitive landscape of retail, and the differences are night and day. In week one of a new release, a distributor may sell a new release game to a retailer for little margin - at around $60-$80. In an effort to shift more copies, publishers will also offer rebates to retailers on games sold to sell at cost. This guarantees cheaper prices at launch, and stiff competition between retailers ensures net benefit to the consumer. By week two, the cost of a new game at wholesale can sometimes drop as much as 50%, depending on the title and its first week of sales. These prices are then reflected at the counter to consumers.
Meanwhile, PSN and Xbox Live retain a steady, high price for games well after the initial release window.
As digital downloads become more and more popular, the price we pay for our games on digital stores doesn't seem to change. This is despite the fact that distribution via digital should be a huge net saving to publishers. While we all rush headlong into the digital future extolling its virtues, maybe we should take stock of the fact that we are really seeing the rise of a monopoly retail model, which will hurt us all in the end, and will damage the industry.
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ok fair enough from an aussie point of view that's bad but in Ireland it's opposite... you'll almost always find Digital to be cheaper than physical here.
i think the worst so far has been Trials Fusion nearly 50 euro in shops (after nearly 7 months it's still 45 euro), 20 euro on the online xbox store, 30 euro (43 aus dollars) difference is farcical
and it's not just limited to that COD was between 5-10 more expensive, lords of the fallen 10+, Sleeping dogs nearly 15 and so on and so forth
on a personal front there's no benefit to physical for me, i'm lucky enough to have a ridiculously high internet cap, good speeds, never trade in
Here in the USA, its costs a full $60 for digital up to 2 years after release while the physical editions are available for $30.
Personally i don't see why we can't always have physical and digital as an option. Moving fowards doesn't mean one way needs to go.
if you want digital only then Steam is the only viable option to be honest. Digital on consoles is not only a scam but often have pesky DRM too.
I prefer physical. I'm not always close to an accessible Internet connection at the oil rig so my gaming is purely offline and couch co-op when I'm at work for 14 days straight. So that's why digital and drm are my biggest fears as a casual gamer. Also why I skipped out on titanfall and Diablo3