The notion that Steam-like benefits would magically occur if consoles only supported digital distribution is laughable.

The notion that they wouldn't is just as laughable. Having cheaper games on one console would be a major selling point, and would force the other consoles to adapt to the policy or lose customers.

And what makes you think that a digital-only model for consoles would result in cheaper games? Because of Steam? Have you considered that Steam has to deal with certain circumstances? Some that are very different from consoles?

I'd love to hear what these "certain circumstances" are. Please list them out.

I'll list the two big ones: -Steam has competition. -Piracy is extremely rampant on the PC. Think about it for a moment.

[quote]Steam has competition[/quote] Wait, so if one of the consoles, say the Xbox, went to digital distribution then both Sony and Nintendo would just fold? Really... Please, the idea that a digital distribution like Xbox live Games on Demand would have no competition is insane, it would be competing with both the Playstations and Nintendos version. [quote]Piracy is extremely rampant on the PC[/quote] This however, is a valid point. But, does a lack of pirated games on consoles really take away all the positives that devs, publishers, and us gamers would gain from a system much like steam on consoles?

[quote]Wait, so if one of the consoles, say the Xbox, went to digital distribution then both Sony and Nintendo would just fold? Really... Please, the idea that a digital distribution like Xbox live Games on Demand would have no competition is insane, it would be competing with both the Playstations and Nintendos version.[/quote]What I'm saying is that you can buy most PC games from other sources besides Steam, like Amazon or even EA's origin. Steam is competing with other services, thus prices go down. And Steam is also competing with piracy; the idea is that they'd rather you purchase a game for $5.00 in a sale than torrent it. On a closed platform like a console though, that would never happen. If let's say Microsoft implemented a digital-only system for a console, every game on that console would have to go through Microsoft. They'd have an effective monopoly over the distribution and pricing on that system (they already do this with DLC on Live). But what if all three did digital-only? Honestly, I don't know. Obviously, there would be competition. But I don't see Steam-like sales happening that often, if at all. (Steam-like being something like a $40 game going on sale for 10 bucks)

[quote]What I'm saying is that you can buy most PC games from other sources besides Steam, like Amazon or even EA's origin. Steam is competing with other services, thus prices go down. And Steam is also competing with piracy; the idea is that they'd rather you purchase a game for $5.00 in a sale than torrent it. [/quote] I understand this and agree with it in the sense that competition makes price go down, I don't agree that this same principle of competition will disappear when applied to consoles.(Obviously the competition being between the consoles and there respective marketplaces.) [quote]On a closed platform like a console though, that would never happen. If let's say Microsoft implemented a digital-only system for a console, every game on that console would have to go through Microsoft. They'd have an effective monopoly over the distribution and pricing on that system (they already do this with DLC on Live). [/quote] True. There would only be 1 marketplace per console. However, those marketplaces would be competing with their respective console against the others. The idea being if Console A is charging $50 for a brand new game, and Console B is charging $60 its going to be a big selling point for Console A. Console B will in turn have to match it or risk losing consumers. [quote]But what if all three did digital-only? Honestly, I don't know. Obviously, there would be competition. But I don't see Steam-like sales happening that often, if at all. (Steam-like being something like a $40 game going on sale for 10 bucks)[/quote] I do, mainly because publishers and Devs will be able to afford to charge that low of a price on a sale as well as it being amazing marketing.

I suppose we'll just have to wait and see. When digital distribution takes over, and it inevitably will, the one thing I want to see, more than anything else, is publishers going the way of the dodo.