HPS & Digital Downloads

[Mad Cow]

Will this company ever offer digital downloads?

It's almost necessary for wargame companys these days I would think.

[rahamy]

Nope, there's no plans to do so. Can't think of why it would be necessary...? A huge expense with no way to recoup the costs, as customers certainly wouldn't want to see higher costs per title...

[Mad Cow]

Nope, there's no plans to do so. Can't think of why it would be necessary...? A huge expense with no way to recoup the costs, as customers certainly wouldn't want to see higher costs per title...

That answers my question.

I just really enjoy the luxury of being able to buy and instantly receive.

Patience was never my strongest quality.

[rahamy]

Might change on day, but the expense of maintaining a server and bandwidth to allow people to download 400+ MB games on a regular basis would be get pretty high, pretty quick. But, I guess I should never say never. :OHNO:

[Aries]

The only obvious question is, if it is so impractically expensive, what is Matrix Games and Battlefront doing, that is isn't too expensive for them?

As it goes, I have zero interest in actually buying an HPS game direct from HPS, as I can get the game direct from NWS cheaper by 10 bucks. They sell item X for 49 bucks, same article from NWS 39 bucks.

Somewhere along the way, one has to ask themselves, what is HPS doing that makes them so ineffective at selling direct to the public?

I have heard people whine that the customer should get a price reduction for a digital download, but I don't actually require that. Digital download is a convenience perk for the customer. If the HPS people need to ramp up to a better web site, and a decent digital download service to expedite the sales, then I guess it depends, will they generate enough sales to merit it?

To my knowledge, Matrix Games is not actually providing the download ie bandwidth. I think Digital River is the actual conduit. Gotta be a cost of course. That's the price of the convenience. But, it appears it works for Matrix Games and Battlefront. So it must be sufficiently practical if done right.

One merely has to ask, are HPS wargames of sufficient interest value to the wargaming market, that they can sell enough of them as digital downloads?

My most recent game purchases have been either through NWS (3 physical items, 2 were PzC titles) or digital download (2 from Matrix Games) and one off of a retail shelf (was a fluke that I found a GGWaW copy in town as I see it). I would have been happy to make the purchase of AGW and the 2 PzC title purchases as a digital downloaded purchase though (although I enjoy giving NWS the business when I can).
I don't actually intentionally expect to make my purchases off of retail shelf, when that happens, it's by accident of chance, not design.

[rahamy]

Aries,

We have pricing we sell our games to our re-sellers at, which enables them to make a profit when they re-sell them. What price level they choose to do that re-sale at is up to them though. Its a common business model. And unlike other companies in the "general" marketplace (like Apple Computer for example), we're not out to run our re-sellers out of business. :bite:

Not sure what pricing Christopher is getting from Matrix, but it must not be as good as we are giving him. And if you are happy with the service you are getting from him then great, everyone is happy.

My understanding of the Matrix setup is that they primarily publish games from other development houses, so their primary function is simply distribution and advertising. HPS on the other hand is a development & publisher, so we have a different structure. So, dumping tens of thousands of dollars into a digital download implementation is not really high on our list of things to do. And while it does come up from time to time, we certainly aren't being bombarded with requests for such a transition.

So again, not saying it will never happen, but its not on our short list of things to do either. :cool:

[Warship NWS]

DD services are not as cheap as some might think. In some cases DD 3rd party services can ask as much as 25-33% per sale. That can add up to, depending on the production costs of a CD version, more then it costs to ship a game in CD format. There are various technical hurdles to cover also, security measures, payment systems (which include processing costs), server maintenance and order tracking, copyright protection system considerations (which can cost money in terms of liscencing fees),..etc..etc.. NOTHING is free for a business to operate or to distribute games and the more hands that get into the mix the less you make per sale. Many have the impression you just sit and make money on DD sales.. that is simply not the case at all. Anyone ever notice how you can sometimes find physical versions of games at the same, or less, in price then DD versions? This can happen even for older titles. I have also witnessed situations where no more sales were created with DD availability then without it. If someone wants a game bad enough they will buy it either way so long as the shipping cost is reasonable and efficient.

Another consideration.. DD versions of games cant be traded in to a service like ours for store credit. That is another major copyright consideration as there would be no effective way to tell the difference between a pirated game and a DD version on a CDR in comparison. At least with a physical version you have some value attached to the product and it doesnt look questionable to sell or trade it when your done with playing the game. This is another serious issue for publishers when they ponder the option of DD distribution and something the market in many ways has not adequately dealt with yet.

Thanks.

[Aries]

Thanks for the reply Rich :)

To reply to Chris, yeah the resale option for DD is a non existent option realistically. I have seen people attempting to sell DD purchases, but I am hear to state for my own purposes, that I have zero interest in buying a DD game off of anyone (and I have no interest in ever attempting to sell one of my own DD purchases).

[Warship NWS]

In regards to pricing, we are simply being competitive. If competition exists we compete (note we also have a price competitive service where we attempt to match or beat any lower price). That is what happens in the PC gaming market, always been that way, always will be. Either way, HPS makes money on games sold and more of their games being sold (which also equals more exposure for them) is always better then less games sold. I have personaly, through direct contact with customers, brought in a great many new HPS gamers into the mix by telling them about HPS titles. One example, I was on the phone with a customer for nearly 30 minutes just yesterday going over the different HPS series available. Being an avid supporter of HPS I also own *nearly* every HPS title myself and have played quite a few of them.

What matters most, HPS games are being sold. If our pricing helps bring in more HPS gamers then all the better.

Thanks.