Topic: Digital Purchases for Life?

I’ve recently become acquainted with Disney’s Movies Anywhere concept. I’d you haven’t heard of it, it works like this: you pay for the digital rights to a movie and then have the ability to watch it on any platform you choose - iTunes, google play, amazon, etc. Your choice. You’ve paid for the rights to watch it whenever and however you want.

What do you think...will we ever see a future where digital games are managed in the same way? Imagine buying a game once and playing it on whatever console you see fit. And when consoles upgrade, you still have the ability to play that game, because you’ve already purchased it.

I know this model benefits the consumer and not the publisher - and there are issues with chip architecture, etc that could make it impossible for some games to run on newer models. But for the most part, the principal still stands. Will we ever see a point in time where you purchase a ‘game’ once and how you consume it is simply a matter of preference?

Thoughts?

Agreed on both points. But if it isn’t a possibility down the road for cross-console, I would hope for a future where a Nintendo game is a Nintendo game, as mentioned. We’re not stuck always repurchasing the same version of Super Mario 3 over and over again.

And I know that backwards compatibility comes into play, since it implies future versions of the switch, or whatever it may be, will always have to run the older software. It just seems like a huge loyalty point and incentive to a customer and a step forward to drive digital purchases.

In terms of cross-console, first party games are definitely out, but why not third party? For example, thinking of Xbox, if I purchased Ori and the Blind Forest on Steam, why not allow me to also download it on my Xbox for free? Or Axiom Verge? I’d be curious if there are stats on how many times people repurchase a game multiple times for various systems. My guess is - most buy it for their one system of choice. So it’s not as if they’re losing out on sales from single users buying it multiple times.

Also worth nothing, in my example of Disney above, it’s not actually Disney movies alone, it’s various studios who have agreed to allow it - for example buying the new Jurassic Park (even physically since it includes a digital copy), allows you to watch it anywhere and any way. So it’d come down the publisher deciding to opt in to that sort of program.

My only other question - in the terms of movies - there’s a universal standard for how people consume that content. Games are developed in many formats, under many different types of system architecture - so maybe something like that isn’t possible without a universal base (I’m guessing like Unity?)

Obviously just a blue sky idea, but it’d be a great future.

Lol true. And I think Nintendo’s online service is a great way to overcome this. But obviously only applies to old games. So maybe SMB3 was a bad example. And I believe this has been experimented with for 3DS to Console before for some games (can’t remember which ones).

i want to own the respective media object not a right to consume it. such a "right" can easily be taken away or just disappear when a company goes bancrupt

Which brings to question - the ability to download a game. Which technically, you then have that file for as long as you wish to keep it.

In addition to the things others have brought up the used market for games is also an issue. There's a culture with games of buying a new release on disc or cartridge and selling it once you're done. Which is why we saw a massive backlash against Microsoft when they tried to tie your purchases to an account. Something they'd have to do if they wanted such an idea to be workable. Otherwise people who buy the physical copy are either screwed over when the new platform comes out or are able to game the system by converting the disc to a digital licence

With movies and music this isn't a thing. If you are buying a movie or album you intend to keep it. If you were just going to play it once and sell it on the grey market you'd be pirating it or streaming it on Netflix. I've brought plenty of movies on disc which have contained multiple copies. Sometimes when I've ordered physical copies of music online I've also been sent a link to the mp3 copy. If you're buying a movie or album? You're not going to sell the extra copies and you're already spending more than most people will.

@jkirchgessner07
I don't like Digital download only games actually because i don't own the games.
I defy all the convenience in order to play games.
I would rather swapping my cartridges / discs to play specific games than touch the apps to play the games.

@EightBitMan Stop, just stop. U always talk bad about Nintendo, yet you hang out in a Nintendo fansite, a fansite of a company you hate. Why do you keep trolling about stuff like this?

Do you really buy Nintendo games or are you just trolling about it? Sounds to me you are a troll.

And no, don't give me the "But it's critisim" crud. We all saw you how you're complaining and trolling about Nintendo.

@EightBitMan I think PC games are another reason I started to wonder...and wish.

@Anti-Matter I completely understand and think it depends on which camp you fall into. I was in the physical only until a couple months ago. At that point, I did an assessment of what games I’m playing and it turned out, due to how my life is now (and maybe how lazy I’ve become?) I realized I’m only ever playing the games that are stored on the system. It’s even true for all of my old games - this is coming from someone who owns a healthy collection of NES, SNES, and onward games - talking original cartridges from when I was a kid. I guess my reality is, I’m more likely to play something that’s already in the console. Maybe Netflix has brainwashed me...or maybe I’m finally getting...old

@jkirchgessner07 I really don't see this ever happening. Companies make far too much money re-releasing content over and over again. Plus you don't really own anything. All you paid for is a license to view it. If they edit it, or the company fails, or the rights to ownership change, you could just be out of luck. But that copy of Mario 64 on my shelf? It's mine. It's been mine for years. Unless I mess up or get unlucky, it will still be mine years from now.

It's one of the drawbacks of something like that. Let me give you an example: I am a die hard Star Wars fan... of the Star Wars that existed before Disney got the rights to it. When Disney got the rights, they changed the Kindle versions of the books to point out how they were no longer canon. However the physical books I bought as a kid remain unchanged. Tomorrow Disney could go in and change anything they want and you will no longer be able to enjoy it in its original form.

@Heavyarms55 You probably make the most valid argument so far, in terms of digital vs physical. Especially in terms of a publisher changing the original to something you can never access again. Honest question - tho...wouldn’t downloading the movie or game and storing the file onto a drive be the same as owning the original version. What’s the difference between taking my micro sd card out and backing it up to my computer vs having the game data on an original cart? The inability to download it or view again later on down the road...years later, makes sense. But wouldn’t you still have the original file (assuming you downloaded it from the start)?

@jkirchgessner07 It depends how it works. You can disable things like automatic updates in many cases. But you need to go out of your way to change things to protect those files. And there isn't a good example of a game service shutting down for digital games to know what would happen. Like, if steam was shut down for some reason tomorrow, we don't really know what would happen with games bought through steam.