Digital sales for games have increased from practically nothing a decade ago to making up a large part of the industry in 2012. Given that, it’s perhaps unsurprising that Electronic Arts executive vice president Patrick Soderlund thinks that retail might be an outdated way to sell games before 2022.
“I think it’s going to be sooner than people think. I think it’s going to be sooner than 10 years,” said Soderlund. “That’s my personal opinion, and might not be what EA thinks.”
“We know that packaged goods work, and the majority of our current revenue comes from that. That’s still a viable business model,” he added. “In the long term, we’ll see more and more people gravitate to downloaded content. I happen to think that there’s something about physical content, like books, that’s collectable and satisfying to own. I still want physical content but I’m not part of the new generation of gamers. I remember a time when I bought a cartridge and excitedly read the manual on my way home, imagining what the game was going to be like. Maybe kids don’t have that anymore.”
Source: CVG {link no longer active}
