Most Console Gamers Still Prefer Physical Media 232
arcticstoat writes "Despite the advent of online game stores on all three major consoles, most console gamers apparently still prefer hoarding collections of gaming discs to downloading games. A recent survey conducted by Ipsos in the UK revealed that 64 per cent of the 1,000 users polled would rather have games on physical discs, while only 25 per cent would prefer digital copies. In the survey, 55 per cent of those polled said price was the key factor in determining their interest in downloading games, while 27 per cent said they wanted games available online before they were in the shops. Ipsos' director Ian Bramley explained, 'Interest absolutely drops away when you get to the types of pricing that you might charge for a new physical disc. People's perceptions are that they're not prepared to pay as much for digital content — they make the connection that it's not a physical disc and therefore it should be cheaper.'"
Re:yes, downloads should be cheaper... (Score:3, Informative)
The mark up of the store combined with all the intermediaries is not negligible.
Re:DRM (Score:3, Informative)
Don't forget backwards game companies, Nintendo the main culprit, who fail at letting legitimate owners of their stupid products migrate our games to the next device. I call shenanigans!!1! I buy a Wii, would love to buy a black one, but can't because of special MarioDRM which makes me purchase the downloaded content all over again. I buy a DSi, would love to buy a DSxl, but can't because of MarioDRM. Nice work, Nintendo! You are teh suck! You just made me walk away from two new system purchases. That's just dumb. Dumb, dumb, Nintendo.
Uhm, disk space also a factor. (Score:4, Informative)
I've got somewhere around 20 or so PS3 games and only a 40GB HDD.
Even if you assumed I had upgraded to a 500 gig disk, at about ~10 to upwards of ~40gigs per game, usually 10, my drive starts to fill up. Fast. And I still need to store saves, music, video and everything else.
Screw that.
Just give me discs.
Re:Can't trade a download (Score:3, Informative)
Your main issue here seems to be lack of hard drive space.. though the Xbox does have a really weird system there so I maybe can't advise you to upgrade it. I bought a 40GB PS3 and shoved a 320GB HDD in there, I'm very happy to buy stuff online if it's cheaper. No having to wait days for delivery or go shopping, just download the game in a few minutes and go.
The one advantage of steam (Score:1, Informative)
Is that they offer older games at good discount. Just bought Street Fighter IV via Steam for $10, where as the console offerings are around $20-30 second hand.
And a couple of weeks ago, I bought the bundle of 5 codemaster racing games for $20.
So I'd guess that the price point for when I would buy games digitally is around $10.
That said, I do take pride in my collection of retro games consoles and those games, which get a run every now and then. And I'm not going to re-buy those to run on new hardware.
Re:Why I prefer physical media (Score:5, Informative)
Wii games don't move... (Score:4, Informative)
Downloaded Wii games live on the console, and can't get moved off to a new one. So while the Wii will play old Game Cube games, all your downloaded content will not be forward compatible to the Wii 2 (or whatever they come out with next). Physical media likely will have some sort of path forward if history is any lesson.
So yeah, disc please!
EA is why I'm soured on digital media (Score:3, Informative)
So a friend made (convinced) me to get BattleField 2142 right... So after a format or 3 (hardware issue) I wasn't able to play because I've hit the max install limits. I was very upset
So I hit the EA forums, and literally, a "mod" said to send him PM's with info and they'd help out. Although people were helped at first, that was the end of it. The "mod" said that EA people weren't going to "fix" those problems. That's when the outrage started!
So after hearing NOTHING back from EA directly, the "mod" was actually more helpful even though they didn't work for EA, I did what everyone else was doing (and suggested everyone else to do) which was reporting EA to the BBB. Big whoop right?
EA actually answered, once, and never again lol. So I said f this and forgot about it. Months later I tried it and sure enough it installed, with no surprise. I had found out that after a certain amount of time (I think weeks) the installs "get cleared" from their system and allow it to be installed once again on a "different" PC. What was different was the install, as the hardware (except one stick of RAM!), case, software and programs were all exactly the same! So since then I go out of my way to keep people from buying their games.
So yeah, whenever possible, I try to stick to physical media. Sure, it could have the same exact thing built into it, but I am not forced to install a downloader which downloads a game several GB's fat each and every time you want to reinstall. I backed up all my files and installers and it just didn't like that. It thought I was trying to trick it! So yeah, I played by their rules once, and they lost a customer and hopefully countless others as well.
Re:Of course they have to be cheaper digitally (Score:2, Informative)
Re:Why I prefer downloads (Score:3, Informative)
Steamworks is coming to the PS3, as per VALVe [gamespot.com] themselves, so there's hope. And Portal 2 will be playable across platforms, meaning you can play on your PS3 and then fire it up on your PC or Mac and start right where you left off.
Comment removed (Score:3, Informative)
Re:Wii games don't move... (Score:1, Informative)
That is their current policy. If you send your Wii into them they will transfer you account. If it was out of warranty and you just bought a new one, you have to send off both for them to do it. However, there are no promises regarding this policy in the licence you agree to for downloaded games, so they could turn around tomorrow and say they won't do it anymore. If you download games on your Wii you are relying on Nintendo's good will to maintain this policy.