Comments on: What direction for downloadable games

By: Michael Simms (CEO and head of Development)

Michael Simms (CEO and head of Development) — Tue, 21 Apr 2009 21:20:24 +0000

Sure, but the code to do it all securely doesnt write itself, the bandwidth DOES cost us money, the extra admin overhead of helping customers when the download doesnt work isnt cheap either with what I pay my customer service staff, and a dozen other things, it all adds up.

By: RK

RK — Tue, 21 Apr 2009 18:38:42 +0000

Something like the functionality provided by LGP’s new DRM system, mayhaps? :)

By: RK

RK — Tue, 21 Apr 2009 18:36:17 +0000

Now you’re just making excuses. Unless your servers are connected to the internet via a mobile phone, bandwidth costs are a pittance. Amazon S3, for example, costs at most USD 0.170 per GB of traffic.

By: M1AU

M1AU — Tue, 21 Apr 2009 11:21:06 +0000

Edit: [...]most companies have to deal with).

Sorry for my bad english.

By: M1AU

M1AU — Tue, 21 Apr 2009 11:13:30 +0000

Sure, but I see this as a good will service. Other companies do the same thing and it looks like it works.
Another idea is to use torrent like distribution. As I understand it correctly, there’s already a DRM system integrated withing the game, so piracy shouldn’t be a problem (besides the regular piracy problem most companies have to solve with).

By: Lord Kellmar

Lord Kellmar — Tue, 21 Apr 2009 08:44:49 +0000

I like the idea of offering the choice :
- Downloadable game instantly ;
or
- Boxed version with some extras. Poster, Soundtrack CD, etc…

I really enjoy my X3:R Collector with real extra stuff :)

By: Manuel

Manuel — Tue, 21 Apr 2009 01:33:30 +0000

I am interested in simply downloading games into an account, which is persistant and will allow to get them again, if i chose to reinstall my PC.

By: Nath

Nath — Mon, 20 Apr 2009 20:56:30 +0000

For me it depends on the price of the game. If it is around 10€ like what I paid for the Penny Arcade game, I prefer the download. For something costing 20€ and up, I’d expect to get something looking nice on the shelf, a printed manual (and for the higher priced games nice things like big colourful maps etc).

It also depends on whether I could redownload the game even three years later when I lost my files for some reason.

By: titi

titi — Mon, 20 Apr 2009 18:26:54 +0000

I voted for #1 , but I want something that I can sell If I don’t like the game (anymore). Something like a key.

By: Michael Simms (CEO and head of Development)

Michael Simms (CEO and head of Development) — Mon, 20 Apr 2009 16:58:42 +0000

Well, for multiplayer games we do now have the forums and scores online at http://www.penguinplay.com, and we are working to retrofit older games onto the system, as well as new ones…