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BoredStiff -> RE: Boardame Conversions (9/23/2008 11:46:50 PM)
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quote:
ORIGINAL: Joe 98
Distribution of board games requires lots of logistics. Distribution of a PC game, especialy by digital download, requires few logistics.
If you only have a small market it makes sense to distribute by digital download instead of distribution by printing press, planes, trains and trucks.
Although I have no personal experience in the operation of a software developer/publisher, I would beg to differ, judging by everything I've seen, heard and read over the years.
At first glance, it may seem that digital downloads are the easiest way to distribute games, but there seem to be some added headaches associated with it.
For starters, there's the maintenance of the registration records. Customers will lose their registration numbers and an archive has to be maintained to be able to retrieve them.
Then there's the upkeep of the download servers themselves. I don't know what all there's involved in this, but there have been issues in this regard when people were not able to download their games, usually after a new release.
Then there's the question of how customers who have downloaded their games should go about selling them at some point in the future, if they so desire. This is another aspect of downloaded games in which the customer will come knocking on the distributors door for advice and something the distributor will have to deal with, even if it's only a matter of answering emails or forum questions.
There are currently two topics (if I recall correctly) in this forum dealing exactly with this issue, where customers want to know how to best go about selling their downloaded games, whether it's even OK for them to do so, etc.
Now, let me tell you what in my opinion is the real reason why we even have digital downloads.
It is largely nothing more than a desire by the distributor to capitalize on the impulse-buyer market. Digital downloads are the software equivalent of the supermarket checkout counter candy and magazine racks.
Granted, the impulse buyer gets the benefit of near-instant gratification and about $10 off the price, but other than that, it's a losing proposition for the buyer, because of the above-stated reasons.
And the $10 off is only because the distributor does not have to physically ship the game. From the distributors viewpoint, it doesn't matter whether their customers download or request a hard copy shipment, because in the case of the latter, shipping costs will simply be charged to the customer.
The distributor gains financially from digital downloads, by capturing the impulse-buyer market, but the added services mentioned above will have to be provided, which is not the case for physical shipment.
So the distributor will offer digital downloads if he feels the added impulse-driven sales will more than pay for the above-mentioned future hassles associated with it. If/when the distributor feels this is no longer the case, digital downloads will no longer be offered.
In my opinion then, the easiest, cheapset and most headache-free mode of distributing games, from the point of view of a developer/distributor, is to simply ship the games in a jewel case, with a pdf manual on the CD. Some developers/distribuotrs might wish to go one step fancier and provide a plastic DVD-type case with a small printed manual, but that is not necessary, just perhaps an option.
But the notion that digital downloads are somehow making the distributor's life easier, is false, imo. It is largely just a another marketing option.
Edit: Kind of a longwinded post above, but all I'm saying is that with digital downloads. the distributor has future issues to deal with, such as maintaining registration records for all their customers who downloaded, maintaining servers and dealing with any number of future enquiries.
With physical shipments, otoh, once the game is out the door, it's gone.
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