Today it's all about file sizes.

Newsletter

Be notified of site updates. Sign-up for the Newsletter sent out twice weekly.

Enter E-Mail Address Below:

Apparently, Size No Longer Matters

In it’s infancy, PC games were packaged by hand in individual Zip-loc bags – the big 5 ¼” floppies filled out the bag nicely. Once the gaming industry started making money, more effort went into packaging – the dependable (and reusable) Zip-loc was replaced by slim boxes about an inch wide, 7 inches across and 8 inches tall. (Check the original Space Quest II packaging.) A lot of games were shipped on one 5 ¼” floppy but sometimes there were games that shipped on multiple disks. Then 5 ¼” floppies virtually disappeared overnight.

The culprit for the destruction of 5 ¼” disks were the diminutive 3 ½” floppies (the HD, or high density, version following close on the heels of the original) that are still with us today – at least for the present time. By this time, games were shipping on multiple HD 3 ½” floppies and the boxes got bigger. The packaging was inefficiently designed so the 12 floppies that Police Quest IV shipped on all settled to the bottom. Instead of maintaining the original dimensions the packaging ballooned – some games were hard to display more than three deep on a commercial shelf. Even when 3 ½” floppies began to fade from the gaming scene and were replaced with CD-ROMs, the boxes were huge.

Remember those id compilation packs? They came bundled with all of id’s first-person shooters and the package was a monstrosity. Yes, it did catch the eye of consumers – but mainly because it was so big. How many could fit on a shelf? Two, at the most.

Why was the packaging increased in size when the medium it held had actually decreased in size? And not only were the boxes bigger but their sizes were inconsistent, making it a pain for retail display.

Then something snapped – and the console world and retail pressures are the reasons.

Advertisement

If you’ve played a GameCube game recently you’ll have noticed the tiny size of Nintendo’s proprietary disc. They look like ammo for a Nerf gun. However, the packaging is consistent with PS2 and XBox games, which borrowed from film DVDs. In short, all the competing interests for our gaming dollars have the same basic look and design on the shelf. This makes it extremely easy for retailers to setup displays. But until recently, PC games were still a hodge-podge of various shapes and sizes.

Advertisement

Going into a video game or electronics store now, you’ll notice the homogenized PC packaging. The box art may be different but their dimensions are the same.

“We can get more product out,” one customer service rep told me (who asked that his name not be used – draw your own conclusions). “And everything can be more concentrated in one particular area and we have more room for the console stuff.”

I pressed him on making more room for “console stuff.”

“Have you seen the size of the XBox controller?” he answered.

I enquired at another electronics store and this time a sales rep, Hank, told me that the new box format has been greeted with mostly positive response. But the change has also brought new challenges.

“We caught a guy last week with four copies of C&C: Renegade tucked in his pants and jacket. The boxes are a lot smaller, so they're easier to shoplift – or at least keep it hidden until they get to the door and start running. I can’t imagine anyone trying that with copies of Team Arena.”

Did they put back the copies found in the shoplifter’s pants?

“No comment,” Hank said and then went off to help a customer.

As this intrepid reporter (as I like to call myself when I walk around with a note pad and pen) sits down at the end of the day, he concludes that smaller is better. There’s no need to have a big package to promote a game when the media the game ships on is continually getting smaller. And the fact all the publishers adopted the new format gives no “package advantage” for one company over another. It also indicates that there was a greater power at work – how else do you explain all the publishers adopting the format simultaneously? The great power was undoubtedly pressure from retailers, but it seems that common sense may have also kicked in. Smaller packages mean you can ship copies at a reduced cost. Smaller boxes mean less material mean less cost. It’s cost effective. Combine that with pressure from retailers to conform to a single standard and the homogeneity of console game packing, and the impossible is achieved – a packaging standard in the PC gaming industry. (Now it's just a matter of time before they adopt console packaging.)

- Omni


PC \| Gamecube \| DS \| Wii \| PlayStation 2 \| PlayStation 3 \| PSP \| Xbox \| Xbox 360
News \| Reviews \| Previews \| Features \| Classics \| Goodies \| Anime \| Forums