physical-copies
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Analysts: 75 percent of US core gamers prefer physical copies
According to sales and marketing analyst NPD Group, 75 percent of American core gamers prefer physical game copies to digital distribution. The firm surveyed 7,900 core gamers to arrive at its conclusion. It defines "core gamer" as someone who plays at least five hours worth of action, adventure, fighting, flight, MMO, racing, RTS, RPG, shooter, or sports games per week on PCs, Microsoft or Sony consoles, or Macs. The firm concludes that 34 million US gamers fall under its core definition, with the average core gamer playing 22 hours per week. NPD's report also claims that while the overwhelming majority of its survey participants favor physical game copies, digital distribution is up five percent year-over-year.
Origin to cease sales of physical games on April 4
Those of you buying physical games through Origin will soon have to embrace digital distribution or scope out another store - Origin will cease its offering of disc-based games on April 4, when it transitions to serving solely as a digital license storefront for PC and Mac. If you're still set on buying discs, remember that this announcement is just for Origin, not EA's general distribution efforts. You'll presumably still be able to pick up physical copies of Dragon Age: Inquisition and the next Mass Effect through other stores. [Image: EA]
The Daily Grind: Do you still like buying retail copies?
We live in a world where most games can be downloaded directly to our computers or consoles without a need for physical copies. Free-to-play games don't need game disks, and buy-to-play games like Guild Wars 2 and The Secret World mostly use them as novelties once the games are installed. Even some subscription games aren't going to ask you to hunt down a boxed copy -- you can install, buy, and play EVE Online all from your desktop. On the one hand, this means fewer packages cluttering up the house, which is pretty universally a good thing. On the other hand, some of us have a certain affection for the old boxed game, even if that model is looking increasingly out of date. So, do you still like buying boxed copies of games? Or are you happy to move on to just downloading things directly instead of dealing with the hassle of packaging? Every morning, the Massively bloggers probe the minds of their readers with deep, thought-provoking questions about that most serious of topics: massively online gaming. We crave your opinions, so grab your caffeinated beverage of choice and chime in on today's Daily Grind!
