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Wednesday, September 03, 2008

Coming soon - The death of the video game store - the future of video game distribution

http://gamezplay.blogspot.com end of video games stores
Coming soon - The death of the video game store - the future of video game distribution

With high speed broadband connections all major consoles now support online stores and download-able content, patches and updates - games stores days are numbered.

The need to produce game disks, boxes, instruction booklets, damage returns, transport, storage - it all adds to the cost of making and distributing games. The games companies now see an easy way to cut ALL of this OUT and get straight to 'you' their customer.

This has an added benefit - one that the industry has long been unhappy about...

The big games companies are hacked off at the second hand games market - they get NO returns from the sale of their games in this process. 

So how do they cut ALL this out and make more money in the process? - Easy...

Distribute their games online only, as downloads, straight away you stop them being sold second, third or even fourth hand - win!

Sell add-ons and updates online - plus they have the ability to patch games - another win!

Add the savings in packaging, distribution and other costs and it's another - win!

Very difficult to pirate games they can send kill commands to illegal games or stop them playing online.

So what's to lose - nothing - it's a win, win situation.

That's why the big players are seriously looking at the online distribution model.

Add to that the fact that you can play online with others across the globe which allows the companies to check your game ownership and keep statistics about your gaming habits and what you like and dislike playing.

As World of Warcraft has shown, the added value of online gaming is massive and the big players want their share.

The Next PlayStation 3, Xbox 360 or Nintendo Wii game may only be available as a download - they may pass on some of the savings to the gamer.

Mark my works here on gamezplay.org I've seen the future and the future of gaming is online downloads so enjoy your local game shop while you can.

Have your own opinion on this I'd love the hear them? 

Why not email me here gamezblog@gmail.com