Can Console Gamers Ever Embrace an All-Digital Future? Not Without Help From the Big Three

When Xbox One was revealed in May, it was touted as a living room centerpiece and the quintessential go-to for sports and set box interactivity on a scale of integration not yet seen before. In reaction to the inaugural reveal, the gaming masses all cried out in a cynicism that shook the world. “Where are the games?!” the gamers cried. “We don’t care about enhanced TV!” they lamented. One particular provision for the next-gen console was most loathed though—the requirement for the Xbox One to be connected to the internet once a day.

While consoles have seen their own versions of DRM before, such as online pass requirements for used games, Xbox One’s (now deceased) requisite to connect to the internet would have been the first true form of DRM to ever grace consoleboxes and their users. The outcry rocked Microsoft so heavily that the Redmond-based behemoth did a complete one-eighty after E3 and reversed many of its previously announced policies, including that scorned daily online check-in. With Microsoft’s concession, it was a triumphant moment for the everyday consumer, but it also proved something else substantial: console gamers are not ready for a future where digital distribution is the de facto method for purchasing and playing games.

While the notion of not being able to lend out games, or to not even have a lovely retail box adorn your shelf, seems absolutely preposterous to console fanatics, this same concept of digital distribution is one that is cherished—and even preferred—by PC gamers around the globe. How is it that two groups of consumers can be so headstrong and passionate about gaming and yet have two radically different opinions on the subject of how they purchase their games?

Years ago, PC gaming was much like the console: you went to a store, you purchased a box with a disc in it, and you put it into your computer to install and play. One caveat was that often a serial code would have to be entered, something that console users didn’t see until this current generation, but other than that the two platforms were near identical. Same humble beginnings yet two starkly different audiences, so what gave?

You could posit that Valve, and its own platform Steam, have played a large part in swaying consumers to embrace digital distribution, but it wasn’t always this friendly between Steam and its users. Anyone who remembers the launch of Half-Life 2 in 2004, with its then novel idea of connecting to the internet to activate the product as a requirement, will recall just how bad Valve botched the launch with servers not working and how furious consumers were because they couldn’t play the game they purchased. Since that time, Steam has proven to be a viable platform because Valve has consistently shown consumers that they have the infrastructure and bandwidth to make this work and, in exchange for an all-digital storefront, Steam is able to discount its titles significantly when warranted. These two factors are key to understanding why a PC gamer has no problem with not owning a disc.

But whereas PC gamers have Steam, GOG.com and countless other digital distribution platforms, which invites competition, console gamers only have three: PlayStation Network, Xbox Live, and Nintendo’s digital storefronts across its platforms. Unless one of the big three goes full throttle into digital, it will be a long time before the console gamer can be convinced that their hard-earned cashola is worth spending on zeroes & ones instead of a multi-layered plastic circle purchased at GameStop.

You see Microsoft’s Games on Demand sale going on right now and think, “that looks a lot like what Steam does” so clearly Microsoft knows the power of digital distribution. Sony has been known to have sales of its own on PlayStation Network. However, Microsoft, Sony, and Nintendo also have strong ties to retail, and as such may be reluctant to move forward with a larger digital presence. Microsoft almost took the plunge with its DRM policy, but withdrew it, and without the support of the big three it will be much harder to change the culture and attitude of the current console gamer.

An all-digital future could flourish on console, and PC gaming has proven that it’s an existence consumers have come to love, but it’s a long way off. Console gamers are reluctant to give up their physical copies, but it may not be because of the prestige of holding onto something (though for a smaller percentage, that could be the case) but rather because no company on the console side has proven to them that there is a significant benefit to utilizing digital distribution.

Valve took a chance on digital distribution and it paid off in spades, the first one of the big three to follow suit will be the winner of the next generation.

Party in the XBLA: The Power and Beauty of Video Game Music

Most of us non-Miley Cyrus fans are tired of hearing the song “Party in the USA.”   From the clichéd opening rift to the seemingly simple lyrics, I hope that it is a fad that will soon die out.  But still, people young and old scream at the sound of those opening notes and belt the lyrics at a crowd of confused faces.  I wonder, “How can a song with such an uninspiring melody and lyrics be so catchy?”  Maybe I am too old, but no, I have friends my age and older who simply adore that song.  Perhaps it is only my disillusionment with mainstream pop.

Instead, I fill my iTunes playlist with songs that few would recognize, songs that only players of certain video games could appreciate.  Songs, though many wordless or in a language I do not understand, still mean so much to me after being on my playlist for many years.  I can dream to the sound of my inexperienced fingers playing “To Zanarkand” on the piano.  I know every word to “Suteki Da Ne” even though my abilities in Japanese are limited at best.

My obsession with video game music brought me to three performances (in different cities) of Video Games Live and two performances of Distant Worlds: Music from Final Fantasy.  At these concerts, I have experienced perhaps some of the most profound moments of my life and realized I was not alone when a thousand other fans around me were brought together to that one moment in the game when this song was blaring from dusty speakers connected to an old TV set.

If you attend one of these performances (which I highly recommend regardless of whether or not you are a gamer), you will notice that most of the music you hear will be from AAA titles typically purchased at a retail store and played on a console for probably over thirty hours.  But what about music from the digital download market?  iPhone App games are making revenues in the nine digits.  Castle Crashers on the Xbox Live Arcade® sold one million copies within the first year of its release.  Does music from these digital download titles have the ability to move a crowd?

Some may argue that some production studios of downloadable games do not have the budget to make grand scores, but after six short hours on Castle Crashers, I was fairly impressed by the soundtrack (put together by members of Newgrounds).  A symphonic melody coupled by a faint 8-bit tune in the background, I could not believe what I was hearing.  I didn’t realize how a side-scrolling beat-em-up featuring four little almost-faceless sprites could passably be paired with such an epic soundtrack.  And sound plays a similarly crucial role in another notable Xbox Live Arcade® title, Limbo (which has sold over 300,000 copies to date), a game which has absolutely no music, just a melancholy silence, just as haunting and engaging as the wails of the Ocarina from the Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of TimeAs IGN so cleverly noted, the lack of text, dialogue, and musical soundtrack made Limbo into such a frightening and impressive piece of art.

The jury is out and statistics don’t lie.  The rise of the download era has begun in both casual and hardcore markets.  Now I ask, as downloadable games like Castle Crashers and Limbo gain as much praise and critical acclaim as their retail console counterparts, will the music (or lack thereof) of downloadable games be able to bring players together like soundtracks from games featured at Video Games Live and Distant Worlds?  Or has the music from these games already done just that?  Are there any XBLA players as mesmerized by the music of these games as I am of the music of Final Fantasy?

In any case, I shall at some point decide to dig through some links on Newgrounds and add some of those Castle Crashers tunes to my iTunes playlist, where they will play alongside the music that moved me to become a gamer.  Perhaps the next time I attend a Video Games Live concert I will hear Castle Crashers or perhaps the main theme of Tap Tap Revenge on the repertoire and as I hear the audience’s cheers around me, I will realize that it doesn’t matter what video game’s music I am hearing; that music, after all, is the universal language, a language we all understand, a language that connects us all.

As I hear “Party in the USA” for the Nth time in one day, I wonder if the only thing determining the song’s popularity is the message that all fans of the song subconsciously love so much: innocent little Miley learning for the first time that when thrust in an unfamiliar environment far away from her Nashville bubble, she can let loose and feel connected to the strangers around her with the power of music.

If music from Final Fantasy, Zelda, and all the other games I have come to love can bring me back to the most memorable moments of a game I played, and if a simple song by Miley Cyrus can get a whole dance floor hopping, then I guess it really does not matter where the music came from—video games or mainstream pop, a 30-hour RPG or a 6-hour-long downloadable game.  Video game music has the power to define an experience for a gamer.  It certainly has for me.

Online Gaming Subscriptions to Grow 20.4%, Xbox Live to Lead [In-Stat via GameDaily]

In-Stat reported today that online gaming subscriptions will grow a projected 20.4% between 2005 and 2013, while unit sales of video game consoles will decline in 2010.  Recent research by In-Stat found the following:

  • Each of the three key vendors [Microsoft, Sony and Nintendo] is positioned to generate hundreds of millions of dollars in annual online gaming revenue from online service subscriptions, download revenue and/or online advertising.
  • Microsoft’s Xbox Live service will clearly lead, with projected revenue of over $1 billion in revenue annually by 2013.  
  • Worldwide broadband subscriptions will reach 562 million in 2009.  The combination of broadband, installed home networks, and pervasive Wi-Fi in gaming devices, is fueling online gaming subscriber growth.
  • In 2008, total video game console unit shipments reached 88 million worldwide, up 7% from worldwide unit shipments in 2007.

References:
In-Stat Press Release
Game Daily Article