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Coding Horror: The Sad State of Digital Software Distribution just opened my eyes.

Jeff Atwood writes about prices of digitally distributed software. Have you noticed, that digital versions normally cost as much as the physical ones? Also keep in mind, that the former actually comes with additional value in the form of a DVD box and a manual. Additionally, the digital version is often crippled with DRM, so shouldn’t those actually cost less?

Even worse: Jeff found occasions where the digital version is actually more expensive:

Instead, I find that download options for commercial software are quite rare. Even when the download option is available, you end up paying the same price as retail or even more. Here’s a typical example. I purchased Titan Quest: Gold from Steam about a month ago. I paid $29.95, which is the standard retail box price. But online discounters sell boxed copies of the very same game for $22.90.

Digital Distribution: $29.95
Retail Copy: $22.90

Selling directly to the consumer via download means bypassing the entire brick and mortar sales chain. This should result in cheaper prices than retail, not the same prices– and it should never result in higher prices. Paying a premium for the privilege of downloading software is complete ripoff, and yet it happens all the time.

Selling digital copies is very profitable as servers are normally cheaper than retail stores. Now imagine what distribution costs, if the publisher actually owns the online shop…

But is all that criticism really justified? Is there a compensation for the missing molecules in digital distribution? Normally, there is: You can (re-)download your games/software whenever you want, wherever you want. I don’t have to worry about scratching or loosing my Dongle (read DVD/CD).

However, this privilege is not necessarily restricted to digital versions. The retail version of Half-Life 2 is nothing more but a license key paired with a copy of the game. Something I really like, as I must confess that I have absolutely no clue where my Half-Life 2 DVD is. At the same time, I don’t really care because I can always get another copy via steam.

There is an additional advantage: I prefer to play games in their "native" language, should I know it, that is. In most cases, this is English, but not all developers / publishers ship multi-language editions of their games. Oblivion being one example.
With Half-Life 2, this was never a concern, as I just downloaded the english version instead of installing the german one from the DVD.

I suspect, though, that there might be a drawback to these privileges. Half-Life 2 resisted falling into the budget sector for over two years, which I think is remarkable. Valve dictated prices via steam and through constantly releasing new bundles, making it actually quite difficult to get Half-Life 2 alone.

Nonetheless, I strongly support Steam as I does not bind me to those fragile DVDs, though I do not normally buy my games via steam due to the lack of a credit card. It doesn’t have to be just Steam. Digital distribution is the future, especially when it comes to fighting piracy. I, however, will refuse to install an utility for each of the major vendors. Now its just Steam and EA Link, but I am sure, more will follow.

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