A different fear of an all digital planet

One thing that I think has not been talked about in the discussion of possible disc-free consoles is the loss of an important distinction, that between the disc-based game and the downloadable title.

XBLA and PSN downloadable titles have been a revelation this generation of consoles. They have rescued entire genres of gaming from seeming extinction and brought some of the best games of the generation altogether. They have also put some pressure on bad disc based games released at full price. I remember when that shameful G.I. Joe game came out a few weeks before Shadow Complex was released and redefined what console downloadable games could be in terms of polish.

Both PSN and XBLA have libraries that compare favorably to the libraries of entire consoles. 'Splosion Man, Super Meat Boy, Bastion, Braid, Bionic Commando Rearmed, the Geometry Wars games, Limbo, Renegade Ops, Outland, etc... can stand up pretty well against all but the top tier consoles and that's not even getting into many of the amazing HD ports and second tier awesome games like Toy Soldiers and Shank.

Downloadable games have preserved entire genres that might otherwise be lost or marginalized and have provided some of the most experimental and original gaming experiences of a generation that often plays it safe.

My concern is that if the new consoles launch without disc drives, or with downloads of games available day and date with the new releases, these games will be pushed to the side to make room for the big boys. Already the Indie Games channel on XBLA is ignored and you pretty much have to know what you're looking for in order to find the worthwhile stuff there. I don't want that to happen to XBLA or PSN, but once the latest Call of Duty is releasing digitally there will be pressure from Activision and Microsoft itself to heavily promote that stuff and make XBLA an afterthought. This may be especially true with games that are not so great. Is the publisher of the next G.I. Joe game going to want it going to toe to toe in the same marketplace with the next Shadow Complex, which offers 10 times the fun at one quarter the cost? It's not a big deal now, when digital distribution of retail games is an afterthought and the prices aren't even in the same currency, but I predict it will be one, and that indie and smaller games will lose what little promotion they have so that big titles can have a clearer space in the digital market.

I know that Steam will continue to exist, and people make great stuff for Steam, and team meat keeps reminding us that Steam is where they made their money, but there are lots of games that wouldn't exist but for XBLA or PSN and while whether discs still exist is important and whether used game sales are going to change is too, I care more about preserving the good stuff we already have. I don't want the next Bastion to be tucked away in some hard to find place. We've gone from a world where old games were hard to find legally to one where you can get The Simpsons Arcade Game alongside Radiant Silvergun, Guardian Heroes, and the Banjo Kazooie games. We've seen great new takes on older genres like 2D platformers, isometric RPGs, and bullet hell shooters even as games like Rayman Origins have shown us that these genres may not have a life at full retail anymore, outside of megafranchises like Mario. Digital content has made this generation much more creative and diverse than it otherwise would have been. I hope that by the time we are ready to move on from the PS4 and Xbox Omega we can say the same.