Prices of next-gen games

Lumstorm

Amazon removed books of people's kindles a few years ago. This year Disney removed Christmas movies from peoples libraries to ensure that their bought films couldn't be watched over Christmas and made the films exculsive to their cable channel. http://boingboing.net/2013/12/15/amazon-takes-away-access-to-pu.html. I also forgot to point out that Nintendos 3DS has digital downloads but no account so break the 3DS and your games will be gone as they are linked to one console.

Johnmcl7

donnajunkie wrote: »

i am pretty sure i saw something that said a large percentage of console owners rarely play online. multiplayer has a limited life in a game. its not just the server being turned off like someone else mentioned. people eventually stop playing. for example how many people play uncharted 2 multiplayer now? anyone that plays uncharted will be playing uncharted 3 and that will die when the next game in the series comes out. thankfully they both have good campaigns.

Plenty of people play online, the PS3 and Xbox 360 brought multiplayer gaming into the mainstream and there's large numbers of people playing on both services. Multiplayer services usually have a far longer life than a single player as people can enjoy playing the same content many times over because it's always different with other people whereas single player content is much more limited as it can't be enjoyed repeatedly the same way.

Uncharted isn't a multiplayer game, it may have multiplayer features but the focus is very much the single player. Multiplayer servers will be kept on while the game is popular and for some games that can mean many, many years giving games life far beyond their single player although many popular multiplayer titles don't have a single player at all or just a token system for single player to function as a tutorial. On Steam for example, which is one of the biggest PC platforms the current second most played game is Team Fortress 2 which was launched six years ago, I know some people who are about to hit 10,000 hours playing it. Incredibly the original Counterstrike is still in the top ten (and was regularly still in the top three last year) despite being 14 years old now and having had several sequels.

John

donnajunkie

ifstar wrote: »

If you buy the game via download then it will be available to you if your console dies or there is a serious fault as you would be able to download it again as it is linked to your account.

If the price for downloads drops to be a decent bit lower than physical media then I'd definitely buy it but they would need to find the correct price point since you can't sell it onwards.

Customers will adapt, in much the same way music lovers have. How often do people buy CD's anymore compared to digital downloads? It must be easily 5+ years for me since I last bought one and that was most likely as a gift.

if it will be available to download again for as long as you want to play the game then fine. you would also need a massive hard drive if all your games were downloads. even without downloads the current ps4 hard drive is not big enough. cod alone needs a minimum of 49gb.
as far as music goes i have never bought a download and never will. if they go download only they will lose my custom. same goes for games.

Johnmcl7

I'm quite happy to use digital downloads if the price is right as there's no resale value in the item, frequently I find digital prices are ridiculous - despite the fact the seller has saved costs in packaging, distribution etc. and the fact the product can't be sold on again, the standard costs for digital products rarely passes these savings on.

Most of my games are bought digitally these days through Steam but only because through the Steam sales they're sold at 50-75% off and I can easily back up the content. I rarely buy any digital content for the consoles as the price is too high and I was completely against the Xbox One being digital only for this reason (as well as some of the ridiculous check in requirements). Yes, you can get occasional deals on the retail points cards but it's rarely more than a few pounds off whereas with retail disc game releases you can normally get far more substantial discounts.

John

donnajunkie

Johnmcl7 wrote: »

Plenty of people play online, the PS3 and Xbox 360 brought multiplayer gaming into the mainstream and there's large numbers of people playing on both services. Multiplayer services usually have a far longer life than a single player as people can enjoy playing the same content many times over because it's always different with other people whereas single player content is much more limited as it can't be enjoyed repeatedly the same way.

Uncharted isn't a multiplayer game, it may have multiplayer features but the focus is very much the single player. Multiplayer servers will be kept on while the game is popular and for some games that can mean many, many years giving games life far beyond their single player although many popular multiplayer titles don't have a single player at all or just a token system for single player to function as a tutorial. On Steam for example, which is one of the biggest PC platforms the current second most played game is Team Fortress 2 which was launched six years ago, I know some people who are about to hit 10,000 hours playing it. Incredibly the original Counterstrike is still in the top ten (and was regularly still in the top three last year) despite being 14 years old now and having had several sequels.

John

yes plenty play online. i never disputed that. i simply pointed out plenty dont also. if you havent played a game for a couple of years you can go back to the campaign. you cant go back to the multiplayer if the server is off or if no-one is playing it anymore. a campaign only gets boring if you are continually playing it. i have played through all of my games at least 3 or 4 times. how many copies do multiplayer only games sell compared to others? its a myth that all people care about is multiplayer.
uncharted 2 and 3 are just as much multiplayer games as something like cod. the campaigns being known for being of particular high quality has made you think thats the focus. the focus of any game is the bit that the buyer wants to play the most whether that be the campaign or the multiplayer. its only the first uncharted that isnt multiplayer.

Johnmcl7

donnajunkie wrote: »

yes plenty play online. i never disputed that. i simply pointed out plenty dont also. if you havent played a game for a couple of years you can go back to the campaign. you cant go back to the multiplayer if the server is off or if no-one is playing it anymore. a campaign only gets boring if you are continually playing it. i have played through all of my games at least 3 or 4 times. how many copies do multiplayer only games sell compared to others? its a myth that all people care about is multiplayer.
uncharted 2 and 3 are just as much multiplayer games as something like cod. the campaigns being known for being of particular high quality has made you think thats the focus. the focus of any game is the bit that the buyer wants to play the most whether that be the campaign or the multiplayer. its only the first uncharted that isnt multiplayer.

No-one is claiming people only care about multiplayer but you were claiming most people play single player only and not multiplayer which is most certainly not true based on actual numbers, even Nintendo are embracing online multiplayer services. If the multiplayer game is a decent one, it's likely the servers are still on and people are still playing it. This year I've been playing the original Doom in multiplayer and that's a 20 year old game.

The Uncharted games are not as much multiplayer games as the likes of CoD, BF, CS, TF2, DOTA2 etc. you've proved repeatedly from your own posts why they're not. You seem to be basing your views on multiplayer from a single player orientated game series which I assume is why you have such a mistaken impression. Uncharted has as token multiplayer component which like other games of its type, dies off quickly because no-one is really bothered about it - people play the game for the single player. A decent multiplayer game will usually last for many years as people will want to keep on playing it.

John

donnajunkie

Johnmcl7 wrote: »

No-one is claiming people only care about multiplayer but you were claiming most people play single player only and not multiplayer which is most certainly not true

i suggest you read again because i never said that. i said a large number of people dont play multiplayer.

donnajunkie

Johnmcl7 wrote: »

If the multiplayer game is a decent one, it's likely the servers are still on and people are still playing it. This year I've been playing the original Doom in multiplayer and that's a 20 year old game.

i've tried it myself going back to older games that some of which have since had sequels and i struggled to get a decent game. if you arent fussy about what game mode you play or what the other players are like then it is probably a little easier to get a decent game.

donnajunkie

Johnmcl7 wrote: »

The Uncharted games are not as much multiplayer games as the likes of CoD, BF, CS, TF2, DOTA2 etc. you've proved repeatedly from your own posts why they're not. You seem to be basing your views on multiplayer from a single player orientated game series which I assume is why you have such a mistaken impression. Uncharted has as token multiplayer component which like other games of its type, dies off quickly because no-one is really bothered about it - people play the game for the single player. A decent multiplayer game will usually last for many years as people will want to keep on playing it.

uncharted 2 multiplayer only started to die after uncharted 3 came out. alot of people are still playing uncharted 3 online. i bet it is hard to get a decent game on halo 3 now.

Johnmcl7

donnajunkie wrote: »

i suggest you read again because i never said that. i said a large number of people dont play multiplayer.

I read it correctly - this is your own post which you've then based your further posts on:

i am pretty sure i saw something that said a large percentage of console owners rarely play online

Regardless of your experiences and beliefs of multiplayer, it is where the money tends to be now (Blizzard have made a fortune from subscription based online gaming) and it's most certainly not the case that most console players don't go online. One of the advantages for publishers with multiplayer is much better piracy control, single player games are easier to pirate because they can be kept offline but it's much more difficult with multiplayer games. Even single player games such as Sim City have dubious multiplayer components to justify the forced always online system.

John