Paradox Interactive, publishers of the popular Hearts of Iron series, have released a statement that the company is no longer dependent on brick-and-mortar retail stores for its sales due to the upsurge in direct, digital sales.
"This year we're close to 90 percent of our revenue being digital. Retail sales are like a bonus for us now," said CEO Fredrik Wester in an interview with PC Gamer.
"People complain to publishers that there are only sequels on the market, but that's because retailers want to see sequels," he said.
"Because they can do their chart diagrams for how things sell and things like that. So one of the things preventing more creative gaming has been the retail challenge."
Wester believes that this heralds a positive change for developers, because it prevents retail stores from dictating what developers do.
In other words, games that do not typically sell well in retail—niche titles—have a much better chance of still being successful thanks to digital sales.
