Digital Download Interviews
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In terms of the threat that the growth of digital distribution poses to bricks-and-mortar retails, Bergquist was clear: "I think digital distribution is absolutely the biggest threat they can ever have," he said.And while not directly of interest to us, Capcom was a recent surprise addition to the PC Gaming Alliance, and vice president of strategic planning Christian Svensson explains why to Rock, Paper, Shotgun. Some interesting statements in there.
"Look at the music industry, look at 2006 when iTunes went from not being in the top six of sellers - in the same year in December it was top three, and the following year number one."
However, it won't necessarily spell the end for those stores, unless they refuse to change their existing games-only business model.
"I think they'll get better on the hardware side, selling hardware together with games," he said. "But if it's games only, then no way - I can't see [them surviving]. I've been in e-commerce since 1996 and I haven't seen a goods business model better than this. It's so pure online in its nature - I can't really see how a traditional retailer can survive, unless they decide to go online themselves."
RPS: But what actually sparked that change? When large publishers are grumbling about PC and pushing it away, why make that transition so actively?Thanks Blue's News.
Svensson: Taking a very global view. We have brands that are very appealing, but the platform of choice in many countries is not a current-gen console. I'll point to Russia, to Brazil, to emerging markets in the Middle East. India is an emerging market, even if it is a few years away from doing the kinds of things that we need. The PC is global, and it's ubiquitous. And quite frankly, the more people who shy away from that platform, the bigger the opportunity. It's not easy, however. The PC has a lot of moving parts, there's a lot more testing to be done, there's a lot of considerations about how to even get to market. You need broad understanding. We know it'll take a few years of development and investment before we're where we want to be.
RPS: Is digital distribution more important to the PC than retail?
Svensson: For me? Absolutely. No question in my mind. Digital distribution on PC ties directly into our strategy. Capcom is trying to lead in digital distribution, and I would go as far as to say that in the console space we are already the leading software publisher. We've had the highest revenue-generating Xbox Live title, we've had the highest revenue-generating Wii title, we're definitely in the top three or four on the PlayStation network. To that end, on the PC side, I've spent the past year building up a digital distribution channel that has about twenty different partners. We're ready on the console side, and we were the first Japanese publisher to do anything on Steam.
