I've been musing lately about the current state of the way games are sold. With all the recent news I have been hearing about what shape the industry has been in, I wonder if the current way of doing business is going to be extinct in the next decade or so.

In what I believe to be an attempt at cutting cost and controlling their products, I foresee a future of gaming in where we no longer own games, but rent them.

Now, some of you might thing I'm insane, but hear me out. First, lets discuss the actual physical copies of games we know and love. If we view the fact that having a physical disk was a necessity in gamings early years, we'll probably realize it is just a blip on the possibly giant video game history to come. We already enjoy a wide array of games and game add-ons, as well as other media, in the form of DLC. With storage becoming much cheaper than it ever was, I can certainly see downloading as a viable option for many forms of media to come. Another move toward this digitization has been the removal of some physical game manuals that accompany games. Some may tout this as "Being Green" but the only green I see is the money they save on printing physical copies and the fact that if you wish to view a manual you would have gotten for free not that many years ago, you must visit their site. Interesting thought, as marketing trends these days often dictate to get the customer where you want him, then try and sell to him or her. They’ll do anything and everything to get you to a site where they can advertise all sorts of products to you. The removal of physical disks also saves money as well. When moving the media to a place to download from, they also dictate where you can download it. They also control where you can play your media and or how many devices you can use your media on. I think the days of installing your copy of the latest PC game on any computer are numbered.

The amount of control one can have over a video game these days is amazing. And with the popularity of online gaming, its amazing what game companies can control as well. The much-aligned DRM software that accompanies some products is touted as being a way to combat piracy. Maybe so, but it would only be a bonus to have access to games that were sold to you, the consumer. Basically, you’re allowed to play the game you paid for, if said game's company can monitor your actions. I don't see it being very long before advertisements or possible pay upgrades or service fees make their way via constantly updated servers. When you own a game, you own it outright, all you need is the computer and you. But when a game you paid for requires a computer, you and the game company's online servers, how can you claim you own it? That's like buying a laptop but it still being tethered to the store you purchased it from, you can use it but not outside the stores control. The basic idea I believe is this: paying once for a game isn't going to cut it any more. It is far too much of a gamble to spend thousands if not millions on development on a game where the majority of people will buy only once, and some might even pirate. If you could have people buy a game, then sell them items or parts of the game afterwards you not only boost your revenue with minimal overhead; you forcibly bring about repeat customers. Loyalty is a hard thing to gain, but if your fans must be loyal if they want what they purchased to work, you have them where you want them.

Now it seems the newest trend is the used game fee to play online. Again, recouping development costs on used games. I have to admit, with amount of online users growing all the time, this was a genius idea, if a bit greedy. They offer no new product to you the consumer, but you have to pay them twice! It doesn't get any easier to make money than that. And a deal between two people selling a used game is now the companies business. The cost may be small, but its effect on used game sale is going to really shape the market I believe. This easily puts game retailers in a perfect position to offer games at reduced prices or possibly sans online fee.

There has been much debate over the cost of DLC and what should or should not be charged. It is a lot easier to make money selling somebody something piece by piece rather than give him the whole thing for a lump sum. That is nothing new, but its implementation into games is only that much better for them because where in books and movies the product is the same for everyone so the experience is the same. Not so with games. The newest map pack may offer vastly different experiences for some and may be worth more to that person (those who have friends who play the game and would like to play on the latest and greatest maps) where the value of said map pack could be anything, and that is the point. Your buying an experience, and that is one hard thing to put a price on.

Ultimately, I see the industry moving in this direction, to the disdain of many gamers. No longer will we own our games. No longer will they be private experiences we enjoy alone or only with our friends. Companies see far too much potential in these areas. While a company has a right to try and earn all it can, it is our jobs as consumers to show them the limit. If you are not comfortable with any business practice going on, let your voice be heard either by not buying something or physically letting them know, because in the end it may be money, but the money still comes from consumers like us.