EA preparing to become "100 percent digital company"

In a recent interview, exec says death of retail model is "inevitable."

Read the whole story

 

[H2O Rip]

I hope the digital model doesn't overtake completely, or at least if it does has the option of stand alone licenses (that don't require phone home connectivity). Personally I don't mind getting my games online, I just am a bit paranoid about my collection becoming unusable if servers are shut down or fail. There also begs the question of game licenses vs product ownership. The next few years are going to be very very interesting for the used game market.

 

[Plissken]

Nooooooo!!!!! I may be in the minority (though not according to the stats in the article) but I actually prefer buying the physical disc/box. I collect games the way music lovers today collect vinyl records. The original big box version of The Thing is one of my most prized possessions (not sure what that says about me, but whatever...).

I hope EA and other publishers don't go totally digital with no physical releases. I'm guessing game companies could turn physical releases into a lucrative niche market like vinyl records.

 

[Alexko]

" EA is "going to be a 100 percent digital company, period. It's going to be there some day. It's inevitable." "

So they're going to stop making analog games?

 

[craigdolphin]

The only people appreciating games on discs then would be the equivalent of today's vinyl record-obsessed hipsters.

.Really?

How about those of us who live in the digital third world (rural USA) where the concept of broadband simply does not exist? How many games do you think I'll be able to buy with my current monthly bandwidth cap of 12 GB? Already I can't even download the witcher 2 at home because the file is bigger than my monthly cap (Yes, satellite isp's suck but there are zero alternatives in my location, and that's unlikely to change in 10 years).

A 100% digital future for EA means they're willing to jettison some 25% of the population of the USA as a potential market. Maybe that's ok with them but I sure hope it bites them in the ass if they do.

 

[Boskone]

In all fairness, vinyl often does sound better, especially when the CD/digital version is badly mixed.

Trust me, for the sake of your music listening habits, don't learn to recognize the difference between well-mixed music and...well...most music. After a while, everything sounds to you like Saint Anger.

 

[Abresh]

Yes, we are going to go to all digitally downloaded games sooner or later. However, if the companies in question keep on with this 'always-on internet even to play the single player portion' like Diablo III has, people are going to look at that leerily and say "Freak no!"

I'll be honest: I am MORE than willing to have always-on internet connection for the online portion of a game. For the single player portion however, I had better damned well be able to play it offline.

Now, I know that the 'always on for single player' is coming from the addition of XBox Live trophies and other things to the single player game, but I'm willing to for-go those.

 

[Jackattak]

Can't believe people still take issue with this. Move forward. You're clinging to the same antiquated business models as the MPAA and RIAA.

 

[Nonapod]

A 100% digital future for EA means they're willing to jettison some 25% of the population of the USA as a potential market. Maybe that's ok with them but I sure hope it bites them in the ass if they do.

I'm uncertain what the current broadband penetration is, or more importantly what it's forecast to be over the next few years, but I get the impression that this isn't something that EA's gonna be doing is a big hurry. What I took from his comment was that in the long term DD is inevitable. That said, if in 10 years time or whatever, we still have a situation where 25% of households in the US still don't have broadband then we've got other problems.

 

[Morhyn]

I look forward to the day when I need to have every publisher's Steam clone installed so that I can have the privilege of buying their games that will still be riddled with DRM. What'll be even better is if they all follow EA's lead in dropping server support for online games 6 months after they are released through their online store.

 

[kbowling1030]

This is so very sad. I mean we all knew this was coming just maybe not this soon. Don't they know not every person has access to fast internet connections?

 

[ripfire4]

Where were they when Steam started??

 

[Leiesoldat]

The only people appreciating games on discs then would be the equivalent of today's vinyl record-obsessed hipsters.

.Really?

How about those of us who live in the digital third world (rural USA) where the concept of broadband simply does not exist? How many games do you think I'll be able to buy with my current monthly bandwidth cap of 12 GB? Already I can't even download the witcher 2 at home because the file is bigger than my monthly cap (Yes, satellite isp's suck but there are zero alternatives in my location, and that's unlikely to change in 10 years).

A 100% digital future for EA means they're willing to jettison some 25% of the population of the USA as a potential market. Maybe that's ok with them but I sure hope it bites them in the ass if they do.

Most likely won't bite them in the ass. I am curious to see the geographical location of EA's biggest profits. You could always rig fiber to your home from a central node. Expensive, but you would get your fast internet then.

 

[JEDIDIAH]

Nooooooo!!!!! I may be in the minority (though not according to the stats in the article) but I actually prefer buying the physical disc/box. I collect games the way music lovers today collect vinyl records. The original big box version of The Thing is one of my most prized possessions (not sure what that says about me, but whatever...).

I hope EA and other publishers don't go totally digital with no physical releases. I'm guessing game companies could turn physical releases into a lucrative niche market like vinyl records.

If you have a copy that you can control then you have the option of play the game long after the studio that wrote it has forgotten about it or gone out of business entirely.

 

[Robb]

Video games were more fun and played smoother when they came on dvd's or cd's... you kids and your new fangled internets....

Sorry, just joking!

 

[coalminds]

In all fairness, vinyl often does sound better, especially when the CD/digital version is badly mixed.

Trust me, for the sake of your music listening habits, don't learn to recognize the difference between well-mixed music and...well...most music. After a while, everything sounds to you like Saint Anger.

It does,(not to derail the thread) but for convenience sake and with the minimal difference in most vinyl vs. CD comparisons I prefer my current setup of ripping all my CDs to uncompressed audio and controlling playback on my theater system using the PS3. I don't miss running a record player or having to keep all that space available for my vinyls.

Video games are different, my main reasons for wanting a physical copy usually involve re-selling or, and this is important, giving it to my nephews when I'm done with a game. I realize they think they're greatly increasing profits by getting rid of the secondary market, but for people like me I'll just wait a year or two until the price drops enough that the re-sell value has effectively been taken out of the price. It's not a big deal for me.

 

[MonkeyPaw]

I sure hope all these digital distributors can start convincing American ISPs to drop data caps.

Speaking of content you don't own, I heard Netflix and a few other companies had a hard time providing content after the storms hit the East coast:

http://www.latimes.com/business/technol ... 0304.story

While 6 hours is not that long to be lacking a luxury, it sure lessens my confidence in investing in digital distribution model. I guess I figured such companies were not so centralized anymore.

 

[enderandrew]

I purchase most of my PC games digitally currently via Steam. I purchase collector's editions of games like Mass Effect and Dragon Age to help financially support Bioware, but I don't need physical copies.

My only concern is that EA is hellbent on pushing Origin, which is like Steam, but worse. I've never had a good experience with buying a game through Origin.

Oddly enough, I wrote an article myself on the death of the traditional retail market for video games as well today.

http://blindscribblings.com/2012/07/ins ... -continue/

 

[adamsorkin]

Interesting. I don't disagree with the inevitability of digital distribution - and for my own purposes, great - I've used it exclusively for several years now. I just don't know when it will make sense, and when the infrastructure required will be universal. I trust my own internet access to download 5 - 10 GB games in a reasonable amount of time, but I encounter connections that can't often enough. (I certainly don't trust in continuous uptime well enough for always on-line single player games, but that's another discussion). I probably do take the ownership/license and server survival for granted - but those are certainly issues that need to be ironed out.

 

[Kempai Tai]

Nooooooo!!!!! I may be in the minority (though not according to the stats in the article) but I actually prefer buying the physical disc/box. I collect games the way music lovers today collect vinyl records. The original big box version of The Thing is one of my most prized possessions (not sure what that says about me, but whatever...).

I hope EA and other publishers don't go totally digital with no physical releases. I'm guessing game companies could turn physical releases into a lucrative niche market like vinyl records.

I don't see any company getting rid of the box set (see all the "limited editions", "collector's editions", etc). There's too many people that shell out for the shinies that are typically contained within.

However, they may end up putting a code inside for a download rather than a physical disc.

 

[Plissken]

In all fairness, vinyl often does sound better, especially when the CD/digital version is badly mixed.

Trust me, for the sake of your music listening habits, don't learn to recognize the difference between well-mixed music and...well...most music. After a while, everything sounds to you like Saint Anger.

Where's the like button on this forum?

 

[bittermann]

Somebody please tell the major ISP's that going all digital with media in the future is going to require huge bandwidth pipes without price gouging the customers...you can't have one without the other so who's going to pay the price?

 

[Trilby]

"The ultimate relationship is the connection that we have with the gamer," Gibeau said. "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."

That's a load. Gamers aren't frothing at the mouth to get games online. With bandwidth caps and games sold everywhere I don't think access is an issue. This is all to avoid lost revenue from reselling. I don't mind digital distribution but this disingenuous crap irks me.

 

[JGoat]

The only people appreciating games on discs then would be the equivalent of today's vinyl record-obsessed hipsters.

.Really?

How about those of us who live in the digital third world (rural USA) where the concept of broadband simply does not exist? How many games do you think I'll be able to buy with my current monthly bandwidth cap of 12 GB? Already I can't even download the witcher 2 at home because the file is bigger than my monthly cap (Yes, satellite isp's suck but there are zero alternatives in my location, and that's unlikely to change in 10 years).

A 100% digital future for EA means they're willing to jettison some 25% of the population of the USA as a potential market. Maybe that's ok with them but I sure hope it bites them in the ass if they do.

Exactly! Even DSL in rural areas can be utter crap. They probably wouldn't move forward in ditching hard copies any faster than broadband improvements make it feasible for the overwhelming majority of consumers to partake. Hopefully for people like you that's the case.

Until then, I'll share my bandwidth if you pay for shipping a USB drive back and forth.

 

[Falien]

As others already said above, until the day that (adequately fast) internet access is as guaranteed as electricity, digital distribution will not be a better alternative than the physical media.

Also, I can't imagine that the games we're used to on today's consoles would remain identical in an all-digital environment. For starters, size limitations would probably be in place, so even if a dialogue-rich game like, say, Mass Effect were to remain identical while being distributed as a download, sound and/or videos would probably be subjected to additional compression to the detriment of quality. Speaking of size, an all-digital distribution model would probably mean us players would have to upgrade/change our HDDs often, to be able to keep local copies of all our games. Even if we don't keep all our games on our own HDDs and we only download them when we want to play them (a convenience, I agree), we're right back where we started - the internet is not ubiquitous (yet). And letting some online service keep your purchases for you means risking them suddenly deciding to delist some of them, whereupon you lose them.

And that's just off the top of my head.

 

[Tundro Walker]

I've installed Thief & Thief 2, b/c I still had the old cd's. If I have nothing but online licenses and the service goes out of business... I'm stuck downloading torrents? And then I'm stuck worrying if some predatory company is tracking what's torrented, and I get a letter in the mail saying I've been illegaly downloading some game I used to own, but apparently I only owned an account on some online service and now I'm screwed.

 

[Robot Dinosaur]

Honestly, I love digital distribution - no more having to keep track of discs, activation codes, etc. And it's almost encouraging to see EA take this position. Almost. Given how mediocre Origin is and how EA likes to say one thing ("games for <$60", "more creativity in titles") and do another (games are still $60, everything is a cover-based shooter), I'll believe it when I see it.

 

[kbuis]

This is all well and good, but is it going to lead to games being cheaper? Nope. Is it going to mean people without a fast internet connection are left out of the market? Probably. Is it going to wipe out the used market? Most definitely.

As someone who is very particular about the games he buys and seldom spends more than $40 on a game, I say go ahead EA. Put every game you can online and let's see how quickly that cookie crumbles.

 

[Plissken]

Nooooooo!!!!! I may be in the minority (though not according to the stats in the article) but I actually prefer buying the physical disc/box. I collect games the way music lovers today collect vinyl records. The original big box version of The Thing is one of my most prized possessions (not sure what that says about me, but whatever...).

I hope EA and other publishers don't go totally digital with no physical releases. I'm guessing game companies could turn physical releases into a lucrative niche market like vinyl records.

I don't see any company getting rid of the box set (see all the "limited editions", "collector's editions", etc). There's too many people that shell out for the shinies that are typically contained within.

However, they may end up putting a code inside for a download rather than a physical disc.

Hmmmmm. That's interesting -- a game box with no actual disc in it. I confess I don't really care about the actual discs. Unlike vinyl vs. MP3, there's no discernable difference performance. Plus, discs are kind of a nuisance, especially when you lose them. I'm really only interested in having the physical packaging of the game....but now Kempai Tai's suggestion seems so damned silly, not to mention a waste of paper. That said, I'd probably still go for it.

 

[DarthSidious]

I look forward to the day when I need to have every publisher's Steam clone installed so that I can have the privilege of buying their games that will still be riddled with DRM. What'll be even better is if they all follow EA's lead in dropping server support for online games 6 months after they are released through their online store.

Except that no-one's Steam clone has as yet shown the traction, abilities or depth of the actual steam. Steam workshop makes it even more awesome. I don't buy games unless I can get them on steam, which will even let me play without being online.

 

[Alyeska]

Only when National Broadband has significant adoption, bandwidth caps are removed, and throttling is made illegal. Before then, 100% digital is just not possible. Internet connections are still not reliable to move entirely over to that level of infrastructure.

 

[Xipher]

Everyone complaining about how people without fast Internet connectivity will hold this back, you're right. He didn't say this would be a fast transition, this will take years if not multiple decades to happen. That said he does expect it to happen eventually. The curve for uptake on digital distribution is rapidly increasing, but that will slow down just as rapidly in a few years I'm guessing, and then slowly tapper until it's no longer worth the investment to keep pressing physical copies.

 

[pyster]

I was done with physical media long ago, and wanted digital distribution back in the 80s. I embraced steam early on, and pretty much avoid physical media as much as I can.

As far as DRM, has there been a game that has not been cracked? Good chance it will be. Want to play the offline version without a connection, cracks are the way to go.

 

[jasvll]

They'll have to pry my (analog????) CDs and DVDs from my cold, dead digits.

 

[garapito]

I wouldn't be so opposed digitization if it INCREASED convenience. If EA partnered with Steam or if the MAFIAA partnered with Netflix, it would be ALL WIN. But the way things are going, everyone is trying to build their own platform to abscond with as much of my money as they can. To which I reply with a hearty "No. Not going to happen." I'll stick to the established players that have garnered goodwill by not being shady (though Netflix is a bit on the crazy side) and ignore the dozens of other options unless they become truly compelling.

/2cents

 

[uninventiveheart]

That's fine, as long as they stop churning out weak titles like SimCity Social.

EDIT: Title incorrect, SimEarth Social would REALLY suck.

 

[BMR-777]

EA is already doing this. My girlfriend bought an expansion pack for the Sims 3 the other day and it had a full retail box and disk. We go to install the expansion pack and the installer finishes almost instantly, which is odd as previous packs have taken a few minutes to install. We run the game and there's no expansion pack to be found.

Only by Googling for a solution did we find out that the disk doesn't contain the expansion pack. Instead you have to go online to the EA / Sims store, redeem your product key code, then download and install the expansion pack separately.

It makes me wonder what the point of the disk was in the first place. I'm surprised the box didn't have a noticeable warning on it that the disk was empty!

 

[coalminds]

I look forward to the day when I need to have every publisher's Steam clone installed so that I can have the privilege of buying their games that will still be riddled with DRM. What'll be even better is if they all follow EA's lead in dropping server support for online games 6 months after they are released through their online store.

Except that no-one's Steam clone has as yet shown the traction, abilities or depth of the actual steam. Steam workshop makes it even more awesome. I don't buy games unless I can get them on steam, which will even let me play without being online.

? Isn't that low quality of the clones like Origin precisely what he was making fun of?

 

[uninventiveheart]

Interesting. I don't disagree with the inevitability of digital distribution - and for my own purposes, great - I've used it exclusively for several years now. I just don't know when it will make sense, and when the infrastructure required will be universal. I trust my own internet access to download 5 - 10 GB games in a reasonable amount of time, but I encounter connections that can't often enough. (I certainly don't trust in continuous uptime well enough for always on-line single player games, but that's another discussion). I probably do take the ownership/license and server survival for granted - but those are certainly issues that need to be ironed out.

It'll also be interesting whether or not they "clientize" their full catalog (i.e.: NFL Madden Online versus NFL Madden 2012, with a subscription cost covering the year up to post-NFL Draft), or allow single player titles to be available online for download as long as the player is in good standing (i.e.: Medal of Honor.)

 

[karolus]

No surprise here...

And as others have noted, it theoretically should increase sales, since the secondhand market will effectively be put out of commission.

Even mainline apps have been going this way--ironically even those used to create physical media (e.g. InDesign).

As an aside, I wonder how it will impact sales--some people have a strong attachment to a tangible item. Sort of like the e-book vs. printed page...