Direct Downloads: The Future of Gaming? Blog Assignment #2

This is a topic I've liked talking about for a while now as I am a huge proponent of games shifting into a direct download style of distribution as opposed to the typical physical disc. Why? Because it's healthy for the game studios/companies that are putting years of time and effort into making these games for us. Stores like Gamestop tend to make most of their money by offering gamers minuscule sums of store credit for their used games. This may seem like a benign practice but it takes a chunk out of the profits made by the game creators and hands it over to the store.

In this Forbes article a former Gamestop employee spoke out on the franchise's used game "racket" even going so far as to say it'd be illegal if our government regulated the sales of used video games. This may be an extreme example but it adequately depicts an ongoing business issue for the game industry as 100% of used game sales profits go to the store rather than the game studio that created it.

Essentially what happens is Gamestop, as one of the primary game distributors, orders "x" amount of copies of an upcoming game to satisfy the pre-order/launch demands. After the launch rush is over, most of the future sales of that particular game will be used purchases as opposed to new, giving Gamestop a huge portion of the profits and leaving the people who put years of work into making it in the dust.

As far as digital distribution goes you have distributors such as Valve's Steam interface, a wholly digital means of purchasing and playing a plethora of both mainstream and indie games. What often comes along with this method of distribution is decreased prices for new games, sometimes to the tune of a full 10 dollars less than a physical copy.

In addition to the obvious ease of access and the fair prices Steam also fronts a line of impressive packaged deals that feature numerous games from specific studios. These value packs often help rejuvenate even the oldest of games and profit the developers even more.

But hey, business practices aside, digital distribution's appeal is pointed at us, the gamers! It profits the developers and whatnot which is great for us long-term but the push for digital distribution is fueled by our desires as well. Nobody likes pre-ordering through Gamestop, if they're being honest. Trying to pre-order through them is like giving yourself a 75% chance of getting the game you desired and a 25% chance of having them try to tell you it doesn't come out on the day it came out (My experience with Gamestop on multiple occasions). You're far better off picking up the PC game off Steam/Origin and knowing you're supporting the developers and knowing you've got your game. Hint: Devs like digital distribution and more often than not that method of purchase usually comes with some perks! Especially for MMOs!

The next step in the digital distribution process is liberating the console gamers as there is no nice way to get new releases like we can on the PC through Steam, they're forced to use Gamestop in the same way the game companies are forced to work with them to reach core gaming audiences. With any luck the game industry can provide direct download services at some point in the near future and put businesses like Gamestop back in their place.

Can you tell I don't like Gamestop?