Tough to stay all digital

I found Watch Dogs for $53.99 (disc) @ Costco..... plus a $50 MS card for $46.00..... interesting.

 

I would go digital but I have purchased games close to release that were cheaper than the full digital price. And if it is not a day one purchase (in those cases I usually want the disc anyway) I have found it much cheaper. I purchased a retail one at
$28 from Amazon (I had it in the cart at that price for 2 weeks before I decided to buy) and it is $60 digital. And I just recently purchased 2 360 games that were more than half the digital price since one was still $60 and the other was $50. Oddly these
2 retail games also came with dlc.

Seems that most people I have talked to that want to go digital are not because of price. You would think that since it has been said used sales are so harmful they would want to entice more to go digital. They would hypothetically make more by eliminating
the used sales as well as the need to produce and ship those discs. I have a feeling however they see that many are already moving digital and they are going to ride that wave first and see were it breaks. Then calculate if they need to worry with the rest.

 

I agree with guerrero Ultimo, here in the UK, Transformers Rise Of The Dark Spark is £54.99 for the digital version, in Game, the disc is £37.99

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It's an easy choice. I have several friends that feel the same, digital is NOT an option with that much of a price difference.

 

I love the ease of game transitions when using digital, but I dont like the current prices and i like to be able to see what i've got in my collection. I guess i'm just that bit 'old skool'

 

You could buy the disc version of Transformers, and download Zombie Driver and Shooter Prime and it would still cost less than the digital version of Transformers in the UK.

 

Umm, Microsoft tried to do this, and the entire (well, majority) gaming population screamed and cried foul. Don't get me wrong, I personally like the idea, but it would be difficult to implement. Used games would probably die, much like they have in the
PC world.

 

So are console games prices kept high due to the resale market?

 

What, digital versions? PSN and Xbox Live pricing is kept higher than Steam pricing because retailers hold the threat of yanking physical copies of games off store shelves should publishers undercut stores dramatically.

PC game publishers are immune to that threat. PC gamers have embraced digital because PC gamers have had no "used" market for over two decades.

 

I don't think it's the threat of yanking physical copies of the game that they are worried about, but more the threat of yanking the hardware off the shelves. Sony, Microsoft, and Nintendo rely on the stores to sell the consoles,
but PC games don't need them for the computers.

 

@Zen, Blockbuster is a prime example of the move to the digital age. I for see that in the future retailers will have a digital code hanging up in there shelves vs disc's. Live memberships have been that way for a long time now. It is just a matter of time,
all entertainment hardware (disc's) will be obsolete..... the way of the cassette.

 

Also remember on the PC there is competition on the digital store front.

You don't only have Steam, but Origin from EA, and UPlay from Ubisoft.

Then you can go to sites like Humble Bundle (they have a regular store as well), Green Man Gaming, or gog.com.

It's not only digital prices remaining high because of brick and mortar stores, but also that if you want to buy digital on a Microsoft console then you have to buy from Microsoft.

 

If they offered sales on digital people would be interested. Why pay near full price for a 2 year old game digitally when you can buy it 2nd hand for less than half the price, with the ability to re-sell it when you're done?