Gaming Goes Digital

A digital age is coming and coming soon, especially in light of the announcement of a new gaming service called OnLive that is scheduled for release next winter. It will allow consumers to play top-quality, high-definition games on their PC’s and even on their televisions without the need of consoles, or packaged games. Many of the industries biggest game publishers are already on board, including Ubisoft Entertainment, Electronic Arts Inc and THQ Inc.

There have been signs of such a change in the market for a while now, with devices such as Apple’s iPhone emerging as a gaming platform in its own right. Relying solely on digital distribution through its popular App Store. "It feels like we're on the verge of a digital distribution revolution here," said Mitch Lasky, a partner with venture capital firm Benchmark Capital and a former video game industry executive.

Online casual games are further proof of this. These are also distributed over the internet and are now one of the fastest growing video game types in recent years. Not to mention massively multiplayer online games, that draw literally millions upon millions of users.

A lot of it boils down to money, and this way both the gamer and the developer benefit. Game prices will be lowered because 20 percent currently goes to retailers, and another 20 percent goes to the console makers, who usually manufacture the discs and packages and then charge the developers a licensing fee to make games for the console. Publishers will also benefit, as they won’t be caught out by overestimating the demand for games.

Craig Bryan, NoobFeed