I was reading an article on slashgamer.net that the PS4 was not going to support digital download only for games, and the writer was almost chastising the company for not embracing the future. Why, exactly, would we strive for this? I do not want an external server to hold the one and only back-up copy for the software I buy — if their service goes down for any reason (and they will go down permanently at some point), who do you think is going to be left holding the bag? Not to mention the Internet service provider problem. While a lot of us in North America have high speed connections, many of us do not have “unlimited” download (especially Canadians) contracts, and those which do have them, their download rates tend to be somewhat atrocious when you consider that the content you want to download is several gigabytes in size. In some cases, you will start your download today and maybe play your game tomorrow, assuming your connection stays healthy.

If you take the angle that there will be less packaging, therefore production costs will come down and the publishers will offer the game at a lower price, then you may want to think twice about that. Consider iTunes, for example, the music they offer is pretty much on par with the retail price of a physical compact disc, if you multiply the price you pay per song by an average number of songs per album (12-14). Less packaging may not translate into a cheaper price for the consumer, but it certainly does translate into larger margins for the publisher.

With the advent of collector’s editions becoming more popular, I was hoping that a trend towards better and more interesting packaging would be upon us. Think Baldur’s Gate, Space Quest, or the Ultima Games. Beautiful works of art and a real pleasure to own.

Categories: Reflections
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