We’ve talked a lot about digital sales, prices, and how this can all affect brick and mortar games shops. Now it seems that Microsoft is going to try lowering online prices – but it’s just on a trial basis.
Mike Ybarra, a Studio Manager at Xbox, announced that Ryse would be coming to the digital marketplace for $39.99. He says that this is cheaper than the used price at GameStop, so go digital. But I’m particularly interested in the new features that we may see coming:
@matt3rmind I’d love that feature. 🙂 We hear the feedback. I can’t say specifics, but we have a long list of features coming to LIVE!
— Mike Ybarra (@XboxQwik) February 17, 2014
It’s an odd predicament that we’re in. On the one hand, going digital could be endlessly convenient – download a game before launch, or get extra DLCs, or any number of extra digital features that you can enjoy. However, going digital also puts all the power back in the publisher’s hands, which means that they can turn around and gauge us on prices, or put on tons of DLCs or micro transactions. Without retail as a secondary recourse, we’d be totally at their mercy. You can read Gavin’s whole doom and gloom editorial, but the reality is that we need to be careful about what we demand on digital, and how we support our local retail, too.
All that said, it’s nice to see that Microsoft is looking at adding some digital features. They wanted everything to be digital originally, it would be nice to get a taste of what they were going to offer us that was so “ahead of our time”.
Last Updated: February 18, 2014
Jim Lenoir (Banana Jim)
February 19, 2014 at 06:28
Here’s the thing that I don’t like about Microsoft, they’re doing it so halfhearted. If you really wanted to make a change, don’t just drop the price of Ryse. Do it across the board. The fact that digital prices are the same and sometimes more than retail is a travesty.
Jaded_Reprobate
February 19, 2014 at 07:17
MS does just about everything halfhearted…that’s why they can only produce a decent OS every second gen…
2 half’hearts’ makes a whole???
Pieter Kruger
February 19, 2014 at 09:30
“TESTING”
HvR
February 19, 2014 at 07:26
“reality is that we need to be careful about what we demand on digital, and how we support our local retail, too”
Why? If their time has come then so be it.
For that same reason you should cancel Netflix and support your local Mr Video or Stax.
Alien Emperor Trevor
February 19, 2014 at 08:59
Exactly, times change & I’ll do what’s more convenient for me. I prefer an actual book to an ebook, but if it wasn’t for my Kindle I wouldn’t be reading half as much as I do now. The only time I’ll buy a hard copy is for non-fiction.
Her Highness the Hipster
February 19, 2014 at 09:43
i also love my kindle, and my netflix. but remember, creators make the money from amazon and netflix is paying for original series that are really awesome. Do you think EA will do the same if you buy directly from them?
RinceandLeSIGH
February 19, 2014 at 09:59
Good point, and NO 🙂
Alien Emperor Trevor
February 19, 2014 at 09:59
Nope, and I don’t.
The devs do get paid by EA, but if they don’t get a share of the profits like creators on Amazon or Netflix, then that’s a problem with the way the industry works. Publishers have gotten too much control.
Hammersteyn
February 19, 2014 at 07:35
Their selling one crappy game for less? Last I check Amy went for R30. This is just a tactic to sucker people into buying Ryse to increase it’s sales figures. I bet it hasn’t even sold a million copies and for a launch title it’s not very good news.