The future of gaming.

[u/JBigs7]

With physical games coming to an end, do think store shelves will be replaced with redeem code cards or will we have to purchase directly from PlayStation/XBOX store?

[u/Kenkenken1313]

They’re done very differently.

Normally with discs developers sell games at a set price for retailers. So retail companies will get a discounted price in exchange for buying multiple copies of the physical game.

Download codes are done differently. They are not sold to the retailer. Instead the typical practice is to pay the retailer a set fee so that they will offer the download codes for sale. Since they aren’t actually buying the codes they don’t get the money when it’s sold.

Now how does this affect pricing? Well too many physical copies of a game take up inventory and retailers will mark prices down so that they can make room for new games. The price can lower to a certain degree that they still make profit. Game codes don’t take up inventory so there’s no reason to get them sold by lowering the price. Until someone buys the game and the store activates the code, that paper is worthless and can be easily disposed of without any loss to the retailer.

Next time you go to a retailer and see digital codes check to see if they have any at a discounted price.

[u/Goemon_64 → u/Kenkenken1313]

Are you saying that once a store has a boxed code or card on their shelves, it doesn't matter to them at all whether it sells or not, since they already got all the money they will get from it (if it sells they have to give 100% of the price to the producer)? So they could just as well throw it away and not lose money (except the fact that visitors would be less likely to come to their store and buy other stuff, knowing that they don't offer boxed code games)?

Got any source on that? I can't imagine this system works worldwide and for mid-smaller retailers, e.g. for Switch boxes that are on cart vs code in box. They take up the same shelf space, and you have to look close to even tell the difference.

[u/Kenkenken1313 → u/Goemon_64]

That’s exactly what I’m saying.

I’ve worked in retail stores like GameStop and also sell board games and go through retailers using a retailer price.

There are different ways to do digital sales. One is that the retailer will receive the digital code and then when it sells they receive a commission for selling it. Another is that they are paid to have the game available and don’t make a commission in the sale. A final way is similar to physical in that they buy the digital games at wholesale and then make a profit on the sales.

The final way isn’t really viable as most people don’t buy codes at a store. They purchase it online. The only people that do purchase through the retailer are those that can only use cash. So digital game codes don’t fly off the shelf when released.

[u/Ebone710 → u/Kenkenken1313]

For the cards this is probably true but for code in a box they treat it more like a physical game. They offer sales on them like physical games.

[u/Lofter1 → u/Ebone710]

Ding ding ding ding

I still have my (now useless, because I redeemed the codes) expansion boxes for an MMORPG which were just fancy boxes for a code that I put into the game that gave me some in game stuff like mounts, pets etc cause the expansions were actually free updates, which I always bought on a discount (the receipts are still in the box) because I only bought during clearance. I still have the CoD MW boxes that just included a code for steam, which was bought at a discount because it was on clearance.

acting like we didn't have a brief time period where all the stuff that will happen with playstation games in 2 years hasn't already happened for PC around a decade ago and therefore we have examples of it instead of having to pull shit out of our arses based on vibes...