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EA: Core Business Model “A Burning Platform”
EA Sports boss Peter Moore has predicted that the disc-based games business probably won’t survive another decade.
"Look at the platform we're on, it's a burning platform," Moore said at the 5th Play Digital Media Conference, according to IGN. "As a concept, do you stay on the platform and face certain death, or do you jump into the water and face probable death? Most of you would choose probable death, so you start moving towards a hybrid model of digital distribution.
"As an industry, I still think we may be as many as a decade away from saying goodbye to physical discs," he added. "The important question is, what does the next console look like? Does it actually have a disc drive?"
Moore has previously spoken at length about EA Sports’ efforts to move away from “the burning platform” by investing more heavily in digital distribution and online features.
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Digital only distribution would be a very real reason for me to quit gaming.
I would think that any progress made on this front would be to a distribution model that is superior, but superior for who? I understand the need to battle piracy, maximise profits etc, but these need to (and will be) balanced by the needs of the consumer.
Personally I really dislike the idea because it removes ownership. Say what you will, DD means you only really own the licence to use that software and as such your freedom to enjoy it as you wish is erased. Can you lend it to a friend? Will your right to that game be perpetual?
Call me old fashioned, but if I buy something I want to actually see it in my hands and use it how I wish.
And anyone who thinks this will make games cheaper are IMO being a touch naive.
It's great to hear that publishers are thinking about moving away from the humble silver disks! But as games get bigger and bigger (based on todays standards), what sort of sizes are we going to be looking at into the next decade?
They're going to have to conjure up some seriously large storage solutions to accommodate even the most moderate gamers installs. The current use of 2.5 inch laptop drives is limited and the soon we move away from those and start thinking about viable alternatives the better.
Moving forward though into the next decade it wouldn't be too outlandish to suggest that consoles games could be distributed through streaming transports, cloud computing and the like. Aside from server side investment and bandwidth there isn't much stopping them.
But before we get ahead of ourselves, any step towards digital distributions is the right one and it'll give publishers and network admins much more control. If done properly there is no reason why you couldn't put a serious dent in piracy for example.
The sooner the better, I say. Dirty discs are too obsolete to deal with anymore. Once SSD becomes far cheaper and larger in capacity, digital distribution is a no-brainer. I haven't bought a hard copy of a PC game in years thanks to Steam, Impulse, direct2drive and other such retailers. I certainly haven't bought a hard copy of a CD in even more years.
I disagree with this, i believe it will be a lot lot longer before there is no money to make out of disc sales.
This article states 40% of games sales are based on impulse
http://www.gamesindustry.biz/articles/40-percent-of-gamers-buy-on-impuls...
I think it would be fair to say very few people impulse buy DLC as it doesnt provide that instant satisfaction. So without disc based games it would be fair to say that there could potentially be up to a 40% drop in sales just from losing that impulse market.
We are a society of shoppers, its the UK's number 1 past time. The fact is the human mind has been conditioned to covert ownership of items, im sure im not the only one that feels DLC doesnt feel the same as owning a hard copy of something.
Not to mention the second hand market. Games publishered seem to be blinkered to the fact that the second hand market keeps the industry flowing, if there was no second hand games people arent going to suddenly start buying everything full price. The second hand market subsidises the new market allowing consumers to experience a wide range of games, this couldnt happen with download only games.
"I think it would be fair to say very few people impulse buy DLC as it doesnt provide that instant satisfaction. So without disc based games it would be fair to say that there could potentially be up to a 40% drop in sales just from losing that impulse market."
Completely depends on the platform. 90% of my iPhone game purchases are impulse, period. With the expansion of the PSP content on PSN, I have made 4 impulse purchases in 2 weeks. The PSPGo will further this effect.
Having said that, I much prefer to purchase my content and have a physical asset to hold. There are many reasons for this but a big one is, with a physical asset, I remember I own it. I can't tell you how many times when changing a computer, cleaning backups, etc. I forgot about a song or two in a different directory that I went out and repurchased just to find it a day later or so. The same thing is starting to happen with games. I can't easily tell you how many iPhone games, XBLA, PSN games I have purchased, but I sure as hell can tell you how many PS2/PS3/XB360, etc. games I have purchased.
One sad side effect of digital distribution is removing the social element around game launches/events. No midnight launches, store exclusives, etc. Kind of mirrors what happened to arcades when home games surpassed (or, at least equaled) the game playing experience.
Nah I am sorry i disagree by the year 2012 the UK Government hopes to have a 2 gig connection for every household. I'd bet other European countries will follow suit if they aren't already heading in that direction already. Look at how quickly people switched to MP3's, ok there is still physical media but best selling albums sell hundreds of thousands where as recently as last decade they sold multi millions.
There's over 20 million people on Steam now and 2 million unique users purchasing software a month at the last count. Give it 5 years even and I think the sway will heavily lean towards Digital distribution.
One of the main reasons for a switch of tech is that the new tech is more convenient. Digital sound is inferior to analogue sound yet the Ipod and co flourish because they allow you to carry your entire music collection around with you everywhere. When people factor the space they can save by ditching DVD cases which effectively just sit there you'll be amazed how quickly they will switch. Hell I have a physical copy of Morrowind but I bought the digital version on Steam for £6.99 simply because the disc had a few scratches and I knew I loved that game.
The music industry is very different to the games industry though. The vast majority of people who pay for tracks from iTunes etc were previously downloading them ileagily using software like limewire. Music is much more disposable as a medium, downloading a 79p track is vastly different from a £20- £50 game.
Secondly the pre-owned market for music is pretty much non-existent, whereas it is one of the main pillars of the videogames market.
And can you really imagine the government achieving their plans for 2gb broadband by 2012, really, our government?????
Or maybe im just being synical, and synical i will remain (until i finally get that 64DD i was promised)