EA's Riccitiello predicts fewer titles per year, harder push for digital distribution

I could understand gifting "used" purchases, but how do you sell back something that's infinite? Gamestop works because there's x number of certain games.

You can always buy each steam game on a separate account and then sell/lend out the account. I dunno, most of the games I buy on steam are heavily discounted, and I only buy games I'm genuinely interested in. So I don't really see the need to sell them. PC gaming has been without a good used market in ages. Even boxed games require online verification and places like game crazy and gamestop don't do used PC games at all.

Give me Crysis 2 ASAP!!!

What'd I say?

i don't know man, i've seen alot of downvotes today that really didn't seem warranted.

But they're not charging for the extra mode in Army of Two: The 40th Day. It can be unlocked on day 1 by those who pre-order the game, but those who don't will have to wait a month until they can get it free. And hey, at least they're better than Activision...

I know what you mean man. I recently got into videogame collecting. I'm buying a huge shelf, and I plan on building up my collection ASAP.

Try and take my physical copies of games... from my cold, dead hands.

Good luck with that... More and more games will require online activation, and you will end up with a disk that can't be played, or will be playable with a severe lack of content.

Good luck for these companies trying to stop an increase in piracy.

i was for digital media but it just doesn't work as smoothly as physical for me. for instance i bought braid on xbla and it will not believe me! its stuck i perpetual loop of unlock the game, (i say ok) it says play now (i say ok) it then goes back the trial game (i cry). if it was a DvD i would pop it in, it would load, i would be happy.

You might just be confusing EA with Activision. EA is much more in touch with the artistic part of games than Devil Corp (it's a shame there isn't anything like Electronic Anti-Christ for Acitivision), aka Activision.

So I'm guessing you missed out on games like Mirrors Edge, Dead Space, and Brutal Legend?

Additionally, what's going to happen to rental models like Gamefly?

DLC is one thing, but I fear I may eventually play many fewer games than I do today if those games become digital distro only. I'm lucky that I've been able to sample as many of today's great games as I have -- and it's largely been due to retailer-specific sales and trades.

Digital Distribution on CONSOLES won't suck. Why?
-So Microsoft, Sony, and Nintendo won't be competing any more if the industry goes digital?
-Competition
-Chances are retailers will be selling download codes which means they'll still discount them if they want to.
-That really isn't a problem unless you're a paranoid nut or you pirate games right now.
-That may be, but it's kind of irrelevant.
I'm not saying there aren't flaws to current digital distribution systems, but if everyone is in on them, they'll change and evolve and those flaws will disappear in due time.

Also, many people use trade-ins to buy even MORE games than they would have. Friend of mine completes a game, trades it into evil Gamestop for for $40, and spends that money buying a NEW game.

I don't mind it as an option, but it is obvious that digital distribution is so that game companies get even more control over their products.

I called it here first. $10 will be added to the cost of games for bandwidth.

You must have a great Gamestop if they're paying $40 for a used game (CoD MW2 *maybe*.) Hell, I doubt they'd even give you that much for a Tony Hawk Ride package at this point.

@DBuck_Eye

- Did you even read it? Microsoft has to compete, yet their games on demand prices are ridiculous. What about exclusives?

-Chances are that they wouldn't. The retailers would suffer if they had to discount game codes which they had to buy at full price.

-Piracy will go up if it is digital distribution only. Conspiracy nut? It is going on right around you. COD4 is still retailing for full price on digital distribution. Games on Demand prices are a prime-example.

In Canada the trade in values seem much higher. I don't use it, but I know many do.

@DBuck Eye - You are forgetting that we Joystiqers are the MINORITY in this industry. The market is set up in such a way that it excludes multi-console owners from the equation. Microsoft, Sony, and Nintendo do NOT have to compete with each others prices for digital content because they know very few people have the choice of which platform to consider the purchase from.

@Dreaded Fear

The only problem with your assumption is it's based on the theory that all games sales are digital only in the future. The digital market will continue to grow but it will co-exist with the physical market for a while now. Otherwise, how will console manufacturers get their systems in the hands of consumers? Why would a retailer sell the system without being able to sell the games which is where most of the markup is? They wouldn't.

Whose to say your concept of digital distribution won't change in the future? Who says systems can't be put in place to lend or sell your games if they are all digital?

The reason digital is going to happen whether you like it or not eventually is because of piracy.

I guess that I'm referring to a time further down the line than everyone else. I'm saying if it gets to the point where a full version of a multi-platform game like Madden is being distributed on all 3 systems, the manufacturers are in competition. And it's not like there is a need to discount exclusives on disks right now either, but they still drop in price eventually.

If it is the way it is now, no one will have a problem. But, it is obvious that is not the case. With the PSP Go, and this general "push" for a digital distribution future, I doubt the plan is to have them co-exist.

Oh, and piracy will still exist if there is digital distribution. Look at Steam only games such as Half-Life 2, TF2, etc... They have all been pirated, and cracked.

How I doth loveth Goozex...

That's a shitty ass excuse to be a thief. If you really collect games then pirating will not add to your collection any more than DD will. You will just be playing a game you have no right to play. If you are that against digital distribution, don't buy games through it. You don't have a god given right to play every game that comes out though, so your pirating is still not justified. Don't try to give off shitty reasons like "the game companies are greedy" or how "they don't listen to their customers" or "I wouldn't have bought it anyways" The only real reason is that you're the one being greedy, taking while giving nothing in return.

"...pirating will not add to your collection any more than DD will." DING DING DING, give the man a cigar. Exactly why I say it will encourage me to pirate.

There's no difference to me in owning a pirated digital copy and a real digital copy. Or you could stop trying to nickel and dime the hardcore gamers and keep the $1.29 worth of packaging and continue to receive my money.

I didn't say pirating was justified, I was just pointing out that once you go digital distribution there is no effective difference in the download process from piracy, except that one link is gonna charge you $60 for it.

Yea, you're right: one link is going to charge you $60.

The other is going to have a virus or just links you to shit like lemon party or meatspin which then formats your hard drive and fries your mother board so at the end of the day the pirated game costs you $1000, and you didn't even get to play the tutorials.

Something else I love doing that I'd like to open your mind to: waiting until demand for a game drops and buying it when it's cheaper. OR, waiting for a sale. I got Bioshock for PC from Steam for $5. And I didn't have to gouge out my eyeballs afterwards for being duped into watching something decidedly homoerotic.

Seems like a win/win to me.

I agree with you, this is just a lude for investors.

** Dangles straws over Riccitiello's head **

Not if you only own a Wii.

The fact that the PSP Go, a new Playstation branded console, will not survive by this time next year kind of says what people want, and that's a fact.

And the XBL, Wiiware, iPhone and DS stores are not a good way to measure sales for they are tiny cheap games, the are not devoting big budgets for them.

Reminds me of the last episode of "The Office"

"Limo's are for people who make the company money, not lose millions and have no plan."

I think you nailed it on the head... We've seen stories on here for quite a while about how publishers are bemoaning the fact that they don't get their cut when a game is bought/sold used.

So now they're going to start pushing this electronic distribution more under the guise of "because YOU demanded it", when it probably has very little to do with there being a great demand for a digitally distributed game.

1. As someone already said, the packaging and distribiution costs pennies anyways, and while digital distribution is a lot cheaper, the bulk of the cost of the game is still development. That said, you say steam doesn't even get this right, but steam has sales every weekend that put any retailers sales to shame.

2. I'm doubtful they have a choice in restricting who can buy what in each country. L4D2 had to be censored in australia, even on steam. I'm sure there are different rules and regulations for each country in order to sell certain games and services. Besides, this is a huge problem with general purchasing, and has nothing to do with the digital distribution space in particular. It may seem easy for valve to open up sales to everyone, but it also seems easy for Nintendo to ship some black wii's to the US along with the white ones.

3. Sharing is a tricky one. With steam you can always share your accounts, and with D2D you can always let someone else download your game and cd key, since it isn't tied to the account and program like steam. Neither is a perfect solution but they both offer some form of flexibility. It's overall the biggest problem with DD since they have to try to provide flexibility while fighting piracy. I really like what Sony does with the PSN. You can have a game on your account and as long as your login information is there you can share the game over 5 ps3's/psn accounts. In this way having a PSN game actually gives you a bit more freedom than a physical copy would, since you can only play your copy of Uncharted 2 on one PS3 at a time.

4. Digital Distributed games aren't going to be any different than physical games are now in this regard. Epic shipped out Gears of War 2 before it was done and it was a buggy mess, but they just had the intention of fixing it later. Now that everything can update over the internet this is going to be a problem, DD or not.