Tag Archives: Downloadable Content

Train2Game News: New Dishonored DLC

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Dishonored DLCTrain2Game brings you the great news that Bethesda and Arkane Studios are releasing the first bit of downloadable content that will add to the story of the epic Dishonored.

Dishonored: The Knife of Dunwall will be available in Europe on April 16th for Xbox 360 and PC, and on April 17th for PS3. The add-on is priced at £7.99 / €9.99 /  AU$14.45 (or 800 Microsoft Points).

In The Knife of Dunwall you take on the role of Daud, the legendary assassin who killed the Empress, and access his weapons, gadgets, allies and supernatural abilities. After assassinating the Empress, and forever changing the fate of Dunwall, you embark on a search for redemption. The Outsider reveals the key to your atonement, but who—or what—is Delilah? Accompanied by the Whalers, your loyal band of mercenary assassins, your search will take you through never-before-seen districts of Dunwall as you face off against new and terrible foes. Employ a unique arsenal of new weapons and powers that enhance Dishonored’s dynamic combat, mobility and stealth systems. In the struggle to hang onto the last shred of your humanity, the choices you make will ultimately determine your fate.

Dishonored has received over 100 ‘Game of the Year’ awards from outlets including Game Informer, PC Gamer, Yahoo!, GameSpot.com, MSNBC.com, and CNN. In addition to garnering numerous nominations from the D.I.C.E. Interactive Achievement Awards and the Game Developers Choice Awards, Dishonored received ‘Best Action/Adventure Game of the Year’ at the SPIKE TV Video Game Awards and was recently named ‘Best Game of 2012’ by the British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA) video games awards. For more information on Dishonored or The Knife of Dunwall please visit www.Dishonored.com.

Games on discs still reign supreme

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Discs remain the gamers top choice

80 to 90% of video games are still purchased on disc according to a report by the Entertainment Merchants Association. The D2 Report: Discs & Digital – The Business of Home Entertainment Retailing states that physical media such as DVDs, Blu-rays and other video game discs are remain the overwhelming choice of consumers.

This echo’s previous surveys that suggest despite the rise of digital distribution, especially on the PC thanks to Steam, we still prefer a physical copy of a game over one that’s been downloaded.

The report says combined DVD and Blu-ray Disc sales in the USA totalled $17.9 billion in 2009, nine times the revenue generated by digital distribution channels. 80 to 90% of games purchased were also through these traditional outlets. EMA president and CEO Bo Andersen says there’s a lot of life left in discs yet.

“While there has been a great deal of focus recently on the slippage of revenues in the DVD market, the untold story is that consumers’ embrace of home entertainment remains very strong and packaged media is the preferred delivery instrument”

“Digital distribution is clearly an important segment of the home entertainment market and will continue to grow in market share in the coming year. While it is tempting for industry outsiders to say ‘disc is dead,’ as the saying goes, reports of its demise are grossly exaggerated.”

While the EMA openly support entertainment retailers, the report used data together data from leading home video and video game industry analysts, including Adams Media Research, Digital Entertainment Group, The NPD Group, Parks Associates, and ScreenDigest.

The report also notes that transactions for ‘pre-recorded video content’ increased by 2.8% in 2009.

So Train2Game, what percentage of your games are on discs compared to being downloaded through digital distribution? Do you still think a game in a box is the ultimate form of distribution?

And what were the last games you bought through each method of purchase?

As usual, leave your thoughts here or on the Train2Game forum.

Discs vs Digital – Round 2

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Another big name has waded into the Discs vs Digital debate in the form of Namco Bandai VP of sales, marketing and publishing Olivier Comte.

You may remember that recently, SCEE President Andrew House acknowledged that games sold on discs in boxes are still popular but that digital content could possibly the way forward. His comments were discussed in great detail on the Train2Game Forum.

In an interview with MCV, Comte spoke about a number of subjects including the digital market. He questioned its relevance on consoles;

Today digital is a significant part of PC gaming. We are a Japanese company and Japanese companies are not known for PC titles. But we need to have a product on every platform – including PC – so in that sense digital will start to become more important for Namco Bandai. There is better margin and using a digital platform gives us direct access to the consumer.”

“But in terms of console, it is a little bit too early to say. The only real business model for digital on consoles is DLC because the consumer will always want to have the box because it is an expensive thing.”

He raises a good point about the contrasts between the digital markets of console and PC games. As mentioned in a previous blog, the PC has embraced the idea of digital distribution and downloadable content far more enthusiastically than the Xbox 360 or PlayStation 3 has. The dominance of Steam in the digital distribution market has of course helped this along. Meanwhile, console owners prefer their games to some on a disc in a box.

So, while downloadable games may not be to the tastes of major distributors, it’s an ideal way for independent Games Designers, Games Developers, and Games Artists and Animators – like Train2Game students – to get their work out there.

This appears to have worked for independent studio Hello Games, who’ve just released their first production in form of Joe Danger on the PlayStation Network – and it’s had some very good reviews. We’ll have to wait and see if these positive reviews transform into downloads, but with a relatively low price it’s likely that many gamers will be tempted to try it out.

We’re not so willing to risk our money on something new if it costs £40 and doesn’t even come in a box. But this raises an important question for independent developers; do you save costs by releasing your first game as a digital download? Or do you sell it in a box which consumers can pick up on the shelf. Train2Game students, as producers, which medium would you prefer?

Discs vs Digital

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Digital distribution of games might be becoming more popular, especially on PC, but according to Sony, “Disc based content is still very much what the consumer is used to and wants”

Speaking to the PlayStation blog about content delivery, SCEE President Andrew House acknowledged that while discs are still popular, improved technology is making digital downloads an increasingly attractive option.

“There has been a change in attitude and technology that is making digital delivery far more feasible and far more attractive. It is our job to ensure that consumers have the choice between the two where possible.

How this area will evolve, I can’t really say at this time, as we are relying on many things outside of our control, such as broadband speeds. Things are changing quickly and we have to make sure we are ready for those changes.”

So while discs remain the dominant force on consoles for now, it appears Sony will be keeping a close eye on how the ability to distribute digital content delivers in future. Indeed, only this week it was revealed that the PSP2 could be a download content only device.

However, at this moment in time it seems farfetched that a PlayStation 3 or an Xbox 360 could become completely download only. Industry analyst Michael Pachter even goes so far to say that there’s “No chance in hell” of this happening, and explained:

“PCs are probably about 95% connected to the internet but my guess is with the Xbox 360, it’s maybe two-thirds, with the PS3 it might be as high as 85%. And with the Wii my guess is it’s below 50% but probably closer to 35%, so it’s all the guys that are NOT connected that are going to keep games from ever being mandate downloadable.”

He raises a good point. Perhaps the PC market could become a fully digital industry at some point in future just due to the very nature of how a computer works. A brand new PC has a massive hard drive and this can easily be upgraded as time goes on in order to store more content. Consoles on the other hand have limited space. What would happen to a game that needed to be uninstalled to make room for a new one?

It’s this question that’s one of the main reasons that I personally prefer to buy my games on discs. I can access them any time I want just by picking them up off the shelf. It’d be an incredible hassle to constantly have to re-install older games I may want to go back to.

Of course, both the PlayStation Store and Xbox Live allow you to download smaller independent games – one a Train2Game student could develop – but even this can take a long time. It could therefore take most of a day to download and install, say a digital version of Red Dead Redemption onto a console.

Yes, I occasionally use digital distribution through Steam to download PC games, but at the end of the day, I still prefer to have physical copies available on my shelf not only for me to pick up and play whenever I want to, but also just to sit there and look nice in exactly the same way books or DVD’s would.

Digital distribution does have advantages, a cheaper price for the consumer and an easier way for an aspiring Games Developer, Games Designer or Games Artist to get their work out to the market. But personally, I believe that discs will be around for a long time yet.

How about you? Do you prefer to buy games as a physical disc in your hand? Or as a digital download? How do you think this will develop in future?