As more publishers continue to try and find ways to combat piracy and the used games market, other publishers are looking at the options already available in the form of digital download. Epic Games Vice President Mark Rein believes that downloadable titles are the future of the gaming industry and will not only benefit the developer, but also the consumer as well.
Speaking at the latest GameHorizon conference, Rein discusses the positives of delivering digital content at a cheaper price point than disc-based media.
“I’m a big proponent of AAA games. Triple-A isn’t going away, it’s going everywhere,” he said, as reported by Gamesindustry.biz. “As the quality of the games go up, the cost of the games go up, you’re going to have to monetise them better. I’d rather sell 10 million games at $25 and have a chance to sell DLC than 5 million at $50 on a disc that gets traded around.
“I think it’ll change, and it’ll change for the benefit of the customers. We’re definitely going to experiment with micro-transactions and lower-price games.”
While a lot of gamers aren’t too impressed by digital downloads alone, evidenced by the lack of PSPGo sales, it does make you think whether the price differential would sway a lot of minds or not. Would you feel the same way about digital content if the pricing was 50% that of the disc-based format?
Dear EPIC…If you want ot stop the PIRACY, stop to make games to Xplode360…When the Gears of Wars 2 was released some people was playing it 4 weeks before the official release…think about
Xplode360 = PIRACY
I love downloadable games. Didn’t Epic make Shadow Complex? If so, I’d love to see them do more downloadable games.
I really don’t care for DLC much, almost all the DLC I have is nothing more than wasted HDD space, but that is the same scenario with the physical copies.
What is so difficult about games is that it is worth something to the people who play it and the people who made it, however when you no longer like the game it still should hold some value (like it does) but DLC doesn’t and I think that the lack of physical value is what people don’t like to buy into.
For one it is not wise to invest into something that is only worth sentimental value and most people don’t like to, but with the “trade” available they do knowing that they can flip it if all else fails.
If they really want to sale less then DLC is the way to go, everyone the the DLC haters to people who have no high-speed connections will miss out.