MCV, a UK publication is reporting a story that 1C Company believes retail is to blame for the loss of sales in PC games and that PC distribution will be completely digital by 2011.
1C’s international publishing director Darryl Still has accused retail of failing to support boxed PC games.
The industry veteran says that by refusing to stock certain games and moving PC titles to the back of the store, retail is forcing publishers to head towards digital distribution. And that PC games software will be sold entirely through digital channels by next year.
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“You just have to head into a games store and look for their PC titles, and you’ll see there is no focus, listings or promotions for them.
While I certainly agree with Darryl's horror at the current state of PC Retail, I'm not so certain that all PC games will go digital. It's one thing for a publisher like 1C Company (King's Bounty, Men of War) to say they're not benefiting from retail, whereas companies like Valve are still seeing something like 50% of their sales through retail, with the largest retail spikes following free weekends of their top games.
I agree, It will be mostly Retail here in Australia for a long time yet. It wont go digital here untill your shitty Internets get sorted out. Retail Gaming here either Console or PC Will be here for a while.
I mean I'm on the best plan avalable to me at the moment, it costs $100/month with download speeds of 20000/1000, and a cap of 25GB.
But the thing is also, I prefer "owning" my games on steam. I only get the retail version if it come with cool shit. Eg: NVG's, Mouldable Lifescale Facehugger, Or say a badass Napoleon Figurine.
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Aussie_Nick Says:
January 14th 2010 @ 9:28 am EST
I agree, It will be mostly Retail here in Australia for a long time yet. It wont go digital here untill your shitty Internets get sorted out. Retail Gaming here either Console or PC Will be here for a while.
I mean I'm on the best plan avalable to me at the moment, it costs $100/month with download speeds of 20000/1000, and a cap of 25GB.