Digital Distribution

[RiseToFall]

I knew this was going to be coming up sometime in the future and now I finally know when. I was reading the latest issue of EGM and in the Overheard section Phil Harrison, president of Sony Computer Entertainment Worldwide Studios says the following."Digital distribution will be the business model for the future of games. I'd be amazed if the Playstation 4 had a physical disc drive."

Now I know to some this isn't a big deal and they really don't care which way they get their games as long as they get them. But for me it's actually pretty sad and here's why.

I, like many other people like to collect videogames, just as some people collect stamps, coins, figurine, etc. But now with digital distribution that won't really be possible. Later on,all you do is pay for the game, download it and play it, so your whole collection will be on some hard drive and that just doesnt appeal to me.

So I just wanted to know what other people thought about the future of how games will be sold and bought?

[Shoeberto]

The earliest version of a decent digital distribution model I ever encountered was Valve's Steam client, and at first, I didn't like it. However, since they've gotten a lot of the bugs straightened out, I've found that it's really sweet. Personally, I agree that the future will be in digital distribution, as the price of personal storage and high-speed internet continues to plummet for the end-user. Valve and Microsoft have seen great success with their Steam and XBLA services, and I think it's the kind of thing that'll just continue to grow - hopefully, though, through only a handful of distribution channels, as it'd get pretty annoying to see a lot of me-too networks pop up (hi EA).