EA - Future Lies in Digital Games

[aries100]

As the closing of 2009 continues, the video game industry is trying to look into 2010 and beyond.
At Reuter's Global Media Summit, (http://www.reuters.com/article/technology-media-telco-SP/idUSN0151965220091201?pageNumber=1&virtualBrandChannel=0) EA's CEO John Riccitiello talks about the future of EA
and how digital games may become more important than boxed games in the future:
Riccitiello said there will always be a market for packaged games like its "Madden NFL" franchise, but sees digital games growing to account for half the industry in 2010 from 40 percent now. "It's our goal for that business to be as important as, and over time maybe more important than, our packaged goods business," he said.
He also commented on the recent layoffs at EA:
"We thought of it as an offensive, positive step towards the evolution of our business."
Do you think EA's John Riccitiello is correct? Will digital game become the standard?
More information. (http://www.rpgwatch.com/show/newsbit?newsbit=13901)

[TheMadGamer]

I'm old school. I will always want a physical copy of the games I play until the day I die. If things change where games are available only in pure digital formats I'll find a new hobby.

I don't mind purchasing digital copies of games at a greatly reduced price as a secondary option.

For example, I purchased Gothic 2 from GoG for 10 bucks for the convenience of being able to play that game without having to find the disc and put it into my CD Drive, but I still have the boxed version of the game as my *real* copy.

I hope the younger generation understands (especially now as we see global economics change for the worse) the importance of ownership. Services like steam are a great convenience, but there's nothing more certain with regards to ownership when you physically hold property.

When you don't physically hold property, you are subject to the changing whims of those who do physically hold it.

[Terry]

"When you don't physically hold property, you are subject to the changing whims of those who do physically hold it. "

How true this is, until you can DL a game and have it on your HD/DVD and reinstall at will with no online component you DO NOT really own it.
Unfortunately even some of the games we have now as a physical media are ours only as long as the server is still there to activate it once installed, no server no more game. As long as that trend continues the days of "owning" of physical media that is actually yours may be numbered.

[Zygo]

My inner pedant wants to ask Mr Riccitiello how I might purchase some of the wonderful selection of analogue games EA has for offer and suggest that an over reliance on selling games on cassette tapes may be the reason for EA's current poor performance...

[TheMadGamer]

Unfortunately even some of the games we have now as a physical media are ours only as long as the server is still there to activate it

Yep, that's unfortunate. I've had to NOT buy a few games I would have otherwise purchased because of that.

[wolfing]

My only problem with 'digital games' is that they usually cost the same (or even more) than their boxed counterparts. I'd probably go for a digital copy of a game I want if it is $5 cheaper than the boxed version at release, but same price? pfft!

[Lucky Day]

a number of years ago one of the first .com's was a company called egghead software. they pretty much had a monopoly on retail software, much more so than gamespot does today, and I believe their bread and butter was their ability to convince businesses to purchase their applications through them (so they made money not just on games).

they were one of the first companies of this type to go public and they seemed to fascinate wall street. however, investment analysts began to suggest that "brick and mortar" stores had no future and the future of software was internet download through the burgeoning broadband market (this was the mid 90's!).

so, because the company worked for their investors, they did just as these analysts suggested closed their brick and mortar stores and began to distribute 3rd party software electronically.

after this they moved from California to Oregon to reduce tax costs egghead became not only one of the first .com's it became one of the first .bombs.

during this time investment analysts said the future of "brick and mortar" book stores like barnes and nobles was bleak due to their costly debt. the future was companies like the burgeoning amazon.com which don't have that kind of overhead.

[TheMadGamer]

after this they moved from California to Oregon to reduce tax costs

Let me get this straight. They moved headquarters from CA to OR to reduce tax costs? Wow something was way screwed up with their logic on that one...

[txa1265]

Because of the move to DRM and online activation, I've been doing more and more digital stuff. Dragon Age is the first game I desperately wanted, and ONLY have in digital form. (Risen I have both but haven't done anything but flip through the manual.)

[northreign]

Because of the move to DRM and online activation, I've been doing more and more digital stuff. Dragon Age is the first game I desperately wanted, and ONLY have in digital form. (Risen I have both but haven't done anything but flip through the manual.)

That's pretty much all I buy too because of the DRM on PC.

Its either digital or its the physical console version of the game so it can be resold since I don't like most games enough to play them twice.

If everything became digital only I would just wait longer for 99% of games to hit $10 or less.

If they can allow "reselling" of digital games then it would be much better.

[JDR13]

If they can allow "reselling" of digital games then it would be much better.


That's a very good point actually, and it's one of the main reasons why paying $49.99 for a digital copy is not the same deal as paying $49.99 for a physical one.

[skavenhorde]

a number of years ago one of the first .com's was a company called egghead software. they pretty much had a monopoly on retail software, much more so than gamespot does today, and I believe their bread and butter was their ability to convince businesses to purchase their applications through them (so they made money not just on games).


I remember that story very well (except for the moving to Oregon to get a break on taxes). Egghead was the first real software store that my mom found when I was a kid. I loved that little mascot :). I was shocked when they closed them all up. I found some obscure games there that you couldn't find at Best Buy or even Software Ect. and the sales clerks there really knew there stuff. I once asked if there were any good turn-based rpgs out and the guy pointed me to Albion. I would of never bought that game without his recomendation and it turned out to be one of the best games I ever played.

Egghead is still sorta alive, if you consider Frankenstien alive. It used to be at www.egghead.com and ran by Amazon, but I believe they changed their name to newegg. I never bought anything from them because I could never find anything I wanted at this digital Egghead.

[xSamhainx]

I'm liking the digital thing more and more.

Want to play Sacrifice? it's on several services Ive seen, I could be playing it within the hour if I wanted to. And it''ll run on the newer OS's. More than grabbing newer games, the access to older titles you cant run down to the store and grab anymore (and if you did they may not run!) is a major benefit.

And the sales, good lord of the tigers, it was like 50.00 on steam recently for pretty much all the recent big name THQ titles. All the warhammer games, company of heroes, etx. That's pretty good. I just got all the Overlord games for like 9.00 out the door, part 1, expansion, and part 2. Vampire Bloodlines for 5.00 a few weeks ago on D2D, not to mention ( but ill mention it anyway) the huge sale D2D had where I need Elven Legacy and Mount & Blade for 5.00 apiece. Plus a bunch of other flotsam and jetsam like Saints Row 2. Whatever, it's 5.00

Speaking of 5.00, go run thru the 5.00 and under titles on STEAM and tell me there's nothing to play on there. There's tons of stuff, even if you played it for the weekend youre getting a deal.

I pretty much grab the box for a new game, but the deals that theyre able to unleash on older games is just too good to look the other way. New digital cheerleader here…

[skavenhorde]

I don't know about this digital thing. If they made it more like GoG, then I wouldn't mind it so much. I just keep thinking about what will happen in 10 years or so. Take a look at how the market has changed over the past 20 or 30 years and tell me that Steam will still be around.

Just take a look at how many publishers there were in the beginning of the personal computer era. Out of all of the publishers around I believe EA is the only survivor and what is that like 20 or 30 years now? Call me paranoid, but I like to have a physical copy of the game somewhere within my own house.

I will still buy digital in a heartbeat, but for games that I know I will replay many times I will buy either the digital and physical copy or just the physical.

[Tragos]

Since there is no store near me i can only get the digital version of games too.
Physical copies are fine but they are taking too much space , after some years it looks like you need to live in a palace to be a collector.

Another thing i like is that i can c/p the title of the game in my browser , go read gamer's comments , look for bugs / patches / mods and if i like click and buy / play after few minutes .

[DArtagnan]

Ever since they stopped making good manuals, I've seen no point in physical copies.

Sure, there's that tangible aspect of actually owning something - but compared with the POTENTIAL benefits of removing that entirely and going digital, it's infinitely trivial. Then again, I'm about as anti-materialistic as they come.

Sadly, it hasn't exactly changed the price of games or the nature of greed, so there's really no benefit beyond the convenience. But the convenience is pretty huge, especially for non-US gamers like me, who'd otherwise have to wait or turn pirate.

[Cassius]

I don't know about this digital thing. If they made it more like GoG, then I wouldn't mind it so much.
Amen. I pay - you give me setup.exe. That's it. That's all digital should be. As opposed to the tumour that is Steam.

[txa1265]

That's a very good point actually, and it's one of the main reasons why paying $49.99 for a digital copy is not the same deal as paying $49.99 for a physical one.

That has dramatically changed my buying habits ... previously I would buy a game that I knew I'd eventually get for review since I knew I could sell / trade it off ... but with digital codes, Steam tie-ins and on and on ... I only buy what I want to own, and wait for review copies.

[Alrik Fassbauer]

Unfortunately even some of the games we have now as a physical media are ours only as long as the server is still there to activate it once installed, no server no more game.

Same with Microsoft Windows XP, forgotten ?

In terms of law, as far as I know, the German law is a little bit different. You actually OWN a game you buy.

This does NOT, however, keep ALL software companies keep from mantra-like writing that the software is not owned by the buyer ...

The actual effect is, that everyone believes that - the longer a thing is repeated, the more likely the people are foirced towards believing it - just so as if this was actual German law.

And in effect this is nothing but exporting U.S. laws implicitely into other countries. And no-one notices.

[Alrik Fassbauer]

Ever since they stopped making good manuals, I've seen no point in physical copies.

This is in the essence nothing but a further evolution of the efrect that the big, good-ooling game boxes were onvce replaced by cheap-looking DVD boxes, "the industry wants" (or was it the retailers ?), because they are much, much better to put on the shlves ... Meaning : They take away fewer shelf space.

Thus putting more games into the same shelf-space meanwhile NOT lowering the price, of course, could mean or have meant that "the industry" assumed that there would be much more sold, then. I mean the sheer number of "copies" on the shelves.

The effect was clear from day one, although *always* heavily denied from the companies : Games got the feeling of what we call here a "Wegwerfprodukt". A product one can easily throw away, to very roughly translate this into English language.

The DVD packages just look "cheap", and don't adhere anymore to the *real* value of the games ...

Which is one of many points why I believe the "games are nothing but wares" philosophy has very much influenced the industry.

Nowadays, everyone on the "gaming industry" believes that games are wares. Nothing but this.
And everyone believes that this way of thinking is totally right - because it is economy-driven. This philosophy, I mean.

This is just another aspect of my big theory that everything in our lives has become "economized", so to say. Games are stripped of their "playing" part, and this is replaced by a "wares" part.

Anything spiritual (like the concept of "playing") is replaced by economy-driven terms.

[DArtagnan]

I don't presume to speak for everyone, I speak for myself.

I don't understand what you're saying, except that for some reason you want the physical box as a "play-thing"?

Again, for me the "spiritual" part of the game is the actual game, and it was also so. The manual is part of the game, to me, but it's only because of the physical attributes that I miss it in paper form. I mean, reading PDF or "online" documentation just isn't convenient.

But as manuals today are crap and pointless, I don't see any reason for a physical copy - except in those rare cases where an "out-of-game" item would enhance the experience for me. Something like a real physical map can be quite convenient, but a properly done in-game map is preferable.

But "economy-driven"? Oh yeah, we agree here. The core problem of the entire industry - and so many other industries - is that they ARE industries. You mix art and business, you get less art than if business wasn't part of the equation.

Unfortunately, to change that - you'd have to get people to seriously reconsider how the world should work, and have the will to change it. That's not exactly an easy thing to accomplish :)

[Alrik Fassbauer]

You mix art and business, you get less art than if business wasn't part of the equation.

I mix art & business ? Then why do some people consider video games as "art" or at least being on the step towards it ?

If I would rely so much on the "business factor" of creating games, then I would make sure that a game would reach the most possible/reachable audience ... Which would crystallize in the development process.

An *entirely* economy-driven philosophy would eliminate niche games at first hand - and *only* develop mass-compatible games.

And you did mix the box - as a symptom - with the philosophy that is shaping it.

Mind you, you need a concept, a philosophy before you shape things. Of course you can go on shaping things on-the-fly, this works with art maybe, but in business this is a very risky undertaking.

So, you need a concept, a business-plan, a philosophy first. In it you write down how you consider things - games, gamers, market potential - and how this will be expressed through the development.

If the package didm't matter at all ... Then you could sell high luxury things (like jewellery) in a shoe-box. It wouldn't matter at all.

But this is what happened to the gaming indistry : They began selling rather expensive games in show-boxes. A German publisher even had this name : "Shoe-box". Expensive games are sold in cheap-looking DVD boxes.

This is like selling a top-rate diamond by putting it raw into a simple letter, put a stamp on it, and send it to the customer (ans assume that it won't be stolen during the sending process).

[DArtagnan]

I mix art & business ? Then why do some people consider video games as "art" or at least being on the step towards it ?

No, not you personally Alrik. You, as in those who would do it.

I'm talking about an approach that wouldn't represent a loss without sales, because sales wouldn't a part of it. This is an approach without any kind of business aspect.

Again, such a thing can't be, because people aren't willing to do what it takes to accomplish it.

[JDR13]

Sadly, it hasn't exactly changed the price of games or the nature of greed, so there's really no benefit beyond the convenience. But the convenience is pretty huge, especially for non-US gamers like me, who'd otherwise have to wait or turn pirate.


Actually, I've found that US gamers are the ones who have had to wait for a lot of good titles to reach us lately, at least the games I want to play..

Divinity 2, KB: Armored Princess, STALKER CoP, etc.

Of course this might have to do with the fact that I've been less than impressed by US developed games recently, especially RPGs. In fact, I can't think of a single really good RPG this year that was developed in the US. Torchlight was ok, but it's pretty sad if that's all we have to brag about.

[KnightPT]

I keep reading a lot of bad opinions about "steam-alike" systems, but for me, over half the games i own are on steam and GOG-purchaged.

There is one VERY important thing to distinguish where you get your digital download game wich is :

- Can i download it and install again and again and again with no extra cost ?

If the answer is yes, then the game is yours. For me, there is no question about it. Some people mention they WANT the "setup.exe", but i ask, why? In the Steam system (for example) you play the game 100% as it was made to be experienced, you can even use mods (like oblivion, etc).

If the answer is no, you must pay €xx to download it more than X times, or you must pay us to get it "saved on our servers" then for me thats a MAJOR ripoff. You pay the game, you must be allowed to install/uninstall as you want.


About pricing, you are absolutely right, digital download versions should ALWAYS be cheaper than retail. There is no boxing costs, no manual costs, etc. Recently in all the major digital download sites there are a VERY growing system of discounts on major selling titles, sometimes over 50% discounts - this seems to be that those major sites already understood that major DD discounts don't cut on profits, but they actualy increase them a lot.

[Cassius]

Some people mention they WANT the "setup.exe", but i ask, why?
Why not? Why should anything else be required?

[xSamhainx]

do you also want the seed instead of the tomato?

[Cassius]

No, and I don't want the broken metaphor along with the non-sequitur either.

[xSamhainx]

whatever floats your boat.

[TheMadGamer]

I don't understand what you're saying, except that for some reason you want the physical box as a "play-thing"?

A lot of people in this thread make great arguments in favor of digital downloads. And really, I don't disagree with most of them.

One person lives in a remote area and their only access to games is via digital downloads. That's great.

Another person finds that digital downloads from places like GoG provide older games that have been updated to run smoother on modern operating systems… again that's great.

For me though, the physical box is not about having a 'play thing.' It's about physical ownership of the game. Unless someone is willing to break into my house and pull it out of my grubby little hands, no one can take it away from me.

Someday, when steam disappears will everyone's purchase record disappear too? Unless you have a crystal ball that sees into the future, no one can say for sure.

To me, this possible outcome is a deal breaker and compells me to stick with physical boxed copies of games as much as possible.

I also don't buy games where I need an activation server to install it, I vote with my wallet and just say no - and there are a number of games I would have loved to play if it weren't for that DRM paradigm.

In short, I'm not at all against digital downloads. There are a lot of people who can benefit from that type of distribution. At the same time I'd put out this little warning: Buy at your own risk.

[Benedict]

Digital's the future really, even on the current pricing structure of often paying more for digital only release I can't be bothered making a (<10minute) detour to a physical store.

I resisted for a while with vinyl vs mp3s where there's actually a massive difference in the user experience as you actually touch the product all the time (rather than just slotting it into the cd drive the once), but games there's just no point even putting up a fight for me (especially since manuals are all so shit).