Digital distribution of video games: Difference between revisions

{{Use mdy dates|date=SeptemberJune 20172024}}

Digital distribution of video games is becoming increasingly common, with major publishers and retailers paying more attention to digital sales, including [[Steam (service)|Steam]], [[PlayStation Store]], [[Amazon.com]], [[Game (retailer)|GAME]], [[GameStop]], [[Xbox Live Marketplace]], and others. It is particularly popular for [[PC game|PC games]]s. According to a study conducted by [[SuperData Research]], the volume of digital distribution of video games worldwide was $6.2 billion per month in February 2016,<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.playstationlifestyle.net/2016/03/24/february-2016-digital-sales-report-industry-reaches-6-2-billion-console-sales-34/|title=February 2016 Digital Sales Report: Industry Hits $6.2 Billion, Console Sales up 34%|date=March 24, 2016|website=PlayStation LifeStyle|access-date=August 14, 2020}}</ref> and reached $7.7 billion per month in April 2017.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://venturebeat.com/2017/05/25/superdata-digital-gaming-hit-7-7-billion-in-april/|title=SuperData: Digital gaming hit $7.7 billion in April|date=May 25, 2017|access-date=August 14, 2020}}</ref>

Before Internet connections became widespread, there were few services for digital distribution of games, and physical media was the dominant method of delivering video games. One of the first examples of digital distribution in video games was [[GameLine]], which operated during the early 1980s. The service allowed [[Atari 2600]] owners to use a specialized cartridge to connect through a [[Telephone line|phone line]] to a central server and rent a video game for 5–10 days. The GameLine service was terminated during the [[North American video game crash of 1983|video game crash of 1983]]. From 1987 to 2003, [[Nintendo|Nintendo's]] Japan-only [[Family Computer Disk System#Disk Writer and Disk Fax kiosks|Disk Writer kiosks]] allowed users to copy from a [[jukebox]] style of rotating stock of the latest games to their [[Floppyfloppy disk|floppy disks]]s. They can keep each one for an unlimited time, and play at home on the [[Famicom]] and [[Famicom Disk System]] for {{JPY|500}}, then about {{US$|3.25}} and 1/6 of the price of many new games.<ref name="Mysterious curiosities of the FDS">{{cite web | title=Mysterious curiosities of the Famicom Disk System | first=Brandon | last=Dalker | date=July 8, 2011 | work=Nsidr | url=https://www.nsidr.com/archive/mysterious-curiosities-of-the-famicom-disk-system | access-date=July 29, 2019}}</ref><ref name="Revisiting the FDS">{{cite web | title=Revisiting the Famicom Disk System: mass storage on console in 1986 | first=John | last=Linneman | work=Eurogamer | date=July 27, 2019 | url=https://www.eurogamer.net/articles/digitalfoundry-2019-retro-revisiting-famicom-disk-system | access-date=July 29, 2019}}</ref><ref name="Game Over">{{Cite book|url=https://archive.org/details/0966961706 |title=Game Over: How Nintendo conquered the world|last=Sheff|first=David|date=1994|publisher=Vintage Books|isbn=9780307800749|edition=1st Vintage books|location=New York|oclc=780180879 | access-date=July 27, 2019}}</ref>{{rp|75–76}} It was called "truly ground-breaking for its time and could be considered a forerunner of more modern distribution methods [such as] Xbox Live Arcade, PlayStation Network, and Steam".<ref name="Slipped Disk">{{cite web | title=Slipped Disk - The History of the Famicom Disk System | date=November 20, 2010 | first=Damien | last=McFerran | publisher=NintendoLife | url=http://www.nintendolife.com/news/2010/11/feature_slipped_disk_the_history_of_the_famicom_disk_system | access-date=September 5, 2014}}</ref> There were also examples such as Soft bender TAKERU for PCs, which also served as a distribution system for karaoke.<ref>{{cite thesis |last1=Nobushige |first1=Kobayashi |last2=Yuhsuke |first2=Koyama |date=March 31, 2020 |title=The Early History of the Hobbyist Production Field of Video Games and its Impacts on the Establishment of Japan's Video Game Industries |journal=Replaying Japan |volume=2 |publisher=Ritsumeikan University |doi=10.34382/00013364 |url=http://doi.org/10.34382/00013364 |issn=2433-8060}}</ref>

An early innovator of the digital distribution idea on the [[Personal computer|PC]] was [[Stardock]]. In 2001 Stardock released the [[Stardock Central]] to digitally distribute and sell its own [[Personal computer|PC]] titles, followed by a service called ''Drengin.net'' with a yearly subscription pay model in summer 2003. In 2004, the subscription model was substituted by ''TotalGaming.net'' which allowed individual purchases or pay an upfront fee for tokens which allowed them to purchase games at a discount. In 2008, Stardock announced [[Impulse (software)|Impulse]] a third-generation digital distribution platform, which included independent third-party games and major publisher titles.<ref name="ImpulseGoal">{{Cite web|url=https://www.gamerswithjobs.com/node/1180761|title=Stardock Impulse Details|website=Gamers With Jobs}}</ref> The platform was sold to [[GameStop]] in May 2011.<ref name="GameStopAcquisition">{{cite web|url=http://phx.corporate-ir.net/phoenix.zhtml?c=130125&p=irol-newsArticle&ID=1544860 |title=GameStop Announces Acquisition of Spawn Labs and Agreement to Acquire Impulse, Inc. |publisher=GameStop|date=March 31, 2011 |access-date=May 2, 2011}}</ref><ref name="JoystiqAcquisition">{{cite web|url=http://www.joystiq.com/2011/03/31/gamestop-indulges-in-some-impulse-buying-no-seriously-it-bo/|title=GameStop indulges in some Impulse buying ... no seriously, it bought Impulse (and Spawn Labs)|first=Christopher|last=Grant|work=[[Joystiq]]|publisher=[[AOL]]|date=March 31, 2011|access-date=May 2, 2011|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150131154411/http://www.joystiq.com/2011/03/31/gamestop-indulges-in-some-impulse-buying-no-seriously-it-bo/|archive-date=January 31, 2015|url-status=dead|df=mdy-all}}</ref>

In 2004September 2003 [[Valve Corporation|Valve]] released the [[Steam (service)|Steam]] platform for Windows computers (later expanded to [[Mac OS]] and [[Linux]]) as a means to distribute Valve-developed video games. Steam has the speciality that customers don't buy games but instead get the right to use games, which might be revoked when a violation of the [[End-user license agreement]] is seen by Valve<ref name="ownsteamgames">{{cite web|url=http://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2012/02/01/thought-do-we-own-our-steam-games/|title=Thought: Do We Own Our Steam Games? |first=John |last=Walker |date=February 1, 2012|access-date=July 1, 2013 |publisher=[[Rock, Paper, Shotgun]]}}</ref> or when a customer doesn't accept changes in the End-user license agreement.<ref>{{cite web | url = http://www.netzwelt.de/news/93717-verbraucherzentrale-abmahnung-valve-steam.html | title = Verbraucherzentrale: Abmahnung für Valve und Steam | first = Annika |last=Demgen |language=de | work = [[netzwelt]] | date = September 17, 2012 | access-date = September 22, 2012}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://wegotthiscovered.com/gaming/valve-accept-steam-subscriber-agreement-disable-account |title=Valve: Accept New Steam Subscriber Agreement Or Disable Your Account|date=August 5, 2012 |first=Justin |last=Alderman |access-date=March 22, 2014 |publisher=wegotthiscovered.com}}</ref>{{Unreliable source?|date=September 2023|reason=WP:WEGOTTHISCOVERED|certain=y}} Steam began later to sell the right to play games from independent developers and major distributors and has since become the largest PC digital distributor. By 2011, Steam has approximately 50-70% of the market for downloadable PC games, with a userbase of about 40 million accounts.<ref>{{cite web|title=The Master of Online Mayhem |url=https://www.forbes.com/forbes/2011/0228/technology-gabe-newell-videogames-valve-online-mayhem.html/|work=[[Forbes]] |access-date=April 26, 2012 |date=February 28, 2011}}</ref><ref name="Gaming Bolt">{{cite web|title=40 Million Active Gamers on Steam Mark |url=http://gamingbolt.com/valve-releases-pr-steam-userbase-doubles-in-2011-big-picture-mode-coming-soon|publisher=Gaming Bolt |access-date=January 7, 2012 |date=January 6, 2012}}</ref><ref name="Graft">{{cite web|url=http://www.gamasutra.com/php-bin/news_index.php?story=26158 |title=Stardock Reveals Impulse, Steam Market Share Estimates |last=Graft |first=Kris|publisher=[[Gamasutra]] |access-date=November 21, 2009 |date=November 19, 2009}}</ref>

The main advantages of digital distribution over the previously dominant [[Video game retailer|retail]] distribution of video games include significantly reduced production, deployment, and storage costs. Games purchased digitally are legally licenses and not sold, meaning consumers do not have legal ownership and cannot resell their games.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Thomas |first=Bill |date=October 2, 2019-10-02 |title=PC game ownership in the digital age: what do you do in a post-ownership age? |url=https://www.techradar.com/news/pc-game-ownership-in-the-digital-age-what-do-you-do-in-a-post-ownership-age |access-date=2022-05-May 10, 2022 |website=[[TechRadar]] |language=en}}</ref>

===Console:===

===Mobile:===

*[[TapTap]]<ref>{{Cite web |last=Cranmer |first=Brandon |date=2022-09-September 11, 2022 |title=How to Get Exclusive Android Games That Aren't on the Google Play Store |url=https://www.makeuseof.com/taptap-games-not-on-the-google-play-store/ |access-date=November 25, 2022-11-25 |website=MUO |language=en-US}}</ref>

===PC - Websites:===

| < 70>100,500000

*[[Xbox Games Store]] (October, 2019)