News - Analysts: 92 per cent of all PC games sales are now digital

[Marenghi]

i've read that steam and other digital services do not release sales data for public consumption. it's a shame pcr are unable to quote any evidence other than 'Analyst DFC Intelligence told PCR that digital games ...'

[Wozza63]

Just as an example this is why I always buy retail - For a boxed physical copy of "Thief" from amazon - Cost £9 approx.

Same game from Steam which costs them a small amout of virtual storage space and some bandwidth to deliver to me - £20

So that's a 100% mark up for a digital game that contains no physical item production or storage costs?

Yeah i'll continue to buy physical for a long time to come until they can solve that issue.

Steam code is £6 on Kinguin...

[ET3D]

I could be wrong here but I don't believe this report. Just last year it was reported on Gamespot that most games were still purchased on physical media and that digital sales made roughly half of all sales. And no, I don't think digital downloads will ever replace physical media completely.

Last time I was at a Gamespot was over 7 years ago (it was the last time I was in the US) and there already were few PC games there compared to consoles. I'm sure it's even worse now. I'm sure that's true for game stores all over the world. As the report says, UK sales are only a bit more on digital than physical, but that's predominantly due to consoles, not PC games.

[ZaO]

I think physical would be selling way more if it wasn't for the fact that the industry has made it pointless. Like others have pointed out - when you buy a physical copy, you're just buying a serial key in fancy packaging. You always have to register the key with Steam or whatever. You don't even need the disc to install the game. Really, what's the point in waiting for the physical copy to arrive when there is no longer a benefit to it? The secondhand market is pretty much dead. Especially for pc games. This is exactly what the industry wants. It's because they can't stop the pirating. So they hurt the legitimate consumers instead. But, digital is better for the environment. So it's not all bad that we're moving in that direction I guess!

[Numenor]

I was given a physical copy of Skyrim as a gift, which I resented forcing me to sign up to Steam in order to play it. It was a physical copy bought in a shop and should be mine to dispose of or re-gift as I please. But no, it was tied to me forever.
When I subsequently bought a physical copy of the Legendary Edition (because it was cheaper than buying the expansions through Steam) I had to register that to myself as well. I now own two copies of Skyrim, and am not allowed to give one to my fiancee. It is a sickening state of affairs.

[aidanjt]

I think physical would be selling way more if it wasn't for the fact that the industry has made it pointless. Like others have pointed out - when you buy a physical copy, you're just buying a serial key in fancy packaging. You always have to register the key with Steam or whatever. You don't even need the disc to install the game. Really, what's the point in waiting for the physical copy to arrive when there is no longer a benefit to it? The secondhand market is pretty much dead. Especially for pc games. This is exactly what the industry wants. It's because they can't stop the pirating. So they hurt the legitimate consumers instead. But, digital is better for the environment. So it's not all bad that we're moving in that direction I guess!

This. Although whether hard copy or digital, the government really needs to enshrine 'right to resale' into law.

[jim]

This. Although whether hard copy or digital, the government really needs to enshrine 'right to resale' into law.

I agree with you, but you have to say that non-resaleable games are cheap right now.

Wait a while, and on Steam you can easily pick up a top game inc DLC for £6-7. At these kinds of prices, I'm probably better off than I am with a console where I can resell the game.

[Chadders87]

There's also the fact that many great games are only available as digital downloads.

Most are by small developers or idie.

FTL, DeathSpank, Dungeon Defenders, Papers Please,Stacking, The Swapper, To the Moon, The Stanley Parable to name a few on my recen play list.

Strangely enough I enjoyed playing these far more than most [supposedly] AAA games which tend to be over hyped and massively underperform against expectations.

[ZaO]

This. Although whether hard copy or digital, the government really needs to enshrine 'right to resale' into law.

I agree with you, but you have to say that non-resaleable games are cheap right now.

Wait a while, and on Steam you can easily pick up a top game inc DLC for £6-7. At these kinds of prices, I'm probably better off than I am with a console where I can resell the game.

According to this, Steam can't stop you: http://hexus.net/gaming/news/industr...nloaded-games/

But it's not like they've made it possible to sell your games on. You have to sell your whole Steam account. I was going to sell mine on Ebay just recently. But I didn't bother in the end, as no one bids on them anymore for fear of the account being banned when Valve/Steam figure out it's been sold to someone. They should force Steam to put in an option to sell/trade your games on. But they could make it so that Steam and the developer get a little cut of the money. I think that would be fair.

[Chadders87]

Steam have a different business model.

Through steam, you don't actually own the game itself, just the licence authorising you to play the game.

They can also revoke these licences at anytime, hence why you can legally be banned from accessing steam and your games library.

Since they are licences that are being sold, you don't have the right to transfer them to another person, nor can you re-sell the games.

[kalniel]

Steam have a different business model.

Through steam, you don't actually own the game itself, just the licence authorising you to play the game.

They can also revoke these licences at anytime, hence why you can legally be banned from accessing steam and your games library.

Since they are licences that are being sold, you don't have the right to transfer them to another person, nor can you re-sell the games.

That's covered in the article linked to above - it doesn't matter if it's a license, if you have the right to use the copy for an unlimited amount of time the rights are the same as for ownership (in the EU, according the the Hexus article).

[Brewster0101]

Oddly enough given the title graphic; B4

+1 - Me too, and I also brought the hard copy (case with code) of the premium pack.

Like CD's and films - nothing beats having the hard copy.

But I haven't been in a games shop for years, always buy online. Don't think there is even a computer shop in Bournemouth high street any more.

[MrJim]

I prefer physical disks and the only reason I got bf4 on digital is because it was 'free' with my 290x gpu.

I think it depends on how long a games has been out, & how well supported it is. I can understand buying a game on disc rather than downloading it from Steam or elsewhere, if your internet connection isn't very fast. Battlefield 4 is about 50Gb all in. But if a game's been out a while & there are quite a lot of updates for it (not to mention DLCs), you might as well download it anyway, as you'll be having to download the updates all the same.

[ET3D]

Like CD's and films - nothing beats having the hard copy.

I only buy music on CD's, but I only listen to music in digital format. (Okay, not only, I do listen to CD's in the card on some rare occasions, but mainly.) So theoretically I could go digital, it's just a matter of availability and convenience of backup.

[Brewster0101]

I also buy all music on CD, but its ripped to the PC and then to my network and google music cloud. CD sits on the shelve - but its there forever.

[ET3D]

Exactly. Point is, the physical media being used for much except backup. We could theoretically buy digital and keep a backup another way.