> Once they figure out how lucrative their equivalent of Steam sales can be, that should start driving the cost of games down
This seems pretty unlikely. Microsoft already has a large slice of its catalogue available for download on the 360 — and it's almost always cheaper to buy the disc. To illustrate, I will look up a random game that I did not know the price of before this. Saints Row: The Third costs $49 on the Xbox Marketplace. On Amazon, a new copy costs $29.
Discounting lucrative titles just isn't how game companies work, and it especially isn't how Microsoft works.
This seems pretty unlikely. Microsoft already has a large slice of its catalogue available for download on the 360 — and it's almost always cheaper to buy the disc. To illustrate, I will look up a random game that I did not know the price of before this. Saints Row: The Third costs $49 on the Xbox Marketplace. On Amazon, a new copy costs $29.
Discounting lucrative titles just isn't how game companies work, and it especially isn't how Microsoft works.