Will download codes/offers always exist for physical console games?

[froggyboy604]

Download code offers on physical games may always exist, but download codes may become less popular when game disc and cartridges storage space become larger where it can hold more than one game.

When a single new video game disc and cartridge can hold many hundred gigabytes and terabyes of data on an affordable storage disc or memory card cartridge, some video game companies will bundle two games on one game disc or cartridge to store two or more games.

It probably does not cost much more money to include two game discs or cartridge in one physical box like how Final Fantasy 8 was a multi-disc game for the original Playstation 1. The cost of discs and memory card cartridges are cheaper these days, so it may cost even less money to bundle an extra game disc or cartridge.

I think download codes, and offers to download older games which come with physical new games are somewhat annoying if you are on a limited internet plan which has slow download speeds like 5 Mbps and a data limit of 100 GB of bandwidth per month. Plus, typing in those long game download codes are annoying on a controller keyboard.

Some game companies may include physical version of older games instead of download digital versions, so game companies have a better relationship with physical game buyers who bought the physical version of the game, so game buyers are more likely to be repeat game buyers because a new game come with a older physical game instead of a digital download code for an older game.

 

[Demon_Skeith]

I think so, if nothing else stores might carry them for easier buy/access.

 

[froggyboy604]

I think so, if nothing else stores might carry them for easier buy/access.

I know there are now cheap USB flash drives which cost $5 for 16GB, and most Blu-Ray disc cost about $1.50 for a 25GB disc, so the code can be written on a USB drive or disc which contains the game data to save the buyer some time for downloading an older game, and buyers can choose to download the game with the code if the USB drive or disc is broken/scratched.

 

[テクニカル諏訪子]

My experience with publishing games on Nintendo platforms tells me that download codes are here to stay.
It's just easy promotion material (to the press), and prevents others to misuse the available codes by guessing the next one.

 

[Demon_Skeith]

Even if not for games, you can still get download codes for like text books for online stuff. I often get them for my classes.

 

[froggyboy604]

My experience with publishing games on Nintendo platforms tells me that download codes are here to stay.
It's just easy promotion material (to the press), and prevents others to misuse the available codes by guessing the next one.

I feel including physical storage drive like a disc or cartridge to the press would make more video game writers more quickly play the game and write a story about it. There also won't be any negative post related to download codes not working, failed downloads, or the games are very slow to download because of website server and Internet connection slowdown problems.

Misuse like piracy is probably not a big problem when giving games to the press to review because the press maybe less likely to pirate games to avoid being banned getting banned from getting games to review.

Even if not for games, you can still get download codes for like text books for online stuff. I often get them for my classes.

I remember when textbooks and computer hobby and PC gaming magazines come with CDs which has programs on the CD. I think some companies use USB flash drives filled with files related to their product and companies.

Download codes could be good since those CDs can get lost if you bought a used book which had many owners.

I feel a CD disc is still more reliable, and safe to use than online websites which may not have good computer security and privacy like how social networks and large websites like get hacked.

The owner of a book website can always shutdown the site if their book is not selling enough copies, and the site can't make enough money from selling books and ads to pay for web hosting.

There is a possibility of a book websites' domain name being sold to a buyer who paid thousands to millions of dollars for the website name when you need to download something, so you can't download or use the code anymore because the new owner of the domain name uses the domain name for a website which is unrelated to a book, or decided to charge money for users to buy a new copy of a software file, and discontinue the free software.

The worse possibility is a scammer buying textbook websites from the original owner, and using old websites to trick users into installing malware-infected software and fake virus-infected textbook files.

 

[テクニカル諏訪子]

I feel including physical storage drive like a disc or cartridge to the press would make more video game writers more quickly play the game and write a story about it. There also won't be any negative post related to download codes not working, failed downloads, or the games are very slow to download because of website server and Internet connection slowdown problems.

Misuse like piracy is probably not a big problem when giving games to the press to review because the press maybe less likely to pirate games to avoid being banned getting banned from getting games to review.

Except that physical storage can easily cost a publisher quite some shipping costs, even more so if the recepient happens to live in a different country, and in my case that's a whole lot.

As for the piracy part, I was purely referring to the ability to guess correct codes by outsiders.
It's not like you can invade a truck with download codes and steal a big bunch of those ey?
At least, except if you're Amazon.

 

[froggyboy604]

Except that physical storage can easily cost a publisher quite some shipping costs, even more so if the recepient happens to live in a different country, and in my case that's a whole lot.

As for the piracy part, I was purely referring to the ability to guess correct codes by outsiders.
It's not like you can invade a truck with download codes and steal a big bunch of those ey?
At least, except if you're Amazon.

I can see how smaller game publishers can end up spending a lot of money on shipping cost. But, big game series like Call of Duty, Halo, and Final Fantasy can afford to give away physical versions of the games to the press, or as prizes in giveaway contest.

I can see too many people guessing the code can be a problem since some website servers can't handle a lot of users downloading the same file at the same time, so if millions of people can guess the download code, a web server may become slower, or cause long wait times to download a single game. Plus, fewer people may buy the game when it is released.

But, users who want to pirate a game may choose to use peer to peer download programs like BitTorrent which has faster download speeds if there are a lot of people sharing the same file.

 

[テクニカル諏訪子]

Which is why I was sharing my own experience, which is the experience of a small publisher (operated by just me at the time).
But actually, the amount of codes you get from platform holders is never going to be unlimited, it's normally just a handful of codes enough to cover at least all the major outlets of the region your game is about to go live.

In the case of Nintendo, all Japanese codes have to be given to Japanese media, all American codes have to be given to North- and South American media, and all European codes have to be given to European, Russian, South African, Australian, and New Zealand media (Australia and New Zealand even have a separate quote among with the total amount of codes you receive).

And I think Israel counts as European region here too, I remember how an Israeli news source wanted a European code at one point.

 

[froggyboy604]

Which is why I was sharing my own experience, which is the experience of a small publisher (operated by just me at the time).
But actually, the amount of codes you get from platform holders is never going to be unlimited, it's normally just a handful of codes enough to cover at least all the major outlets of the region your game is about to go live.

In the case of Nintendo, all Japanese codes have to be given to Japanese media, all American codes have to be given to North- and South American media, and all European codes have to be given to European, Russian, South African, Australian, and New Zealand media (Australia and New Zealand even have a separate quote among with the total amount of codes you receive).

And I think Israel counts as European region here too, I remember how an Israeli news source wanted a European code at one point.

Do these region specific codes link to different versions of the game with different languages like Spanish, Korean, and English subtitles and voice dubs, and follow the moral laws of a certain region?

Some countries are stricter on what type of music, video/movies, and books which are morally acceptable for selling to citizens. I think some games may need to use different songs to follow the law, and avoid offending people in some regions.

 

[テクニカル諏訪子]

No, just sales regions.
Generally speaking, European versions come with more languages included than American or Japanese, but only English is actually required (or Japanese for Japanese game releases).

 

[Demon_Skeith]

I feel including physical storage drive like a disc or cartridge to the press would make more video game writers more quickly play the game and write a story about it. There also won't be any negative post related to download codes not working, failed downloads, or the games are very slow to download because of website server and Internet connection slowdown problems.

Misuse like piracy is probably not a big problem when giving games to the press to review because the press maybe less likely to pirate games to avoid being banned getting banned from getting games to review.



I remember when textbooks and computer hobby and PC gaming magazines come with CDs which has programs on the CD. I think some companies use USB flash drives filled with files related to their product and companies.

Download codes could be good since those CDs can get lost if you bought a used book which had many owners.

I feel a CD disc is still more reliable, and safe to use than online websites which may not have good computer security and privacy like how social networks and large websites like get hacked.

The owner of a book website can always shutdown the site if their book is not selling enough copies, and the site can't make enough money from selling books and ads to pay for web hosting.

There is a possibility of a book websites' domain name being sold to a buyer who paid thousands to millions of dollars for the website name when you need to download something, so you can't download or use the code anymore because the new owner of the domain name uses the domain name for a website which is unrelated to a book, or decided to charge money for users to buy a new copy of a software file, and discontinue the free software.

The worse possibility is a scammer buying textbook websites from the original owner, and using old websites to trick users into installing malware-infected software and fake virus-infected textbook files.

CDs aren't used anymore since its giving out the same material for free.

 

[テクニカル諏訪子]

CDs aren't used anymore since its giving out the same material for free.

You'll be surprised to hear how motherfricking popular CDs still are in Japan.
You can buy CD songs or games everywhere!

 

[froggyboy604]

CDs aren't used anymore since its giving out the same material for free.

I think piracy is one of the main reasons CDs are not popular with textbooks since students illegally share the CD with eBooks, and non-free programs on the CD for free to other students, or make multiple pirated copies of a CD or a CD ISO image file of the original CD, and share them with students and Bittorrent users who did not buy the textbook which came with the CD.

It is also harder to track down CD pirates who bought the CD at a store compared to download codes where it can be easier to track down who has been pirating a download code if the download code requires personal information like your name, phone number, home address, e-mail, i.p. address, and school name before you can use the download code to download a textbook file.