To anyone who reads my blog, I’m sure you've noticed that I try to keep my posts brief and succinct in order to keep them interesting. I know that many of my thoughts and opinions are generalizations, but I feel that the generalizations are usually necessary for the sake of brevity. So I thank you, my readers, for additional grace in allowing me to make generalizations, even though there are undoubtedly certain unique situations in which my blanketed opinions may alter from what I have stated.
The current generation of video game consoles offers the option to download games directly onto the system. I have purchased many games this way over the last few years, as there are a lot that can only be purchased digitally.
However, it has recently become common practice to release full games in the digital store for the same price as the local brick-and-mortar stores. This seems silly to me. Why would I purchase a digital game for the same price as a physical copy when I wouldn’t be able to resell it? Digital games also take up more space on the system’s hard drive. Publishers are able to save a nice chunk of change by distributing digitally because production and shipping costs are virtually zero. But they need to do a better job incentivizing me to purchase content digitally by offering a significant enough discount to warrant giving up the opportunity to resell the game down the road. Oddly enough, it is the physical copies that can be purchased at deep discounts just weeks after a game’s release. Go figure. |