Christian Svensson was on the Unity-Boards to explain why some of Capcom's digital titles cost as much as their retail counterparts, and while he was there he also commented on a few issues related to Street Fighter IV on the PC. Here they are.
What is it that makes digital copies of games cost as much as the retail versions? — Cipher86
Sven: There are three points there:
1. On PC anyway, margins on digital are a little lower than they are at retail at many outlets very often because there are three mouths to feed: us, technology enabler (back end provider), portal (eyeball provider). It's a little different on console because generally the technology enabler is the same as the portal (MS, Sony, Nintendo provide the tech and the eyeballs).
2. Bits still cost money getting them from A to B. In many ways, a disc is still a cheap way to move multiple GBs around. That cost drops every year, but it's still not cheap on projects that are 4GB+ in size.
3. Someone said it above, you don't undercut your retail partners in price. If you do, don't expect to have retail distribution.
All in all, regardless of how you get it, SFIV PC is an incredible entertainment value. We've priced it attractively because we'd like to erase that factor as an adoption issue to see what the potential is for fighting games on PC.
Will SF4 have a benchmark tool so you can see how the game is performing?
Sven: The full game of SFIV includes a benchmark (just as DMC4 and Lost Planet did).
Will you guys ship the Mad Catz FightPad bundle with the PC version of SF4 internationally if ordered through the Capcom store?
Sven: [Yes.]
It's interesting that the profit and loss margin is different for a digitally distributed PC game over a console title. Coupled with PC games selling A LOT less than their console counterparts, it will be interesting to see if the PC ever gets titles like Marvel vs. Capcom 2 or Super Street Fighter 2 Turbo HD Remix.
