By: Byron Mudry - Messiah


Over the last several years games have slowly moved more and more to a digital delivery system. While most games are still sold in traditional “Brick and Mortar” stores, those games are generally far from the final game that players end up playing. It is not uncommon for a player to have to download several hundred megs of patches or updates just to play the game they just bought. Also many game players think nothing of downloading demo versions of games that are up to and sometimes over 1 gig in size. This has been made possible by the proliferation of cheap high-speed internet access.



Also over the last few years a lot of the fears of purchasing items online have been dispelled. According to one survey I saw last Christmas, over 50% of all computer owners connected to the internet made at least one Christmas gift purchase online. These numbers are always increasing and it is hard to find anyone who has not purchases something online at some point in time.



As access speeds increase, and even more people become comfortable purchasing items online, is the purely digital delivery of games far behind? Is this a good thing?



The Benefits



There are several potential benefits to game players by moving to a digital delivery system. The most obvious one are: reduction in price, renewable media and the faster release of games.



With the digital release of a game it means that the manufacturer has saved a significant amount of money per game package. Think of the money that goes into the design of the packaging, the materials (box, CD / DVD, gem case, instructions, etc), shipping, storage, and more. Removing all these costs should save you at least 25% of the cost of a game.



Another huge reduction in price could come with digital delivery if the game companies decided to cut out the retailer and deliver directly. Knowing that in most specialty markets the mark-up is between 25% and 50%, this means that by removing the retailer you should be able to save at least 25% on your games. Remove all the other costs listed above and you should be able to get that cool new $50 game for about $25.



Also with digital delivery you should be able to re-download a copy at any point in time. This is assuming that you keep and can find your licence key, download key or whatever other authentication method the supplier uses. You would then not have to worry about your little brother or you kids getting a hold of the original CD or DVD and destroying it.



The last big benefit of digital delivery is the fact that once a game goes gold, it can be downloaded. Currently once a game is deemed ready for release it still needs to be pressed, packaged and shipped. This takes an average time of one to two weeks. Not a whole ton of time, but which gamer likes waiting those 2 weeks to get there hands on that new game they have been reading about for the last 2 years!



All of the above would be really nice benefits, however the biggest one (price savings) is not really guaranteed. The game companies may like the savings and decide to pass on only a tiny percentage of them to the public and help raise their profits by keeping the rest.



The Disadvantages



There are several disadvantages that spring immediately to mind. No more game store browsing, no packaged goodies (books, maps, etc), cuts out people without high-speed access and loss of jobs.



I don’t know about you, but one of my favourite things it to go to Best Buy or Future Shop (being from Canada) and browsing the games. I know you can do all this electronically online, but it’s the same as digital books, it’s just not the same. There is something to be said for being able to pickup, handle and look at a new game. Browsing the internet for game information just isn’t the same as picking up that shiny new box.



One of the other things that would be lost with the move to digital delivery would be the manuals and bonuses that we sometimes get with game purchases. Some games would be unaffected by this, for example the average first person shooter does not need really need a manual, while other games could be drastically affected. The average real time strategy or simulation game has a huge manual with tons of instructions. Sure these would be printable from the download, but it just isn’t the same. Would you rather look at either a computer screen or a printed copy, or a bound book on glossy paper? I know where my vote it.



The other thing that would be lost is the bonus material that comes with many games. This could be as simple as unit construction order reference sheets for RTS games, control reference sheets for simulations or maps for role playing or MMO games. While some people don’t use or like these, I almost always find the extras worth while. I would really hate to loose al the little bonuses that come with games.



Digital delivery with games could also cut some people out from certain games. While high speed internet access is wide spread and generally cheap, there are still areas where it is either not available or very expensive. If game delivery moved to only digital delivery it could cut many people off from the latest or largest games through no fault of their own.



The last and most important thing that digital delivery of games could potentially bring is the loss of real world jobs. If no one is required to design all the fancy packaging anymore, create the boxes, press the CD’s, pack the boxes, ship them or sell them you are affecting many peoples lively hood. Graphic artists are of course still needed as you would still have to design the manuals (now in PDF format) and any advertising the company would use, however it would be downsized slightly due to the box layout disappearing.



All the companies that create and package the boxes and media would see a drastic loss of work. Think of all the games produced in a year and all the work that goes into them. The shipping industry would also see huge loses of work. Lastly the game and electronic stores would no longed be needed to sell the games. There are many popular chains tat just sell games, what would they do?



This is just the directly affected positions. You can also carry this forward to less paper being required, less fuel for trucks, less real-estate for business, and more. Now some of these are layers removed and it isn’t like MAC trucks would go out of business because games were not sold physically anymore, but they would see the loss of a few sales as fewer trucks would be required.



Overall I could see a huge impact in real world jobs by switching to digital delivery. Would it be worth it just to save a few dollars?



My Opinion



While I am a technophile and love all sorts of advancements to make things easier, digital delivery of games is one thing that I am very leery about. I worry about the negatives listed above, but even a few of the positives.



Even though I see huge savings that could be realized through digital delivery of a game, I do not believe any gaming company would pass all or even most of those savings on to the consumer. If the savings were enough to sell a once $50 game for $25, I believe the companies would still try to sell it for $35-$40 digitally and use the extra market to pad their profits. A small $10 savings would in no way entice me to purchase a digital copy rather than the real thing.



The biggest things to me though would be the loss of the ability to browse game boxes in-store and from an economic prospective the loss of jobs to many people. I thoroughly enjoy my trips to the store to browse through the newest games. Picking up and looking at all the boxes to see what’s there. I also worry about other people’s jobs being effected for what could be a very small savings.



I also worry that if digital delivery is brought in even in a small way, that companies will see the potential profit growth and switch over to it almost entirely in a very short amount of time.



So in the end, I do not believe that video game companies should move to digital delivery as a method of selling their products. I see too many negative points to out way what I see (after company profiteering) as a very small savings to the consumer and no substantial bonuses.





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Last Updated: Mar 29, 2016

About The Author

Byron has been playing and writing about World of Warcraft for the past ten years. He also plays pretty much ever other Blizzard game, currently focusing on Heroes of the Storm and Hearthstone, while still finding time to jump into Diablo III with his son.

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