Video game packaging
Early machines such as the Commodore 64 were tape-based, and hence had their games distributed on ordinary cassettes. When more advanced machines moved to floppy disks, the cassette boxes stayed in use for a while (e.g. Treasure Island Dizzy for the Amiga came on a floppy disk in a cassette box).
In the late 80s and early 90s, computer games became significantly more complex, and the market for them expanded enormously. Possibly in an effort to occupy more shelf-space than their rivals, and attract attention with their cover art, games began to be sold in large cardboard boxes. There was no standard size, but most were around 20cm x 15cm x 5cm. The greatly increasing box sizes may have been justified in some cases. Games such as flight simulators came with extremely large, thick manuals. Others came with elaborate copy-protection systems such as Zool's circular code-wheel, or even a hardware dongle (although these were generally more common on expensive non-game software).
Variations on the "big box" format include a box within a sleeve, such as Unreal, and a box with a fold-out front cover, such as Black & White.
Games re-released as Budget games usually came in much smaller boxes - a common format for Amiga budget games was a thin square box roughly 13cm x 13cm x 2cm.
As PC games migrated to CDs in jewel cases, the large format box remained, though to reduce printing costs, manuals came on the CD, as did many of the copy-protection techniques in the form of SafeDisc and SecuROM. Despite the CD jewel case format having been around since the invention of the music CD, very few full-price PC games were released in a jewel case only.
Around 2000, PC game packaging began to converge with that of PS2 (and later, Xbox) console games, in the DVD-case format which to this day the vast majority of games are sold in. These boxes are sometimes known as Amaray cases, after a popular manufacturer of them.
In 2004, Half-Life 2 was made available for download over the internet, in encrypted form. A physical boxed copy was also sold, though it also required activation via the internet. Valve Software hopes this method of distribution will take off, as it delivers a greater percentage of the sale price to the game developer than boxed copies.
Java games for cellphones are distributed almost exclusively via the internet. It is possible that the proliferation of home broadband will lead to electronic distribution for all games in the future, leaving physical packaging a niche market, though game developers cite the unsolved problem of digital rights management as the main barrier to this.
Console packages
Unlike PC games, console manufacturers charge a license fee to anyone developing for their machine, and exert a certain amount of influence in the style of packaging. Nintendo, for example, maintained almost completely standardized boxes for SNES games. Xbox game boxes also conform to the DVD case form factor, but are usually lime green.
Notable Packaging
- Quake III had a limited edition run of about 30,000 tin boxes instead of the usual cardboard boxes.
- Unreal Tournament 2004 DVD Special Edition also came in a metal box.
- All three games in the Marathon trilogy came in boxes shaped like triangular prisms.
- Flashback had several box designs throughout the world, but at least the UK Amiga version featured a half-sleeve designed to give the box art a 3D appearance.
- The Amiga version of Cannon Fodder had camouflaged box art, to fit with its military theme.
- Metroid Prime 2: Echoes had shiny, "holographic" box art.