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[Elysion]

With how big the digital market has gotten, and how it’s set to replace physical entirely sooner or later, I‘ve been wondering… which console game was the first to be available digitally, alongside the physical version, on day 1? I‘m not talking about indy games or other smaller downloadable titles, which have been around on consoles since the OG XBox; I want to know which AAA game was the first to do this (on console, though I‘d be interested in the first PC game to do this too).

It has to be during the PS360 era surely? The first major console game I personally remember to be available digitally was TLoU on PS3, because a big game like that launching on the PS store (especially on day 1) was still pretty unusual at that point. But surely it wasn’t the first? Were there any major games before that which launched digitally?

 

[anthony2690]

I think it will be something on Xbox 360, this is quite an interesting thread.

I remember when XBLA games had a 200mb file size limit.

I'm curious what big releases were the first to be digital only.

As I'm sure they added downloading the full triple a games to the console later on. (Maybe after they refresh the dashboard and allowed game installs to improve performance with stuff like dirt 2 etc?)

I could be way off though.

 

[Spyxos]

Pc: Half Life 2? It was a weird mix of physical game packaging and only usable as digital code.

 

[Umbasaborne]

I know it was a big deal that the first ni no kuni was also availible on psn, but there were defo games before that because i had infamous 1 and little big planet 1 and 2 digitally

 

[Elysion]

I know it was a big deal that the first ni no kuni was also availible on psn, but there were defo games before that because i had infamous 1 and little big planet 1 and 2 digitally

Interesting; I didn’t know that Infamous and LBP were available digitally back then. Was that day 1? Because LBP1 came out in 2008, in which case it might actually be a good candidate for being the first.

 

[SmokedMeat]

I really can’t remember. Demos, sure, but an entire AAA game?

Not until hard drives got pretty big. Possibly when the Elite 360 released with its 120GB HDD?

 

[DragonNCM]

Damn....can't remember that, but my first AAA game I got via store was Diablo 3.

 

[MrA]

Wiiu had all games available both digitally and physically at launch (might have been a few exceptions at launch but the wiiu was the first console with everything available digitally)

 

[ReBurn]

A token for one free google search has been deposited into your google account.

 

[Spukc]

Damn....can't remember that, but my first AAA game I got via store was Diablo 3.

my man

 

[Fox Mulder]

It wasn’t until 2012. The WiiU launched with day one digital and the ps3 started it that year too.

https://www.engadget.com/2012-09-25...1RBhWphaUwi6pwIl6vuyAfgiP9SS_Q8AkB_QvBAnSazPm

 

[Elysion]

A token for one free google search has been deposited into your google account.

I literally put the question in the title into google before making this thread, but got no relevant answers. Looks like your token has expired.

 

[Spukc]

I literally put the question in the title into google before making this thread, but got no relevant answers. Looks like your token has expired.

 

[EruditeHobo]

Pc: Half Life 2? It was a weird mix of physical game packaging and only usable as digital code.

Think this is a good shout... not long after Steam launched. I wonder if for many it may have been the first time they downloaded Steam, for HL2? I know that was the case for me, and a number of friends, at least.

 

[Portugeezer]

I want to guess PS3 did it first, as they all had HDD's and XBL had a size limit. For most of that generation a downloadable game was synonymous with being a small indie.

No idea though.

 

[Magic Carpet]

Geometry Wars Xbox 360? I think this was my first purposfull digital game.
Doom on PC after everyone downloaded the shareware version you had to 'pay' for the rest of the game.

 

[Daneel Elijah]

Satellaview - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

Some of those games where also playable with a cartridge I suppose.

 

[MrA]

It wasn’t until 2012. The WiiU launched with day one digital and the ps3 started it that year too.

https://www.engadget.com/2012-09-25...1RBhWphaUwi6pwIl6vuyAfgiP9SS_Q8AkB_QvBAnSazPm

Looks like it was resident evil 6 since the wiiu was still a few weeks away

 

[thefool]

According to our lord and savior AI, it was Call of Duty: Black Ops II

 

[nush]

According to our lord and savior AI, it was Call of Duty: Black Ops II

That's probably about right. The first AAA game I downloaded on release day on the 360 was resident Evil 5 (Gold version) because I wasn't able to get to the store at the time to buy the physical version. I know there were full games on 360 before that but they were more expensive than the physical so I passed.