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Xbox One game sales will gradually shift towards digital, but don’t expect titles bought through the digital store to be offered cheaper than retail, Wedbush analyst Michael Pachter has said.
“We expect some market share to shift from physical sales to digital sales, but think that the migration will be slow (perhaps 5% in 2014 and 10% in 2015) as it is not clear that every game will be offered in digital form,” wrote Pachter in a research note published today.
He added: “Although not yet announced, we remain convinced that retail relationships will dictate that digital copies of games cannot be discounted below the retail price, meaning that the value proposition of a digital download without trade-in rights will be lower than a physical copy, and will appeal only to the convenience oriented customer.
“Ultimately, we think that no more than 50% of game sales will be in digital format.”
If digital prices are no cheaper than retail would you make digital purchases knowing that the only benefit is convenience – you can play without putting a disc in the machine and access your library on any Xbox One console?
