Slowly but surely, the gaming industry is moving away from retail and into the realm of digital distribution. The recent addition of the Nintendo DSi results in all five current video game systems (Nintendo DS, Nintendo Wii, PSP, Playstation 3 and Xbox 360) offering downloadable games to the consumer. The PSP, Playstation 3 and Xbox 360 also offer retail titles on their digital stores.
Of course, the move towards digital distribution on video games doesn’t come with some opposition from both retailers and consumers. Let’s take a look at what advantages and disadvantages digital distribution bring to the gaming industry. truck load
Limited Transactions
The biggest advantage retailers have against digital distribution on the Nintendo DS, Nintendo Wii, PSP, Playstation 3 and Xbox 360 is simple convenience. You need a credit or debit card to purchase games on the Wii Shop, DSi Shop, Playstation Store and Xbox Live Marketplace. For kids, this would be a huge barrier for purchasing a game digitally when they could simply pay cash when buying from retailer stores.
Online Requirements
Another big potential hurdle is the internet connection. Big size games on the Playstation 3 and Xbox 360 can take a long time to download. Of course, more and more households have broadband and/or Wi-Fi capable enough to handle downloadable games that are over one gigabyte in size. If you don’t have a high-speed connection, however, than you are out of luck in the digital distribution movement.
Price
Publishers save plenty of cash since they don’t have to press, package and ship their downloadable games. Not to mention that they also don’t need to worry about overstocking or under-stocking. The consumers also benefits from the digital distribution movement on the Nintendo DS, Nintendo Wii, PSP, Playstation 3 and Xbox 360 as the costs are often pass down and result in cheaper titles.
No Used Copies/Rentals
Another big conflict regarding the digital distribution has to do with rentals and used copies. Both industries are big in the gaming retail world. Digital distribution would limit both rentals and used copies as the new era makes it harder for games to exchange hands. Therefore, consumers may have to exclusively buy a game in order to play it on their systems.
Better Games
The publishers get a bigger cut from digital distribution sales due to no middleman, rentals and used copies. As a result, the gaming industry will grow even faster than ever before as the publisher will reinvest the extra cash into game development. So even with all the complaints regarding digital distribution, the criticisms could go away if it results in better games on the Nintendo DS, Nintendo Wii, PSP, Playstation 3 and Xbox 360 in the future.