News Ex-EA exec: "EA is in the wrong business"

There are somethings that I'm sure in life...One of them that it is easy to see is that digital distribution is not the future. It is the now..
Few years and it will take over retail. But it is NOT a positive thing as many like to put it. The game-as-a-service model is very very bad for most of us. You will pay a lot more for games as it is a model based on tighter control. When it becomes the norm you simply cut the retail channel and your online distribution channel can be the only line of revenue. And everything will be done with micro transactions. Right now companies are testing how customers react to this new models. Are they willing to play extra for a few more weapons? Look at all those collector edditions, digital download special editions and so on.

 

eww: games-as-a-service? Seriously? Thank goodness this guy was shot down!

 

+1

 

If EA had a online service through a webrowser then it would be viable. EA downloader is a POS software.

It about time they smelt the coffee.

 

the future is the netflix model, for all content movies/music/tv shows/gaming and likely applications to...my 2 cents

 

One has got to say the obvious that something will eventually go with Steam... But to date it is a near perfect DD channel.

In my (direct) experience EA 'support' is a joke and Steam Support (with practically no staff!!) is really brilliant and has a faster response...

In regard to DD vs retail channel/physical media I much prefer Steam/DD as well. Valve go to a lot of effort to make Steam run on multiple platforms e.g. Wine under Linux, etc. There is flexibility about installing the game a number of times and on different machines (simultaneously). The facility to re-download the game years later and/or backup locally allows the best of both worlds.

The same can not be said for EA with it's god awful Sony DRM crap on the physical media. (Though to be fair some publishers still include the DRM on the Steam distribution - that is a truly evil decision!!)

Bob

 

I read ages ago that Valve charges 50% of the sales price for their 'fee' for distributing by Steam. But I can not confirm that. It would however go some way to explain why for a digital version of a game Valve charge more than most bricks and mortar stores for the same item, especially for AAA titles.

 

i bet you are with o2 for yourt internet though, they dont throttle you like bt

 

I dont understand why the entire catalogue of games for all platforms is available through their online networks i.e. the PSN etc...imagine how much money would be saved on unwanted boxes, cds, booklets, artwork...never mind the environmental considerations too!

BUT THEN - How many gaming stores will close down, how many people who work in the factories making the booklets will loose their jobs etc?

 

Here in the states they are quietly debating bandwidth/month limits for "basic" broadband customers and either charging more for an unlimited "premium" service or nailing you for the MB after you reach a certain limit. It will eventually be pushed through becuase we have no power here as customers and the government is looking for as much taxable revenue as they can get their hands on so it works for them. Downloading a game or two at 20-50GBs could become very not cost/convenience effective. I like getting a box and CD though just incase but thats just me. Which is why its so wonderful we have a choice, for now, where we purchase our games.

 

That doesnt sound good! Its totally the opposite of how things should be going...the government should be increasing bandwidth...the internet moves society forwards!

 

Digital distribution only has a future in countries with proper internet connections, be it Denmark, Japan, Latvia or South Korea, but in many Countries optical media still has at least 10 years to live.

Funny fact about the throttling / cutting off for using the internet "too much", you can download a entire album in mp3 format and cause less traffic than downloading a nvidia graphicsdriver, yet they tell who is the evil pirate by looking at the amount of data transferred. On a similar note, count the pirated movies you can download while still causing less traffic than buying the Orange Box on Steam yet guess which one makes the isp go nuts.