Re: 75% of new games purchased were downloaded

On 25/09/2024 04:20, Spalls Hurgenson wrote:

On Mon, 23 Sep 2024 22:36:54 -0500, Altered Beast
<j63480576@gmail.com> wrote:
 

>
It sounds to me like the gaming industry makes bank on downloading
versus physical product.  They certainly haven't printed a manual in a
few ages.

 They barely even make PDF manuals anymore.
 In fairness, few games actually need them. Not only have in-game
tutorials become quite good, game design has standardized enough that
there's much less _need_ to teach players how to game anymore.
 

I think there's also the factor that the internet is now a thing so if you want to know something then google is your friend.

And game visuals and world-design is complex enough that the secondary
purpose of manuals --to flesh out the game-world-- is rarely necessary
too.
 So writing manuals is an expensive proposition that serves no purpose
except to make a tiny percentage of gamers happy. After all, even
_were_ a manual necessary, most people _still_ wouldn't RTFM.
 I still miss those old-school manuals, though. Whether it was those
giant tomes you'd get in flight simulators, the wonderfully
illustrated manuals in CRPGs, or the manuals in strategy games which
went over every mechanical detail of the game, they were great fun to
read.

I do kinda miss manuals in part I think as I would start reading them on the way back home after buying the game. It certainly ramped up the excitement of playing more than the current press a few buttons, wait for the download to complete and you're ready to go.
The one I most miss though from a physical game is the likes of lore/background books and maps. I still have the map from Silent Hunter III on my wall!