One of the many side wars of this generations video game console wars has been Digital Distribution (DD) vs. Brick-and-Mortar Distribution (BMD). Both of these particular distribution formats can easily be characterized with a particular supporter for the most part. SONY appears to support a hybrid approach, believing that DD and BMD can live together in coexistence, where as Microsoft is for DD.
Both companies have gained strides in their perspective approaches with SONY winning the Blu-ray format war and the significant strides their Playstation Store took in 2008, especially with the introduction of their movies storefront. Microsoft formed a partnership with the movie rental giant Netflix to bring instant streaming movies to the Xbox 360. They also have been able to claim 15 million Xbox Live user accounts. All of which are significant strides for both business models, but what model is really viable in the future and will people be willing to accept?
According to internetworldstats.com just under 22% of the worlds population has internet access. The largest regions being the United States (73.6%), Oceania/Australia (59.5%), Europe (48.1%) and Asia (15.3%). It is also important to note that these are the largest video game regions as well. However, how many of these households have high-speed internet access to download a full size game or movie? How many of the members of these households use a computer for anything more than checking their email, browsing the internet, or shopping? How many of these know how to do more than that? These are all important questions that need to be answered and addressed if DD is going to be anything more than its current state.
Digital distribution works great for things like music, movie trailers or game packs, however two important facts remain: most households are not knowledgeable or equipped for large scale DD’s and people like to own things and be able to hold them. Everyone loves to show off their game or movie libraries when people come over for the first time, especially when they are big and took years to assemble. How would it feel if a friend says “so where’s this game library you brag about” and you say “hold on let me start up my computer and show you”. You have no box art to view or disk to hold, just some coded data to admire.
In the end it appears SONY’s hybrid approach allows us to have both of the best worlds, with one helping the other.
Both companies have gained strides in their perspective approaches with SONY winning the Blu-ray format war and the significant strides their Playstation Store took in 2008, especially with the introduction of their movies storefront. Microsoft formed a partnership with the movie rental giant Netflix to bring instant streaming movies to the Xbox 360. They also have been able to claim 15 million Xbox Live user accounts. All of which are significant strides for both business models, but what model is really viable in the future and will people be willing to accept?
According to internetworldstats.com just under 22% of the worlds population has internet access. The largest regions being the United States (73.6%), Oceania/Australia (59.5%), Europe (48.1%) and Asia (15.3%). It is also important to note that these are the largest video game regions as well. However, how many of these households have high-speed internet access to download a full size game or movie? How many of the members of these households use a computer for anything more than checking their email, browsing the internet, or shopping? How many of these know how to do more than that? These are all important questions that need to be answered and addressed if DD is going to be anything more than its current state.
Digital distribution works great for things like music, movie trailers or game packs, however two important facts remain: most households are not knowledgeable or equipped for large scale DD’s and people like to own things and be able to hold them. Everyone loves to show off their game or movie libraries when people come over for the first time, especially when they are big and took years to assemble. How would it feel if a friend says “so where’s this game library you brag about” and you say “hold on let me start up my computer and show you”. You have no box art to view or disk to hold, just some coded data to admire.
In the end it appears SONY’s hybrid approach allows us to have both of the best worlds, with one helping the other.
By Justin Senkbeil
