News

EA says it will eventually go 100 percent digital

You are here: blasteroids.com / news / ea says it will eventually go 100 percent digital /

Latest news | News archive | Search news

Not registered yet? Register here.

DVDBack23 @ Jul 06, 2012 03:00 | 13 comments

EA has confirmed that the company is quickly moving towards being all-digital in the future.

Frank Gibeau, EA Games president, noted that their digital arm was the fastest growing and that the transition was inevitable.

Overall, the company made $1.2 billion in revenue last year for its digital downloads, premium subscriptions and mobile apps.

Says Gibeau: "It's in the near future... it's coming. For us, the fastest growing segment of our business is clearly digital and clearly digital services and ultimately Electronic Arts, at some point in the future...we're going to be a 100 percent digital company, period. It's going to be there some day. It's inevitable."

Additionally, it appears the company is looking to cut out retailers in general, a move that would certainly hurt the already struggling industry.

If the gamer wants to get the game through a digital download and that's the best way for them to get it, that's what we're going to do. It has a lot of enhancements for our business. It allows us to keep more that we make. It allows us to do some really interesting things from a service level standpoint; we can be a lot more personalized with what we're doing," concludes Gibeau.

Previous Next

Comments

Comment by: SAW_FIEND (Jul 06, 2012 06:52)

sounds good... but yet this will mean more and much more money on us gamers to spend in order to have enough space to save all the downloaded games they release.

OH YES ... THERE WILL BE BLOOD.

Comment by: JOHNSTARR (Jul 06, 2012 08:24)

I have to laugh every time at these companies including next gen consoles trying to go all digital. Not all ISP's have the luxury of a fair baudwith meaning those poor suckazz that live in a non competitive market will get screwed big time. Just across the river from where i live(Different state) they offer a blistering < 2 MB/s download with a 7GB monthly cap. Wouldn't that be fun taking on a PS3 sized D/L then once you hit your limit keep snatching at telephone modem speed.

No time for Leap frog!!!

Comment by: KillerBug (Jul 06, 2012 08:44)

I have to laugh every time they say they are going digital...they are already 100% digital; they want to go 100% cloud. The bandwidth limits are really the big issue tho...Verizon charges $10 per GB over the limit to many customers, that makes a bluray cost $250 even from a torrent site.

Comment by: Slaytan66 (Jul 06, 2012 13:31)

Plus it is EA. So It will be $9.99 for re-download insurance. limit of 2 or it is another $29.99. Installing on a back up device will be $19.99. Logging on a different user ID will be $9.99. The only good thing about EA going this route is they won't charge you $14.99 for DLC that is already on your PAID for disc.

Comment by: xtago (Jul 06, 2012 13:34)

They aren't 100% digital they still sell a box at a retail outlet, When you can go to a games store and not be able to buy any sort of EA game from that store then it's 100% digital.

Cloud is the next bit further and that's no where near ready to be set up, you need much faster speeds than current to be able to make cloud services worth the hassle.

Comment by: scorpNZ (Jul 06, 2012 18:34)

"We have a clear line of sight on it and we're excited about it. Retail is a great channel for us. We have great relationships with our partners there. At the same time, the ultimate relationship is the connection that we have with the gamer. "

Translated! we cut out the middleman & have a clear line of sight to your wallet which we're all too willing to empty it for you

AD Guides: http://www.afterdawn.com guides/
Console Mod Tuts: http://www.elitemodscene.com/

Comment by: Mr_Bill06 (Jul 06, 2012 23:59)

So all EA games for next years PS4 and Xbox will have to be purchased and downloaded from the consoles store? I think they just want to be anti-competitive. Going 100% digital means they can hold a game at a certain price point and never move it. Why would they? It's not like you can get the game any where else. I already see how MS and Sony both over charge for digital copies of full games. Let's see go to the store now and pay $15-$20 and play right away. Or, should I download a massive file that may add cost to me to do so and wait for a few hours and on top of that pay double.

Comment by: A5J4DX (Jul 07, 2012 14:26)

have to move with the times

Comment by: TBandit (Jul 08, 2012 09:20)

I'd like to see how this goes, because if you don't move the price then no one will buy the ish

Comment by: xboxdvl2 (Jul 08, 2012 10:58)

hmm if they go 100%digital i can see piracy numbers increasing alot.plus code generators will be made for most the games.
I dont buy many games nowadays been playing needforspeed world and battlefield play 4 free both are ok games plus theres options to buy ingame credits which alot of people do buy.think they need more play4free titles.

R.I.P. mr 1990 ford falcon.got myself a 1993 toyota corolla seems to run good.computers still going good.

Comment by: BobH29 (Jul 08, 2012 14:29)

And at that point I'll never play another EA game.

Comment by: adre02 (Jul 09, 2012 03:15)

Originally posted by Mr_Bill06:
So all EA games for next years PS4 and Xbox will have to be purchased and downloaded from the consoles store? I think they just want to be anti-competitive. Going 100% digital means they can hold a game at a certain price point and never move it. Why would they? It's not like you can get the game any where else. I already see how MS and Sony both over charge for digital copies of full games. Let's see go to the store now and pay $15-$20 and play right away. Or, should I download a massive file that may add cost to me to do so and wait for a few hours and on top of that pay double.

Where did you read that all games will have to be downloaded? This is how rumors start and BS begins to flap out of the anals.

This is superman

Comment by: Mr_Bill06 (Jul 09, 2012 14:20)

Originally posted by adre02:
Where did you read that all games will have to be downloaded? This is how rumors start and BS begins to flap out of the anals.

They are saying they will want to eventually go 100% digital. Now how long it takes them to transition to 100% digital I don't know? I am not saying they said it, but by saying 100% digital what do you expect? If they do how ever do it by the time the PS4 and next Xbox come out well? Even if they don't and it takes a while longer well? Not like I am pulling this out of my ass, in the article they clearly state they want to some day in the near future go 100% digital that means all games. Because 100% digital means they still sell hard copies.