Topic: Do you think we will ever get the ability to sell digital games to another person?

@shadow-wolf
It's all in the wording. If it's a rental you don't own anything much like back in the day your time with the product in finite compared to outright buying it and having no limit imposed on you. A book published may be out of print or maybe it was only sold on ebooks, it may come back in print or available down the line but whose to say it will? It could be lost for all time potentially. So you could scrounge around a used book store and pay a higher retail price or find someone willing to sell you the reader. Several ps4s on sale on eBay have Deadpool or PT in them and are higher than other used ones simply because the games were digital only and have been removed!

@Link-Hero
To me a digital download is the equivalent of a self checkout line. You are paying for the cartridge ala the sd card on top of the game you buy digitally. Self checkout lines you not only have to pay for groceries but you have to bag them too.

In an ideal world if you bought a game digital you should have it permanently and not have to download or buy it again. You'd just transfer the data from one gen to the next. This is what a lot of us wanted from vc. If you bought it on 3ds you shouldn't have to buy it on wiiu and you could have it again at no charge on the switch. It's the same games over and over and no difference at all between the games on either of the 4 systems.

They are, to my knowledge, the largest game-only retail chain in the US, and used sales make up the lion's share of their profit. But you're right, between mom-and-pop stores, eBay, and in-person sales, I can't say for sure that a retailer like GameStop is the largest source of used software.

But really, the argument against used games could be made against any used item, such as second hand sporting goods, or the innumerable thrift stores like Goodwill or the Salvation Army that populate the country (I'm speaking of the US, but I assume other countries have something similar).

@Link-Hero
That is exactly my point. Unlike discs or cartridges digital data is easily transferable. So for example VC if you bought Super Mario Bros on Wii VC, then you shouldn't have to rebuy it on 3ds, Wiiu or Switch since it's the same game and there's no difference between one consoles vc titles to the others. Heck is go further to say if you bought Megaman Legacy digital on either wiiu or 3ds you shouldn't have to rebut it again on switch. After all you paid for the game, there's no difference in the Nintendo ports. Isn't that what gamepass on Xbox is essentially doing or am I reading it wrong?

@Link-Hero
You can run older computer games on newer ones though it's the same principle here. VC is the same it's the same ROM on all 4 systems. I could see the argument if it was Sony to Nintendo games but in the same line it shouldn't be an issue.

@Cotillion
Cough*** Hack*** Crossbuy, Cough Cough Gamepass, Cough X Hack Hack Account system

Regardless of legalize if you buy something you own it plain and simple.

That is a reason people get physical games where possible.... But it's the same with digital ones on Android, PS, xbox &, I'm sure, iOS & steam

@Cotillion
I care what the actual facts are. In the license for gameboy games it says they are licensed for play on gameboy. But wait I played it on GBC and GBA! I was in violation of the terms of the license?! If digital is the future then it needs to have structure and not rip people off every gen for buying the same game multiple ways from Sunday!

As far as I can read from the end user agreement I get something else out of it than you do, it says it's non transferable but is that to someone else or another switch? As long as the game is licensed to you then that opens up the argument for crossbuy as I'm still licensed the virtual console games.

But that brings up a horrible thought! If they wanted to they could simply end everyone's licenses to the game in an update making your game unplayable or else held ransom until you pony up more cash to play!

So this whole thing is done now, right?

@HobbitGamer
You have to be a lawyer to actually understand the entire implications of the EUA. From a consumer stand point you buy something you own it. Technically though you don't since you are licensed certain certain things but not others. If this was really a huge problem Nintendo would clamp down on 2nd hand stores such as goodwill

@GameOtaku No. You don’t own everything you buy digitally. I bought a Jimmy Buffet album on the Zune Marketplace once. A year later, I couldn’t play the songs. Microsoft lost the license to distribute it. I didn’t own it.
That’s how it is. That’s factual.

@HobbitGamer
There's no more compelling argument that physical media is far superior to digital. The consumer has far more rights and leway buying physical than a digital license. Call me old fashion but I like to ba able to know what I bought can't be taken away just because some corporate fat cats get into a disagreement.

@Link-Hero
I'm sorry but why wouldn't it be a simple transfer the roms are the same. The emulation program might be different but it's not that much so that the rom would not run just like you could download 5 different emulation programs online and use the same roms across all of them. Maybe different user interfaces but they perform all the same. The same with older PC games most computers can run as though it were older hardware in compatibility mode and adjust the settings for each game.

And only switch allows for multiple save states, I know my 3ds doesn't.

....This isn’t how magnets work at all! 🙄

If Nintendo go digital only, then sales will drop significantly, unless the price drops as well.

It would be interesting to know what percent of a game like Zelda botw or Smash Bros are downloaded.

But those that buy digital copies of a game when there is a cheaper physical version available, are not bothered about cost, so why would they be bothered about selling their digital copy.

@zool Unfortunately I don't think so. Many people, more and more, don't mind or even prefer digital, and pay more than they would pay if they compared prices on retail stores.

It's a sad reality, but they're getting what they wanted: a digital-only future, with prices like retail but without distribution and manufacturing costs. And they control the sales, when and how much the games are discounted.

@Link-Hero
I never said coding was easy. The emulator could be sold for each system but the roms you already have purchased shouldn't be again, isn't that the whole point of an account based system?

If digital is the future then the consumer needs to have more rights and forms of ownership. Otherwise you just keep renting the same thing over and over. Think about this in five years time at the current pricing you'd spend $100 just to play Super Mario Bros on the switch and that's conditional on having weekly access to the Internet so there's that bill on top of that (you may argue you get access to more than just one game but you still have to pay the same price of admission to access just one) Wouldn't you be better of to pay the VC price and have unconditional access to the product you want?

@HobbitGamer That wasn't digital rights. They were just helping you correct your poor judgement. It was an intervention. "Zune" and "Jimmy Buffet". We need to help this guy's decision making....

@GameOtaku Digital rights DO need to be addressed, I do 100% agree. I'm just not sure it's actually going to happen, and the (stupid) young people will get a rude wake up call when one of heir big digtal providers goes belly up or shuts them down (or like the Playstation people that can't access their content if Sony locks your account...) OTOH people are stupid and the young for some reason believe corporations are benevolent and forever, and embrace everything digital/tech/corporate.

All that said the bigger problem isn't the rights of digital ownership. We're heading into the idea, not about digital vs physical ownership but the idea that ownership of any kind won't exist at all - it'll all be subscriptions, with limitatiosn on what can be accessed from each sub. That's the even uglier future. (Though Phil Spencer (XBox) has said that Game Pass members buy more games, counterintuatively.)

I've been waiting for a serious legislative level digital rights push for 15 years....I've stopped holding my breath. The up side is it worked for music. We went from DRM music like Hobbit's Zune issue to totally DRM-less music, and the music industry hasn't imploded...though..that's being replaced by subscription streaming as well.

@NEStalgia Hey now. I liked my Zune. And my Windows phone. I like poorly executed plans, what can I say?