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Games Go Digital: The Challenge for Rural Gamers and Their ISPs

More Americans are regularly playing video games today than ever before. According to a 2018 Nielsen report, 66% of those 13 years and older are gamers. While the relative footprint of gaming on broadband networks has thus far been small, gaming IP traffic is expected to rise nine fold by 2022. Not only will there be more gamers online, but the ways in which many of them access gaming content are changing as well. The games industry is quickly making the shift from physical media to digital distribution, which requires huge and frequent downloads to play the latest high-resolution games. This could become a point of growing frustration for rural gamers if their local providers aren’t ready with the services they need.

[3/23/21 Update – Most gamers still prefer to download games, but it takes about 44 minutes to download the latest “top” console or PC game, according to a summary put together by All Connect]

Say Goodbye to Discs #

Typical game system with disks.
Online Eliminates the Messy Disks

For decades, nearly all home video games were acquired by going to a retailer like Walmart and buying a physical cartridge or optical disc for use in a home computer or dedicated video game console like the Nintendo Entertainment System, Sony PlayStation, or Microsoft Xbox. While some digital distribution services did exist as early as the 1980s, these were novelties for the time. The shift to digital distribution didn’t truly begin until the 2000s, when high-speed networks became more widespread and downloading large game files became feasible for many consumers.

PC gaming has long been ahead of the curve when it comes to digital distribution. The Steam PC game digital distribution platform was launched in 2002 and today offers thousands of games for download to its 90+ million active monthly users. Active PC gamers are accustomed to downloading their games, and many modern PC games aren’t even available at brick-and-mortar retailers. Similarly, gaming on mobile devices has become quite popular and is an entirely digital market.

The biggest potential for change is in the console gaming space, which accounts for 36% of American households and includes dedicated gaming devices like the Sony PlayStation 4, Microsoft Xbox One, and Nintendo Switch. Console gamers have historically preferred physical media to digital, in part to maintain the ability to buy and sell used games. While console games have largely lagged behind the video, music, and PC/mobile gaming markets in going digital, there has been a consistent trend in that direction over the last decade. According to Nielsen, 34% of console gamers in 2018 preferred digital games over physical, a 9% increase over the previous year.

Digital content is already a hugely important money-maker for the games industry, which made $36 billion in 2017 in the US alone. Of those revenues, 79% came from digital sales including full game downloads, downloadable add-on content, mobile apps, and game service subscriptions. Console manufacturers and game publishers show no signs of slowing down their push to digital, with a clear advantage to them in eliminating manufacturing costs, cutting out the retailer middleman, and making game purchases as quick and easy as possible for their customers. Taking stock of current trends, some market analysts predict that the video game industry will be 100% digital as soon as 2022.

All-Access Pass #

All three major game console manufacturers have made offering digital download games a central part of their marketing and value proposition to customers. Sony, Microsoft, and Nintendo each offer a selection of free download games every month to subscribers of their online services. Subscribers who add the games to their accounts secure the ability to download them in the future, meaning it’s easy to quickly build up a large library of digital games through this method alone.

Screenshot of the 2/17/ Xbox Game Pass website.

A more recent development has been the introduction of Netflix-like subscription services that grant instant access to up to hundreds of downloadable games. Microsoft’s Xbox Game Pass  for the Xbox One console features a library of over 250 digital games for a $10 monthly fee, including access to new games like Forza Horizon 4 on launch day. In response, current console market leader Sony has added a selection of downloadable PlayStation 4 games to their PlayStation Now game streaming subscription service. Even game publishers like Electronic Arts have gotten in on the action with their EA Access service for Xbox One and Origin Access for PC.

Microsoft, in particular, has made their Game Pass an important part of their messaging, and they seem poised to double down on this digital delivery subscription model in the near future. The company is reportedly planning to release a disc-less version of the Xbox One later this year at a reduced price, which would also be tied to a new disc-to-digital program that would allow customers to trade in their discs for digital copies at participating retailers.

Industry rumors suggest that Sony and Microsoft’s next generation of consoles, which could be revealed this year, may launch with lower-priced hardware options that lack a disk drive. It is unlikely that either will completely abandon physical media just yet, but that eventual future seems inevitable.

You’re Gonna Need a Bigger Pipe #

The popular new online game "Apex Legends" is a download-only title.
The popular new online game “Apex Legends” is a download-only title.

The migration of video games to an all-digital distribution model presents unique challenges to internet service providers and their gaming customers when compared with other digital media like video. The principal difference is the sheer massive size of some game files and the cumulative bandwidth use gamers can amass in a single month. The largest modern 4K resolution games can easily reach well over 100GB each for the initial game download alone, and they’re only getting bigger. In comparison, streaming a 2-hour 4K movie on Netflix uses about 14GB. Broadband customers with monthly data caps can find themselves limited in how many games they can download or completely cut off from the option in certain cases.

Even gamers who prefer physical media can’t escape the need for huge downloads in the modern gaming world. Mandatory software patches are frequent and potentially huge. Last year’s Fallout 76 was released in a very buggy state (an all too common practice in the modern industry) and required two separate 50GB patch downloads in its first week alone. Many games also offer optional downloadable content (DLC) for purchase allowing customers to enhance and extend their experiences with additional challenges, story episodes, and more.

Downstream speed is also more important when it comes to downloading games, since downloads of large files can always benefit from higher speed connections. In contrast, most online video is streamed rather than downloaded, so achieving the highest possible downstream speed is less of a concern as long as recommended thresholds are met. Whereas 25 Mbps is recommended to stream 4K video, it would take 9.5 hours to download a 100GB game at that speed. That wait could be excruciating for a customer excited to play the newest hot release.

The Rural Challenge #

In January 2018, a Reddit user expressed his digital download frustrations with a post titled “The best part about being a gamer in a rural area is nothing.” The post included an image from the Steam platform’s download manager indicating that it would take a whopping two full days for him to download the most recent game in the Doom series. While many rural ISPs offer much higher speeds, including gig service, the case was representative of the concerns many rural customers have at the prospect of an all-digital gaming world.

The U.S. is the second largest gaming market in the world, and the overall readiness of the nation’s network infrastructure is certainly being taken into account as console manufacturers ponder going all-digital. The industry is however clearly moving in that direction and will almost certainly be there within the next several years. Rural providers will need to be sure their networks are ready to meet these increased demands so that their gaming customers aren’t disconnected from their favorite hobby.

[Mike Riddile is a tech writer and association member services specialist formerly with NTCA-The Rural Broadband Association. He writes and has spoken at several events on how developments in consumer technologies, especially in the video game space, will have a substantial impact on broadband networks. Contact him at [email protected]]

Author Mike Riddile

By Mike Riddile

Mike Riddile is a tech writer and association member services specialist formerly with NTCA-The Rural Broadband Association. He writes and has spoken at several events on how developments in consumer technologies, especially in the video game space, will have a substantial impact on broadband networks.

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