Digital game stores, consoles without disc players… For several years, players in the video game sector have been trying to get players to accept the new model.
Until a few years ago, when buying a video game, gamers stomped their feet on the way home from the store. Once at home, they just had to insert the famous CD into their console or PC to enjoy it. This time is over. From now on, we will have to wait and wait again.
“The first thing we ask you now is to download the part of the game that is not on the Blu-ray,” notes Julien Piyo, research professor at Insec Grande Ecole.
And it can last: sometimes several hours before you start playing.
With the famous “First Fix Day”, the game’s developers fix the latest design issues since release day. On the part of the studio, this allows us not to offer players a game full of errors. But on the part of the player, this is an additional moment of waiting before he can enjoy his purchase.
Challenge to physical format
Faced with this new state of affairs, there may be interest in physical versions of video games. Even if that means download times, you can download the entire game instead of buying a half-full disc. The release of the latest installment in the Call of Duty shooter series exacerbates this conclusion. The 2022 license episode, Modern Warfare 2, has an almost empty physical disc, requiring players to load for a long time.
Complex physical formats are what publishers and producers have been aiming for for several years. As proof, every last generation of consoles offers a version without a disc drive. Both on the side of Sony, which produces the PlayStation 5, and on the side of Microsoft and its Xbox Series.
“The reason is the increase in margins,” says Charles-Louis Planade, director of international operations - Equity Research.
With these digital stores, the game publisher can avoid the cost of producing a disc, but also the cost of logistics. “This is done for the benefit of developers and publishers,” says Charles-Louis Planade. “Since the start of the content digitization wave, the selling price hasn’t dropped, and costs have been falling.”
The EA also insists on managing unsold positions. By reducing production, the number of copies that have not found buyers is mechanically reduced. This problem is also one of the black spots of publishers since the very beginning of the development of the video game sector. In 2014, thousands of copies of ET the extraterrestrial, often considered one of the worst video games, were discovered, writes Le Figaro. They were buried in 1983 by Atari.
Lower Margin Digitally
In addition to moving away from Blu-ray purchases and packaging, cover printing and manuals (although this element tends to disappear), the use of digital stores also represents a new source of income for manufacturers Sony and Microsoft.
“It’s interesting for them because they bear the costs of distribution, but it’s also interesting for publishers because these margins are lower in the dematerialized chain than in the physical one,” Julien Piyo explains.
According to the latest research by the Syndicate of Leisure Software Publishers (Sell), the dematerialized format is not yet the majority in France. Purchase of “boxed” games still accounts for the majority of sales (68%). However, from an economic point of view, it is digital sales that are the high point of the industry.
“The digitization of the sector explains the growth in the number of publishers,” says Charles-Louis Planade. “According to the results of the last ten years, the line that has decreased the most is the cost of production.”
In addition, even if the gamer persists in using the disc, digital technology can maximize the benefit to the developer. “This opens up additional opportunities for monetization,” emphasizes Julien Piyo. “The free-to-play model is the most absolute expression of that.” These free games like Fortnite or Warzone offer many microtransactions to add additional content or customization items.
But today, dematerialization is taking a new turn with the advent of cloud gaming services. This technology promises access to the title only via the Internet. Thus, the game is no longer launched by a game console or computer, but by a remote machine, such as a data center. Therefore, a simple phone may be enough for the game. The revolution is already underway and it looks like this is the future of the industry.