Moore Calls Game Discs Ridiculous 257
Gamespot reports on a Churchill Club panel discussion attended by a number of industry heavyweights. They discussed, heavily, the future of gaming online and what it means for the industry as a whole. From the article: "[MS VP Peter] Moore said that the retail landscape is set to undergo a particularly drastic change of face. Even though he made a point that the current retail model was hugely important to Microsoft's plans for the near future, he sees its days as numbered. 'Let's be fair. Whether it's five, 10, 15, 20 years from now, the concept of driving to the store to buy a plastic disc with data on it and driving back and popping it in the drive will be ridiculous,' Moore said. 'We'll tell our grandchildren that and they'll laugh at us.'"
I hope so (Score:5, Insightful)
The alternative? (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:I hope so (Score:4, Insightful)
Also, say good-bye to the days of lending your friend a game, or selling/giving one away second hand.
Not ridiculous. (Score:3, Insightful)
Before the advent of speedy online delivery, we go buy games at a store before we can use it. Same concept.
Working within the technological limitations of your day is never "ridiculous." I submit that making baseless predictions about the future is ridiculous!
So long as I can burn it to my own disc. (Score:5, Insightful)
Laughing? I don't think so (Score:5, Insightful)
20 years from now... (Score:5, Insightful)
I mean, can you imagine it? It's a wonder the global economy didn't crash earlier, really.
Moore is dreaming (Score:3, Insightful)
Reduce the price (Score:4, Insightful)
One area that would certainly benefit is the mmog games. There is little real reason to buy the base software but that model is still used regardless. people with slow connections will be at a loss but even after months of release these people who do require boxed versions would be back in the same boat as many game updates easily overwhelm dialup connections. This is what probably holds back consoles with harddrives - how do you deliver games where storage isn't a given?
If the industry wants to change direction they will need to realize we will not pay the same price. Yes I know that publishers make up their money with new releases but something has got to give.
what i fear will happen is that we will be paying the box price for over the line delivery and a new upcharge for the box version. the industry will take a grand idea and exploit it in the worst possible method.
should this be obvious? (Score:3, Insightful)
Size matters (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:I hope so (Score:2, Insightful)
If they go the way steam does, this shouldn't be an issue - you only need remember your username/password to your account.
However, this begs the question; what happens if their servers crash out? Better hope they keep backups...
Personally, I like my hard-copies
People Like to Own Things (Score:5, Insightful)
But even these other problems are overcome, the process of buying some sort of physical media is NEVER going to go away. When people pay money for something, they like to be able to hold the thing and say "I own this". The same is true of music. People want the jewel case with the nice artwork and a shiney disc. How often have you been in the store and seen people just browsing the shelf, reading the boxes and looking for something new? There is something going on here that is more than just buying data. Something that won't happen if you don't have boxes in stores.
Even if discs went away, and all content came over the net, you STILL wouldn't be rid of boxes in stores: Those boxes turn into impulse purchases.
Our grandkids may laugh at us. They will see predictions like the one in this article and laugh in the same way we laugh at the jetpacks-and-flying-cars future of the past.
Re:The alternative? (Score:3, Insightful)
And I'll be damned if I'm going to give every game I own permission to access the internet, unless I'm actually playing on the internet. This is just too much of a security risk, especially for content downloaded from the net.
Multiplayer gaming is overrated (by this guy) (Score:5, Insightful)
The real challenge in game programming is making a fun challenge that doesn't involve two humans competing against each other. Have they all just given up on AI? Have they all just given up on inventing new challenging puzzles? It's sounds like the easy way out.
All a game has to do it give two players a gun and let them try to shoot each other, and unfortunately that's what we see all too often.
Maybe d/ls are faster for some of you... (Score:3, Insightful)
And let's not forget ratings enforcement. How are you going to make sure the person downloading the game is old enough? That may not be an issue in the US but here in Germany it's a felony to let anyone download a game he's not old enough for.
Just like we're laughing at? (Score:2, Insightful)
Yes, our grandchildren will be laughing at the idea, just as we're laughing about our grandparents' leaving their home to see a movie... oh, wait ... um, how about how we're laughing at our grandparents for buying a single song instead of an album ...err, wait ... Oh! We're laughing at at our grandparents for going to a grocery store to buy food instead of ... oh damn!
This strikes me as Version 2.0 of the ideas that were being hyped back in the '90's. Remember when the idea of physical locations to buy anything was being derided as "obsolete," soon to be replaced by web stores? No one would be buying anything at a store, we'd all be buying over the Internet. Yet somehow people still are going to stores, and most of the "web only" retail businesses from that era are gone. We still buy all sorts of "obsolete" things like books.
He seems to ignore that people actually like having having their hands on a physical medium. I want the disk, I want the case, and no, I don't want to be locked into always downloading it with all the attending hassles. So no, I don't think that our grandchildren are going to be laughing at us.
Re:I hope so (Score:4, Insightful)
Don't get me wrong, I like the hard copies too. But I have to admit that the idea of still being able to play my game after my first disk got damaged, the little red piece of paper that had my CD key got thrown away because it's trash on my desk (thanks hon!), or any of the other things that can happen, do.
Of course, part of it may be me presuming that if game manufacturers do away with game discs, I'd still be able to burn a copy of the download (although not on an Xbox) to save the download time. Plus I'd think they could choose to cut the price to reflect the money they save in shipping, printing manuals and disks, etc. Of course, sometimes I'm too optimistic.
Opposing Positions (Score:5, Insightful)
The reality is the telcos in the U.S. are gearing up for a full-court press to get "their share of the pie" and could really mess things up, access-wise. If they succeed, say goodbye to the open internet as you now know it.
Businesses are furiously clamping down on any type of net access in a futile effort to keep their Microsoft-based PCs working from one hour to the next. Businesses will increasingly move towards closed intranets with extremely limited access to the general net.
Ma and Pa consumer are out big bucks for a PC which worked good for the first week, okay for the second week, slow for the third week and barely works at all at the end of the first month. They are less and less enthused with this PC/internet thing which keeps sucking money out of their bank accounts. The cure seems as bad as the injury, what will all the additional programs needed just to keep the base functionality of what they bought in the first place.
The U.S. federal government insists on retaining control of the internet but continues to show an absurd willingness to sacrifice the public good for the benefit of a few "business buddies" who give money to elected officials.
Will the internet as it currently exists still be functional five, ten years from now? That's a dicey bet at best and any business which bets the farm on internet-only access to their product is not paying attention.
Ciao.
It's about margins.... (Score:4, Insightful)
If you pay $50 for a game, whether $40 goes to MSFT and $10 goes to cheapsoftware.com or all $50 goes to MSFT, it stills costs YOU, the consumer $50. However, now MSFT financially looks so much better and the distributor, who was counting on you buying the game from them (rather than from another distributor) is the one that's left out in the cold.
You think MSFT (or any software creator) would actually reduce the price of the software from $50 to $40 and "pass on the savings" doubt it. You'd probably get a 'convenience fee' as well.
I agree with Moore. (Score:2, Insightful)
Take a look at Valve and their Steam application. There you can buy Half-Life 2 and a host of many other games, online, CD-less, and without having to drive to the store. Yes, you do have to download them, and the inital download takes time, especially if you're on a 56K modem. But Steam runs on your computer all the time, downloads in the background, and even updates itself in the background. Though the implementation of Steam was poorly done, the concept is valid and given enough time, I think they will improve it 10 fold.
I speculate that even the 56K modems will be a thing of the past in 5-10 years. Why? Consider companies like Sprint, Verizon Wireless, and other wireless companies. Wireless Broadband is becoming more and more popular, and more and more accessible. Internet clouds are increasing in popularity. Even your local Krystal burger joints have free broadband wireless capabilities. I live in a small neighborhood 30 miles east of Nashville. Some would call it backwoods. I was surprised to see just how many wireless routers were available. Now, yes, it's illegal to actually hook up to these, but if you think about it, it's not to far off when you'll be able to get broadband everywhere. So, having to download gigs and gigs of install files to play a game might not be that bad afterall.
What I see happening in the very near future are options for people. If you want to buy a game, great! Log on to our website, purchase it, and download it. But if you insist on going to the store, browse the game section. You'll see a host of game boxes available. Some might contain the instruction manual, poster, stickers, maybe even a T-shirt. But no CD's. Only a code and a web address that would allow you to download it.
Take World of Warcraft for example. I have 2 sets of CD's and even 1 DVD for install. All nicely kept in their packaging. I haven't even used them! I downloaded the World of Warcraft online, downloaded the Retail update, and downloaded the patches. Why do I have CD's? You don't even need them to play.
Farewell Game CD's... I think that they will soon be a thing of the past.
Re:I don't (Score:3, Insightful)
Another issue: anything done electronically or "online" is trackable. Assuming it's not an online game, once I pick up the CD/DVD from the store (I pay cash), there is no further tie to the store, the game's publisher, or anything else. What I do, when, and for how long remains entirely my business- the way it should be.
So much for that old console in the attic... (Score:3, Insightful)
Single player games dying? (Score:3, Insightful)
"The entire video game industry's history thus far has been an aberration," Koster told the audience. "It has been a mutant monster only made possible by unconnected computers. People always play games together. All of you learned to play games with each other. When you were kids, you played tag, tea parties, cops and robbers, what have you. The single-player game is a strange mutant monster which has only existed for 21 years and is about to go away because it is unnatural and abnormal."
I think I prefer single player in a lot of instances. Single player allows you to get immersed in a cohesive story, where everything happens within a world with its own logic, rules, atmosphere, etc. While multiplayer certainly has its place, it makes me shudder to think that I could play through a game like Half-Life 2 while Combine soldiers blurt out things like "im teh 1337!!!111! ur pwned111!!!11" every two seconds. It would totally destroy the experience. I want to be able to play through a game without stupid distractions like that ruining the feel of the story.
Re:I hope so (Score:3, Insightful)
Son, discs cost pennies, manuals a few dollars, and shipping.. well, you toss a few tens of thousands of boxes on a truck. The real cost comes from the classic distribution pyramid, where each level takes a cut, often bigger than the creator's actual profit. It's hardly any different from the music business, except the numbers are bigger. Theoretically, a game that is sold for 49.99$ at JoeRandomGameShop, might make its creator 15$ per copy. If they take full control of the distribution model and go to direct sales over the internet, or even mail-order, they could potentially sell the same product for 24.99$ and make as much "profit", while creating new jobs within the company for in-house fulfillment. The 25$ saved comes from cutting out the middle men, and there are LOTS of them who do little more than store-and-forward boxes.