EA - "Going to be 100% digital"

Originally Posted by ChienAboyeur
And the answer will be known about retailers pushing the price up anytime a publisher goes fully online digital distribution.

If a publisher thinks they will make more total revenue by selling games for $500 each, certainly they can try it. However, I'm positive any publisher would rather sell 1 million copies at $20 than 100k copies at $60.

The bit on price control relates to the decrease on price that can be expected.

Digital online distribution only will give full reins to the publisher to set the price the publisher wants as the second market is non existant.

It is not about pushing up prices to unrealistic levels. It is about setting prices to squeeze the most possible.

I like digital versions of the games, given the choice I'd go digital over box. Still, I know there are people living in places where broadband is rare or expensive, and let's not forget bandwidth caps.
This move though has some good things going. Historically, retail chains like Walmart, Best Buy, etc. have forced game publishers to not sell the digital version of a game at lower price than retail. If publishers like EA can shake these retailers' power off, they could (in theory) sell their digital games at a cheaper price even on release day, as it costs them a lot less to distribute.
Another good thing is that publishers have historically shied away from rated 'M' or 'AO' (Adults Only) games, or have forced development companies to cut things from their games to lower their rating, as chains like Walmart just don't sell those. Again, by reducing the power of retail, publishers might be able to start selling more 'mature' games.
But this is all in theory of course.

I've pretty much gone all digital: games, music, books, movies. I really don't want to store anything other than on someone else's servers. But that does require a level of trust. I trust Amazon and Steam and GOG enough. I no longer use my Impulse account after the buyout, because I don't trust Gamestop at all. I've seen the way they run their brick-and-mortar stores. I don't trust EA as far as I could throw a metric arseload of their fattest fat cats. I refuse to even download their game client,Origin or whatever. If they exclusively sell their games on there, I will never play another EA game again, which doesn't seem like much of a loss at this point.

Edit: I accidentally wrote Gamespot, instead of Gamestop, but I don't trust them either.

I think EA is on the right path to make themselves easier to ignore , keep up the good work people!

What is it with EA and all their "bold" statements?

Are they actively looking to make themselves nauseating - or is it the media pursuing them?

Originally Posted by wolfing
This move though has some good things going. Historically, retail chains like Walmart, Best Buy, etc. have forced game publishers to not sell the digital version of a game at lower price than retail. If publishers like EA can shake these retailers' power off, they could (in theory) sell their digital games at a cheaper price even on release day, as it costs them a lot less to distribute.
Another good thing is that publishers have historically shied away from rated 'M' or 'AO' (Adults Only) games, or have forced development companies to cut things from their games to lower their rating, as chains like Walmart just don't sell those. Again, by reducing the power of retail, publishers might be able to start selling more 'mature' games.
But this is all in theory of course.

Since you can find retail versions that are cheaper than the digital versions on day one, what is actually the power of retailers you wrote about?

Originally Posted by ChienAboyeur
Since you can find retail versions that are cheaper than the digital versions on day one, what is actually the power of retailers you wrote about?

yes but not the other way around. Retailers have stipulations that say publishers can't sell the game on their own (digitally) at a lesser price than retail, for a certain amount of time from release day.

You can find retailers more expensive than online digital distribution from release date.

You can find all types of prices.

Second, digital prices can be decreased a few days/weeks, comes as special offers after release without impacting the price of retail versions that do not go down. Since such decisions are dictated by sales figures in the few weeks after release, the power of retailers is light.

Some people are claiming that the next generation of consoles already need to be digital-only in order to succeed. This guy seems to think that iPhone and Android could actually kill off the the new Xbox and PS4 if they're not 100% digital.

http://kwalee.com/2012/07/03/jurassic-consoles/