10. Digital Distribution Overtakes Physical Formats
The seventh generation of gaming was pivotal in that Xbox Live and PSN fully took advantage of their consoles being online out of the box, setting up a great player network that not only allowed us to easily play online with our mates, but also get access to the newest game content at the touch of a button. The increase in Internet speeds in recent years make this an ever more viable possibility, and with fibre-optic lines becoming more popular, it is certainly feasible that the entire contents of a single-layer Blu-Ray game (25GB) could be downloaded in around 2 hours. While we don't expect discs to be going away any time soon, we expect it'll take less of a precedent in the coming years, with developers promoting the notion of "pre-loading" games to your console just as PC gamers do with Steam, and then being able to unlock it at midnight on release day. This will allow developers to keep better track of players purchasing their games, while players will have the extreme convenience of not even having to leave their homes to get the latest and greatest titles. The flip-side, of course, is that it means not having that lovely brand new game smell, and frankly, sometimes we just like having a disc and case for a game we love. What it's a more exciting prospect for is indie developers who can't afford to manufacture their titles; just look how the likes of Super Meat Boy, Trials and Journey have fared by adopting this model. What all this says for the retail sector, of course, will be an interesting question for the years to come.