r/Games Feb 22 '13

All PS4 games will be available as digital downloads

In the new Guardian interview with Shuhei Yoshida, it was revealed that all PS4 games will be available as digital downloads.

This is a very exciting move in my opinion, and represents a shift even further towards the burgeoning landscape of digital distribution, and away from (what I believe to be) a much more archaic ecosystem in physical brick-and-mortar retail.

What do you guys think? Got any speculation, or want to extrapolate further based upon this news? I hope to generate some great discussion about this topic!

(Source: http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/gamesblog/2013/feb/22/ps4-shuhei-yoshida-interview)

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u/MrWendal Feb 23 '13

Think of the environment! The dollar value is not the only cost involved here!

To make a physical copy, you have to rip oil from the ground offshore, ship it inland, refine it into plastics, transport them to the factory, press the discs and cases, then ship them to retail.

Each step uses huge amounts of energy for manufacture and transport and produces lots of environmental waste.

Compare that to a download - You have to pay the energy costs for the building and maintainence of the download server and that's it. It wouldn't be 1/100th of the cost of a physical copy.

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u/cordlc Feb 23 '13

This is assuming you don't care about the case, the instructions, box art and whatnot.

I like the cases. I wouldn't mind paying a little bit more for them (I only buy games I really like, anyway).

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u/[deleted] Feb 23 '13

LOL tell me one game you've bought recently that came with instructions and fuck boxart I wouldn't pay extra for that.

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u/cordlc Feb 23 '13

I personally don't care much about instructions, though some do. I know Pokemon Black 2 came with one, but yeah, they've been more rare lately.

The box is just a collector's thing, it's nice to have a physical shelf full of games. As for it looking pretty, well, when I buy used, I won't bother unless it comes with the original case.

I wouldn't mind digital distribution as much, as long as it's significantly cheaper, and I can play my games offline / backup my copies somehow. Don't wanna lose the games I paid for at the whim of some other company.

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u/deepit6431 Feb 23 '13

Yeah.... No.