News & Rumours: Playstation 4/ Orbis *spin*

[Cjail]

I wonder why demand for DD is so low then...

Well first DD is relatively new for consoles and its popularity has grown only in recent years and yet it's not at PC levels. There are not 60 million customers ready to buy digitally on consoles.
Also at today either console players hate the idea of buying/going online or can't buy online because have poor internet connection (consoles are still very much used offline for these two reasons) or, in the PS Store case, DD is painfully slow/unreliable and so ultimately buying online isn't really a viable/convenient/practical option regardless of the current prices.

On PC DD is instead a well established reality that has cemented over the last decade at least.
Also the customers mindset is different and the majority of players don't see DD as a bad thing.
Plus most PC players have adequate internet connection and Steam surely provides better/faster more reliable DD than the PS Store.

 

[Shifty Geezer]

Well first DD is relatively new for consoles...

I was being sarcastic. With £60 games on DD versus £30-40 for disks, it's flippin' obvious download isn't going to be popular! If the publishers are waiting for DD to become popular before dropping prices, it'll never happen.

 

[Grall]

Publishers really shouldn't push for DD, they need games stores to prosper, but the more DD they sell the harder it will be for games stores to survive. DD = shortsighted foot-shooting.

 

[SlimJim]

I was being sarcastic. With £60 games on DD versus £30-40 for disks, it's flippin' obvious download isn't going to be popular! If the publishers are waiting for DD to become popular before dropping prices, it'll never happen.

Think of the bigger picture, publishers might not want a DD only -world. As it is now, publishers sell stock to physical stores, I believe they make more on less successful titles if they sell it to stores, versus only 1000 people buying it online

 

[DuckThor Evil]

Perhaps Microsoft is giving few of these publishers preferential treatment with regards to royalty payments in some markets.

 

[Cjail]

I was being sarcastic. With £60 games on DD versus £30-40 for disks, it's flippin' obvious download isn't going to be popular! If the publishers are waiting for DD to become popular before dropping prices, it'll never happen.

Well but this is the first time that a game cost this much on the PS Store.
It's not the norm.
Usually games are at £49 on the PS Store (which is till £10-15 more than some online stores) but DD popularity is growing in the UK and in EU even if the prices are higher.

Of course lowering prices would attract even more customers to DD but that alone is not enough.
Games could cost £34 on the PS store but if it takes several hours or even a day to download a game then it won't still be as convenient as buying a physical copy.

 

[Arwin]

Perhaps Microsoft is paying for online servers for one, and not for the other? Or eating the download bandwidth costs, and Sony isn't? A deal with Amazon perhaps, experimenting with allowing the games to be bought for less money there? They expect people to pay more for digital downloads because they can also use remote play on Vita? All of the above? Scared that you can play your games on any PS4 if you use your primary account? Etc. Would be interesting to find out the reason though.

High prices for digital downloads is nothing new, unfortunately. Hopefully this will pass eventually. I am in the camp of wanting more digital downloads for online games and Vita remote play.

 

[Cjail]

Well EA just cut game prices by £3
Still it would be nice to know why EA is asking more on PS4.

Edit

I just took a look a the EU Prices.
Shadow Fall is now are at €59,99 on the PS Store while Amazon.de is selling it for €69,99 and Amazon.it for €65.
Amazon France is selling Shadow Fall for €55 though.
In the UK Shadow Fall it's around £47-50 everywhere online which at current £ to € rate exchange is about €59-60.
Also Knack is at €59,99 onthe PS Store.

Assassin's Creed, FIFA, BF 4, COD Ghosts are all at €69,99 on the PS Store so really Sony is asking less for its game in EU than third party publishers.

 

[Arwin]

Yeah, it's still 5 quid difference, which is quite a lot. I know there was a difference of a few euros more for Playstation games at some point in the stores as well though.

 

[Cjail]

Yeah £59,99 is still lot but really I am now buying Shadow Fall form the EU PS Store because it isn't significantly more expensive than buying it from my chosen UK online retailer and it's no doubt faster.

Edit.
Sony games price on the PS Store in UK are is in line with GAME.co.uk prices.

 

[Arwin]

Killzone is a Sony published title, not EA, so that should help.

I think if I end up playing a lot of Killzone MP I will regret getting the disc version, but I got it in the bundle and I always like to have at least one game as a disc anyway. You never know how hard it will be to download anything on Friday.

Three more days! Excite.

 

[Shifty Geezer]

Yeah £59,99 is still lot but really I am now buying Shadow Fall form the EU PS Store because it isn't significantly more expensive than buying it from my chosen UK online retailer and it's no doubt faster.

Edit.
Sony games price on the PS Store in UK are is in line with GAME.co.uk prices.

GAME sells at RRP, same as the download store. ShopTo and Amazon are often cheaper. eg.

ShopTo
Shadow Fall = £55
FIFA = £48

And regardless of the disc vs. download difference, why the XB1 versus PS4 price difference?

 

[Cjail]

And regardless of the disc vs. download difference, why the XB1 versus PS4 price difference?

You mean for EA games!?
Well I frankly can't explain it.
Maybe, crazy theory incoming, MS asked/payed EA to keep PS4 prices higher to give XBO an advantage in the Uk, which is Xbox "stronghold" in the EU.
Xbox first party titles in UK are cheaper than Sony first party titles but that could due to the fact that the XBO is more expensive than PS4 and so it makes sense to have cheaper games...or simply MS is more aggressive with its pricing because it's smarter.

Now I checked and EU EA game cost the same on PS4 and XBO.
BF 4, to name one, on the MS Store is at €69,99 same as BF 4 on the PS Store.
Ryse, DR3, Forza too cost €69,99 so they are more expensive than Shadow Fall or Knack on the PS Store in EU.

 

[Arwin]

If you want a crazy theory, how about NSA foots part of the bill, so that US companies will be more successful in Europe, so that spying for them becomes easier ...

 

[Nesh]

If you want a crazy theory, how about NSA foots part of the bill, so that US companies will be more successful in Europe, so that spying for them becomes easier ...

Well.....there were other similar stories leaked in wikileaks. Services using corporations to "invade" into other countries' economy, political scene etc has been a pretty common and successfull tactic for a very long time. Doesnt mean this is the same case with the price difference though. Although it does sound like product subsidization

 

[baten]

Sony is the middleman. DD is about becoming the primary retailer not eliminating the middleman.

The infrastructure doesn't come free and it provides value through convenience. Its not like you can lose a title and go to Game Stop and get another copy. 100% availability 100% of the time is also not a reality in traditional retail.

Its all about maximizing profits as Sony is a business. Maybe the model will change but thats dependent on how the market will react. And there is nothing to say that the console market is anything like the PC market.

Furthermore, Valve doesn't have to maintain a relationship with other retailers. Sony may be giving preference to outside retailers during release while providing an DD sales opportunity post release after enough time has past where the DD sales don't affect retailer sales.

All the points you make a perfectly valid. Sony is a middleman here and has some costs - however, these costs are far less than the ones of the retail chain, and Sony is already making money on the licensing, so they could ask for less.

Convenience is in the eye of the consumer. For some, DD could be cumbersome, and for others the fact that they cannot resell the game once done is the primary deterrent.

It seems that there is no real push for DD from either Sony nor MS, I venture to guess this is because they still need the retail chain to move the consoles. It would be great if you could DD also the console. Well, maybe with the new 3D printers, one day...

 

[Cjail]

Honest question: does anyone know how much DD cost to Sony?

 

[patsu]

It should be confidential to Sony.

At this point, they are probably still investing in the infrastructure since they want to rollout Gaikai next year.

 

[patsu]

I wonder why demand for DD is so low then...

May be draconian DRM, closed platform, download size, and cost ?

 

[Arwin]

Sony has stated many times now that publishers can set their own prices (and the consumer must decide whether the price is worth it).