As the high street continues to crumble, gaming on the high street is no exception to the problem which faces high street retailers these days. Over the past year, three of the biggest high street names in gaming and entertainment, GAME, HMV and Blockbuster, have filed for administration and two have been saved as a result(HMV & GAME). With consumers unwilling to part with their cash to the seemingly more expensive high street, supermarkets and online business are thriving with the high street’s downfall. I believe that developers and the major gaming companies can make it easier for gamers to get their thrill.
Games on Demand via Xbox Live, for example, is not a well-respected source to buy games from. The games are available to download months after the game is officially released via retail and charges the game at full or close to full RRP, although the time scales are getting better. Why can’t the latest titles be available to download as soon as they are available from retail? With the dramatic fall in retail sales, why hasn’t someone had the great idea to reduce the price of these games and have them delivered straight to your console? The cost of producing the game will be reduced due to the number of physical discs being reduced as well as cases and the near-extinct manuals.
I am sure, sadly, that eventually both GAME and HMV will encounter problems once again and as we move onto the next generation of gaming. Downloading games straight to your console at a sensible price will have to happen eventually and should come sooner rather than later.
Steam have always seemed to do things right with their pricing and that is partly the reason why so many gamers are dusting off their gaming PCs and returning to desktop gaming. Their never-ending sales have captured the attention of many gamers as they can have just as much fun on their PC, for much less than they can on a console. With the ‘Piston’ revealed recently, Valve will soon be taking the theory of PC gaming to our TV screens and this could spell danger to Nintendo, Sony and Microsoft.
With the Xbox 360 being my main source of gaming, the deals via Games on Demand are few and far between. I can understand why many are being persuaded by PC gaming’s excellent pricing and great variety of games. This combined with the downfall of high street gaming, the major companies need to act fast and make games available to download as soon as they are released and for affordable prices too. If not for this generation, then the next one at least!
@SimonMarshall6
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