Feelings about big publishers skipping disc releases ?

[rawfiul]

As time moves on, we are seeing more and more big publishers skipping the disc release and only launching on digital platforms.

While the intentions are obvious (why spend any extra overhead if digital and disk costs the same), how do you feel it would impact gaming community ?

Im assuming lower earning countries will be impacted the most as disk trading is our (at least for me) the only way of playing 60/70 dollar games

 

[Vaibhavp]

I don't play most games day 1. 

 

Am 100% digital. No interest in buying any discs whatsoever.

[rushab oswal]

15 hours ago, rawfiul said:

As time moves on, we are seeing more and more big publishers skipping the disc release and only launching on digital platforms.

While the intentions are obvious (why spend any extra overhead if digital and disk costs the same), how do you feel it would impact gaming community ?

Im assuming lower earning countries will be impacted the most as disk trading is our (at least for me) the only way of playing 60/70 dollar games

 

Not alone , cant play 5000-6000 worth of games. But this is how it will be in the future. Subs is where my most playtime will be then. and games which i really wanna play will be bought during discounts. 

[gecko89]

16 hours ago, Vaibhavp said:

I don't play most games day 1. 

 

Am 100% digital. No interest in buying any discs whatsoever.

Such a weird response.

 

Aren't you running a Series S, an all digital console, no wonder you're 100% digital.

You can't play from a disc even if you wanted to.

[gecko89]

16 hours ago, rawfiul said:

As time moves on, we are seeing more and more big publishers skipping the disc release and only launching on digital platforms.

While the intentions are obvious (why spend any extra overhead if digital and disk costs the same), how do you feel it would impact gaming community ?

Im assuming lower earning countries will be impacted the most as disk trading is our (at least for me) the only way of playing 60/70 dollar games

 

It's a shame. Physical disk trading is quite active in India, but we can expect bigger publishers to keep minting minimum prints for their games.

[blitzkreiig]

It really is a shame. I personally won't be buying anything that doesn't have a physical release let it be Zelda or Diablo. The day companies go full digital, I'll stop buying new games altogether. I have decades worth of backlog anyway.

[Vaibhavp]

7 minutes ago, gecko89 said:

Such a weird response.

 

Aren't you running a Series S, an all digital console, no wonder you're 100% digital.

You can't play from a disc even if you wanted to.

 

Digital for 10+ yrs. Have Series S for 2 yrs only. 

[rawfiul]

This is what i would propose in a big publisher meeting:

 

Reason to skip disk release - physical media production cost is unnecessary when most fans pay the same amount for server download.

 

Proposal - Release the disks against order BEFORE and AFTER release in BATHCES, charge the physical production cost on top of the base price (which should be less than 5 dollars per copy at max). Everybody is happy !

[Vamos]

On 8/17/2023 at 8:56 PM, rawfiul said:

This is what i would propose in a big publisher meeting:

 

Reason to skip disk release - physical media production cost is unnecessary when most fans pay the same amount for server download.

 

Proposal - Release the disks against order BEFORE and AFTER release in BATHCES, charge the physical production cost on top of the base price (which should be less than 5 dollars per copy at max). Everybody is happy !

I think, going forward, only big publishers and AAA games will get physical releases. 
 

The thing with discs is, they need to be sold in big numbers to be profitable. 
 

This is also the reason why Nintendo can afford to keep releasing physical games over and over.. coz they sell in millions very easily. 
The same can’t be said for indie games and AA games. 

Edited August 19, 2023 by Vamos

[RV1709]

No physical disc, no buy 

[AeyGee]

On 8/19/2023 at 12:38 PM, Vamos said:

The thing with discs is, they need to be sold in big numbers to be profitable. 

No. They do not need to be sold in big numbers to be profitable. Its just that company execs need more money to fill up their coffers. Look at what happened with Alan Wake 2 - costing $60 and still no physical release - and that too for a AAA release. 

 

Companies like Super Rare, B Side, and Limited Run have been supporting the physical market for many years now, and they still turn profit. Otherwise they wouldn't exist today. And the demand for physical releases put out by these companies are over the roof. Just last year, Limited Run opened a new all-physical store in Seattle.

 

It's time we cut these big corporations any slack. 

[dante77]

Wrong Section.