Since I bought my PS4 earlier this year I haven’t purchased a single hard copy of a game, why? Because there simply has been no need – and it seems like publishers are becoming more and more aware of this, for example, most Switch games are releasing without the full game even being on the card. Why spend the extra money on a physical copy when you can bypass production and release it digitally – at a cheaper price.
Take-Two Interactive, the publisher behind titles such as Red Dead Redemption and NBA2K18 recently weight their thoughts in on the shift from physical to digital, stating that in the next few years gaming could be 100% digital.
“I think over the long-term, it will be 100% [digital],” Take- Two president Karl Slatoff said. “I just can’t predict whether that’s five years, 10 years, or 20 years. It’s probably less than 20 and maybe more than five, but I think it ultimately gets there. That’s the zeitgeist. Things are moving in that direction.
“Why I think it’s a little quicker than people imagined is honestly, Sony and Microsoft have done a really nice job with their services. You’ve got more people on Xbox Live, more people on PSN, and it helps. The friction is going away at a quicker rate because these platforms have been really well developed, and the consumers love it.”
Slatoff acknowledge that even though the shift to digital is occurring, the company still heavily relies on physical sales.
“The truth is physical retail is still the majority of our business, and very important partners of ours,” he said. “And we want to do everything we can to support that environment. And we do. They’re very strong marketing and distribution partners for us. But again, it’s out of our control. Whether we want it or not, it looks like it’s going to happen eventually.”
Thoughts on the shift? Let us know in the comments below.
