How Much Is Too Much For A Digital Download?

[Weekend_Warrior]

Just a general question here.

How much would you be willing to spend if all new games were to suddenly go download-only?


I think $19.99 would be ok. But my absolute limit is $29.99. I would never pay more than that

[jfrost]

Depends on the service provided. DD outlets vary wildly in that regard.

[J T]

I like how things are on Steam. New games are $49.99-$59.99 for those that need to have games on day one and that makes it possible to have crazy sale prices on a regular basis for the rest of us. Though $29.99 is as much as I would personally spend, unless I REALLY wanted the game and had the time to play it immediately.

[lisalover1]

$30 is my limit. I believe that $10-$15 is a fair price, depending on the platform. For example, on a smartphone, the average is closer to $1-$5, but on Steam, you rarely find big titles for below retail.

[BurningDoom]

I hope that never happens. I love being able to trade in games that end up sucking, and being able to buy used games at a cheaper price. If games were to go fully Steam, all that would end in a heartbeat. And that would suck.

But if I didn't have a choice, I'd pay $20-$30 for a full, modern-era game. And $5-$20 for XBox Live Arcade, WiiWare, and Virtual Console type games, depending on what it is and if it's an original game or re-release and whatnot.

[RyaNtheSlayA]

I think $10 under retail would be fair for new titles. Then older titles priced between $10-$20

[isiolia]

I'd say full retail is "too much" - you're cutting physical production/distribution out of the equation, if not a publisher to boot. Pass that savings on.

Personally, I'm not inclined to buy digital downloads unless there's significant value involved. I mean, I've got well over 100 games in my Steam library, but the only ones I paid retail for are titles that the physical copy authenticates over Steam (Metro 2033, Fallout:NV, Valve games, etc), and the discs are on my shelf.
In that respect, I'd say $15 is about the top end of what I look at outside of compilations. Less for iOS/Android.

Not sure what I'd draw the line at, long-term, if distribution moved to digital only.

[J T]

Manufacturing costs can be cut out via digital distribution, but production costs are where game companies really spend their money.



I don't think it's fair to say you aren't getting your money's worth without a box and manual when the graphics, sound, music, voice talent, and (in some cases) game depth and length are all generally quite high these days.

[isiolia]

I didn't mean to imply that the primary cost comes from that, just more that if a game can cost $50 after being stamped/packaged/shipped/etc and still have a profit margin for the store that sells it to you...then having it still cost the same (or more) when distributed digitally is kind of odd.

For example, the Witcher 2 costs $49.99 from gog.com - which is to say, directly from CD Projekt, as they both produced the game and own the site/service. It's $44.99 for a physical copy on Amazon.com, plus $10 promo credit. Best Buy is/was giving out a $10 gift card with purchase, and so on.
(Just a convenient example, I'm not trying to put CD Projekt down as they're a stellar company)

It's effectively the same complaint that folks have with PSP games on PSN, particularly with regard to the PSPgo. Sony's pricing tends to be relatively static, whereas UMD prices can vary a lot (not to mention that you can get them secondhand).

[Xeogred]

But if I didn't have a choice, I'd pay $20-$30 for a full, modern-era game. And $5-$20 for XBox Live Arcade, WiiWare, and Virtual Console type games, depending on what it is and if it's an original game or re-release and whatnot.

Oh man, I liked when XBLA games were $10 max a few years ago, and now they're all $15. Next thing you know they'll ALL be $20 starting out.