03-11-2012, 04:33 AM
The main concern is a sort of monopoly of distribution - While Steam is a complete digital marketplace, they aren't running a monopoly on the games that they sell - it's just another place to get the products.
If Microsoft are the only company to sell Xbox games, then where is the competition in prices? It's of course their decision, but the point I'm making is that ultimately it's going to cause issues for them. The number of games going for £30 on Steam that you can buy for £10 if you actually buy the disc for it, it's just stupid.
Dead Rising 2 is £19.99 on Steam, £10 on Amazon. Why would you buy it on Steam for twice as much as a copy that you get more product for? Immediate access, sure, but ultimately I'll go with waiting 2 days.
While Microsoft already have XBLA games as a sort of monopoly, they are small value games that remain the same price - nobody is going to buy a game like Fifa 10 for £30 when Fifa 12 is also £30. They can reduce the price, but you'll never see Microsoft selling a game on their system for the £2 you can buy Fifa 10 for in a store.
It ultimately brings worse value to the consumer.
If Microsoft are the only company to sell Xbox games, then where is the competition in prices? It's of course their decision, but the point I'm making is that ultimately it's going to cause issues for them. The number of games going for £30 on Steam that you can buy for £10 if you actually buy the disc for it, it's just stupid.
Dead Rising 2 is £19.99 on Steam, £10 on Amazon. Why would you buy it on Steam for twice as much as a copy that you get more product for? Immediate access, sure, but ultimately I'll go with waiting 2 days.
While Microsoft already have XBLA games as a sort of monopoly, they are small value games that remain the same price - nobody is going to buy a game like Fifa 10 for £30 when Fifa 12 is also £30. They can reduce the price, but you'll never see Microsoft selling a game on their system for the £2 you can buy Fifa 10 for in a store.
It ultimately brings worse value to the consumer.