David Braben has attacked the used games market, lamenting the impact that it has on developers, claiming “pre-owned has really killed core games.”
From GI.biz: "David Braben is stepping down as CEO of Frontier Developments, and will be replaced by chief creative officer Jonny Watts.
Braben has been CEO of Frontier since he created the company in 1994 and will remain at the studio as president and founder. The announcement clarified that this is an "executive director position" where Braben will "retain his leadership and vision for Frontier’s strategic direction."
Watts joined Frontier in 1998, first as software developer before moving on to senior production roles, and eventually CCO in 2012. His appointment as CEO is effective immediately."
Hey how about some more support for elite:dangerous? Maybe market it a bit? No? Okay…
The age of physical video games is coming to an end. That's according to David Braben, founder and CEO of Elite Dangerous studio Frontier Developments, who believes the COVID-19 pandemic has accelerated the shift towards digital distribution.
I don't think so. I believe it will go on mostly like it always has... Large market for Physical games and a large market for Digital games. Both will coincide with each other for the foreseeable future.
The death of physical games would give stores like Walmart less incentive to stock and sell consoles.I think their will be 50/50 split between physical and digital copies at least for a while.
It will at the very least, be for the entire next gen. The gen after? Who really knows. But gamers these days, will grow older and still enjoy phyical games just like they do now. That will never change for them.
Im seeing the physical media section at target, best buy and walmart shrinking. That is the entirety of music, movies AND games but the loss isnt stopping them from adding other stuff in the space they gain.
Its been happening for a while now. They still sell tv and players despite the diminishing selection of physical content. They will be fine. Its game specific outlets that you should worry about.
@Darth
TV's and players actually have a reasonable mark up. Maybe not 50-100%, but more than $5-10.
That said, department stores would probably still sell consoles, because there is money to be made off peripherals, and other general things that go along with a console purchase. Generally, games themselves don't have that much of a mark up, but enough that if it's not your primary source of revenue, then it's enough to continue to carry them.
We are going towards a full digital future, with no cash no physical.. Sad times ahead if we don't strongly object.
I don’t buy digital because I like to collect, and download sizes on some games are pretty high. My internet is also overpriced and slow due to living in Canada. Plus, I feel no ownership over digital copies.
I noticed that a lot of kids in high school and middle school tend to have only digital games. However, they don’t actually buy and play many games. Kids often only buy what's trendy and popular.
Some publishers like Activision have tried to push digital by selling discs that essentially useless. I don’t mind the MP of games not being on discs. But missing titles in a collection, or missing campaigns is unacceptable. I still think physical will be around for a while. As used games allow budget gamers to invest in console play. Plus some people like to buy collectors editions. Lastly, all the big publishers still sell physical disks. As physical copies must still generate substantial revenue.
Plus, there have been more and more small publishers filling the void of games that haven't had a physical release. There is obviously demand for it.
I’m a collector too. Plus, there’s the whole delisting issue. There are games I will never get to play because they’ve been delisted. At least I can buy a used preowned copy of a physical game.
This is a joke no matter which metric you use physical sales still account for close to half of the overall sales. People mix digital income with digital sales a lot of these companies are generating a lot of digital income through microtransaction and selling dlc
If digital sales were all that great and by grade I mean closer to 75 to 80%, I am sure Sony would not have delayed the last of us part 2 because they could not launch physical and digital at the same time. Predictions like these have been made before but if you look at it physical sales are not going anywhere
this is the same sort of prediction where somebody will come out and say this is the last generation of consoles
Even if the physical sales only account for 25 to 30% down the road that is still 25 to 30% more revenue that the publishers will not give up on just so they can go digital. and right now there's no benefit for going digital you pay the same price If digital was 10 to $15 cheaper it would be one thing but it's still the same price
Until digital game prices come down, which they won't, I will never fully commit to digital unless on sale.
Here in the UK a game can be bought £15-20 cheaper physical than from a digital store. Getting rid of physical would also eliminate competitive pricing, meaning we'd be forced to pay full RRP off the consoles store.
There is not enough incentive for people to go digital over Physical, they either bring the price of digital down or add more value to digital by giving free content if you get the digital, until one or both of those things happen digital and physical will just co-exist because right now physical has too much value, like being able to sell it if you don't like the game....
If digital was $50 bucks it would make a lot more people just go digital..
People been saying this since Xbox live open on consoles and will keep been said at the start of many generations to come for as long as there’s data caps from internet service providers and games with 50+ gig on size and patchings on the gig + size it won’t happen
Oh I also forgot price as long as digital cost the same as physical therapy no reason to switch
I personally, went all digital back in 2007. My brother on the other hand ONLY buys physical. I have over 300+ digital games on the xbox ecosystem, he has 0. I can see both living on for a long while.
WOW. That's what I heard 7 years ago.
I guess if they keep saying it, eventually they'll be right. Maybe.
Replies(3)
Fact: Digital games sales continue to rise while physical sales continue to fall
Fact: COVID-19 pushed a lot of people that had not bought digital before to buying digital during the shutdown.
Fact: There are a few companies within probably 1-5 years that will have full low latency satellite internet up and running which will allow everyone to get broadband internet access anywhere.
Fact: Retail purchasing continues to be in decline, and online purchasing continues to rise in almost every retail segment.
Fact: Gamestop is shutting down stores, not adding new stores because physical game sales don't justify the retail footprint they have.
I don't think physical game sales are only about 3 years from extinction but, they are on the path to extinction. The only thing constant in the gaming world is everything continues to change, and in reality no one can predict where it is going fully.
Fact: Physical game sales, at least on consoles, still make up about 70% of all sales.
Fact: Not having physical copies would remove a lot of potential customers.
Fact: Retail purchasing isn't continuing to decline.
Fact: Game revenue as a whole, including physical, is on the rise, and has been all generation.
Fact: Pundits like these have been calling the death of physical, and the death of all sorts of other things, for years now, and have constantly been proven wrong.
Fact: Some people seem to be all for the death of physical for some reason, and then go and make up facts to try and push the narrative for not reason that is obviously beneficial to them whatsoever.
You do know that music LPs are still available to buy to play on record players and I remember those from the 80s. Physical media isn’t going anywhere. Your singing the same song that’s been sung for the past 10 years.
Companies want digital because they want full control of their distribution. Technically, this means that if a company wants to keep a game at full price they can, plus they won’t lose money on preowned games. It’s all greed. And their capitalizing on young people’s impressionable minds and older people’s extreme laziness.
@rainslacker
I don't know where you get your physical vs difgitial sales numbers... But Sony, stated in July 2019 that digital overtook retail in their Q1 earnings...
https://www.ccn.com/playsta...
@CobraKai
I don't think physical will disappear anytime in the next three years as stated. Yes, there will always be a niche buying physical but that niche will fall more and more and as it has with records become more and more expensive.
It's still exaggerated to say it's going to be replaced that soon(at least in the console space), but there's no denying the transition that we've seen in the last decade.
Consoles are the only holdout preventing the full transition to digital. Even then, the numbers over the last decade can't be denied.
We see consoles only make up a 1/3 of the gaming market. We're to the point now where there's already a 50/50 split in digital vs. physical. When we got the stats last year that total market split is 83% digital and 17% physical, that 17% is the console physical market.
Those numbers aren't being ignored by pubs, execs, and shareholders. When it is easier, cheaper, and more profitable for them to go digital, do we really wonder why we keep hearing about these predictions?
I don't know how many people would have believed that Sony would see digital outsell physical at any point this gen, but it just happened last year. There's no denying the transition that we've seen.
It 88gvbbybbbh uu j
I'm aware of the report of digital game sales that you're referring to, from last fiscal year as I recall. It was one of the first that addressed actual physical unit sales, instead of the typical revenue method that had been used for years by publishers who wanted to push the digital narrative.
But, that report also included DLC sales, and it wasn't just full games, so the numbers are still skewed....especially since those things aren't available physically.
The graph also doesn't break down the differences in size or type of game, as some of Sony's, or other publishers reports also put physical copies of their big games at a much higher percentage.
I don't contest that digital game sales and revenue are on the rise overall. Only this notion that they are overtaking physical, or that physical's demise is immenent....and 2-3 year claims like this have always been laughable. Maybe if they just said sometime in the future, because logically, 2-3 years means that 2-3 years into a new gen, companies are just going to stop releasing physical games on a mass scale.
It's about time game physicals are ending. A weird practice. Why do I got to let every Gamestop employee cup my balls before a transaction can be completed? Probably why no one buys there anymore...
Gamestop isn't the only retailer available. Digital version is the inferior product. It costs more and you get less as a customer.
dude, I have lost all faith in humanity. The aliens might as well end us now. IT WAS A JOKE. It is sad that I have to spell it out for you all. Physical games= game on media that exists in real world, game physicals= getting a medical checkup to buy games.
Wait, so you want it to go digital only, and yet you still go to gamestop when you literally have the option of digital downloads? so you go to the store, hate it, but a game, but dont agree in it, and you have your favoritable option of digital download all the time......makes zero sense
Wrong. At least 10 years for complete disappearance or there will be no disk tray in 10th gen gaming console
Very weird thing to say when both next-gen consoles have disc drives. Obviously not going to be true.
Microsoft launched the Xbox One S All-Digital console a year or two ago and it was a remarkable success so....
/s
Frontier CEO David Braben said that the company's next game will be unveiled between late 2018 and early 2019. Elite is also to be updated with "exciting" things, both free and paid.
Look forward to it -- not all of Frontier's games have been great, but they're usually at least interesting/ambitious.
Well its develoers responsibility to make single player games with enough depth, length, and replay value so players keep them for a while.
If theie is no reason to keep playing then of course gamers are going to trade there game back in.
who is this guy? a nobody who is jealous that nobody remembers anything he ever did gamewise
Pre-owned has killed core games? Give me an effin break!
YOU developers and YOUR publishers are killing core games by your nickel and dime tactics. Tactics like locking content on discs until we pay for an unlock key. Tactics like Day 1 DLC! Tactics like rehashing sequel after sequel with very little improvement.
Lazy & Greedy developers/publishers are killing core titles. I'm sick of hearing developers playing the victim card. When they screw us, they don't give a damn but we should suddenly shed a tear for them. Give me a break!
i haven't bought one used game im a pc gamer.
Waaaaaa, nobody wants to spend $60 on our shitty game! Waaaa!
Start making better games and we'll start buying them day one. Plain and simple.
The excuse of oh well we need day one purchases in order to do that doesn't apply, when every game out there has DLC.