JUNE 1, 2009 • One new Xbox Live feature Microsoft Game Studios did not highlight at this summer’s E3 was a new download service for full Xbox 360 titles. Games on Demand will go live in August with approximately 30 existing titles at full retail price. Xbox 360 owners won’t be forced to use Microsoft Points to purchase the games with standard credit cards transactions accepted. Microsoft didn’t say whether new releases will be included in the service. The firm also announced that it had completed its Xbox Originals program, and that no more titles from the original Xbox will be made available for download on Xbox Live Marketplace.
Impact: The move to a digital distribution model is inevitable. It is not a question of if, it is a question of when. Even as the large publishers start to offer full titles available for download that “when” could be further away than expected. The convenience feature of being able to download a full retail title is still not that powerful as a consumer proposition. There are two big issues: 1) download time and 2) storage costs. Downloading and storing a 5 GB game (not to mention a 10, 20 or 50 GB product) still is a costly proposition for a consumer both in time and the cost of hard drive space. It is still much easier, and significantly cheaper, to go to the local retail store and buy a physical copy of the game. However, that may not be true five years from now.
