User blog comment:Lost Labyrinth/EA to go 100% digital. What does this mean for The Sims series and players?/@comment-5005548-20120710141718

This news bothers me for several reasons.

Too long, don't want to read version: Even in 2012, there are still a great many people who don't have access to a fast and stable Internet connection at a reasonable price.

Furthermore, what if for whatever reason, the software is no longer available for download? So far, I've yet to hear of this happening on Steam or any other platform, but I wouldn't put this outside of the realm of possibility. Case in point, the TS2 Store, which I believe closed sometime last year. People don't pay money to lease software, they pay money with the expectation they can continue to use it for an indefinite period of time.

Longer version, that explains my statement:

In the U.S., the state of the broadband Internet market, while it has improved tremendously in not just the last 10 years, but even in just the last 5, much progress is still left to be made and I'm not of the opinion that digital distribution, though it may be incredibly convenient for those with fast, stable Internet connections, is ready to be the sole means for distribution. I say this even as a somewhat avid Steam user, although I strongly prefer the disc versions of TS3, it's EPs, and SPs. One reason is because the Steam version is not compatible with CAW, which is a deal breaker, although CAW will work with Origin. However, most Sims-series as far as I know don't use CAW, so I digress.

Earlier I stated that tremendous strides in the broadband market have been made in the past few years. However, this is mostly applied only in large cities, their surrounding suburbs, and to a lesser extent, mid-sizes cities. This is true of the U.S.; some other countries are much better off in this respect, while others are far worse off.

Many users in rural areas are limited to either dial-up modems, which download at a rate that is glacial slow, or satellite, which is almost as bad because while they promise faster download rates, latency is extremely high, such connections generally have very punitive caps on downloaded data, and I've yet to meet a single individual who was truly happy with their satellite connection. Such customers subscribe to such services because for all practical purposes, they have no other option.

A decision to switch to only provide digital online software distribution is, in my opinion a slap in the face to anyone who doesn't have easy access to a better Internet connection.

Looking at the longer term, I'm also concerned about well ... what if the games are no longer available for download? This is a very bad thing, especially because it would mean you spent good money on software you can no longer obtain. While the concept of leasing software for a set period of time exists, very few consumers do things this way, and it's not the consumer paradigm that has been established over the past few decades.

I don't express this opinion out of being a Luddite. If there is a truly better way of doing the same thing, then why not? However, as a practical matter, the current infrastructure and broadband market is simply not ready at this time, in my opinion.

Perhaps one day, it will be more practical to just use digital distribution. Though even then, the concern about future availability of the software will still be a concern.

In the meantime, any future Sims-series game purchases I may make will be on physical media, and I will do so until the bitter end, whenever that time will be. If I could no longer obtain disc copies, I would have to think harder about whether I really wish to get the product.

As a side note, some people may mention price, and how it's cheaper to exclusively distribute online. However, making the discs, especially in the volumes involved here, mean the discs cost literally pennies to make. Packaging? Again, because of the volumes involved here, also cheap. While there is likely a small cost savings, I'm not convinced the improvement in the bottom line is worth the loss of sales and customers, as the reachable market will shrink.