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Digital distribution of video games
In the video game industry, digital distribution is the process of delivering video game content as digital information, without the exchange or purchase of new physical media such as ROM cartridges, magnetic storage, optical discs and flash memory cards. This process has existed since the early 1980s, but it was only with network advancements in bandwidth capabilities in the early 2000s that digital distribution became more prominent as a method of selling games. Currently, the process is dominated by online distribution over broadband Internet.
To facilitate the sale of games, various video game publishers and console manufacturers have created their own platforms for digital distribution. These platforms provide centralized services to purchase and download digital content for either specific video game consoles or personal computers. Some platforms may also serve as digital rights management systems, limiting the use of purchased items to one account.
Digital distribution of video games is becoming increasingly common, with major publishers and retailers paying more attention to digital sales, including Steam, PlayStation Store, Amazon.com, GAME, GameStop, Xbox Live Marketplace, and others. It is particularly popular for PC games. 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, and reached $7.7 billion per month in April 2017.
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 phone line to a central server and rent a video game for 5–10 days. The GameLine service was terminated during the video game crash of 1983. From 1987 to 2003, Nintendo's Japan-only Disk Writer kiosks allowed users to copy from a jukebox style of rotating stock of the latest games to their floppy disks. They can keep each one for an unlimited time, and play at home on the Family Computer Disk System for ¥500, then about US$3.25 and 1/6 of the price of many new games. 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". There were also examples such as Soft bender TAKERU for PCs, which also served as a distribution system for karaoke.
Only a few digital distribution services for consoles would appear in the 90s. Among them were Sega's Sega Meganet and Sega Channel, released in 1990 and 1994 respectively, providing Sega Genesis owners with access to games on demand and other services. Nintendo released peripherals and services only in Japan: the Satellaview satellite subscription service for Super Famicom and the Nintendo Power flash cartridge in-store kiosk system for Super Famicom and Game Boy.
On PCs, digital distribution was more prevalent. In the late 1980s and early 1990s, prior to the widespread adoption of the Internet, it was common for software developers to upload demos and shareware to Bulletin Board Systems. In most cases, demos or shareware releases would contain an advertisement for the full game with ordering instructions for a physical copy of the full game or software. Some developers instead used a licensing system where 'full versions' could be unlocked from the downloaded software with the purchase of a key, thereby making this method the first true digital distribution method for PC Software. Notable examples include the Software Creations BBS and ExecPC BBS, both of which continue to exist today – albeit in a very different form. Bulletin Board systems however were not interconnected, and developers would have to upload their software to each site. Additionally, BBSs required users to place a telephone call with a modem to reach their system. For many users, this meant incurring long-distance charges. These factors contributed to a sharp decline in BBS usage in the early 1990s, coinciding with the rise of inexpensive Internet providers.
In the mid-1990s, with the rise of the Internet, early individual examples for digital distribution under usage of this new medium emerged, although there were no significant services for it. For instance, in 1997 the video game producer Cavedog regularly distributed additional content for the Real-time strategy computer game Total Annihilation as Internet downloads via their website.
Also, users used the Internet to distribute their own content. Without access to the retail infrastructure that would allow them to distribute this content through physical media, user-created content such as game modifications, maps or fan patches could only be distributed online.
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Digital distribution of video games AI simulator
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Digital distribution of video games
In the video game industry, digital distribution is the process of delivering video game content as digital information, without the exchange or purchase of new physical media such as ROM cartridges, magnetic storage, optical discs and flash memory cards. This process has existed since the early 1980s, but it was only with network advancements in bandwidth capabilities in the early 2000s that digital distribution became more prominent as a method of selling games. Currently, the process is dominated by online distribution over broadband Internet.
To facilitate the sale of games, various video game publishers and console manufacturers have created their own platforms for digital distribution. These platforms provide centralized services to purchase and download digital content for either specific video game consoles or personal computers. Some platforms may also serve as digital rights management systems, limiting the use of purchased items to one account.
Digital distribution of video games is becoming increasingly common, with major publishers and retailers paying more attention to digital sales, including Steam, PlayStation Store, Amazon.com, GAME, GameStop, Xbox Live Marketplace, and others. It is particularly popular for PC games. 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, and reached $7.7 billion per month in April 2017.
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 phone line to a central server and rent a video game for 5–10 days. The GameLine service was terminated during the video game crash of 1983. From 1987 to 2003, Nintendo's Japan-only Disk Writer kiosks allowed users to copy from a jukebox style of rotating stock of the latest games to their floppy disks. They can keep each one for an unlimited time, and play at home on the Family Computer Disk System for ¥500, then about US$3.25 and 1/6 of the price of many new games. 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". There were also examples such as Soft bender TAKERU for PCs, which also served as a distribution system for karaoke.
Only a few digital distribution services for consoles would appear in the 90s. Among them were Sega's Sega Meganet and Sega Channel, released in 1990 and 1994 respectively, providing Sega Genesis owners with access to games on demand and other services. Nintendo released peripherals and services only in Japan: the Satellaview satellite subscription service for Super Famicom and the Nintendo Power flash cartridge in-store kiosk system for Super Famicom and Game Boy.
On PCs, digital distribution was more prevalent. In the late 1980s and early 1990s, prior to the widespread adoption of the Internet, it was common for software developers to upload demos and shareware to Bulletin Board Systems. In most cases, demos or shareware releases would contain an advertisement for the full game with ordering instructions for a physical copy of the full game or software. Some developers instead used a licensing system where 'full versions' could be unlocked from the downloaded software with the purchase of a key, thereby making this method the first true digital distribution method for PC Software. Notable examples include the Software Creations BBS and ExecPC BBS, both of which continue to exist today – albeit in a very different form. Bulletin Board systems however were not interconnected, and developers would have to upload their software to each site. Additionally, BBSs required users to place a telephone call with a modem to reach their system. For many users, this meant incurring long-distance charges. These factors contributed to a sharp decline in BBS usage in the early 1990s, coinciding with the rise of inexpensive Internet providers.
In the mid-1990s, with the rise of the Internet, early individual examples for digital distribution under usage of this new medium emerged, although there were no significant services for it. For instance, in 1997 the video game producer Cavedog regularly distributed additional content for the Real-time strategy computer game Total Annihilation as Internet downloads via their website.
Also, users used the Internet to distribute their own content. Without access to the retail infrastructure that would allow them to distribute this content through physical media, user-created content such as game modifications, maps or fan patches could only be distributed online.