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Going all-digital is what most publishers dream of, as it allows them to cut out the middleman of retail chains entirely. No more Gamestop or Best Buy to take a cut, no more materials and shipping costs, and that money will go directly into their pockets.
The bad news is something we’ve discussed a lot previously on this site. Consumers will likely not see much, if any, of this savings. If a company saves $20 per game as shown in the chart above, you can bet they’re not going to knock down the price to $40, they’re going to keep the cash for themselves as gamers are already used to the $60 price point (in the US at least). They could use the extra money to create bigger and better games, or to create bigger and better bonuses for themselves, it’s hard to say. Also, the entire used games market would become extinct. That’s great news for publishers who get nothing from resold games and have been bemoaning the market’s existence for years, but it’s bad for consumers who often pawn old titles to buy new ones.
The bad news is something we’ve discussed a lot previously on this site. Consumers will likely not see much, if any, of this savings. If a company saves $20 per game as shown in the chart above, you can bet they’re not going to knock down the price to $40, they’re going to keep the cash for themselves as gamers are already used to the $60 price point (in the US at least). They could use the extra money to create bigger and better games, or to create bigger and better bonuses for themselves, it’s hard to say. Also, the entire used games market would become extinct. That’s great news for publishers who get nothing from resold games and have been bemoaning the market’s existence for years, but it’s bad for consumers who often pawn old titles to buy new ones.
