Necuno
The Piper
moving out of my parents house had me throw out all my boxes and kept 2 to be able to file my manuals in. now i just stick the cases in a cupboard and steam downloads in a spindle.
To Moody - Question about Steam
- Thread starter Etiko
- Start date
moving out of my parents house had me throw out all my boxes and kept 2 to be able to file my manuals in. now i just stick the cases in a cupboard and steam downloads in a spindle.
MooDy
New member
Sorry E but with your opening question including things as
it looked to me as if that was excactly what you were doing.
Sorry if I was mistaken.
But my answer to your non trolling question is -
No I cant see it being an issue in the near future and if it does become an issue well our hardware side is still as strong as the games sales side so at least we have something to fall back on.
Last edited:
Tinman
MyGaming Silverback
Its gonna be while before we can download HD 5870s
And even if a lot of gamers start turning to Steam, many still like to have the physical media in their posesion. Remember, bandwith constraints do not apply overseas, and physical PC game sales are still doing OK. Also, we have really well priced PC games in SA. Case in point, Zaps is selling Mass Effect 2 for R308 which is about R65 cheaper than Steam.
Also, I'm sure Zaps and other retailers sell more PS3, XBox 360, Wii, DS and PSP games than PC.
Last edited:
Etiko
New member
Maybe. But it is already possible to download full games for PS3, Xbox 360 and PSP.
Heck, the PSP Go is download ONLY.
How long before other console manufacturers follow suit?
MooDy
New member
LoL - lets hope soIts gonna be while before we can download HD 5870s
larch
Banned
Hence the PSP Go was a massive sales failure.
http://blog.ziggytek.com/2009/12/21/psp-go-sales-atrocious/
They already have but it will never surpass physical media.
Etiko
New member
Never is a very long time.
_Caboose_
MG's resident Boozer
There are points you have to look at.
1.) Yes you can download stuff off steam and its cheaper but games are getting bigger and bigger. Bandwidth costs (this point will become obsolete when we can have uncapped for like R100 a month)
2.) Some people prefer a getting the manual, cd etc...
3.) If you buy a collectors edition digitally you dont get the figurine or sound track or w/e
1.) Yes you can download stuff off steam and its cheaper but games are getting bigger and bigger. Bandwidth costs (this point will become obsolete when we can have uncapped for like R100 a month)
2.) Some people prefer a getting the manual, cd etc...
3.) If you buy a collectors edition digitally you dont get the figurine or sound track or w/e
Necuno
The Piper
steam + local server + cheap ass crazy specials = sold to me.
i'm not going to bother for some titles like for example street fighter IV which i got for around R100 via steam to go and get the physical media for more.
seriously unless it's something like a real collectors edition having the actual media VS digital download saved to dvd is practically the same. most manuals you get nowadays is about a 10 pagers which could have been a pdf for that matter.
it's not like you go to bed with your physical media each night ? in the end it's just a cover, manual and a disc...
i'm not going to bother for some titles like for example street fighter IV which i got for around R100 via steam to go and get the physical media for more.
seriously unless it's something like a real collectors edition having the actual media VS digital download saved to dvd is practically the same. most manuals you get nowadays is about a 10 pagers which could have been a pdf for that matter.
it's not like you go to bed with your physical media each night ? in the end it's just a cover, manual and a disc...
Tinman
MyGaming Silverback
I will only really use Steam for it's specials, and for games that are hard to find. For the rest I will get retail copies, simply because they are cheaper, and I like supporting local businesses, especially when they make an effort to offer good value for money.
larch
Banned
Chances that our bandwidth and internet situation is going to change under telkom any time soon is still a pipe dream. Telkom is reaching the maximum they can achieve with the absolute telecoms infrastructure. They are only running fiber optic cable till recently while most of there infrastructure still runs copper which is slow if it does not get stolen.
larch
Banned
Yes it is a very long time:
http://www.gamesindustry.biz/articles/report-physical-formats-account-for-90-percent-of-game-sales
Necuno
The Piper
part of what i'm trying to say as well as supporting Independent Developers and their games that don't have physical copies.
however today's games are merely a cover, very thin booklet and dvd(s) and this is why i said there is about no difference between writing it yourself to disc from a digital distributioner VS buying it in store.
obviously DD is not going to replace physical media; just idiots will think so, but it will add pressure to those who won't have specials or enough of it.
Last edited:
Etiko
New member
So true! Modern Warfare 2's PC retail manual is horrid.
If a manual is your reason when buying a physical copy, well, nowadays it's a shitty reason.
I can still remember my Baldur's Gate 1 manual. It was epic. 100+ pages of stories, character backgrounds, etc. You just don't get that anymore.
Etiko
New member
Awesome stats! Thanks!
Moody, from the above stats, what's your feeling on losing 10 - 20 % of your gaming sales? Keeping in mind, this stat will grow in the next couple of years?
MooDy
New member
Obviously no business wants to lose even 1% of there sales - but I think if you are really intersted in this then maybe get in touch with one of the larger gaming retailers who may have analysts on their pay roll - I'm sure that some of them must have looked into this.
Also it might be worth looking at how many people actualy have inet in SA and then of those how many actualy have a good enough line to fully use Steam and what are the projected figures of the isps of South Africans who will have steam friendly inet over the next 5/10 years - I'm sure that you can google this.
larch
Banned
MooDy you dont really need to entertain Etiko with his questions he is trolling for a reaction I should know I am one too. What Etiko neglected to see from the link I posted is that is that the sales for newly released games on steam haven't increase substantially since steam was introduced. The only area were they did experience a 400% increase was with older games.
http://g4tv.com/thefeed/blog/post/6...009-Keynote---Gabe-Newell-Valve-Software.html
A lot of new games on steam cost the same as retail, which is way overpriced.If you ask me their double dipping.If I have to download a game, make a hard backup and use my bandwidth I expect a discount.The way I see it I am paying for their retail and distribution costs.For these reasons (and our crap internet connection) I will never buy of steam.
Maybe there's some psychological marketing trickery whereby people just see '75% off' rather than the rand figure and buy because it's a nice deal. People don't like to see how much they have to spend, they like to see how much they will save.
MooDy
New member
LoL - Larch I know
But as E and a few other forum users realise retailers are an easy target on forums because if we dont answer its the usual blah,blah,blah - if we answer in the negative its also blah,blah,blah and even when we try to answer honestly and try to be helpful its still blah,blah,blah
Btw the Larch I must say that i'm very impressed with your posting style these days - as opposed to your AWX forum days - and really I enjoy reading your posts.
But as E and a few other forum users realise retailers are an easy target on forums because if we dont answer its the usual blah,blah,blah - if we answer in the negative its also blah,blah,blah and even when we try to answer honestly and try to be helpful its still blah,blah,blah
Btw the Larch I must say that i'm very impressed with your posting style these days - as opposed to your AWX forum days - and really I enjoy reading your posts.
larch
Banned
Yeah you risk being a soft target because you are a owner of a retail shop and as that owner you are the "face" of your business. I dont envy your position but I do respect the fact that a retailer would take active interest in the people you sell games too. That is something other retailers need to do more stay in contact with the people they sell products too. That makes for good business and happy customers.
Thanks, I think its part in due to me writing more and actively doing game reviews and taking a deeper interest in the industry via my blog. Also might be because I stopped going to the AWX forum.