News - EA: “we're going to be a 100 per cent digital company”

[Zeven]

Having seen the prices that these publishers charge for digital copies of games on the Xbox Live Marketplace compared to boxed retail... I bet EA/Activision cannot WAIT to get everyone buying digital only.

I do wonder why publishers don't push discounts on PSN and XBL like they do on Steam and GOG and others.

[crossy]

I do wonder why publishers don't push discounts on PSN and XBL like they do on Steam and GOG and others.

Just a thought - perhaps it's because XBL/PSN are effectively captive markets - the overwhelming majority of XBox/PS3 gamers join. So there's less pressure to be "aggressive" with pricing. I've never bought the digital equivalent of a boxed game on XBL simple because - as you say - the pricing is a bit ridiculous.

On the other hand Steam/GOG etc are optional services that you - as a punter - have actively sought out. Hence, I'd argue that the typical Steam user is probably more "switched on" or "price aware".

[DaFaRsHeR]

If this is EA's way forward they had better get some better programmers because virtually every patch released on Origin requires a new fricking workaround to continue playing a game you already own. Buck up your ideas EA we are all fed up with contacting support to hear "Oh yeah, now you need to do X to play after the patch"!

[shaithis]

There goes the last deals on EA games...

I noticed Blizzard must be on the verge of doing the same.....during the D3 launch it seemed as if most shops sold out within 24 hours and then said that they couldn't get any more stock.......£23 I paid in Tesco for mine.......most people I know paid £45 for a digital copy. Absolute joke and I really hope trading standards have a few things to say about the practice soon!

[bamford]

Whilst im a massive fan of steam and digital copies have many advantages over boxed versions i cant help thinking this is all about profit for EA and another way for them to rip people off and destroy the second hand market for their games (like the xbl/ps3 online passes for many titles)

[pctech2012]

Then there's the bandwidth to transfer your purchase.

Quality ISPs charge for the bandwidth used by the customer (and even the main consumer names are introducing fair usage) which is how they can build and maintain excellent quality networks, games and software in general isn't getting smaller

I purchassed Portal 2 via Steam last year and it took me a good few hours to download and it was around 4/5 GB in size.

I want to install it on my all singing all dancing new system but it'll have to wait till I have some spare time.

[aidanjt]

There goes the last deals on EA games...

I noticed Blizzard must be on the verge of doing the same.....during the D3 launch it seemed as if most shops sold out within 24 hours and then said that they couldn't get any more stock.......£23 I paid in Tesco for mine.......most people I know paid £45 for a digital copy. Absolute joke and I really hope trading standards have a few things to say about the practice soon!

And the best part about it is, Blizzard gets 100% of the revenue from the sale, instead of the 50% or whatever from the Tesco purchase. What's irritating about it is if you want the efficient, direct sales route, you have to pay well beyond the lion's share for it. And yes, obviously the only reason they're getting away with it is because government has become uselessly soft on business malpractice, and doubling down all their prosecution energies against the people they're suppose to be representing.

[Skywalker]

I am one of those who still prefer to buy a boxed version for some games (very few are truly worth it however) and EA taking this route means only one thing in my opinion and that's keep on releasing trash titles that no one would ever buy boxed.

[crossy]

I am one of those who still prefer to buy a boxed version for some games (very few are truly worth it however) and EA taking this route means only one thing in my opinion and that's keep on releasing trash titles that no one would ever buy boxed.

Oh so true - so we'll see endless rehashes of Need For Speed and all those sport games.

If this is EA's way forward they had better get some better programmers because virtually every patch released on Origin requires a new fricking workaround to continue playing a game you already own. Buck up your ideas EA we are all fed up with contacting support to hear "Oh yeah, now you need to do X to play after the patch"!

You think you've got problems - Volition are worse - pop over to the Saint's Row community and witness the vitriol hurled at them because SR3 got an update sometime this year that pretty much hosed it. So folks are trying all kinds of weird stuff - e.g. real-time priority on the exe and setting processor affinity. I've got it myself, and I just can't find any digital juju that makes it playable - unless you like you FPS' in permanent slow motion (a la 6 Million Dollar Man).

Then there's the bandwidth to transfer your purchase.

Quality ISPs charge for the bandwidth used by the customer (and even the main consumer names are introducing fair usage) which is how they can build and maintain excellent quality networks, games and software in general isn't getting smaller

I purchassed Portal 2 via Steam last year and it took me a good few hours to download and it was around 4/5 GB in size.

Good point about the bandwidth and, as others have said, if you've got a bandwidth cap (I don't!) then you're going to have to "ration" your use of the net. Worse still, I'm a teleworker at the moment, so if I did have a usage cap then I'd have to be VERY careful to keep enough allocation back to ensure I could get to work!

Oh, a few hours to download 4-5GB? Not impressed - I bought Payroll-TheHeist in Steam's sale last week and that's a gig-and-a-half - which I got in about 35 minutes (VM cable if you're interested, and that was about 8pm I did that).

Don't know about other people, but I still like to have a boxed set for full price titles - preferring to leave Origin, Steam, etc for the older titles (at a discount of course). I cannot see ANY reason why I should pay the same price as a boxed set for a digital download.

[ik9000]

It started with DRM and this is the inevitable direction of "progress". You pay for no tangible asset and no ability to recoup the outlay through resale. I will never buy a game download that I cannot make a copy of should I wish to rebuild my machine and reinstall it. Physical disc all the way. I will also never buy anything with obtrusive DRM (ubisoft) and only buy the game once its price has dropped to a sensible level £15 max. Yes, I wait for a bit to get the latest title, and it's a bit old once I get there, but I can't honestly say it bothers me. And with the crappy net connection I have right now, MP simply isn't an option.