GameStop CEO Paul Raines says that he believes disc-based video games will be around forever and aren’t going anywhere soon. Raines points towards the fact that while CD and DVD sales have shrunk dramatically there’s still consumers out there purchasing them. He went on to say that he expects a complimentary business where the company sells discs plus download like the current console mode.
“Disc-based games will be around forever,” he says. “The market has seen physical music sales down 50% from its peak and physical movie sales down 60% from its peak, but even in a doomsday scenario, disc-based games will be around for a long time. I see a complimentary business where we sell discs plus download like the current console mode. Virtual reality games will also likely follow this model.”
Eh… The only reason I get physical copies of games is if the game is phyiscal-exclusive like Nintendo used to sell their games or if there’s a good pre-order bonus… Other than that, digital is so much easier, faster and reliable for console gaming and PC gaming alike (errr, other than Nintendo’s weird DRM policies…).
Plus, I like the feeling of actually owning a game. With discs, you feel like you only own the disc with the game attached to that, but with digital downloads and the new digital marketplace, you actually own the digital rights to the game. The game itself is yours, not the disc that contains the game. You have the ability to play the game on any console or any PC that you can login on, and it’s just such a great convenience that many take for granted.
I personally enjoy both digital and physical. I like digital because of the reliability, non-ruin-ability, and the ability to access them anywhere (except for Nintendo like you said).
I like physical strictly because of the fact that I feel “accomplished” when I see it on a shelf. It gives me that feel like when you get a new package.
Digital gaming is for casuals who have no passion, and no care about whether their games get erased or not.
I would HATE if they went all digital! I love having a physical copy with a physical disk. I hope the stay around forever! If not I wouldn’t like, quit gaming or anything, but that collector inside of me would really take a hit.
There’s always ways around that. Making your own boxes and having separate SD cards for different games, for example.
But I want the box because of the cool box art, not just because it’s a physical thing. Same with the disk.
Digital games have covers too.
Oh I didn’t realize that. But I probably wouldn’t want to go somewhere to not get a physical copy, I would be too lazy and just download it online.
No, I didn’t mean cases. I meant covers. You can buy the game online, put it in a separate SD card and make your own case by buying one with the color of your choosing and printing the cover.
People have been doing similar things to substitute cardboard boxes for years now: http://cdn.nintendonews.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/01/game_boy_cassette_cases.jpg
Sounds like a very accessible solution ;D
RIP gamestop around 2016-2017
Do you have proof or are you talking out of your ass?
Dang son, calm down. I didn’t even make an argument or anything
Please, leave.
I love physical copy’s but and this is going to sound crazy now there aren’t any physical manual’s so i think i’m also going digitale
So, um, idk if it’s just me, but does anyone see games eventually just being on something as simple as a sd card? Sd cards can hold up to 512 gb, and possibly even more, compared to a disk which can hold between 8 – 50 gb. I can see the future of games being on something like a SD card, because of the faster read times and also because more space, and as technology progresses, so too does things like an SD card become cheaper. Right now a 64 gb SD card is roughly 20 bucks, so it’s viable. Handhelds prove this as the Vita and 3DS both use a form of SD/Cartridge based storage to load games, I could see the next generation actually making this transition from disc to SD based storage for games.
It’s not just you, it’s the best option in general. SD cards are quite fragile, though, so a sturdier format might do marvels for the idea.
SD cards can be bulked up, you just have to change the container. so no problem there
disks are far more fragile. and slower.
You’re right about discs being more fragile, but since they’re often moved with care precisely for that reason
reason…
Most people I know just treat their SDs like shit and then complain about them not working or having reading-writing problems
problems.
That’s basically what PS Vita games are – little tiny SD cards that contain high-res games. Of course, memory on Sony consoles is notoriously expensive (16GB goes for about $40 USD), but the SD-card format of the physical games is super convenient in my opinion. Easy to lose, but they do the trick.
||The Master Race wil be around forever, everything else is obsolete……
Good God, I fucking hope not.
Games too is fucking shitty fuck gamestop
Gamestop
They said the same thing about floppy discs.
i do know everything about them it can still be around in the future besides without discs we dont know what we will do.
Of course it will still be there. There is always going to be a market for physical mediums. If not in the form of discs, it will come in the form of some other physical property. With the advent of SD cards, a return to cartridge based systems is actually very plausible & could take back their place at the top of the video game food chain.
I don’t really think that’s going to happen. Next generation is probably more likely to move into the digital download direction. Sony and MS probably gonna have a service like Steam. After all, they made their systems more like a PC this gen. Probably going to take that a step further. It would be interesting to see what happens if consoles became customizable like PC’S. Although, I’m pretty sure if they did that, the things you could customize would be limited.
Obviously. Physical is simply better. End of discussion.
no its horrible
slower, costs more money to make and get and can break down
Aside from Dragonsilths who commented before me, I can’t believe how many people posting here are all for digital gaming. Like, WTF? Does anyone realize how digital games would destroy every game store around? We wouldn’t have any more game stores except for ones that cater to retro games.
And how can anybody prefer digital crap that could accidentally get erased, and you can’t even share them, trade them, sell them etc. if you want to get rid of them? I couldn’t live in a world like that. I wouldn’t be a gamer if games go all digital. Heck, I don’t even usually download any DLC because I’m so against supporting digital gaming.
What? The game can’t get erased unless you are just careless and accidentally delete it yourself. Even if that actually happened, you could just redownload it. Most modern games I know on Steam save data to the cloud. PS+ and XBL can save it to the cloud too. Oh, and digital isn’t crap. It makes things even more convenient for me.
Don’t mind him. He’s stuck in his old ways. Kind of like Nintendo. Haaah! lol
Physical games will stick around, but it won’t always be discs. Flash memory is sure to overtake it as the preeminent physical holder of data.
I thought the NX had a patent on that? SMH, thats the trouble with things getting out during R&D, gives competitors time to adjust.
A patent on what? Would you mind explaining?
He’s talking about the NX ‘supposedly’ (emphasis on that) either working with cartridges or being online-only
only.
This Nintendo patent (one of a few from them lately) is for a discless system.
If I had to guess how this was being applied by Nintendo, I’d say this will soonest be used for a Wii Mini-like model of the Wii U. It will also be practice for the company as far as their NX hardware goes, which can be said of any of their portable redesigns.
Makes sense because many aren’t keen to digitals yet and still asking for digital media to be a lot cheaper since it comes with nothing else but the media itself. No physical case, no manual, no extra content. Just the main content which should be reduced in pricing.
I feel safer with owning physical copies. If anything goes wrong with the download or something happens to the SD card, I know that my games will be secure. It’s not that I don’t trust downloaded games, it’s just what I’ve always done.