Atari: Future Gaming Generations Won't Use Physical Media
See Full ImageWhen we were kids, we couldn't possibly conceive of playing against someone on the other side of the earth...in the same game at the same time. That was some kind of inconceivable wizardry to members of the Atari 2600 era. Now, former Sony executive and current Atari president Phil Harrison says the kiddies of today won't know what it's like to use discs to play games in the future.
It's a debate that has raged since the start of this new generation; one side claims the disc-based format - DVD and Blu-Ray - won't ever completely die, while the other side believes it's only a matter of time. In a recent interview with Edge, Harrison had this to say on the subject-
"...there's a generation of kids being born today and probably already alive who I'm pretty confident will never buy a physical media product. They will never buy a DVD, they will never buy a CD, and they will never buy a game in a box."
Because of this belief, Harrison and CEO David Gardner have already started preparing Atari for this evidently inevitable occurrence. Gardner has already gone on record saying he believes the future of Atari revolves around "online play and distribution," and that "within five years, 90% of our products will be online." To some of us, it's difficult to imagine that games like MGS4 and Killzone 2 could become digital downloads simply due to their massive size, but everything continues to advance. We keep moving forward, so perhaps it'll happen after all...the question is, do you want it to happen?
12/4/2008 John Shepard
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Comments (49 posts)
Zorigo
Saturday, December 06, 2008 @ 6:52:57 AM
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Tatsujin
Thursday, December 04, 2008 @ 10:24:44 PM
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WorldEndsWithMe
Thursday, December 04, 2008 @ 10:34:59 PM
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Plus people just want to have something in their hands when it's expensive (most PSN games are cheap). Pirating might get out of control too. There are so many obstacles I wouldn't worry about this happening for another 2 generations.
Last edited by WorldEndsWithMe on 12/4/2008 10:36:33 PM
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Zorigo
Saturday, December 06, 2008 @ 6:54:37 AM
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Daedusian
Thursday, December 04, 2008 @ 10:35:45 PM
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Last edited by Daedusian on 12/4/2008 10:39:11 PM
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Advent Child
Thursday, December 04, 2008 @ 11:21:42 PM
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isaya85
Thursday, December 04, 2008 @ 11:29:47 PM
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Saber1989
Thursday, December 04, 2008 @ 11:30:31 PM
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WorldEndsWithMe
Thursday, December 04, 2008 @ 11:41:57 PM
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Qubex
Thursday, December 04, 2008 @ 11:59:55 PM
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I think Phil Harrison is absolutely correct, and I believe Sony knows this too. I also believe that the Sony R&D labs have designs, and possibly, prototypes of an internet-only console right now. They have too to be engineering the future, otherwise others will muscle in and do something revolutionary right from under their noses... companies who want to stay on top have to lead, they have to revolutionise, they have to, in essence, "create new markets" by forcing "old markets" (us gamers) to change the way we acquire, download and play media... It is something that will happen whether we like it or not.
It is ridiculous to think otherwise, because all you have to do, is look around you and see what and how other technologies and consumption habits have changed to pretty much prove you cannot stop the march of time... things will change and that is a fact... companies will forcibly change these markets if they have too to suite their business models and operational costs... that is if you want a certain quality of product at a reasonable price of course!
I am assuming both distribution platforms will continue to co-exist for sometime, maybe as long as another 2 decades, but that is pushing it.
If we have this conversation again in 2020; things will be very different... media shops and outlets will look/be/function differently.. it will be more like; drop in, pay for the media, doc your gadget into a docking station or maybe even at the till (or next to it); and within a few seconds you will download your media purchased directly onto your gadget to take away with you. Once the purchase has gone through, a copy of that media (encrypted with an access key for yourself only) will be sent to your personal server space somewhere in cyberspace where you can always get it... and there it will sit when you need it again...
...and as things progress, with the internet becoming ever more pervasive using wireless/cellular technologies as the primary way of transmission globally, internet access and media downloadable material will just continue to grow, and grow...
Maybe solid media will exist only as gift set pieces/boxes etc... but most consumption will be soft media... I just don't see people in 50 years time having cupboards full of hard media... just doesn't make sense... especially if you want most media to become even cheaper than it is already!
Phil Harrison will be proved right; he was right in the thick of it at Sony; he knows what Sony (and other technology companies) are thinking... he has seen the road maps; he has seen the future, he is part of the future... he knows what he is talking about... I am sure of it.
Q!
"i Am HoMe"
Last edited by Qubex on 12/5/2008 12:02:27 AM
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King James
Friday, December 05, 2008 @ 12:39:37 AM
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1) have a internet connection to download my movie.
2) have to wait to download it.
...in order to watch a movie when I want to. And as far as Blu-Ray DVDs go, that's 50gb of data! Who wants to wait to download all that?
Last edited by King James on 12/5/2008 12:41:24 AM
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Qubex
Friday, December 05, 2008 @ 1:33:07 AM
We don't know yet what it will cost for all this bandwidth, maybe media won't become that much cheaper, but the "extra" amount we pay may go to subsidise the installation and maintenance of huge/fat download pipes automatically... like a very small tax for amazingly quick internet infrastructure... ultimately the internet is like water...
We will need it, without it we will find it difficult to exist... so the quicker the world rolls out better internet technologies, faster speeds and better wireless accessibilities, the better off everyone is in storing, downloading and managing their gigabyte upon gigabytes of data!
We need internet 2.0 - and everything that comes with it!
Q!
"i aM hOMe"
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Gabriel013
Friday, December 05, 2008 @ 1:26:28 AM
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If it ever happens then the media itself will be slightly cheaper but internet subscription prices will go through the roof.
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Qubex
Friday, December 05, 2008 @ 1:35:03 AM
Q!
"i aM hOMe"
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Starkiller
Friday, December 05, 2008 @ 1:34:28 AM
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Qubex
Friday, December 05, 2008 @ 1:36:16 AM
Q!
"i aM hOMe"
Last edited by Qubex on 12/5/2008 1:36:35 AM
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Advent Child
Friday, December 05, 2008 @ 2:40:11 AM
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BikerSaint
Friday, December 05, 2008 @ 3:20:37 AM
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I want anything I buy in a physical form!!!!
Anwyays, with my 756K(?)slow-hemmoroidal DSL, I think I'd wind up winning every Rip VanWinkle look-a-like contest while waiting for all the data to download.
Right now, I can look across all of my game racks & see hundreds & hundreds of game cartridges/discs, & it reminds me how far my collection's come since I started in the 70's.
I couldn't imagine if the old days were in the future, & I had to download over 900 games that I already have. Plus I figure I'd have nothing to show for it, except for a bunch of external hard drives lined up in a row. Not to mention my ocassional CRS, & then trying to remember which frigging hard drive had which game in it, LOL
If they go the digital way(I've no doubt it's a-coming), then they also need to set it up with an "Easy Button" that will automaticly put it on a blank disc for you at home.
And.....since they're going to be saving millions, thier downloads had better be a lot #^*%$^* cheaper too)!!!!
"Rant mode" has now been disengaged.
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Scarecrow
Friday, December 05, 2008 @ 3:22:56 AM
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There will always be physical media for movies and v-games.
It's something which will never go away. And rightly so.
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daizycutter
Friday, December 05, 2008 @ 3:24:33 AM
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daus26
Friday, December 05, 2008 @ 4:24:54 AM
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What will happen to my cool collection displays, n products like cd cases, and cd racks?
What will happen to the designing career for people who design boxarts n intructional manual books? What will happen to jobs in the hardware-making factories?
What happens to media players? Will they hve like an internal 1 trera byte of storage? N when we run out of space, we hve to buy another hardware/HDD? Will media players hve exchangeable hdd?
What happens to the people who cant afford fast internet connection? Instead of just purchasing a disc n use it, they're gonna hce to wait hours to download it? N wat about extra contemt, we hve to download that too to just watch it? N wat about the intructional manual that comes packaged with the disc? We download that too?
What happens if I wanna play a game on my friends house n only I hve it? I hve to bring my whole hardware over?
This the worst idea in history. With everything working so well right now, why change it?
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CH1N00K
Friday, December 05, 2008 @ 8:51:06 AM
You're worried about your cd racks and dvd racks, but what happened to VHS and cassette tapes before that? You might want to get used to it, this is going to happen. People will find a new career in the design industry, Instruction booklets will become tutorials, Internet connections will get faster and more affordable. Look at how much the price of a HDTV has dropped ever since the government has said TV's won't use an analog signal anymore, and they're only going to get lower. If it's something that the industry excepts as a whole, then they make it so everyone can afford it. If everyone is using it, they still make money.
As for playing at a friends house, there is a couple ways to look at that.
1. Since you have to download the media, wouldn't you be able to copy it over to a usb key and take that with you to your friends place? The problem with this is you start running into copyright issues of games and movies being passed around and the companies aren't making any money to develop more games and movies, something like what pirate downloads are doing now.
2. This is the way I see it going, because this is the way business works. Why would a company want you to lend your game to a friend and not get paid for it, when the friend can just go online and buy it themselves? They make more money, develop more games, which make them more money...which, let's not kid ourselves, that's why they're in business to begin with. They'll probably lower the price of games, so that your friend will want to pay for it anyways. Which they'll be able to do since they no longer pay for packaging and shipping of the materials. You'll be able to load your save data from your game onto a USB and take it with you to your friends place. It won't happen right away, but they're already putting things in place to make it happen. You can buy Socom and Warhawk in disc format or by download..they are giving people a choice now to increase the awareness of downloading...then they are going to phase out the discs, and programs will become exactly what they are called to begin with. "Software", no hard physical aspect to them...And I say bring it on.
Last edited by CH1N00K on 12/5/2008 8:52:14 AM
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daus26
Friday, December 05, 2008 @ 4:31:33 AM
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N wat if we want to use cash instead?
This internet download stuff will hve such a big impact in the economy.
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CH1N00K
Friday, December 05, 2008 @ 9:21:08 AM
Instead of camping out at a store for hours (days?) to get a midnight launch exclusive and hope to get a copy of a game, you can camp out in from of your TV and hope to get a copy. They'll still do late night launches, when internet traffic is low, so they don't crash the servers. Think about it this way though, You never have to worry about the internet being out of stock on High demand games. You don't need to pre-order. You just have to hope the servers are working.
As for EB games and Gamestop, they aren't as popular with game companies anymore because of their used games resale option. Gamestop is making a crap load of money from reselling the same game 2-3. The developers are only getting paid for the first time it sold.
This won't be a perfect system and there will be some frustrations, but in the long run, It's going to be a huge. Who doesn't want to get to the day where we have on demand games and movies, right at our finger tips?
For those of you that don't want to buy the game, I'm sure there will also be a rent option where you can play it and then after a week or two, the game is deleted off of your harddrive, unless you choose to buy it.
As for the cash option..well, how long do you think that's around for anyways? We have direct deposit paychecks, debit and credit cards..prepaid cards...I think you know where I'm going with this.
Last edited by CH1N00K on 12/5/2008 9:32:59 AM
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ThePoetRazel
Friday, December 05, 2008 @ 5:30:21 AM
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Once storage media and net connection speeds advance far enough, digital media will become dominant.
Who hasn't been annoyed by an over-scratched or lost disc? Who enjoys having to root through a load of cases to find the game you want before having to root around even more to find the case for the disc you just took out of the machine? Do you watch movies on UMD or Memory Stick in your PSP? Do you carry a CD player around with you or do you have an iPod instead? (Other portable music players are available).
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Riku994
Friday, December 05, 2008 @ 6:15:41 AM
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CH1N00K
Friday, December 05, 2008 @ 8:29:06 AM
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What I wonder though, is that if they get rid of packaging, and the cost of shipping to stores, would we see a price drop in games? I doubt it, but it's a nice thought.
Last edited by CH1N00K on 12/5/2008 8:31:31 AM
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kreate
Friday, December 05, 2008 @ 8:45:20 AM
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Riku994
Friday, December 05, 2008 @ 5:57:25 PM
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zerostar39
Friday, December 05, 2008 @ 8:58:02 AM
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Downloading games the way we have it now is just fine. DLC and small games like echochrome I'm ok to download, but not something like call of duty or resistance. And for movies, I'll download a movie to rent, not purchase. And If I like it that much, I want the physical copy in my hands.
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Troy Powers
Friday, December 05, 2008 @ 9:23:26 AM
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So, yes, one day we will cease to use physical media. I mean, if you told me when I was buying cassettes that one day people would no longer buy their music on physical media, I would have looked at you like an alien. Now iTunes is completely replacing brick & mortar record stores. People 10 years younger than me (I'm 31) have almost completely abandoned CDs. I was having an interesting conversation with a younger friend of mine, and I was saying how I always remember songs by the track number on the CD instead of the title. She was saying that her generation remembers by title, since they download songs and don't have physical CDs.
So, yes, one day in the future, it will be all digital. But, I still think that's a long way off. We're waiting on lightning fast connection speeds across the globe, cheap, high capacity solid state drives, and effective digital rights management. I give it at least another 10 years. But, my daughter (who is 4 now) will surely never purchase a CD, will probably never purchase a movie on a physical disk, and will likely never purchase a video game in a box.
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coverton341
Friday, December 05, 2008 @ 10:37:03 AM
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Troy Powers
Friday, December 05, 2008 @ 11:11:32 AM
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m2tbo
Friday, December 05, 2008 @ 10:09:38 AM
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coverton341
Friday, December 05, 2008 @ 10:34:33 AM
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Conclusion: All digital is a possibility and even may come to be realized, but after someone loses their collection of movies and games because of a HDD failure those shiny CDs and DVDs are going to start to look more and more like a better idea again
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Cuetes
Friday, December 05, 2008 @ 10:52:10 AM
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CH1N00K
Friday, December 05, 2008 @ 12:12:12 PM
but it will be interesting to see if someone will figure out a way to sell used downloadable games online. This will probably come around about the same way computer games come in now, when you download the game you get a key code for that game. If you want to sell that game to someone else, they'll need that key. Don't think it will actually work, but could be interesting.
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shaydey77
Friday, December 05, 2008 @ 1:40:46 PM
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Besides...well always have the memories..
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thousandshade
Friday, December 05, 2008 @ 2:21:26 PM
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http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WiMAX
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thousandshade
Friday, December 05, 2008 @ 2:24:54 PM
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xnonsuchx
Friday, December 05, 2008 @ 3:52:15 PM
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Or are the NEXT generation of consoles coming w/ 500-1000GB HDs standard???
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bamf
Friday, December 05, 2008 @ 5:09:58 PM
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dveisalive
Friday, December 05, 2008 @ 7:01:11 PM
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Detroyer 1250
Friday, December 05, 2008 @ 9:47:23 PM
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RebelExtrm02
Friday, December 05, 2008 @ 10:06:23 PM
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AnonymousPoster
Saturday, December 06, 2008 @ 6:34:53 AM
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If I can't touch it, I won't buy it.
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AntDC
Saturday, December 06, 2008 @ 4:53:46 PM
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Lairfan
Sunday, December 07, 2008 @ 4:49:13 PM
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I'm alright with this idea as long as it utilizes disks as backup devices. If doesn't utilize disks, people will be losing content all over the place.
It's just stupid not to use disks as a backup plan for this system, because otherwise people are going to stop DLing these games real quick. And it will be the console makers to blame for not putting a damn disk drive on their consoles.
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crapreviews
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Thursday, December 04, 2008 @ 10:06:26 PM