EA Games' president, Frank Gibeau, says that as physical retail sales decline, the only way to survive is to go 100% into digital distribution.
Back in May, EA revealed that their digital offerings brought in $1.2 billion (USD). This figure is a combined total between downloadable games, subscriptions, DLC, mobile games, and social titles.
He also went on to slam the NPD and their relatively narrow sales figures. He noted that the NPD does not really give figures on how well social games are fairing on Facebook, mobile, and more. The NPD is also known to not include accurate figures from any digital distribution sales.
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"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.
"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... we're going to be a 100 percent digital company, period. It's going to be there some day. It's inevitable."
"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.
"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... we're going to be a 100 percent digital company, period. It's going to be there some day. It's inevitable."
Back in May, EA revealed that their digital offerings brought in $1.2 billion (USD). This figure is a combined total between downloadable games, subscriptions, DLC, mobile games, and social titles.
He also went on to slam the NPD and their relatively narrow sales figures. He noted that the NPD does not really give figures on how well social games are fairing on Facebook, mobile, and more. The NPD is also known to not include accurate figures from any digital distribution sales.
(via)