Alan Wake's American Nightmare, the second title in the Xbox Live House Party lineup, is set to release tomorrow and with it comes more than just a fancy new title. This game signifies a major shift in the video game industry. Technology has made some exceptional advancements over the last few decades and despite pioneering some major developments - such as the recent motion gaming craze - the gaming industry has also found ways to drag far behind.
Everybody knows what video games look like. Depending on their age, they might tell you it's a little plastic cartridge with a faded and slightly torn sticker on it that you have to blow into and wiggle around to get to work. The more recent generations will jump to a description featuring a shiny disc that comes in a rectangular plastic case of varying colors with movie-poster graphics showcasing the star of their favorite title. Although they will spend hours shouting about the golden age of gaming and the processing power of their new machine, their arguments are entirely in vein because they're both wrong. That's not what a video game looks like. In fact, video games are so unique and so different, there's simply no way you could throw a blanket statement over them. What they're wasting energy disputing is various forms of media the game is distributed on. Besides, they're not giving the floppy disc guy a fair chance to share his opinions anyway.
The very media they are discussing is exactly what has caused the gaming industry to lag behind. Most games are currently distributed on a compact disc via a retail outlet. This has become the standard and nobody really questions it... but should they. Take a look at the music industry. There's no doubt it's thriving, but when was the last time you listened to a CD? It's a lot more likely you're either using an MP3 player or even your smartphone to take care of the majority of your music needs. This is because the music industry has made the move to digital.
Whether you love it or hate it, that's the way things are now. Buying full records seems absurd to consumers who would prefer to just grab a single track for 99 cents. This is done online and the file is received immediately, ready to be put on an iPod, played from the computer, or stored on a USB flash drive. Another popular alternative is to pay a monthly fee and have unlimited access to streaming content, usually with certain restrictions of course. Regardless of the method, the music industry was quick to adapt while the gaming industry has barely dipped its toes in the water.
DLC is huge in the gaming industry; although it has come under heavy fire recently. DLC stands for ‘downloadable content’. It’s extra stuff for your game, whether it is more campaign for the story, extra maps or songs, or a new outfit for your character. What many consumers have been upset with is so called ‘on-disk DLC’ which has shown up recently. That is, the supposedly additional content is actually already packed away on the disk but had to be purchased at a later time for an additional fee in order to gain access to it. The reason so many consumers are upset with this is because they feel as if they’ve already paid for the content, seeing as it’s stored on the disk they already bought. Additionally, some feel as if it hurts the overall quality of the final product because if this DLC was made before launch, it must have cut into the development time for the original title. This means either something was cut out of the game –likely the ‘DLC’ they just paid for – or that the time could have been used to fine-tune the release before the game went gold. Some people think this ‘on-disk DLC’ suggests that the developers are hesitant to go all-digital. However, even if the DLC is true DLC, it still is really just a baby step forward. If you think about it, DLC isn’t really the same thing as buying a track off of iTunes. It’s more like purchasing an extra verse for your favorite song.
In order to catch up with the music industry, the video game industry really needs to step up its game. They’re definitely getting there, but it’s happening pretty slowly. You can certainly find downloadable versions of full games, however if you browse through the listings on your PS3 or Xbox 360, you’ll notice all the available titles have one thing in common – they’re a little out dated. To anyone who plays on PC, this is a bit of a head-scratcher. The success of all-digital stores, such as Steam or EA’s new Origin, is undeniable. “I love it,” said Rex VanDorpe of Iowa City. “I personally don’t know what I would do without Steam. I can buy and download games in an hour, and I don’t have to leave my house.” He also points out that these digital stores are an excellent tool for promotion. “I find out about games that way, when Steam offers deals.” Not only that, but the ease with which a game can be purchased is added incentive to purchase and play games. “I find myself buying games that I probably would not go to a store and buy. Also, there are good odds I will play digital games more because I don’t have to bother finding an actual disc.”
The thought of not being able to get a new title on day one downloaded straight to their computer just seems silly to PC gamers, however it’s a reality console gamers must face. But then again, is it really affecting them? “Maybe I like going to retail stores at midnight and standing in lines and conversing with other geeky gamers!” Kellie Pickering of Cedar Rapids said. These midnight releases are huge in the gaming industry too. For the launch of Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3, arguably the biggest title of 2011, stores were opening as early as 9PM to prepare for the crowds. Pickering and Jessica Brierton, from Iowa City, also agree on another thing. “You can’t show off your game collection,” Brierton pointed out. She also made note of the fact that it’s horrible for the used games market, stating that it is “hurting retail companies like GameStop and consumers who like to buy slightly used new games for a good price.”
In 2010, GameStop posted record sales amounting to almost $10 billion. A large portion of this is, of course, their used games. If you’re tired of the game you bought or just flat out think it’s terrible, you can mosey on down to GameStop and trade that game in for some not so hard earned cash or maybe a little extra store credit to put towards another title you’re interested in. If you browse the used section, you can likely find the title you’re looking for at a nice discount. This is great for you and great for GameStop
So that’s a wrap. Everybody wins and everything is ok, right? Unfortunately, there’s one party that doesn’t win, and that’s the game developers. That’s because they get absolutely nothing from a single sale of a used game. “Digital is much more cost effective for game companies, encouraging cheaper prices and innovation,” said Ryan Hingtgen of North Liberty. “Honestly, Digital Distribution of games is good for the industry overall. If you need a good example of a game that has taken digital distribution to a whole new level, look at Minecraft.” He couldn’t be more right. Minecraft reached over one million units sold barely a month after going into the beta stages. This was ten full months prior to its official release and it has since sold over five million units. But this again just proves the success digital releases are having on the PC while developers for consoles are still hesitant to jump on board. That is, until now.
Alan Wake’s American Nightmare marks a big breakthrough for the gaming industry. The original Alan Wake came out in May of 2010 as an exclusive to the Xbox 360. It was highly anticipated, a great success, and it quickly developed a deep fan base. Alan Wake was such a unique title on so many levels. It was set up like a TV show with each chapter being a weekly episode. This allowed for the ease of additional ‘episodes’ being added on via the aforementioned DLC.
Unfortunately, this created a bit of confusion with the announcement of Alan Wake’s American Nightmare. Was this another chapter of DLC? No, it’s a full-featured follow-up title. So what’s the big deal with American Nightmare then? It’s taking the big leap. As part of Xbox Live's House Party, it’s going with an exclusively digital release tomorrow. It’s one of the first blockbusters to make the leap to an immediate and exclusive digital launch. There won’t be a single line outside of any store with people anxiously waiting to buy the game. Nobody is paying extra for a collector’s edition, and nobody will be filing the case away next to the other games in their collection. Outside of a minor gathering of fans that will wait up for the game to be published, most will probably go to sleep and buy the game whenever they get on Live next.
The big question is how is this going to affect the industry? Will GameStop and other local stores like Video Games Etc. or Gamers feel the pain of not being able to resell this title? That seems highly unlikely. There are so many other titles in circulation already, there’s absolutely no way one game could have a devastating effect on their sales; at least not immediately anyway. A lot is riding on the success or failure that American Nightmare is about to face. If it’s a massive hit, other developers will take notice and this could inspire many of them to go all-digital.
But then again, what if it doesn’t succeed? Things seem to be stacked in their favor, seeing as the digital format allows them to cut out the cost of the middle-man retail store, forgo paying the cost of materials for physical copies, and actually collect money from every single copy they sell… but at what cost? Its possible many gamers will choose not to purchase it since there’s no lower price option available. Sure that’s not a loss to the developers since they wouldn’t have collected money off the used sale anyway, but what about all of the other copies that would have inspired purchases? You can’t rent a digital copy and definitely won’t be able to loan yours out to a friend. All of those people may have been interested in buying it after they tried it, but now it’s likely they won’t purchase it at all.
There’s also the crowd that are boycotting digital distribution. Rob Nielsen, writer of the RedGoateeRob Horror Gaming Blog, is definitely not a fan.
“The thing that nobody seems to care about here is the impact on consumer rights. With a lot of these digital distribution services, I`m given to understand that if they go out of business or if someone accuses you of hacking or using a stolen credit card , they can revoke access to your entire game collection.”
He brings up valid points, many companies, even outside of the gaming industry, have taken hits for their insane and “intrusive” DRM. That hasn’t stopped companies from trying though because in the end, it always benefits them.
“The upshot is that digital distribution is great for the bottom line of the companies that are pushing it and utterly terrible for the consumer. I`ve never paid money for a digitally distributed game and I never will.”
His love of horror games isn’t enough to step away from his thoughts about digital distribution even for one day to try out this game, no matter how great it may end up being. That’s yet another lost sale that digital distribution has contributed to, and he’s not the only one that feels that way. There are many other gamers out there who loathe the idea of digital distribution. Perhaps what the companies need to do is find a happy medium.
Emily McKnight, from Iowa City, feels that way. “If the company offers it as a service alongside production of physical copies, that is probably useful to some people.” With the success the PC gaming market has found through side-by-side sales of both physical and digital copies; that really seems like the way to go. So maybe American Nightmare is a step too far, or maybe it’s not a step in the right direction at all. We won’t know until the initial sales numbers are released in the following weeks. So regardless of which side of the argument you fall on and whether or not you’re going to buy American Nightmare tomorrow, you’ll be speaking with your wallet and the entire gaming industry will be anxiously watching.
Anthony Ortale writes news and reviews on behalf of Examiner.com. He does so much gaming in his spare time, it’s practically a full time job! If you like what you read here, please subscribe to his articles! You can also follow Tony on Twitter, or become a fan on Facebook! If you ever have any questions, comments, or concerns, feel free to email Tony any time at ortale.anthony@gmail.com, he would love to hear from you
