Retail is still a massive part of the revenue pie for the gaming industry. However, EA Labels boss Frank Gibeau sees the advent of digital only sales coming very soon.
“It’s in the near future. It’s coming,” said Gibeau of EA being 100 percent digital. “We have a clear line of sight on it and we’re excited about it. Retail is a great channel for us. We have great relationships with our partners there. At the same time, the ultimate relationship is the connection that we have with the gamer. If the gamer wants to get the game through a digital download and that’s the best way for them to get it, that’s what we’re going to do. It has a lot of enhancements for our business. It allows us to keep more that we make. It allows us to do some really interesting things from a service level standpoint; we can be a lot more personalized with what we’re doing.”
He was quick to add, “But if customers want to buy a game at retail, they can do that too. We’ll continue to deliver games in whatever media formats make sense and as one ebbs and one starts to flow, we’ll go in that direction. For us, the fastest growing segment of our business is clearly digital and clearly digital services and ultimately Electronic Arts, at some point in the future – much like your question about streaming and cloud – we’re going to be a 100 percent digital company, period. It’s going to be there some day. It’s inevitable.”
Source: GamesIndustry.biz
