Will Hard Copy Games Disappear?
It is obvious to every gamer that physical copies of games, on disks, are becoming more and more rare. There is, since the rapid of advancement of Internet speeds, less and less reason to buy a physical copy of a game. Buying a game online, and downloading it, is infinitely more convenient, especially given the lightening fast Internet speeds available.
But does this mean that physical copies of games are set to disappear completely? Is the era of walking into a video game store and browsing physical copies set to vanish completely, leaving us with only the option to purchase games online, and never have a hard copy of the game? For the most part, it seems that future is going that way. But what about collectors editions and other such concepts?
The Internet Is The Future
Virtually every region in the world now has access to fast Internet speeds making playing at NZ casinos online possible from just about everywhere . These connections are also fast enough that downloading an average video game is not much of a hassle. Assuming that a video game download is about 40GB, and an average internet connection these days is, at the least, 10 megabits per second, it will only be required to wait a few hours while the game downloads. Or overnight. But most prefer this option to having to drive to a shop, pick up a disk, drive back home, insert the disk, and install the game manually. Plus, physical disks run a risk of getting scratched and damaged, which all but ruins the copy permanently.
Online distributors also have the benefit of of offering exceptionally good deals on games, made possible by the fact that at online distributor does not have to worry about the costs of shipping physical copies. In other words; there are very few benefits to physical copies at all, in fact almost none. An online alternative is simply the obvious choice and even if it doesn’t stop a game from crashing, it will have a far smaller price tag attached..
Physical Is Premium
A new trend, however, has seen that collector’s editions, or premium editions of games, are only available as physical media. These versions of modern games often come with other special items with the copy of the game, such as action figures, maps, and other novelty items. The cost of this copy of the game will generally be a great deal more than the digital download, but comes with the prestige of being bought only by gamers who consider themselves enthusiasts.
For this reason it seems like physical copies will never be entirely obsolete, but perhaps geared only towards those who are willing to pay extra. In some cases, the premium physical copy of a game will still require information to be downloaded before the game works, meaning that the benefit of the physical copy lies only in the extra items included. Either way, many top AAA games still release premium physical copies, which prove to be popular, depending on the status of the game franchise.
What does seem to be likely, however, is that many modern games will stop releasing standard physical copies, in favour of easier, cheaper, and more convenient digital options.
Editorial Staff