EA Games plans to completely shift to digital distribution channel in near future

Things are rapidly changing in the gaming industry for better or for worse. Therefore, the news of Electronic Arts (EA) Games’ plan to eventually become completely digital hardly comes off as a shock.

In an interview with GamesIndustry International, EA Games Label President Frank Gibeau came out to bluntly state that a 100 percent transition to digital distribution was inevitable for the company in the not-too-distant future.

“It’s in the near future. It’s coming,” he said. “We have a clear line of sight on it and we’re excited about it.”

He revealed that the digital services, which included downloadable content, subscriptions, downloadable games and social platforms, is the fastest-growing segment of the company, showing an increase of up to 47% in revenues during the previous fiscal year. While this made up only a quarter of the company’s total business, if the trend continues, the company will not hesitate to completely transfer to the digital channel for the distribution of its products. The contemporary channel is also making it much easier for the company to connect with the consumers who are interested in buying its products directly. If the consumers wanted to buy EA’s product digitally, the company planned on ensuring that it was exactly how they got it.

Gibeau did not specify exactly when the company would become 100 percent digital, but he made it clear that the transformation will not be something that happens overnight.

He acknowledged that retailers were a significant channel for the company to bring its intellectual property within the reach of gamers. The company had no intention of bringing its relationship with the retailers to an end right away despite the strong appeal of digital channel.

“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,” Gibeau said.

EA Games is not the only company that has its sight set on digital distribution. A recent survey by NPD has revealed that there has been an increase of 10 percent in the digital purchases of games since last year. This trend has been noticed by the game industry and thus more and more companies are selling their products through digital channels.

Even though the digital distribution of games and services is becoming popular, the significance of retail market is not under a great deal of threat right now. Two gaming giants, Sony and Microsoft, understand the importance of making their games available in the retail market in order to help the sale of their consoles, which the retailers would most likely refuse to stock if they are deprived of the opportunity to earn profit through the sales of video games.

The prevalence of one distribution channel does not necessarily threaten the existence of the other, something that both the analysts and game companies are quite aware of. Even if EA Games does let go of the retailers in the longer run, companies like Sony, Microsoft and Nintendo are unlikely to follow its suit.