I have been interested in the game Watchdogs but I still cannot buy it. You see, I have a problem. I use the xbox one. I love the xbox one. I've seen the PC version of the game with it's updated fancy graphics mod, and that looks great and all, but I love my xbox. I also made a vow, after years of collecting discs and running out of storage space, then being frustrated having to find the correct cd and having to go to the loft (attic) when I realised I'd packed it away and it wasn't in my cd holder thingy, that I would go all-download on this generation, doing away with that annoying game of Chinese Towers that is switching games from my xbox. And herein lies the issue that I face:

They digital download (as opposed to anologue download?) market is mad. Genuinely mad. To the point where I cannot buy games now for at about a year after they are released. Look at Watchdogs. I could buy it today, right now on Amazon, for ￡45. It's expensive, and about what I would expect to pay for a newly-released game despite this one being a month or so old, but it's fairly reasonable. Then I look on the Xbox Live marketplace and the exact same game, without any season passes or additional content, is... wait for it... ￡60. That's right! To download it will cost me 1/3 more than to actually own a physical version of the game. I don't get any packaging, I don't get a (admittedly flimsy and worthless) manual, I don't get a cd that I can lend to a friend or sell on at a later date, I am not able to trade it in. If ever I wish to free up room on my xbox and decide to delete the game, I cannot simply stick in the cd next time I want to play and install it quickly, but instead have to guarantee that I have an internet connection. And all that is fine. I'm happy with that, because that's what I signed up for when I decided to go DD-only. However, to be charged 133% of the price for the privilege of having so many fewer features (as well as the inability to pre-order and therefore I can never get any pre-order bonuses) is, in my opinion, just not on.

Now, I understand that maintaining the infrastructure to enable downloads of such game is expensive, but so are shipping costs and the material and labour costs of producing a boxed cd version of the game. Maybe it is more expensive, but it isn't ￡15 per game more expensive! That's nearly the cost of my monthly 75mbps broadband. I highly doubt that downloading one game requires as much infrastructure as that.

So, to be point of this thread. Do you think that Microsoft and Playstation are taking advantage of people like me who wish to keep everything downloaded? Do you think this will change due to downloads being priced out of the market, or are there too many mugs that will actually pay top-whack for these games? What can be done to reverse this and, equally as important, should it? Why is it ￡5 more expensive to download Watchdogs on Xbox One than on Xbox 360? Where is that ￡5 per download being spent? Am I just a grumpy old man who needs to relax and just enjoy life? Will we ever find Wally?

I can't bring myself to buy Watchdogs, unfortunately, and will be waiting until it gets to ￡40. Seeing as Dead Rising 3 is still ￡50 I doubt that (￡35 on Amazon, by the way). And here's another, final question. Why should a digital download cost me in the UK $100 when it costs someone in the US $60? Almost twice as expensive for me. I tell you, it's just out of order. I hate to think how much Australians get charged. They always seem to get the raw end of the deal.

Yes you're being currently treated as a svcker. Going the download only route has you at the publisher and ISP's mercy. They set the prices, regional rates and they control access. That's your trade off for instant gratification of digital delivery and not putting a disc in a tray. You're buying an illusion of convenience. If you want a competitive market then giving more control over to the publisher is not the way to do it. A digital delivery only route in its current guise is bending over and wiggling your ass for the publishers.

For the record - Wally's back in pre-2000 and he's admittedly snowed under by a pile of boxed games but hey! He got them on his terms and while dusting the pile can be a nuisance he did at least have a healthy second hand market and doesn't have to beg for access to what he bought.

As long as people pay the price that is being charged and jump through the hoops that are presented then nothing will change. More likely that prices will creep up as the publishers test the limits of the customer base.

It's called a monopoly. That's the issue with digital distribution on consoles. With only one distributor on each platform there's no competition, nothing to drive prices down. As PC player myself I find the state of digital distribution on consoles very depressing and it's definitely one of the worst aspects of console gaming today. We PC players have an immense amount of options to buy games digitally, consoles desperately need something similar.

Well... I mean, if I go to the store and buy a physical version of a game I'm usually expecting to pay $60 or so. If I download a new game from somewhere I'm expecting to pay about the same.

If you go to Amazon, you're going to find better deals because you're usually buying from third-party distributors who are selling at a discount to stay competitive.