Until a few years ago, when buying a video game, players would stampede on their way home from the store. Once at home, they only had to insert the famous CD into their console or PC to enjoy it. That time is over. From now on, we will have to wait and wait again.
And it can last: sometimes hours before you start playing.
With the famous “day one patch”, the developers of a game correct the latest design problems from the day of release. On the studio side, this avoids giving players a buggy title. But on the player side, it’s an extra moment of waiting before enjoying your purchase.
Challenging the physical format
Given this new state of affairs, interest in the physical versions of video games may arise. Even if it means download time, you can also download a full game instead of buying a half-full disc. The release of the latest installment in the shooter series. obligations exacerbates this finding. The 2022 episode of the license, modern warfare 2it has an almost empty physical disk, forcing players to download for a long time.
Challenging physical formats is what publishers and manufacturers have been pushing for several years. As proof, the latest generation of consoles each offer a version without a disc drive. Both on the side of Sony, which makes the PlayStation 5, and Microsoft and its Xbox Series.
With these digital stores, a game publisher can do without disc manufacturing costs, but also logistics costs. “This is done for the benefit of developers and publishers,” says Charles-Louis Planade. “Since the beginning of the wave of digitalization of content, the sale price has not gone down while the costs are falling.”
The expert also insists on managing unsold items. By reducing production, the number of copies that have not found takers is mechanically reduced. This problem is also one of the black spots of publishers since the beginning of the video game sector. In 2014, thousands of copies of the ET the Alien game, often considered one of the worst video games, says le figaro. They had been buried in 1983 by the Atari company.
Lower margins in digital
In addition to avoiding the purchase of a blu-ray and packaging, the printing of a cover and a manual (although this element tends to disappear), the use of digital stores also represents a new source of income for manufacturers Sony and Microsoft.
According to the latest study by the Syndicate of Leisure Software Publishers (Sell), the dematerialized format is still not the majority in France. The purchase of “boxed” games continues to constitute a large part of sales (68%). However, from an economic point of view, digital sales are the best hours in the industry.
Also, even if a player persists in using a disc, digital adds ways to maximize developer profit. “This offers additional monetization possibilities, underlines Julien Pillot. The ‘free-to-play’ model is the absolute expression of this.” These free access games, such as Fortnite Where war zonethey 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 a title only through the Internet. Therefore, it is no longer the game console or the computer that is running the game, but a remote machine, such as a data center. Therefore, a simple phone can be enough to play. A revolution already underway, which seems to be the future of the industry.
Source: BFM TV
