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EA executive believes retail games could be gone in ten years

Posted on 13 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in 3DS, News | 0 comments

Retail games still have a strong presence in the industry, but selling titles digitally has become increasingly popular.

Now that there is such a focus on digital downloads, EA Games executive vice president Patrick Soderlund believes retail releases could be on the way out.

When asked if he believes EA will still be selling physical content at retailers in ten years, Soderlund said:

“I don’t know, it’s a hard question. We know that packaged goods work, and the majority of our current revenue comes from that. That’s still a viable business model. In the long term, we’ll see more and more people gravitate to downloaded content. I happen to think that there’s something about physical content, like books, that’s collectable and satisfying to own. I still want physical content but I’m not part of the new generation of gamers. I remember a time when I bought a cartridge and excitedly read the manual on my way home, imagining what the game was going to be like. Maybe kids don’t have that anymore.”

Soderlund added:

“I think it’s going to be sooner than people think. I think it’s going to be sooner than ten years. That’s my personal opinion, and might not be what EA thinks.”

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