Accepting Digital Distribution

Yesterday, the popular PC gaming company Valve announced that it would soon start allowing users of its Steam distribution service toshare games between multiple accounts through a “family” system.  It’s not a new idea, and it’s one that users have been asking about for as long as the service has been in use.  In the early days of video games, borrowing a game from someone was as easy as handing them a cartridge or disc.  However, physical media is dying, as more and more consumers choose to directly download games through services like Steam on the PC, or PSN and Xbox Live on consoles.  This new game sharing feature is a way for that feeling of borrowing a game from a friend to live on in an age of digital distribution.

The service isn’t perfect, but it’s a good step in the right direction.  Microsoft was considering including the same feature in its upcoming Xbox One console, but decided to remove it last minute.  Digital distribution is already extremely cost efficient for developers, but programs like this are necessary if consumers are ever going to fully adopt it.  People are reluctant to give up physical media for various reasons, but every improvement to the digital model wipes away more of consumers’ fears.

Of course, digital distribution still has a long way to go, and this does not only apply in the area of video games.  Movies, music, and books can all be purchased (or sometimes rented, or streamed) digitally now, and have each had varying degrees of success in replacing physical media.  One of the reasons people are reluctant to switch are the limitations of downloading something, such as download speed and storage space. Games especially can be very large, sometimes 20+ GB, and take long hours to download.  People are also afraid that once they download something, they could accidentally delete it and lose the files forever.  This isn’t much of a problem anymore, as most digital distribution services will allow you to re-download any purchased files, but it is still a concern for some.

Perhaps the biggest reason for people to stick with physical media, and the one thing digital services will never be able to emulate, is the ownership that comes with buying an object.  Some people feel a certain satisfaction with building a collection, something that they can proudly display and pass on to their children.  Purchasing a file does not give this same feeling of ownership.  In addition, consumers sometimes have to worry about the rights associated with what they buy digitally, and whether it will be theirs forever.  For example, Amazon once wiped unauthorized copies of George Orwell’s 1984 that had been purchased off of people’s Kindles.  While they did refund the people that had bought them and changed their policy regarding this situation going forward, it is still worrying for some that companies can have this much power over digital sales.  Another benefit to physical media that is important to some consumers is the ability to re-sell what they buy.  Once something is purchased digitally it is yours forever, and in many cases cannot be sold back as is the case with used games, movies, or books.

                 

However, it is only a matter of time before most of these issues are also solved by digital distribution.  It is a cheaper model, for both distributors and consumers, and its pros are starting to outweigh the cons.  Right now, one of the biggest problems preventing its advance is how to give consumers more freedom with what they buy digitally while still preventing piracy.  And there is still the problem of people not wanting to give up the feeling of ownership that comes with physical media, something that a digital model can never replace.

                

 Or can it?