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PoV: Future consoles are disc-free
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THQ CEO Brian Farrell expects future iteration of consoles to ditch disc drives in favour of cloud gaming, a move which he predicts could benefit not just the developers and publishers, but also the paying consumers.
Speaking at the Cloud Gaming USA conference, as reported by GamesIndustry, Farrell said the transition from physical retail to digital is already underway.
"With the current generation of consoles, the best games come in physical form. But the next range of consoles that will be out in the next five years, why would any of those need physical media? Why would they want physical media?"
"The box, ship and done model is transitioning to observe, measure, and modify," he said. This is "a games as a service model where direct consumer feedback allows the ability to operate in this always on, always connected environment. We have the opportunity to interact with players in new ways that can be reactive to their desires, play habits, and buying habits.”
Farrell noted that they have already well over 40 weeks DLC packs for their upcoming title, Saints Row: The Third, "which will grow and change the experience as the consumer engages with the game… We intend to create an online digital ecosystem with the consumer that keeps them interested for almost a year, perhaps even longer. And we expect most of our large console games going forward will extend the base experience with DLC packs. Things like online in-game storage, and consumables and other online items that will go on for at least a year post-release."
Personally, I think physical retail is still here to stay. Though some of today's industry have already adapted to the digital medium, cloud gaming won't take off if half of the world still lack adequate infrastructure for the technology. Why not give consumers both options, and let them decide. Afterall, I don't believe going digital will lower console and game prices.
What do you think of Farrell's statement folks? IS disc-free console the way to go? Share your thoughts below or continue the discussion at the forums.
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Comments
Benefit the paying customers how?
So they can charge us the same price for a game that we don't get the box, instructions etc with...
There is no shipping costs for them also... so why do we still get charged the same for something I would certainly prefer to have a hard copy.
The PSPgo was a prime example of what people want and don't want! It failed... and I predict that if consoles started to implement this Download only games, well they would fail to.
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way to tigh customers to the cloud service providers
and charge extra for the service late on. I refuse to buy
A console only to be dependent on Internet.
And to be honest I like the box.
To the guy I say keep dreamin.
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yes, i know all three of those are fading, but they are still vital enough that they are continuing to be made for those who don't want just a digital version.
you will need Netflix (or some other service) to have just about every movie ever made for this to be effective.
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benefit lol it benefits u just like 99$ chips, what like 5years ago or so they start putting less chips n bags more air than chips now they r hiking the price up $1.30 an still less chips. its so much than can go wrong with cloud only games. file of game corrupted an or virus from cloud. jus 2much hackers could an will destroy consoles that r jus could
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I don't like the idea of having not to own a hard copy of the game and having to rely on internet connection to play my game I purchased.
Its gonna suck having to wait for my internet to come back online when it goes down while playing Diablo III when its released. =_= so cloud gaming in my opinion is not the way of gaming future. In my opinion.
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Disc-less i can see BUT!!! still have Hard media like flash media or something like that, Here soon i can see flash media taking over DVDs/Blu-ray and you can store anything on them + NO SCRATCHING!! And with flash media to soon be able to make 2tb drives what more do you need...well till about another 20-30years. Still waiting on bill gates to say 1Tb is all anyone would ever need HAHAHAHA
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1 Terabyte drives will be really tiny if this bad idea of going all digital (disc less) gaming wise for buying games succeeds as well. Hd video games all so take up large amounts of pc hard drive space.
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We have limited hdd space, and I like to play at a time maybe ten different games, everything installed on the hdd?
They can paint it as they want, but if they don't sell digital copies MUCH cheaper it's just not gonna happen. Even if they do, they might only have a chance to have 50% of the big games market.
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just saying
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Physical copy or no copy at all.
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ONLive sucks.
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