General / Off-Topic Why IS A Download More Expensive Than A Physical Disc?

[Alien]

I like to play The Sims 3 ... there I said it.
And I bought one of the expansions pre-owned. Big mistake.
While I can install the expansion just fine, I can't register the disc with Origin and be able to download it in future (I like to download games now rather than buy a physical disc) because the previous owner has already registered it.

I talked to someone at Origin / EA and asked about this, and he said he couldn't do anything about the disc serial code already being registered. To be honest, that is fair enough.

So, I started looking to buy the expansion again, but as a download. And that's when the trouble started. I was browsing Game.co.uk website, when I saw this :

Look at the price for Seasons ... £16 and free UK delivery ... £29.99 to download.
My jaw hit the floor. How the heck can they justify a download being nearly twice the price of a physical disc? I mean if I bought the disc, there is the cost of the case, the cover, the manual, the disc and delivery to me ... yet a download is twice the price (nearly) and practically zero cost. AND if I bought the disc, they'd be down one item, but if I bought the download, they'd still have the original files there to sell again.

I really could not understand the justification for it being nearly twice as expensive, so I sent them an email ...

I have been browsing your website with a view to purchasing a Sims 3 expansion. I like to purchase online so I may download the game as opposed to having a physical copy. I cannot understand why on your website a download for Sims 3 expansions is £29.99 but if I purchase a physical copy it is £16.

Surely when you take into consideration the cost of making the disc, the case, the cover, the manual and the cost of sending to me, surely the price of a physical copy should be more expensive than a download. With a download, you have the program and files stored on your server database, and it costs you next to nothing to allow me to download it once purchased. There is no cost of disc, case, cover, manual or delivery involved.

Also, you do not lose anything in the transaction. When you sell a physical copy, you have reduced your stock by one item, when a download is purchased and downloaded, you still have the original files and program waiting for the next person to purchase and download it.

So I am asking you to please explain why a download is nearly twice as expensive as a physical copy.

Yours sincerely
Alien

A couple of days later I got a reply ...

Hi Alien,

Thank you for your email.
I am sorry to hear of your disappointment with the difference between hard copy and download prices.
The price we charge for titles depends on the price we get from the publishers. If a publisher is able to offer us a promotional price we will be able to lower the price for customers. Due to our close relationship with many publishers we are often able to lower the price on hard copy products. Unfortunately as our download service is controlled by a third party company, Metaboli, they are subject to different prices by the publishers. This means that if we are given a promotional price for hard copies, but Metaboli do not receive the same promotional price for the download version, we will be able to offer the hard copies at a lower price then the download.
I apologise for any disappointment this may cause.
Regards,
Michaela C
The Team at GAME

Well ... I don't want a physical disc and I refuse to be ripped off, so it seems I am stuck with a disc I can't register.
The obvious solution is to buy a brand new disc and register the (unused) serial number, but then I am left with two discs.

 

[Mobius]

the main difference for discs being cheaper is that the shop wants to shift the stock to make way few newer titles, where for downloading it they don't have to make way for physical space thus they tend to stay at a high price, but
this is what i think the reason is anyway

shame on you for trying to give the likes of EA money.

 

[Alien]

shame on you for trying to give the likes of EA money.

You could apply that statement to any games developer ... but yes EA deserve their bad reputation ... I could fill pages of this thread talking about how bad EA are, but I do like to have the things legally.

Soon they have a new expansion called "Into The Future" coming, and it is exactly what I have been waiting for (all the others are "meh"). I will be pre-ordering it from Origin so no 3rd party middle men to push the price up (it'll still be £29.99 but it will be brand new).

 

[SnowGhost]

This is one area where Steam really does step up and hit a home run. The number of sales and the size of the discounts available is truly significant.

Provided you can exercise some self restraint, the steam summer/winter sales are huge, with upto 75% off.

 

[EidLeWeise]

This is one area where Steam really does step up and hit a home run. The number of sales and the size of the discounts available is truly significant.

Provided you can exercise some self restraint, the steam summer/winter sales are huge, with upto 75% off.

Indeed! I picked up Dishonored and all of it's expansions for < $10. Though to be fair GOG and others have also realised the benefits. I also have high hopes for Amazon's download service...

 

[rgmarett]

I also have high hopes for Amazon's download service...

Same here.

 

[synchromesh]

Just go for the cheapest anyway why worry about it ... even if you buy the physical chances are you still don't own it..

I bought Half Life orange box and AVP boxed editions from Play for an incredible £5: 99 each a while back....when I tried to install them I had to log into steam.....Most of the game seemed to be installed through steam.....
To play it I had to log into steam.....

My son tried to install it on his but got halted because my steam details were needed.....So I cant sell the game in the future either....Chances are the physical disc of the Sims will be the same for you !!

In fact I had to re format last week...Just looked my Half-Life is still there in my steam account ready for download..

Having the Discs meant nothing !!

 

[Aewarin Jameson]

Having the Discs meant nothing !!

Which is a shame really as disks cost resources to make whereas the servers to DL from are online anyway.

Thank god for steam, like you said, as I lost some disks but as they are registered on my account I can download them again if I want to.

 

[synchromesh]

Which is a shame really as disks cost resources to make whereas the servers to DL from are online anyway.

Thank god for steam, like you said, as I lost some disks but as they are registered on my account I can download them again if I want to.

Ye but the point was I wanted the disk collection ...Its like buying a DVD and all that's on the disk is a link to you tube !!

The whole thing is a rip off these days ...Renting isn't progress its a step backwards ..

 

[Styggron]

Although I personally always want the new physical disk, I have lots of Sims 3 expansions and I have never registered any of them. I typed in the serial and installed it never with an internet connection.

Forgive my ignorance on this but why do you need to register ? I gather there are special downloads and some expansions elements are download only ? I have encountered some Sims 3 expansions that with the physical box there is no media inside this is all I can think of.

Either way Alien is experiencing the same thing Australia often does with downloads only. Steam for example. US price cheap Australia price same product high and it's a download.

Hopefully with show shopping around you can find a solution Alien but this is a good point, one I and many others down here are quite upset about. How can a download be as expensive or in your case MORE than the physical copy. Not really right is it.

 

[Alien]

Forgive my ignorance on this but why do you need to register ? I gather there are special downloads and some expansions elements are download only ? I have encountered some Sims 3 expansions that with the physical box there is no media inside this is all I can think of.

Why do I want to register it? So I can download it in future without needing the disc. If I download & install I don't need the disc to play it, but if I install via the disc, I have to have a disc in my computer's DVD drive to play it.

Amazon recently launched their Digital Download service for the UK, and I looked up the prices for downloading Sims 3 expansions, and what do you know? They were a comparable price to a physical disc ... as it should be.

 

[[VR] Shadowman]

I feel your pain, Alien. My friends have Dead Island - Riptide and I was thinking about downloading it to join them. However...

Xbox download: £45.
Game.co.uk: £33.
Tesco: £23.

Ofc, at the time, I was in the house and wanted a download, but there ain't no way I'm paying that much over the odds.

 

[Styggron]

Why do I want to register it? So I can download it in future without needing the disc. If I download & install I don't need the disc to play it, but if I install via the disc, I have to have a disc in my computer's DVD drive to play it.

Amazon recently launched their Digital Download service for the UK, and I looked up the prices for downloading Sims 3 expansions, and what do you know? They were a comparable price to a physical disc ... as it should be.

Gotcha. Understood.

It is very annoying to keep the disk in the drive but that is the price I pay for physical copies.

Sim Expansions here were AUD$10 or around £6.50 but that's on special. Only the very new ones are a little more. I am way behind them though I am up to Supernatural. I don't have that one. There are also ones I can't get as there are no physical versions, some Island expansion or similar.

Have not played in ages so I might fire it all up again.

 

[Jason S]

I have noticed that film downloads from itunes are also sometimes more expensive in SD quality than a dvd from Amazon uk.

To be honest this grinds me a bit. I do have android devices too but have not bothered to check out the samsung film store or other digital store, maybe they are cheaper, but I am guessing not as books seem also near in cost to the real thing.

Yes downloads you would think would be a lot cheaper but I suppose the physical discs and books do not cost much to make and amazon is very efficient, so most the cost is marketing, license and dev costs, hence why download costs are in the same territory.

The worry I have with stuff that is stored only on download and walled in, is what if a digital store provider (Apple, Samsung, Amazon) go bust one day or decide to take it away from you or discontinue the service one day. It may not seem likely now, but in the back of my mind It kind of puts me off spending too much on digital only downloads as I also would have problems passing all that on to say my kids one day. So DVDs are still cool and so are real books, although they may be a bit less convenient...

 

[Styggron]

I have noticed that film downloads from itunes are also sometimes more expensive in SD quality than a dvd from Amazon uk.

To be honest this grinds me a bit. I do have android devices too but have not bothered to check out the samsung film store or other digital store, maybe they are cheaper, but I am guessing not as books seem also near in cost to the real thing.

Yes downloads you would think would be a lot cheaper but I suppose the physical discs and books do not cost much to make and amazon is very efficient, so most the cost is marketing, license and dev costs, hence why download costs are in the same territory.

The worry I have with stuff that is stored only on download and walled in, is what if a digital store provider (Apple, Samsung, Amazon) go bust one day or decide to take it away from you or discontinue the service one day. It may not seem likely now, but in the back of my mind It kind of puts me off spending too much on digital only downloads as I also would have problems passing all that on to say my kids one day. So DVDs are still cool and so are real books, although they may be a bit less convenient...

Exactly why I want physical copies. There have been several instances with electronic titles here in Australia where ebook distributor all of a sudden lost the Australian rights and they just took the title off everyone's kindle when they conneted next. Yes... NOT GOOD ! This also happened to some game titles on Steam as well, they took it off, gave you a refund and presto you can't play it....a unilateral decision. Too much control their end. With a physical copy they can't do that of course which is why always go physical copies.

These examples are exceptions of course not the rule but they are still valid points so if you have been stung several times. I always go for physical copy so they can't touch it or decide later on to take it away from me and give me a refund. Sorry.....that's just NOT on.

I'm still with Alien on this one though, a download should be FAR less than a physical copy. Yes there are explanations and reasons and distributor deals etc etc but at the end of the day when we walk in or want to buy something we look at it and go "how can a download be MORE or the SAME" as physical copy.

How about how different countries have different prices for downloads ? How does that work ? $60 in Australia and $10 in the US ? for a DOWNLOAD ? What ??!!!!! oooooo yeah.

 

[Alien]

When ED comes, and I get the Premium Box, I may open it to see what's in there, and then seal it again and never open it. I might buy a 2nd disc in case I need it, or backup the download.

Why would I never touch the Premium Box? I recently looked up a book I have, Science of Discworld II. I have a signed hardback. I read it when I got it, and the cover has a little wear & tear and a crease down the spine. I looked up how much my book is worth, and if it was in mint condition, never used, it could sell for $464, not bad for a book that's 11 years old. My book, not in mint condition, but still very good condition sells for $115 dollars or £77 still not bad, but if I'd looked after it, I could have had a book worth so much more.

 

[Styggron]

Alien I saw something this morning that might help you with your Sims 3 issue. Now I don't know if you know this already or if it is any use to you but I just thought I'd let you know.

The current humble bundle is an origin/EA pack and there is a Sims 3 pack in there containing 3 titles I believe.

Just wanted to give you the heads up as I know you were talking about download versions.

As you know with humble bundles it is a pay what you want arrangement.
www.humblebundle.com

Hopefully it is of some use to you.

 

[Alien]

Thank you Styggron, I may very well go with that.
I would have to pay over the average (at the time I write this it's $4.65) to unlock The Sims 3-pack which contains the very expansion I can't register, but I'd also have:
Dead Space (Steam)
Burnout Paradise The Ultimate Box (Steam) CLAIMED
Crysis 2 Maximum Edition (Steam) CLAIMED
Mirror's Edge (Steam) CLAIMED
Dead Space 3
Medal Of Honour (Steam)
Battlefield 3

Which I'd have no interest in playing at all
Plus The Sims 3 base game and High End Loft Stuff which I already have, just to get Late Night.

But I still might go for this. If I do, and anyone wants any of the above titles I won't be using, you will be welcome to have the serial keys for them.

 

[Cathy]

The worry I have with stuff that is stored only on download and walled in, is what if a digital store provider (Apple, Samsung, Amazon) go bust one day or decide to take it away from you or discontinue the service one day. It may not seem likely now, but in the back of my mind It kind of puts me off spending too much on digital only downloads as I also would have problems passing all that on to say my kids one day. So DVDs are still cool and so are real books, although they may be a bit less convenient...

A huge amount of stuff is going to be lost to families as more and more of it is on download, or stuck somewhere in cyberspace password protected. Never mind your music collection and games/videos... what about your pension benefits which are moving over to online access only by a password "you must not reveal to anyone" in place of paper statements once a year... 'Damn... ok kids, do any of you know Grandad's account number? Any suggestions for the password he used?'

Probate's going to be a right palava.

 

[Alien]

Thank you Styggron, I may very well go with that.
I would have to pay over the average (at the time I write this it's $4.65) to unlock The Sims 3-pack which contains the very expansion I can't register, but I'd also have:
Dead Space (Steam)
Burnout Paradise The Ultimate Box (Steam) CLAIMED
Crysis 2 Maximum Edition (Steam) CLAIMED
Mirror's Edge (Steam) CLAIMED
Dead Space 3
Medal Of Honour (Steam)
Battlefield 3

Which I'd have no interest in playing at all
Plus The Sims 3 base game and High End Loft Stuff which I already have, just to get Late Night.

But I still might go for this. If I do, and anyone wants any of the above titles I won't be using, you will be welcome to have the serial keys for them.

I purchased it ... so if you want the non-Sims 3 codes, let me know.
1st come 1st served basis. I will only give the code via PM.

Now ... I am trying to get stupid Origin to redeem the code, it might not help that I already have 2 of the 3 registered