Do downloaded games have value?

[VideoGameCritic]

I've been doing a little research on DRM, and something occurred to me.  Downloaded games are convenient and enjoyable, but they have no intrinsic value. 

When you buy a game at a real store, you might be planning to keep it forever (if you're a collector) or sell it eventually (if you're a casual player).  I keep my games, but my friend Eric sells his on Ebay after he gets tired of them.  Either way, your games are worth something.  Gamestop's whole business model is based on this (for better or worse).

I have a sizeable collection that's probably worth quite a bit of money (on Ebay at least).  I don't plan on selling, but I will always have that option.  Old games tend to fetch quite a bit, especially if they are in good condition.  Now, if I had a large collection of downloaded games on my Xbox 360, would they be worth anything at all?

It seems to me that DRM discourages collectors, and probably limits the number of games people buy in general.  For example, all the people I know with fancy phones have games, but only two or three.  They would never sink much money into those games, because they know they'll have a new phone in six months.

I'd like to hear your views on this.

[Steve1]

Depends on your definition of value. If I continually play downloaded games and/or content as opposed to rarely if ever playing the physical copy, then the downloaded game has more value potentially - even if the physical game is re-sold. Bottom line is that it depends on what you get out of it.

[OrangeStorm]

I agree w/ you, but I'm afraid we're alone. I think the whole video game industry will someday go to downloadable only. Programmers & the like are all for it, because it reduces cost & increases profit.

You just said how empty the Konami Classics were. Someday we may look back & wish we could get hard coppies of games like that again.

I'm just hopping that hackers will find a way to convert downloadable content onto discs so the industry can't go downloadable only.  

[Bikeage]

Value is such a subjective term. I've spent hundreds on VC and WiiWare. Is my Wii any more valuable? Not really. The odds of me getting nearly what i've put into it are low if I tried to sell it on Craigslist or Ebay, but it has so much value to me that selling it would be a last resort. 

Will these games stay on my Wii forever? Who knows, I may not be here tomorrow. I have faith that the system will be supported for the next decade or so, and that by the time Nintendo screws it over i'll be an old man and have more pressing matters to deal with, like dying.

It's all about convenience. I can download out of print and in some cases extremely hard to find games in seconds, rather than scour second hand stores and Ebay. Yes, you do lose the aspect of resale value. But in my experience as a collector of comic books, other than to make a huge profit, I only sell to physically reduce my collection. Meaning that the downloaded games are attractive because they don't take up valuable space.

[Oltobaz1]

Say, you want to sell your Wii, you're supposed to delete all your downloaded contents! Technically, you're paying for games you don't fully own.
Now, that kind of sucks if you're the seller type...
As a big collector myself, I wouldn't spare with any of my collection anyways,
so having that option hardly matters, and, as an avid gamer, I agree with others and find that many of the better games are coming out on Drm right now.
That sucks as collecting goes, but, if you enjoy gaming, you just can't ignore Drm...
That said, I remember seeing a hardcopy of Megaman 9 (Ps3 version I think)
on the Internet when the game came out. This was produced in limited numbers,
and originally adressed to journalists, if my memory serves me right. It was expensive, but may be worth your tracking it down, Dave!

[Atarifever1]

[QUOTE=The Video Game Critic]I've been doing a little research on DRM, and something occurred to me.  Downloaded games are convenient and enjoyable, but they have no intrinsic value. 

When you buy a game at a real store, you might be planning to keep it forever (if you're a collector) or sell it eventually (if you're a casual player).  I keep my games, but my friend Eric sells his on Ebay after he gets tired of them.  Either way, your games are worth something.  Gamestop's whole business model is based on this (for better or worse).

I have a sizeable collection that's probably worth quite a bit of money (on Ebay at least).  I don't plan on selling, but I will always have that option.  Old games tend to fetch quite a bit, especially if they are in good condition.  Now, if I had a large collection of downloaded games on my Xbox 360, would they be worth anything at all?

It seems to me that DRM discourages collectors, and probably limits the number of games people buy in general.  For example, all the people I know with fancy phones have games, but only two or three.  They would never sink much money into those games, because they know they'll have a new phone in six months.

I'd like to hear your views on this.
[/QUOTE]

They have no value outside of their use.  As a collector, they don't appleal to me.  As a game player, they often appeal to me quite a bit.  That means a company usually has to hit the "sweet spot" with pricing for me.  Worms Armaggedon 2 on the 360 is 400 points, which the MS points converter tells me is $6.40 Canadian.  I can download the game and then play against my friends hundreds of kilometres away who I haven't been able to play it against since University.   Given that a chicken nugget meal at McDonald's costs about that much, I figure it's more than worth $6.40 to play one of my favorite games until the Xbox it is on is sold or dead.   Miner: Dig Deep is a funny little mining sim and cost me 80 points.  That's $1.28 Canadian, and I certainly think I've gotten as much use of that one over my (currently) five hours of play than I'd get from a similarly priced daily newspaper. 

The extreme upper limit I am willing to pay for download is about $20, and only then if the game is only available that way, is in a genre I love, and comes with a high reccomendation.  Feilong's game came with his reccomendation, was a run n gun, and is only on download, so I spent 1200 points ($19.19 Canadian) on it. 

So these games have only use value.  Thus, pricing must be based on this fact.  Meanwhile, I'll often spend $60 on a new (from a brick and mortar store) game, or up to about $50 on a "classic" game in box without blinking. 

Buying a download is more permanent than renting, but less so than buying.  Thus, the price has to find a medium price.

[Viper821]

Like it or not, gamers are increasingly embracing downloaded titles. That's why I decided to get the 250GB PS3 last week. It's ridiculous how gaming companies cut out the middleman, destroy all re-sale values, cut out Blu-ray/DVD production and shipping costs and still have the nerve to charge full retail to us gamers. Still, the simple fact is we are the ones who are dumb enough to accept it.

It's great that you could store every single 2600/NES/SNES/Genesis game on a thumb sized cartridge (saving a ton of room on a bookshelf), but unfortunately gaming companies are only embracing this technology to 'loan' us the latest games.

I expect to see full PS3/360 games marketed under the 'environmentally friendly' banner in the next year or so. 

[steer]

Well, the 'Konami Classics' were originaly in an arcade cabinet, and you put quarters in to play until you died.

Did that have value?

I guess we all have different standards, and have seen a lot of different models by now. I am very picky on what I download, and I have a handful of regrets.  But compared to the games I got that are EXCLUSIVE to that format, it is a small loss. That is the deal. The fact is dd has expanded high quality game development of smaller projects - from game makers who would have a tough time getting a publisher or a spot on the Wal Mart shelf. 

I think the pricing is very fair, relative to the game play value you get.

I also expect them to 'last' a long time, and I spend my money on original games, I am not interested in the VC much at all, unless a classic I already know I love and will play is released - say, Bionic Commando or Contra. 

No question my wii is much more interesting with digital games on it. There is a limit to what I will pay for digital, but I am very happy with the present system.

I would be most wary of investing in MS, due to the system issues, and MS making LIVE membership an issue, and the fact that MS is not profitable and are pushing and investing a lot in a high risk peripheal....

MS is not stable - don't take that as a slam people, its just the truth. Honestly, I would be wary of 360 as a value for retail games just as much.

It is interesting to see people most concerned about the value of digital games and taking for granted so much on the home console retail side - defective consoles, climbing gaming costs, sytem updates, membership fees to get game content....

[Atarifever1]

[QUOTE=steer]

I would be most wary of investing in MS, due to the system issues, and MS making LIVE membership an issue, and the fact that MS is not profitable and are pushing and investing a lot in a high risk peripheal....

[/QUOTE]

Okay, let's see.  First, the 360 has had quarters of profit, in fact, I know at least two of them were back to back in 2008, when I stopped watching.  In fact, I am pretty sure they haven't lost money in awhile now.  In any case, the numbers I saw thrown around earlier in the generation (when the warranty rules were extended because of the RROD) were that the 360 might lose the company $1-2 billion, while the 360 lost them $4 billion.  Thus, they lost less (I believe current expectations in the industry are break even or better for the generation), to sell more systems.  In other words, they'll probably not lose money this generation, in order to sell millions of extra systems, games, and Live Subscriptions.  It looks like thier business model is working quite well.

Second, I am on Live now, and I can tell you comparing it to the free service on the Wii certainly does not hurt it.  I didn't hate online on the Wii, and I didn't hate some of the channels.  However, I LOVE online on Live.  From the friends status, to Zune marketplace, to Facebook, to matchmaking in Perfect Dark Zero, it is a seamless service I use every day.  To say that it isn't worth an extra $50 over the Wii's online is silliness.  The Wii's service is incredible for a free service.  Live is incredible for a $50 service (and much of what I do there could be free, but of course it wouldn't exist were subscriptions not subsidising it).  It's apples and oranges. 

As for the system issues, I held off and bought a 360 when they price dropped to $199 for an arcade.  Waiting that out happened to get me a Jasper 360, which are supposed to have eliminated the Red Ring.  My 360 is doing fine, despite the hours of movie rentals, indie games, regular games, online games etc. that I have sunk into it. 

[JasonhasRSI1]

[QUOTE=Atarifever]

[

As for the system issues, I held off and bought a 360 when they price dropped to $199 for an arcade.  Waiting that out happened to get me a Jasper 360, which are supposed to have eliminated the Red Ring.  My 360 is doing fine, despite the hours of movie rentals, indie games, regular games, online games etc. that I have sunk into it. 


[/QUOTE]

Off topic: Atari - how is the noise level on your Jasper system?