You would think in 2016 digital downloads would be cheaper?

@D33dles, how's that shelf of yours holding up? ;P

...with digital, it takes up no more physical space than your internal/external HDD requires.

 

Sometimes Digital stuff is cheaper. The Sims 4 expansion packs for PC on EA NZ's website are cheaper than what all retailers here are charging.

 

@Goatsnatcher - if digital games were cheaper, along with all of the other benefits already mentioned above, they'd put retail out of business, which would be bad. MS would rather see retail as partners, not enemies.

 

You seriously believe that GG? Ms don't care as long as the cash flows, and that's not a dig at ms, it's just business. They keep the prices that high because they know people will pay for the convenience.... And people do.

 

Interesting... Apparently, if I try to re-edit or create a new post/thread in the text body of the rich formatting page, and press enter on my USB keyboard to start a new paragraph while using the MS Edge app on my XB1, it crashes the entire app, and I lose
everything I've typed up until that point...

Is it because of the app? XBL? Xbox.com? The preview program?

I DON'T KNOW!!!

*AHEM* Back on topic, though (and using the "reply to this thread" text box which doesn't crash the app when I press enter), if you recall MS toyed with the idea of going discless before releasing the XB1 - this was immediately balked upon by virtually everyone
and started their downward spiral into the 2nd place that they sit at today. It's not just about making money; they also need to keep their consumers happy and stay in business.

 

That's very different. So if ms dropped the price of digital games, there would be a backlash? I don't think so.

 

Whats even more interesting is how Edge will often crash when trying to use Google as opposed to Bing Via X1

Digital prices do not drop, especially when YOU have a Monopoly. True you can often get dgames a little cheaper from cd keys etc. But unless I miss my guess, like XBMP. It's just every so often to once in a blue moon, is it not?

 

It is like that with digital. Taking steam sales out of the picture I can, and do, pick up PC games on "disc". They come with the case and stuff but have to be activated on steam or uplay or something. So digital is, most times, higher than physical.
Even if I search around for a sale. I have a few games on my steam wish list that I can get 50% cheaper non-digital but will activate through steam. This is the same situation all digital will face.

Also, although digital was supposed to be best for the consumer with lower prices and such they have found that digital buyers are:

1. Fine paying more for what is convenience for them. I know a few that will/have paid $20 over physical price for digital just so they do not have to put in a disc with their Xbox One sitting 3 feet away on their desk and shelve space to keep games.

2. Will purchase even though they cannot trade or sale their games. This is actually huge for devs/publishers because they can control the price better. $40 is not a huge rare sale, better jump on it quick. And they generally make out much better. And
I have no problem with this. Business is a profit maximizing thing.

Digital has no resale value and cannot be traded so that eliminates second hand games. Sure, MS was going to "look into it" or "work on it" when the One was announced. But there is no value at all to the dev/publisher and they do not need your digital
games for resale as they are just selling the bits.

Could a digital sell or trade program/market be implemented? Yes, because to sell or trade you must be online. So that takes care of the being online issue. If they are worried about someone trading but keeping the game anyway the requirement you sign
in online to complete the trade would take your license immediately. So trading would need both to put the license online and agree. Easy to implement really.

Selling would be the same. But it highlights an issue. Competition. This would provide competition for the devs/pubs because you are selling a license to the game just like they are. So, unless they force full price on the seller, in which case it does
not benefit the buyer at all (and really at that point only really benefits the seller and not the devs/pubs), they are going to lose sales. Why would anybody pay $60 for a game when they can buy it from another user for $50. Or even $40 if the seller can
determine the price. I have a few digital games that I would like to sell. I would definitely sell them and undercut the current market price if I could.

So "You would think in 2016 digital downloads would be cheaper?" is a no for me. I see digital as a way for devs/pubs to make more on a game without a price increase. Digital cannot be sold. Digital cannot be traded. They control the price completely
(no bargain bins). Sale prices can be higher since the regular price sticks. Overall, in the long run digital is a great thing for the companies.

The only thing that irritates me personally about digital is it can be taken. I have a few 360 games that will not re-install. Once the hdd bit the dust I tried to re-install and they were removed. I have lost some music a few times. And some other digital
items (games, music, movies) have been lost. Nothing too major but it does highlight that a company can remove my purchased item (I know, I do not own it) but with disc I can still play. Still will by digital but I am careful with it.

 

I have 2 rooms with games and consoles dating back to the 70's, Obviously I have little interest in digital. I have found allot of great deals in the last 2 or 3 months though the new releases are at least $40 more than retail. The only problem I've had
with a large collection is floods, I lost allot of gear in 2010 though none of this could be replaced by digital format. Even with disc I've needed to upgrade both the xb1 and ps4 to 4tb, %100 is never going to work for me.

 

@Guerrero

It is like that with digital. Taking steam sales out of the picture I can, and do, pick up PC games on "disc". They come with the case and stuff but have to be activated on steam or uplay or something. So digital is, most times, higher than
physical. Even if I search around for a sale. I have a few games on my steam wish list that I can get 50% cheaper non-digital but will activate through steam. This is the same situation all digital will face.



What country do you live in?

In the US it's nearly impossible to find 99.9 percent of the PC releases on disc other than the big developers franchise titles. The retail stores stopped selling PC games years ago in my area and the specialty stores (Egghead, etc) have been out of business
for more than a decade.

Even Amazon only has a handful of physical PC games (Fallout 4 is currently cheaper physical than digital) and they are only the console titles for the most part.

In my experience PC digital is by far the cheapest gaming, When you factor in the bundle sites it's dirt cheap....I picked up 30 games for less then 10-bucks this afternoon on the bundle sites that retailed for almost 200 bucks on Steam. Competition is why
digital works so we'll on the PC.

 

Amazon definitely for some super cheap physical PC at times. I have found them at other places as well. Xcom 2 $48 was the cheapest i had seen it. The Witcher 3 for about $13 cheaper. Older games for as much as 1/2 off compared to steam prices as well
as other places prices. Skyrim is $40 for Legendary on steam and i can get it $15 physical. Actually picked up physical, cheaper than steam, a while back and it activates on steam with the code that comes with it. No disc required. Many, maay others i
could list and have purchased. They tend to activate on steam but a few, like the Assassin's Creed and other Ubisoft titles can be uPlay.

Of course not all games are available physical now. Number 1 reason is price control and keeping the price up. But I do find quite a few. Amazon is a great place for that often. Of course I have picked up huge bundles cheap myself at times and have reduced
my cost a lot. Then again this is all older stuff that has been out for a good while. Early in the life of games I still tend to find physical cheaper if it is available. Still, no denying the value of bundles for games you want to wait on.

 

Shelf is fine...only have 6 discs taking up space; I have more digital than disc. ;-) Games that I beat and have no intention of playing again get sold/traded/given away; can't do that with digital.

I've lost music, video, and games, because of licensing changing. Most of it was 99 cent purchases, so no big deal; would not be happy if they were $60 purchases.

Personally would like the option of purchasing a digital copy with a disc like movies. I do like the convenience of digital and bought digital licenses to 2 of my six games when they went on sale. $60 for the Borderlands:The Handsome Collect disc and another
$24 for the license; could see paying $100 for some games that came that way.

Peace, J.R.

 

will second that, would love it if you could buy the disc with a digital copy included, cant see them ever doing it but can always hope

 

If they did give a digital copy with a disc based game then it would have to be like the PC and come with a unique code which would be tied to your account, which would stop people being able to trade in.

 

No. That's what the extra charge is for...just like movies. The majority of the Blu-ray movies I buy are offered in different packages.

Example: $14.99 for the D.V.D./$24.99 for the Blu-ray/$29.00 for the Blu-ray, D.V.D., and a digital copy. Just because I can watch my movie in VUDU, doesn't stop me from selling the D.V.D. or Blu-ray if desired. I like keeping physical copies just in case
the internet goes down for any reason.