Will GTA:V be on a disc?

Penn

Someone said in the GTA:V thread that they suspected GTA:V might be released on a USB stick rather than a disk. Well this is an article from IGN (not always the most trustworthy but an interesting article all the same) which goes one step further:

http://go.ign.com/v7Sm1y

The trailer for Grand Theft Auto V is set to be revealed tomorrow, and we're expecting the first details—such as platforms and a release window—to come along with it. While we don't know much yet, one market data consulting group believes we won't see a version of Grand Theft Auto V on a disc.

According to analysts at Newzoo, Grand Theft Auto V is likely to be a trendsetter, opting for a digital-only release instead of appearing on discs. Newzoo CEO Peter Warman believes the game will still appear on store shelves, but won't include a disc in the package.

"The boxed GTA V version will contain a collectible piece of merchandise and a download code," he said. "No disc."

Warman believes that digital distribution is on the rise, and that it's only a matter of time until digital-only releases become the norm.

"There are a lot of reasons why publishers are pushing towards digital distribution of triple A games. Speaking out loud might harm the relationship with retail partners, but the benefits have become too large to remain silent about the desire to go completely digital," he said.

"The ultimate objective [is] to launch games faster, create continuous revenues on a title and simply to make more money. Will retail disappear from the picture? Of course not. Retail will always remain an important channel to promote and distribute games. Retail has a strong hand to play when it comes to eyeballs and...boxes make a nice gift. Boxed games will not disappear, but what is in the box will."

The Grand Theft Auto franchise has experimented with digital distribution in the past, releasing Grand Theft Auto IV downloadable content packs The Lost and the Damned and The Ballad of Gay Tony on Xbox Live Arcade months ahead of their eventual retail release. Only time will tell if Grand Theft Auto V will follow the same pattern, but for now we can look forward to the trailer's release tomorrow morning.

What do you reckon? I wouldn't be surprised if it was released both as a download code and on disc, as there are still a lot of people who don't have broadband (or like me, has incredibly slow broadband which would take days to download the amount of gigabytes the game would be) and to cut these people out would definitely impact sales. Maybe download only in America, but can't see it happening here.

If both download and disc were released here, which would you go for? It'd have to be disc for me but even with great broadband, I'm still a bit of a collector and would just prefer the disc.

Penn

Also, Fifa12 cost about €50 in shops, but to download straight from PSN it was either €60 or €70 (can't remember, but it was definitely a good bit more). Retailers have to price lower than the RRP they're given and try to make up the difference with trade-ins. But download only wouldn't have that problem, so wouldn't be cheaper, and could even be more expensive

Like I said, doubt it will happen, but would be interesting to see if such a huge game like GTA:V is the first to try something like this

FetchTheGin

Having games on a usb stick is a great idea.

You could just use the retailers to go and purchase games, they download them onto it for you and you walk away knowing you also made a difference to the environment.

CMpunked

Hmm, an interesting idea.

Game companies are obviously getting miffed at retailers reselling trade ins and bagging 100% of the profit. This can be seen in how some pre-owned games lately require you to purchase a type of dlc to allow you to play online or whatever.

I would opt for the download only game option IF it turned out to be significantly cheaper.
After all, the game developer has no worry of me getting sick of the game and trading it in to the evil game shop for them to reap in the $s.
Although, as Penn pointed out, games that are "On Demand" on the xbox live marketplace seem like crazy money compared to those that are in the shops. I would need to see the downloadable copy of the game for near the 30 quid mark, if the retail version was to be, say, 49.99.

Also to be noted is how Xbox are releasing a new dashboard update on the 15th of this month which incorporates Cloud Game Saves. Obviously game companies will have more and more of a reason to start considering On Demand on release gaming, but i dont think GTA V will be the catalyst to do so.

FetchTheGin

I would say, that major companies like Rockstar or EA will end up selling a specialised own branded USB stick, whereby you can download any new EA OR Rockstar releases from their online store. Maximising profits is what it's about at the end of the day.

CMpunked

FetchTheGin wrote: »

I would say, that major companies like Rockstar or EA will end up selling a specialised own branded USB stick, whereby you can download any new EA OR Rockstar releases from their online store. Maximising profits is what it's about at the end of the day.

Surely it cost the same to fabricate a USB drive as it does a dvd disc, if not more?
Also, USB keys are easier to hack than discs, so there is a chance that someone could use it to rip copies more efficiantly than a disc.

Penn

CMpunked wrote: »

FetchTheGin wrote: »

I would say, that major companies like Rockstar or EA will end up selling a specialised own branded USB stick, whereby you can download any new EA OR Rockstar releases from their online store. Maximising profits is what it's about at the end of the day.

Surely it cost the same to fabricate a USB drive as it does a dvd stick, if not more?
Also, USB keys are easier to hack than discs, so there is a chance that someone could use it to rip copies more efficiantly than a disc.

You're not really paying that much for the cost of the disk and packaging though, as the amount of them they'd buy means they'd get them dirt cheap, whether its a disk or USB stick

The cost is the actual work that went into the game, licensing music, copyrights, marketing etc. Whether disc or download, the cost won't really change as it'd cost to store downloads on a server for download etc too.

FetchTheGin

Penn wrote: »

You're not really paying that much for the cost of the disk and packaging though, as the amount of them they'd buy means they'd get them dirt cheap, whether its a disk or USB stick

The cost is the actual work that went into the game, licensing music, copyrights, marketing etc. Whether disc or download, the cost won't really change as it'd cost to store downloads on a server for download etc too.

If they cut out the middle man, ie a lot of the retailers, the costs will drop significantly I think.

The biggest seller will be convenience.

Hacking, while yes it would be a problem, is no bigger a problem than pirated games are now.

steve_r

I'm not keen on the idea, simply becuase I had a nightmare getting GTA IV validated on the PC using their online service.

I don't agree to making customers download a lot of data, as it is a huge inconvenience to a lot of people.

However, if I could just buy a stick that was ready to go, I'd appreciate that. I'm always jealous of console users being able to insert the game and get going straight away, whereas on a PC you have to wait for ages!

CMpunked

Penn wrote: »

The cost is the actual work that went into the game, licensing music, copyrights, marketing etc. Whether disc or download, the cost won't really change as it'd cost to store downloads on a server for download etc too.

Thats true.
But when you see that the likes of gamestop are selling Black ops new for 25.97, they must still be making a profit based on what they had to have bought them in for?
Even if that profit is a mere 1 euro, that still means that potentially, games could be sold on demand for about 10-15 euro cheaper than what they are currently going for online.

seandotcomm

I think having it as a download only title would be unfair to thousands of people in rural areas with woeful internet speeds. I know if I was back at the folk's place, downloading a full game would never happen. They'd have to have some form of physical copy available

thorbarry

Really Really terrible article. Its pure speculation.

Imagine if this was true, people that own the 4gb xbox with no hdd could not play it. Nonsense

spr1nt3r

Hardly the game will be on USB but seems very likely to have digital only (downloadable) version. Shops can still sell nice box with paper map and some accessories, but no disk (I would prefer that and I do agree that producers should receive their money straight from the gamers; now only shops gets the revenue from second hands). There was a good idea of giving access to all console or PC versions you own with single purchase of a game (highly unlikely to happen in real world though).
As for rural areas I do agree. Remember buying Half Life 2 DVD from the shop and having to download half gig via dial-up. No fun there. But then again, maybe it will push rural areas to get better internet connection. Who knows..
Just my opinion.

TheTownie

spr1nt3r wrote: »

Hardly the game will be on USB but seems very likely to have digital only (downloadable) version. Shops can still sell nice box with paper map and some accessories, but no disk (I would prefer that and I do agree that producers should receive their money straight from the gamers; now only shops gets the revenue from second hands). There was a good idea of giving access to all console or PC versions you own with single purchase of a game (highly unlikely to happen in real world though).
As for rural areas I do agree. Remember buying Half Life 2 DVD from the shop and having to download half gig via dial-up. No fun there. But then again, maybe it will push rural areas to get better internet connection. Who knows..
Just my opinion.

I'm sure in the board rooms of the various ISP's in Ireland there is a person screaming, "Will someone please think of the children rural gamers!" :pac:

Darksaga87

Cant see it be a DL only option, not everyone has the ability to connect online, some dont want to, some parts of ireland still have dial up! Basically telling them, "You dont get to play this game".
Unless you drag your console to use other interwebs.

But if it is a DL only, they wouldnt want to kill off the the physical game package, which would end the likes of HMV, GAME, gamestop, after all, they are the best resource for advertising. So if it was DL, some sort of box would have to be on display with a code or something in it.

Bottom line - I doubt very much wont be on disc.

maxwell smart

The only advantage to the game company is stopping trade-ins. The actual Disc costs between 0.12-0.14 cent each, less if it was a very large run and the packaging was done in the same facility.

So I think it will come out on disc, they are cutting out a part of their marker if they don't have it on disc. Maybe a code inside to prevent desalts going online or something similar.

I think the issue with discs isn't the cost of the box or the CD, it's the cost of shipping the games all around the world.

Shippin' ain't, shippin' ain't easy, man.

:P


But I do think CDs/DVDs are going and GTA could be the first game to use a memory stick instead of a CD. This way you don't need to worry about disk or hard drive space (though you'd need a fairly fast memory stick as it'd be doing a lot of loading/rendering at any one time).

I'm sure it'd bump up the price, initially (until it becomes commonplace) but I reckon it'd be a winner idea (I was talking about it in a thread here the other day, actually) and if a big name game did it first (GTA V) then everyone else would follow suit.

spr1nt3r

Deleted User wrote: »

I think the issue with discs isn't the cost of the box or the CD, it's the cost of shipping the games all around the world.

Shippin' ain't, shippin' ain't easy, man.

:P


But I do think CDs/DVDs are going and GTA could be the first game to use a memory stick instead of a CD. This way you don't need to worry about disk or hard drive space (though you'd need a fairly fast memory stick as it'd be doing a lot of loading/rendering at any one time).

I'm sure it'd bump up the price, initially (until it becomes commonplace) but I reckon it'd be a winner idea (I was talking about it in a thread here the other day, actually) and if a big name game did it first (GTA V) then everyone else would follow suit.

Memory stick IMO is a horrible idea and noone will use it. Why? Because it's 50 x dearer than DVDs, has loads of security flaws and is sensitive to electrostatic charges. There is good reason why all the software and games are on disks. It's cheap to produce, easy to protect and lasts longer.

We have been given an option in college to present slides on CD/DVD or USB. Loads of USB failures, no issues with CD/DVD media. Once it's on, it's easy to test and will work unless you will physically scratch it.

ScumLord

Deleted User wrote: »

I think the issue with discs isn't the cost of the box or the CD, it's the cost of shipping the games all around the world.

Shippin' ain't, shippin' ain't easy, man.

One off shipping is expensive but they don't use one off shipping they fill a container and when they do that the cost is very low.

My problem with downloading directly from the makers is that they are undoubtedly going to milk it, all you have to do is look at Steams prices to see that. I really don't think it would be allowed in Europe as it would essentially kill competition. I have no problem downloading but it should be cheaper not more expensive.