Online distribution finally taking over?

P

Proxy

Pumpkin Ghost
Joined
Apr 24, 2005
Messages
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Well just as the title imposes. I was in my local Game Stop for the first time in I don't know how long, and noticed that they removed all of the PC games, and many older X-Box games from the shelves. I was also in my local CompUSA today only to notice the same thing. I really have no need for places like these much anymore because of Steam, and NewEgg. I wasn't about to talk to anyone in my Game Stop because most of them are biased PS3 fan-boi/girls, and think the whole market is doomed except for Sony.:rolleyes:

So basically I was wondering, is this just a sign of online distribution finally taking it's place in the gaming market? For both Console and PC. What do you guys think/feel?
 
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why, yes. yes it is.

(whew, glad I didn't need to post a comment that might be unwelcomed) :)

Wait, CompUSA doesn't sell computer games anymore??? No wonder they're going out of business (there are none left here in GA, not sure where you found one).
 
I don't think so:
1. PC Games at a retail store are always a hard sell, considering it's audience is generally savvy enough to find it cheaper online.
2. They're just getting rid of really old XBox stock since they're no first part support for them anymore.
3. Wait wha you still have a CompUSA?!?!?!?!?!?!?!
 
CompUSA's were reopened after Tiger Direct bought the 'name', IIRC. Not all CompUSA's reopened though, mainly places like FL and IL.

I haven't noticed the trend personally, mainly because I only have a Best Buy in my area now. However, I tend to look on Steam first for the game. If I have a coupon or there's a deal or simply want the box, I'll go out to the store for it.

I'm curious to see the turn online distribution such as Steam and D2D take when the ISP's roll out their bandwidth caps.
 
Version_3 said:
I'm curious to see the turn online distribution such as Steam and D2D take when the ISP's roll out their bandwidth caps.
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I don't see them being affected at all by the bandwidth caps...depending on how low the caps are of course. With Comcast there is still plenty of bandwidth to buy a few games a month and be fine. I purchase 4 to 5 games a month sometime on Steam and still never come close.
 
Proxy said:
Note: If you have any negative or bias comments, please go back to "PC Gaming & Hardware" and click the orange tab that says, "New Thread". As said comments are not welcome in my thread. Thanks.:D
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Just to be a complete ass, why'd you post the thread then?
 
bmorton18 said:
I don't see them being affected at all by the bandwidth caps...depending on how low the caps are of course. With Comcast there is still plenty of bandwidth to buy a few games a month and be fine. I purchase 4 to 5 games a month sometime on Steam and still never come close.
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Comcast is fine, I think. However, Time Warner is suggesting tier caps of 5GB, 10GB, 20GB and 40GB's/mo. This will affect digital distribution, IMO. Take 4 of your games, 4-8GB each (games with DVD counterparts) will bring you to 16-32GB depending on their size. Not much left if you want to watch some TV or Movies.

Which is why I am watching and learning still. I don't mean to spread fud if people think I am. However, if trend watchers and companies are serious, the next format war will be digital vs physical, and digital will depend on the delivery medium if it were to succeed.
 
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I see why we cant post negative comments, but im sure we can post comments against your opinion? I believe that although maybe downloading games is becoming common place for pc. i doubt it is ever going to be the only way to buy pc games. If you think about it, the first pc games that you bought, were definetly not done via steam.. You probably went to bestbuy and bought sims or something when you were younger, and thats the point, its much simpler for little kids to go to the store to buy pc games, instead of using credit cards and downloads,..
 
Porn Loader said:
Just to be a complete ass, why'd you post the thread then?
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To prolong the inevitable flame war for as long as possible so I could get some honest and structured comments.;)

P!rate said:
I see why we cant post negative comments, but im sure we can post comments against your opinion?...
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I don't care, I want other opinions. I just don't want them to become out of hand and people start flaming each other. That is not what this thread is for.:eek:
 
Keiichi said:
I don't think so:
1. PC Games at a retail store are always a hard sell, considering it's audience is generally savvy enough to find it cheaper online.
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So then that's a yes for PCs?
 
Gamestops have ALWAYS marginalized PC games - they've been in unattractive places, stuck sideways or behind the counter. This is because ever since EB and Gamestop merged, and thus eliminated all the Babbages and Eggheads - they've been console focused, because you can resell console games. They make so much of their money off trade-ins, and you can't do that with a PC game.

Digital Distribution may have a little something to do with it, but mainly it is because PC games opened up these tard-shops to questions about getting the game working, required specs, why won't it play, returns that are unable to be processed because of used CD keys, and most importantly the inability to resell them at what is basically 100% profit for the store.
 
GameStop is not a good point of reference for PC game sales. They are a pawn shop, and they can't sell used PC games, so they don't focus on them.
 
Proxy said:
I don't care, I want other opinions. I just don't want them to become out of hand and people start flaming each other. That is not what this thread is for.:eek:
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Wouldn't that be a negative comment?:confused:

Anyway, I surely hope not. I like my boxes, CD/DVDs and manuals.
 
it's not just gamestop, most places have slim pickings on PC games anymore or they have TONS of the 10 dollars budget crap.

Least for me, the last retail game I purchased was BF2142. Everything since has been Steam, D2D, or free with hardware.
 
Yeah, I think the last game I ever walked into a store to buy in a long time was F.E.A.R. 2. Outside of that, I use Steam, or I find a DL online. I guess I never really considered that most stores just won't make much money on PC game because they can't be traded anymore.

I am still looking forward to all of the PC games due out this year though.:D One more thing that was mentioned, yes, I still have a "CompUSA" even though under the hood it is a Tiger Direct. I live in Altamonte Springs, Florida.
 
I don't like purchasing software online, I would rather have a hard copy in my hand rather than it floating around out in cyberspace. Call me old fashioned.
 
i think most people who do buy in person hit bestbuy as their prices are often the same as online, or shops that sell specifically games /console stuff.
 
Proxy said:
To prolong the inevitable flame war for as long as possible so I could get some honest and structured comments.;)



I don't care, I want other opinions. I just don't want them to become out of hand and people start flaming each other. That is not what this thread is for.:eek:
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please explain to me how ANY flaming war could be started from talking about downloading games via steam and buying them at the store?
 
um ya, how could this turn into a flame war, the only thing that could start one is your post..
 
I think online distribution of physical goods as been superiour to highstreet shopping for a long time now, digitial distribution is just the next step in that evolution.

The prices of digital distribution just need to drop in line with highstreet prices now, steam games for the UK can still be a lot more expensive, I'd rather just order a game from play.com with free delivery and a massive discount rather than going to the shops or ordering through steam which both tend to cost more.
 
GAME, a highstreet store here in the UK are not going to stock PC DVD games in store anymore. Only online. The consoles have taken over. Online distribution is the way forward now. I hate waiting around for my game to be posted from online retailers. Play.com can take up to 5 working days, sedimentary!
 
Frostex said:
I think online distribution of physical goods as been superiour to highstreet shopping for a long time now, digitial distribution is just the next step in that evolution.

The prices of digital distribution just need to drop in line with highstreet prices now, steam games for the UK can still be a lot more expensive, I'd rather just order a game from play.com with free delivery and a massive discount rather than going to the shops or ordering through steam which both tend to cost more.
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Well, steam games in the US are usually quite a bit cheaper, especially when they have outrageously low sales...

I think digital distribution is the way to go, especially when Fiber is opened up for all of the US and there aren't any silly data limits on home connections.
 
Frostex said:
I think online distribution of physical goods as been superiour to highstreet shopping for a long time now, digitial distribution is just the next step in that evolution.

The prices of digital distribution just need to drop in line with highstreet prices now, steam games for the UK can still be a lot more expensive, I'd rather just order a game from play.com with free delivery and a massive discount rather than going to the shops or ordering through steam which both tend to cost more.
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Yeah, Steam can be off putting as prices are exorbitant. Probably something to do with the strong dollar against the pound.
 
Data limits are just a fact of life, bandwidth is more expensive than most people realise because most of us get a subsidised service. The USA is actually catching up the UK with this realisation, the UK went through this over the last few years where ISPs were more or less forced to stop selling packages as "unlimited" and own up to their data restrictions.

Everything in the UK costs more it seems, I have to admit that most of my games on steam were bought in super cost effective packages like the ID superpack and valve game packs, I'm considering the Eidos one actually thats a lot of good games for £50 The UK prices on steam need to drop somewhat, I suspect provisioning the downloads of those games is costing valve an assload of money though.
 
Ya, I have to agree that that the small used-centric shops like gameStop or EB are not a good metric for the possibility of hard-copy pc games sales persistance. There are still a few stores that have a really good selection of PC games in stock: Fry's has to be the best I've seen, followed by best buy (the late circuit city and CompUSA both had good selections), and even Walmart and Target still have a little selection, tho that seems to be steadily dwindling. As tech-savy users migrate more and more to online sales, I can see most stores moving completely away from any M rated games, or anything that would require the user to be anything more than a casual gamer.

As for me personally, I'm totally hooked on steam now - could care less if no hard coppies are sold in the future. No disks to keep up with, no boxes to clutter up my house and eventually get thrown away, easy patching to keep games up to date, and all of them are in one central location which makes deciding what to play next a lot easier.
 
Online distribution for PC games is the future. As mentioned above, BW caps will suck if they are forced on you.

I prefer online distribution. As games are getting bigger, I set them up to d/l over night, just like back in the 300 baud modem days. :D
 
I think digital distrubution doesn't have much life left in it. Be it for TV, Movies, or Games I have a feeling that the market bubble for it will burst soon. And it has nothing to do with the companies that distrubute.

As a previous poster mentioned, its all about bandwidth. ISPs are starting to cap. Comcast and Time Warner are two great examples. Download caps are growing not shrinking. I have a bad feeling Tiered service and caps will be the norm within a year or two. Providers want their slice of the pie. It sucks, but its happening. 50gb goes really fast when you're gaming/downloading games movies etc.
 
demingo said:
I think digital distrubution doesn't have much life left in it. Be it for TV, Movies, or Games I have a feeling that the market bubble for it will burst soon. And it has nothing to do with the companies that distrubute.

As a previous poster mentioned, its all about bandwidth. ISPs are starting to cap. Comcast and Time Warner are two great examples. Download caps are growing not shrinking. I have a bad feeling Tiered service and caps will be the norm within a year or two. Providers want their slice of the pie. It sucks, but its happening. 50gb goes really fast when you're gaming/downloading games movies etc.
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I think caps will be short lived. AOL used to do caps back in the phone modem days. Once they went unlimited, they grew exponentially. There is more money to be made in unlimited services than in capped services, in markets where there is competition.

They are only imposing bandwidths in areas where there is no competition. And it will be reviewed by anti-monopoly agencies. Especially once some bigwigs/policy makers hit the caps.
 
I hope more than anything that you are right about the caps being short lived.

I think the company to watch is Verizon and its Fios service. If fios gets capped, thats going to signal the start of widespread caps. Unlike cable companies, Fios doesn't depend on TV as a primary source of revenue. (remember, a big idea behind the cap is to force you to watch TV instead of stream it, more revenue for the cable companies, especially from the ad space they sell on cable). Verizon is one of the only big ISPs that does not have it's roots based in cable TV.

It's going to be an interesting year, but if Fios hold out, and keeps it unlimited, everyone else will be forced to remove caps as fios spreads to more markets.
 
My ISP is totally unlimited - no caps; it uses FUP to make sure there is no abuse going on. Here in the UK caps seem pretty common so this could holding things back.

Steam is a superb way or acquiring games, it really is hassle free as long as you have low attenuation and hence high download speeds on your line.

I just wish Steam was better value, there is no reason why a digital copy should cost any more than a hard copy, and in fact it should cost less, no packaging, print cost, carriage/logistics etc

There are no doubts that digital downloads are here to stay and will eventually take over the vast majority of the market
 
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How I wish they have online distribution at my country here :p

I guess its not possible due to tax and stuff like that. The only online service we have here is pre-order or online purchase of a game and they will have it mailed to us, which of course makes the game cost more due to mailing cost.
 
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