The Sad State of Digital Software Distribution

I’m not sure the what the customer will pay argument is valid here. After all I could refuse to buy a 360 because the games are $60 instead of $50. Any why am I told that they cost $60? Higher manufacturing costs and inflation. So it’s ok to raise the price because of manufacturing costs but it’s not ok to drop the price because of reduced distribution costs? I can understand the EB and Best Buy are evil argument, and customers don’t know better argument.

Ubiquitous broadband is probably the answer we’re still waiting for. But the companies most likely to be able to stick it to Walmart and not lose all their business also sell hardware and peripherals. So I’m going to take a hit there in the short term when the BMs refuse to stock because they’re not quite ready for obsolecence in the software market.

As someone mentioned this is to avoid channel conflict. Like Intel, the bulk of MS’s sales doesnt come from retail but through distribution channels. Since the channel almost always sells through at a discount, the easiest way is to sell online at MSRP. The retail channel for the OS is very small compared to all the other ways vista is sold - corporate licensing and oem as they are simply the volume ways that the product is sold. if I guessed, I would say OEM is 60% of sales, corp is 35% and retail is like 5% or smaller

Steam is an awesome concept, but fails in implementation IMO. Though i use it a lot because i like the games it offers LOL.

A lot of people are mentioning “all you need is the username and password of your account, and you can load games on any PC an infinite number of times?”

What happens when Steam goes out of business?

The year is 2019. Digitally distributed computer and video games is a common habit.
But still prices for digitally games are the same as for physical releases.
What a shame!

Steam prices have gotten a lot better since 2007 though! And there are so many mature digital stores out there. Not to mention Epic picking a fight with Google (Play Store) and Steam with their own stores on PC and Android.

I do not agree that steam prices (or prices on other online distribution platforms) have gotten better. And “a lot” seems very much exaggerated, for me. Except it was meant in a satirical way.

Comparing those prices with their physical release counterpart, it is still a shame.
Anno 1800: Physical Release at € 59.99 vs Steam at € 59.99
Grip Combat Racing: Physical Release at € 25.99 vs Steam at € 29.99
and the worst of it
Spellforce III: Physical Release at € 19.99 vs Steam at € 49.99

Perhaps it looks different overseas but here in Europe (Austria) it still sucks. And I can not see a reason why online distribution is not significantly cheaper.

I think I was referring more to post-release pricing, steam summer sales, things like that.