For my video game trend questions,
– “When did the EB Games Shop stop selling PC Cd games because pc cd games is unnecessarily when we can purchase online from the Steam online store?(My guess is 2013)”
– “When did the phone app games have started to be popular?(My guess is 2009 to present)”
I just want to know some background on how the video game business have changed.
Other timeline of the video game top trend that I believe that I am not wrong. But correct me if I am wrong.
1970’s to 1980’s= arcade games
1970’s to 1990’s= old Japanese Nintendo consoles games and old Japanese Nintendo handheld consoles games
Around 2000 to present= PlayStation and Xbox console games
2008- 2012= Facebook games
2016= Big video game companies is starting to release more movies (ex. Blizzard Entertainment and The Angry Bird)
Feel free to tell me more about the new game trends.
Most of those will be slightly(up to 10 years at some stages) different depending on country, but disregarding that…
Earlier. Steam was created in 2003, it got up to good speed (only for AAA back then though) about at 2004-2006. There were barely any indies there and it was quite hard getting on steam, but quite a lot of companies that used steam by 2009 already made steam-drm cd/dvd discs which required steam. They started greenlight after saw a lot of indies getting whooped by minecraft at about 2010-2012 - that’s, in my opinion, start of entirely new stage of gamedev: “indie overflow” with tons of kickstarters, prealphas being released for sale, indie frauds, etc. As minecraft’s success insired a lot of people and they went to make,make,make games…
Thx, for the details with the Steam games, “But do you know when was the time of the online Steam games is starting to take over the PC CD sell industry?”
Somewhere around 2003, maybe earlier (up to 2010 in some countries because not everyone had good internet/was able to sell digitally because of legals, etc). It was a gradual process so there’s no “it was that day/month/year” answer and there can’t be. It started with creation of digital sales(steam included), continues as bandwidth of internet was expanding. It hasn’t ended still as there are still dvds and dvd players being sold. We did discard floppies from notebooks not that long ago so it will be quite some time(decades) till blueray dies.
I have seen the EB game shop basically does not restock any more PC CD games, because anyone can purchase PC games through online. There is around 1000’s of EB game shop in around a few countries.
I believe the retailer store like Walmart, Staples and Best Buy still sell PC CD, but there is not as many Pc cd game choices as the online purchases. Also, the retailer stores that I have seen is beginning to sell lesser and lesser Pc cd games in this days, and the retailer stores that I have seen is only selling the Pc cd games with a very little amount choices with the games to buy.
You asked me when it started, I answered: when first digital sale platform of PC game/program was made. Actually, depending on semantics you might think it started when some human(maybe programmer, maybe pirate) first transferred a game/program(or even music!) over network(I think it was times of BBS) and thought: it’s a way to distribute too!
And I say: it became popular after most AAA games moved to allow digital distribution (2005-2010). That’s what matters.
You might want to look into steam history like in that video(only narration there useful, I don’t understand why such videos even exist) if you want more.
I was trying to find out when was the online purchases like steam is taking over the pc cd game business.
I was NOT trying to find out when was steam was made.
Somewhere around 2009. The process took few years, and I think it was pretty much over in 2013. Add/remove few years depending on your country. CDs/DVDs are still around, but I think the last time I bought physical game was in 2011.
It may be linked to steam sales. First sales (I can find mention of) apparently happened in 2009.
That inevitably leads into “buying disc is same as buying it in steam” which decreased CD/DVD production drastically.(Think 1 step ahead of what’s written and it’s clear as day)
If you watch video I linked above there it’s said that first sales were half-life 2 sales back in 2005 which required steam as the only way of playing it, but as big as half-life 2 is, it’s not the only AAA title and until most of them came to steam CD/DVD sales were dropping slowly. And that happened somewhere in 2006-2010 (I say 2009 as it’s the heat of it) when steam signed contracts with major AAA titles and they came on same terms as half-life 2: use CD-KEY in steam or you can’t play it.
First Sales (as in discount, not general sales) might’ve helped in 2009, yes, but mostly it’s AAA titles I think.
As I said - add/remove few years, depending on the country.
Service like steam requires high speed internet connection, and even in 2005 that wasn’t exactly available all around the globe.
Thx, for the video because it only tell me a little bit of hint that something like the steam online purchases is getting to be popular in 2010.
I was thinking the disc business and online purchase business is different, because it is much better, faster and handier to purchase online than going to a game shop trip back and forward to purchase video games. I was not really thinking of the material difference.
I do agree with you that PC cd game is pretty much over in 2013.
It is actually same as it’s different way of doing same thing: get game to buyer. Developers don’t really care how, they need to get it to someone who buys with most comfortable way for buyer. Have you ever tried to download even 100 Mb with telephone dial-up back in 2000th? the 32kbit one when connection gets cut every 1-5 minutes? I did, that was extremely unpleasant experience so CD was a much, much better way of getting game back then.
Basically, digital game distribution is 99% dependant on internet. No internet - no game. So even now if I’m in zone with bad internet I prefer to buy a DVD for same price as game in steam instead of paying double to ISP in that region just for transferred data(in some countries you might’ve forgotten, but mobile operators can take money for traffic consumed).
Thx, for answering me. I am starting to understand what do you mean now.
I have google searched that most people takes like around 4hrs to download a game. I begin to find out that the steam online store was not as good as I thought.
But, into my area it is very hard to get a lot of different PC copy of the video game choices inside a retailer.
Our EB stores still sell PC game cd/dvd’s, but then our internet sucks. I used to buy a lot of shareware from department stores on 3.5" floppies back in the mid 90’s
I think I just relies my new developing city might have much more faster internet than the most other cities. Because, my newer city have mostly upper middle classes that usually uses over 60mbps. Now I am using 144mbps at home, and my old College computer uses 3Gbps. I remember seeing most of my friends using 30mbps back in like 2008, but I think they will be using around 60mbps by now. Therefore, maybe only my new development city have the way faster internet and maybe Pc Cd games will not go as popular as soon as everyone have faster internet in the world.
My main ISP increased my bandwidth several times without consulting so I don’t know for certain, but it’s somewhere about 150 Mbit/s real speed(speedtest). Same provider has 150+ Mbit/s channels, so I think it’s right. My reserve ADSL channel is 10 Mbit/s(I just pay for it to be there in case of emergency). 3G fluctuates 400 Kbit/s to 5 Mbit/s when I’m out of city(in city it just doesn’t catch at all - there’s so much buildings). 4G in same place went from 5 Mbit/s to 20Mbit/s. But only 1 out of 4 mobile operators in area has 4G there (3G and 4G have very unstable connection though so listing 4G as 0-20Mbit/s would be more appropriate with average of ~7 Mbit/s).
Those are internets I used over last year depending on where I am currently and what situation is.
I suggest orienting on real speeds of Edge/3G/4G(not theoretical) - outside of towns that’s often only internet there is. There’s a lot of places where only Edge is available making it even lower. And often they come with pay-per-traffic rates.
Big cities usually have cables 30-50 and more Mbit/s on average with unlimited traffic.
In small towns ADSL is quite common limiting to 10-20 Mbit/s usually unlimited traffic as well.
P.S. your screen shows Wifi. I understand some ISPs might give out internet in such way (not common near my house though), but its real speed will most likely be different.
