The Downside of Digital Downloads


JJ Hendricks recent article on Vintage Computing compared
the cost of Wii Virtual Console titles to their real-world silicon counterparts-
old, dusty cartridges. The author noted that if you purchased every title
currently available at retail and online outlets you’d pay an estimated $2516,
compared to a paltry $1325 if you downloaded the titles directly.

So that got us thinking- is downloading really better?
Hendricks does mention savings of both money and space when purchasing VC
games, but does neglect to mention another factor. Once Nintendo releases its
next hardware platform, it will be highly unlikely that your existing downloads
will be playable on the new system. Right now, if your Wii dies, Nintendo tries
to recover your VC content, but makes no guarantees. To us, VC content is more
of a rental than a purchase. If your real-world NES dies, you can still but
another used one, or a third party substitute.

To carry on Hendrick’s research we are going to examine the
cost of recent offerings on the Xbox Live Marketplace and Sony’s Playstation
Store with their media-based alternatives:

 Title                                                    Playstation Store Price      Retail Price            Retail Location           
 Neopets PetPet Adventure  $15.99  $8.97              Circuit City
 Wipeout Pure  $10.99  $18.99  Amazon.com
 Gangs of London  $19.99  $8.97  Circuit City
 SOCOM: Fireteam Bravo  $14.99  $14.99  Amazon.com
 Total                 $61.96  $51.92  16.2% Savings

 Title  Marketplace Price            Retail Price  Retail Location
 Burnout 3: Takedown                      $15.00                                     $9.99                       Gamestop                    
 Crash Bandicoot: WoC  $15.00  $11.99  Gamestop
 Crimson Skies  $15.00  $2.99  Gamestop
 Fable  $15.00  $4.99  Circuit City
 Fuzion Frenzy  $15.00  $8.99  Gamestop
 Indigo Prophecy  $15.00  $12.99  Gamestop
 Psychonauts  $15.00  $28.99  Deep Discount.com
 Total  $105.00  $80.93  23% Savings

Our findings: although it may be more economical to purchase
Wii games via the Virtual Console, gamers that seek last generation’s title
will save significantly if they purchase their games directly from brick and mortar
retailers instead of enjoying the convenience of a direct download.

If Sony, Microsoft, and Nintendo want direct downloads to
succeed they need to lower costs. When providing games titles online, they do
not have shipping, media, boxing, or sharing of retail profits to worry about. Pass
some of that savings to consumers and give us an incentive to download.

About Robert Allen

Since being a toddler, Robert Allen has been immersed in video games, anime, and tokusatsu. Currently, his days are spent teaching at two southern California colleges. But his evenings and weekends are filled with STGs, RPGs, and action titles and well at writing for Tech-Gaming since 2007.

10 comments

  1. Let the savings begin. I for one, will always buy a cartridge before I download a title. For collectors it’s the only way to go, you can’t keep, sell, and display data.

  2. The only last gen game that I would d/l is Psychonauts. It’s hard to find, and still holds up gameplay wise.

  3. But you have to look through the bins at stores and dell with the pimplely faced employees who think they know everything.

  4. I’ll never dl a game that I can buy. DRM issues suck.

  5. Great article; I always thought those Xbox originals were overpriced.

  6. What about games like Rez, or Tron that are on the Marketplace.

  7. When looking at xbox title, if you took Psychonauts out, the saving would have been much bigger.

  8. I don’t know where that guy got his figures on Vintage Computing, the games could be bought for much cheaper than that via ebay.

  9. Who in their right mind would buy these Xbox originals when the emulation is so bad. Most have frame rate/lag issues not present in the original. Microsoft is slapping gamers in the face.

  10. Wow, you really know the inside stuff!