Is buying video games coming to an end?

Is buying video games dead?

Not to sound too old but ‘back in my day’ a big video game release would be met with loads of people gathering outside Game ready for the midnight release so they could be one of the first to get their hands on the game. Nowadays as I am waiting another 15 days (on the day of publishing) for FIFA 23 to be released I have it pre-ordered and scheduled to be downloaded onto my computer - ready to be played. Even though I have purchased a version of this game to keep, the entire concept of purchasing games is potentially soon to be a thing of the past.

Streaming platforms

In the same year I was born, Netflix was founded (yes Netflix has been more successful than me in the last 25 years but roll on the next). Netflix and similar businesses were significant contributors in blockbusters demise. Although Netflix began as a DVD rental company, they later adapted into a streaming platform. Blockbusters began monthly subscriptions to a wide variety of content rather than purchasing/renting singular episodes/movies etc. In 2014, Blockbuster found itself hitting rock bottom – almost hand in hand the concept of renting a DVD followed it. Could this be a trend for the gaming market to come?

The modern-day video game comparison is in the rise of Xbox/ PC game pass and PlayStation Plus Extra and Premium. Very similar to Netflix taking over market domination from Blockbuster, no longer are people going into a physical store and deciding about what they want to play later. They are now scrolling through and selecting there and then. It is easier, there is more choice and all in all it works out cheaper.

Currently, large AAA games such as Call of Duty do not get released on these streaming platforms straight away. FIFA 22 was included around 10 months after the game had been released and during the ‘dead’ phase of the game life cycle. Whether this was added to test the water of Xbox game pass popularity or to try boost the number of players whilst on a decline, I couldn’t say. It could very much be the case that we start seeing large title games being introduced earlier on to game streaming platforms, rather than having for fork out around ￡60 each game.

F2P and microtransactions

In 2020 the video games industry was worth around $140 billion. Just over half of this was made up of mobile games which are often free to play if not just a couple of pounds each. Even the highest grossing video game of 2020 - Call of Duty Modern Warzone and its free to play mode, Warzone, has amassed earnings of $4 billon through people purchasing skins for guns, characters etc. Similarly, Pokémon Go made $1.23 billion in revenue in 2020 (4 years after the game was originally released and the huge hype around the game). Are people more likely to spend on in game transactions if they don’t pay anything for the game? Is it simply because it only takes a couple clicks to purchase something rather than going in store? Is it simply that there is more to offer now in terms of customisation?

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Practicality

I have partially touched on this earlier but now I am comparing what is more practical. Obviously, it is so much easier to simply download a game on your computer, you can even leave it downloading as you go to the shops. Nowadays, with the size of modern games, it requires a download even when you buy the physical copy of the game so what is the need?

For me personally, I would prefer to have my games linked to my account rather than simply relying on me to look after an easily scratchable disk. I can upgrade my PC components and not worry about whether my games will be compatible. When upgrading from a PS4 to PS5 all those games you enjoyed playing and spent your money on are now no longer playable on your leading-edge technology.

Again, touching on how much space some games now take up on hard drives, game pass users are still limited to how much they can spend on storage for all these online downloads. Especially with warzone coming in at over 50GB of storage it wouldn’t be possible for me to download every game at my disposal without splashing out on more storage. Although this is still true of games in which you purchase up front, but when spending ￡60 on a new game each time it is more than likely that the number of games people purchase, and store takes up less space.

Another argument for digital downloads of games rather than purchasing full games/ disks is the simple fact that Sony will charge you more money to have the honour of putting a disk in your console. The disk version of the PS5 comes out more expensive than the digital version. I get this makes sense as you ultimately get more hardware but for the gamer on a budget this seems an obvious place to save money and spend on actual games.?