Forum to talk about how people will buy games in the future, and what you would want and why. Would you ever pay for a subscription service? Do you want physical games to stay forever or phase out? And do you have any idea why anyone would want to stream their games?
So where would you guys want game purchases to go? I personally see all digital as our best bet, as you need to have physical games on you to play them which is inconvenient, and we could make devices much smaller without the need of drives to play physical games. I don't really like the idea of subscriptions as if the company decides to end them, you don't get your games anymore. That's even worse with streaming, as its only a license and they have the right to take away the game you payed for at any time.
I don't care whether physical stays or goes, as I download most of my games anyway. There'll always be a market for physical, though, even if digital continues growing in prominence. I think a lot of people will want to see additional consumer protections added for digital purchasers before it gets too dominant, though.
I don't mind subscription services, but I prefer to just pay for what I want outright. I've paid for PSN with its IGC in the past, and will be paying for NS online when that goes live, although I'm not terribly excited about playing NES games.
I will never stream my games. End of story. Although I do think we'll see more attempts the PS Now sort of model as time goes on.
I prefer physical overall due to the rights of ownership of a physical object, and the nature of internet as inconsistent (I have an amazing connection today. What connection will I have in 5, 10, 20 years? Who knows. Could be junk, could end up living in a swamp. You can't count on it.)
However I'm moving ever more digital in the short term mostly for cost advantage. I expect physical will endure for a long time, just as it has in film and music. The INDUSTRY wants that to end, but I don't think the market will support ending it. I do see subscriptions becoming more prominent, and that's not entirely bad (look what Netflix has done for film, and Spotify/Apple for music.) Game Pass is cool though the library is a bit rusty. The industry may want per-publisher subscriptions but I don't see that catching on. And streaming.....physics alone mean that won't be a great choice much of the time. A cool option if it works for you and you don't want to buy hardware, but an inferior experience overall, and as long as gamers are willing to buy local hardware, what content producer would ignore a market with open wallets?
@NEStalgia I agree with the rights of ownership thing, though see digital like that as well, because once you purchase the game, the file is yours forever, unless you delete it and the servers for re-downloading have been turned off, which is similar to the case in which you throw away a physical game. And subscriptions scare me almost, not owning my entire library of games but having hundreds of hours on them each only for them to all disappear as the company that ran the service collapses, and i also think that netflix is great, but looking at subscription games and comparing them to movies, i like watching a movie once and then i cant watch it again for a couple of years, but games ive spent forever like botw, i wouldn't be ok with losing. Totally agree with everything you said on the streaming front though.
I'm 100% digital on the ps4, getting close to 250 games. I'm about 50/50 on the switch. I would be all digital on Switch if they allowed purchases to be available on multiple systems like every other tech company in 2018 but I digress. The older I get the less plastic/cases/clutter I want to have so I have fully embraced digital all around. The only thing I still prefer physical is books all else from movies to music digital and streaming works for me. I understand the rights ownership benefits of physical but if I'm being honest, with games it just doesn't bother me at all. I know I'm in the minority there but it just doesn't. I don't really care either way but I do hope physical doesn't go away for those that want it. In terms of streaming I'm cool with it. I have tried PS now for a bit and never had any issues with it so if that type of service does improve in the future I'm willing to give it a shot.
Thread title should be 'future of paying for games', cos only one of those methods is actually buying.
Unless I am very confident it's an absolute homerun of a game, I won't pay more than £5 (with a bit of extra leeway for the Switch version compared to Steam/PSN) for a digital licence.
Virtually every time I've taken a chance on a digital download and broken my own rule, I've regretted it.
I'd only consider a subscription at a low cost with certain guarantees over permanent availability of the entire library.
You guys had me at blood and semen.
What better way to celebrate than firing something out of the pipe?
@MasterJay i think they're a ways to go legislatively for digital ownership. We're still at the point that we have whatever level of ownership the company says we do, and they may alter that at any moment. It's still drm locked, and you must all permission to play. If something goes wrong with your account, you lose your library. Compare to music purchases where it's drm free from all major sellers and gaming is so backward. I do agree with you on it mostly.... But we shouldn't be at a point where we have to hope our rights will get respected when it matters, it should be guaranteed. Gog does that on pc, but they are the only one.
I don't see subscription as a replacement for ownership, physical or digital. Game pass, ea access etc, much like apple music, Spotify, Netflix, are more like rental services than retail replacements. I think of them as the new Blockbuster video, except you get to rent any number of games indefinitely for 10 a month rather than rent one game for 2 nights for 3.50 . But game pass, like apple music and Netflix also has a purchase this game digitally button right on the rental screen.... Game pass even gives a 20% discount on purchasing any game in the rental bin and 10% off dlc. So that's a good deal. It's a replacement for long lost rental stores, and a built in discount to buy it if you like it. If course everyone forgets Netflix itself started as a mail order rental competitor to brick and mortar Blockbuster..... Then just took the rentals online. But it still encourages purchasing games. It arguably tempts you to buy more of them
Streaming... Yeah that's just not going to fly. It's just a silly notion. It works for movies because it doesn't matter if you download 15gb of video over an hour and watch it at once or download it as you watch, it looks the same. It's just a file downloaded in smaller portions. Games it's real time rendered based on 2 way input. The very nature of it makes little sense on present internet. It barely makes sense on lan. Just say no to stemming
@subpopz x1 actually does let you back up your game files as much as you want just like to say. They're yours forever. BUT you do need to authenticate online to actually be allowed to USE them every so often in your primary hardware, it every time in non primary.
Both x1 and ps4 let you access your library on any machine. If your communicating with their server
@MasterJay I absolutely miss the era where I could buy a game, pop it in my console and play it. No questions, no downloads on day 1 to fix game breaking or hilarious visual bugs. But that era is gone. Physical games these days are usually early builds requiring updates and fixes. They often have post launch DLC - paid or free - adding more content to the game. Those are both positive and negative. I can pick up my copy of Mario 3 or Goldeneye 007 and they are still the same fun games they were decades ago. But in 20 years if you pick up Mario Odyssey you are gonna miss out on not only cosmetic items, but new modes that were added post-release.
I don't like the shift to digital, though it is not without benefits, but I do think, eventually, physical releases will fade out. However I really do not want a subscription based service. I want to buy a game and it to be mine. I want to be able to go back in 3, 5, 10 years and play it again. Subscriptions do not provide that.
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@MasterJay
I LOVE Physical games.
I bought my games from my local game shop or from Ebay / Playasia with help from my friend.
With physical release, i can Re-Experience again the old games that i have never played before / have ever played when used to be i played with pirated copies.
Last purchases, i got DDR 3rd Mix PS1 & Monster Farm 4 PS2, i couldn't believe with my eyes. The games that i bought (second handed) looks like NEVER Aging, still Like New.
I DON'T like Digital download because i DON'T own the thing. I DEFY the Convenience, i would rather keep busy by changing my game cards or insert my discs to play rather than touch an App icon to start a game. That's why i Don't buy Earthlock from E-shop, still waiting for Physical release in the future.
I really HATE Streaming games.
I CAN'T even play my games Offline.
That's why i'm against Streaming for All games in the future.
@redd214 PS now isn't streaming, it's a subscription service. Streaming is when a separate price of hardware in a warehouse somewhere is playing the game based on your controls, and sending the video back to you to see
@MasterJay I think you're confused. PS now is most certainly streaming. From the official ps now page:
"PS Now delivers unlimited access to a growing library of over 650 PS4, PS3, and PS2 games, all with one subscription. STREAM directly to your PS4 or PC."
"When you play a game via PS Now, you'll STREAM it direct from our servers over your broadband internet connection."
I don't care about Digital or Physical but if the future of games are Streaming? I'm sorry but I'll have to bow out at that moment.
Over here the internet isn't even strong enough to watch streaming by other people at HD (I have to turn it down to LD). Streaming will kill gaming for me, even if I wanted to stay
@MasterJay game pass is Microsoft's answer to the fact that ps now streaming sucks the game pass faq has a "why is it not streaming: because we've heard feedback that streaming isn't always optimum" or some such thing. Translated means "eat this, Sony!" . Ps now isn't very popular because performance is.... Lacking with the streaming for a lot of people. Even if you have top shelf internet. Redd has had success with it but is bet he lives near a Sony data center.
Personally i think ms was very wise. Game pass changes the equation from streaming into another option of pure digital rental. And people are actually buying game pass... Unlike ps now (which just lowered prices in response to game pass.... Aunt competition great? )
Ps now was really brought in for ps3 back compat because the bespoke hardware wasnt emulatable. At first it looked good because Xbox had no back compat option.... But now it has a decent amount of growing bc and ps3 got stuck with streaming.
I think a lot of people would like digital a lot more if it wasnt a license, but a file that you owned and could sell and do whatever you want with would be much better. Im surprised this isnt currently a thing as well...
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Topic: The future of buying games - Physical, Digital, Subscription, and Streaming
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