Console Makers Pushing For More Network Reliance

There's a story on Joystiq about the convergence of games consoles and network play, suggesting that the industry is slowly moving away from physical media, preferring the control and simplicity of online distribution. The article points out that Microsoft's Games for Windows Live, despite being relatively unpopular, has seen continued development with an eye toward interacting with Xbox Live. Quoting: "While it's unlikely that the next generation of consoles will completely forgo disc-based media, downloads are quickly becoming a much bigger part of the experience. Some games, such as Rock Band 2 and Gears of War 2, are now shipping with codes for free downloads. This isn't because the publishers like you and want to give you free stuff. It's part of a larger strategy to increase the importance of the online presence, where content can be tightly controlled and decrease the importance of physical media, and thus, used-game sales and rentals."

No thanks

[Rik Sweeney]

I've bought a couple of games on the PSN recently and now that I'm done with them, what can I do? Here are my choices:

1. Leave it to fester on the HDD
2. Delete it

Great. What's worse is that a couple of the games I bought turned out to be shit so I can't even trade them for something different.

Make a subscription service instead if you're going to do this. Here's one way it could work:

You pay a certain amount each year and the amount you pay determines how many games you can have downloaded at a time and each game have a number of points allocated to it, so you could for example have Braid (1 point) and Bionic Commando (1 point) and Geometry Wars (1 point) or just BioShock (3 points).

When you're done with the games you can delete them to refund the points.

Good idea? Bad idea?

Re:Makes Sense

[bigman2003]

So if you had access to all of today's technology, and you were designing a software distribution mechanism....

You would put the software on little plastic disks that can't be updated after they are written...
Put those disks in expensive packaging.
Put those disks on consignment with a company that will truck/fly those disks around the country.
To other companies that will put the disks on shelves in stores where consumers can buy them (during business hours).

That doesn't seem very efficient.

"we don's show a record..."

[shadowimmage]

Just wait, The day will come when a great game will be made that everyone will want to play, and the company will 'have no record' of you ever purchasing the game, and make you pay again. And what if someone goes to their summer house, or loses their network connection for a day/week, what will those people do if their machines can't 'verify' the game?? Games need to stay on physical media that can speak to the console for itself, so that everyone can play without worrying about losing their legitimate access. And, where would distribution companies keep information? Your credit card that you used to purchase the game? What if you changed cards? In your account? What if you forgot your account, or it was lost or deleted? What if your hardware to store game purchase info was destroyed/lost/failed, and the information that verified that you were you was there? What I'm saying, is that with a DVD, someone can lose it, but that's their fault. They don't have to worry about any of the scenarios above because they have the physical media and case to prove that they OWN the game. And I totally support trade/sales of used games. What if you had a friend who wanted to borrow a game? You can't just FTP your game to them and have that work...

Re:No future

[Anonymous Coward]

If population density increases to the point where we no longer have room for DVDs, where are we going to grow our food?

Re:Makes Sense

[Anonymous Coward]

You know, you're right. Downloads are more efficient.

While we're at it, markets aren't efficient either. Some people might be willing to pay MORE for a product, but due to everyone buying a game for the retail price, our company Looses all that extra money that the person would have been willing to pay (Consumer Surplus [wikipedia.org]). Lets Find some strategy(Price Discrimination [wikipedia.org]) by which we can get all this money! Then we can drive everyone in the primary AND secondary markets out of business, or buy them.(Monopoly [wikipedia.org])

Re:Makes Sense

[theaveng]

>>>I hardly ever buy physical games

And what happens when you decide "Well this game sucks. I think I'll sell it on ebay to recoup some of my waste money"? Ooops. Nothing to sell. I rarely keep the games I buy since, as Isaac Asimov wisely observed, only 1% of anything is truly good. The other 99% I play, don't like, and then sell online.

I can't do that with virtual media.

Re:Consoles with Internet Access

[theaveng]

>>>this is not an issue and never has been.

I have several online games that no longer work because the servers no longer exist.

Re:Makes Sense

[Garrett Fox]

Nintendo did even more to control what games were released than that. As told in the book "Game Over," a history of Nintendo, Nintendo developed a hardware/software system called 10NES [wikipedia.org] so that only cartridges with a patented key chip would run in a NES console. Since only Nintendo could make the key, no one could make a working Nintendo game without permission. This system let them both take a cut of every third-party game's profits, and exercise some quality control to prevent another 1983-style crash.

In theory. Unlicensed companies found ways around the 10NES system, including overloading the lock chip with a voltage spike. Tengen apparently illegally got access to a hidden part of the key design and reverse-engineered it to make their own key-chip, codenamed "Rabbit." (The Wikipedia article quotes an interview that downplays the accusation of theft.) Tengen then went on to produce unlicensed versions of Tetris and Gauntlet. So, even having control over the hardware doesn't give a company full control over how it's used.

By the way, let's not assume that the only options for the game industry are DRM-heavy online distribution and the traditional retail consignment/sale method. My favorite option as a buyer would be to have a DVD mailed to me directly from the maker. They get the profit, I get a physical object that'll work without their future permission.