Q&A: EA Downloader boss Chip Lange

  • By Curt Feldman, GameSpot
  • Posted Dec 21, 2005 2:53 pm PT

Electronic Arts dips its toes in the digital download stream. Will game distribution ever be the same (and will retailers ever forgive EA)?

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For a company that usually has few qualms about promoting itself large, the launch of Electronic Arts' Steam-like download service, EA Downloader, was accompanied by unusually little fanfare.

The service was tested under guarded conditions. Non-EA staff who participated in the beta were pointedly asked to tell no one of the service. And when Downloader finally went live, it did so with zero press--it wasn't until the day after the Downloader servers were live that the publisher sent out a press release announcing the more-than-a-year-in-the-making service.

Why the quiet launch? "We wanted to make sure the service met our quality standards and could handle the demand before we went out with a loud launch," an EA staffer told GameSpot. "Better to succeed quietly with great customer experience first, then build up attention and momentum."

Currently, the Special Forces add-on for Battlefield 2 and The Sims 2 Holiday Party Pack are the only two options available via Downloader.

Does a service such as Downloader portend a shift in the traditional brick-and-mortar value chain? Does it suggest a day when retailers become unnecessary? Not specifically, but with estimates of at least half of all Half-Life 2 units sold reaching gamers via Valve's Steam service, one can start to see new lines being drawn in the sand--lines that might one day exclude retailers who hold fast to the traditional value chain of selling boxed games in strip malls and megastores.

In fact, one story floating around the industry is that shortly after Valve launched Steam, retail giant Wal-Mart flew a number of its game publisher partners into company headquarters where execs explained in no uncertain terms their displeasure with the direct-to-consumer service. Publishers who consented to the trip were cautioned against creating a similar service.

We asked EA vice president of online marketing and Downloader lead Chip Lange (who was formerly the vice president of EA Sports Nation) for some background on the new service--and why retailers should embrace it rather than fear it.

GameSpot: Be honest now. How mad are retailers with this new download service?

Chip Lange: We have discussed this with retail every step of the way.

GS: And…?

CL: They are concerned, but at the end of the day, the retailers believe that if this community is thriving, sales across the board for these franchises are going to go up and grow the market, not replace the market.

GS: Do you agree?

CL: We certainly believe that to be the case with the first products--the way that that product gets executed is by buying a box at retail. What we're doing is allowing more packaged goods to be sold at retail by facilitating the sale of expansion packs in any variety of distribution formats.

GS: Today, code chunks, tomorrow the full-featured game.

CL: Right now, the Downloader is providing incremental content; you have to buy the baseline SKU at retail.

GS: Is there a timeline for selling full-featured games?

CL: There's not, for all of the reasons that you've stated.

GS: Can you explain?

CL: Our business is a retail-driven business. And we all lose if the retail business dries up. So, we are in the business of figuring out how to make content that our studios are creating more robust sellers.

GS: Is there an upside from a marketing perspective?

CL: I think any time you give your customer choice, that's an upside from a marketing perspective. And the Downloader is in response to a relatively overwhelming outcry from our customer base to not be reliant exclusively on CD-based delivery. So I find anytime you add choice to a customer's menu, it's a win.

That's the first upside from a marketing standpoint. The second upside is we've got all these relationships with our customers that we've been fostering over years. This really gives us a chance to do more things to activate that community.

GS: Can you elaborate?

CL: Active communities where consumers are engaged and contributing, and where the consumers have an emotional connection with that location or that content, creates a more vibrant entertainment business. All of a sudden, the community becomes a place where people want to go. They'll buy the products at retail, and then they participate in the community. People will download new content, which supports those products that [were previously] bought in different ways. Having an active and vibrant community is one of the best recipes for having an active and vibrant sales curve of your product .

GS: Will Downloader ever become a sales point for games from developers outside the realm of EA?

CL: The online world changes a lot. I haven't talked to any specific publishers, but we have a copublishing unit inside of Electronic Arts and one of the things that we're bringing to the market [are products from] developers who don't have a publishing organization. [They] look to leverage EA's publishing muscle to get their product to market. The Downloader is another tool in that arsenal.

GS: What is the overall scope of EA Downloader?

CL: Well, I think there's two answers to that question. One has to do with the Downloader client itself, the actual application that you download onto your desktop and its specific design. It's designed to allow us to give customers the ability to pull EA content onto their desktops in a form that they choose and in a convenient fashion. That's the current scope of it.

There's another answer to that question, which is really EA's online initiative in general, which is looking to leverage tools like the Downloader to take advantage of preexisting communities like Xbox Live.

In the future, there may be a console equivalent to Downloader, but how do we take advantage [of that] and build content, and what can we do to take advantage of all the tools we have in the online space to create that community that serves all of our different customer bases in a variety of different places. The Downloader is one tool that is going to play a very key and strategic role in that overall mix.

GS: How much of a distribution point do you see Downloader becoming for console games?

CL: That's a hard question to answer because nobody knows what one of the big console company's online future strategy is. Sony. Everybody's got kind of a wait and see [attitude]. We will be a big participant in the PlayStation 3, and that's going to mean content that's going to have to flow to the users. They're going to demand it. How those users are served content is an ongoing conversation.

GS: And Xbox?

CL: Xbox has got a vibrant marketplace right now in the 360. EA has got some of the top-selling content. Again, I go back to this "give customers choice." I'm a Niner fan and I want to download the Niner game off of the Xbox Marketplace and now my entire Xbox is tricked out looking like 49er stuff. And that's cooler than the stuff that I got out of the box.

We've heard a lot of positive feedback that this ability to customize a player's experience is a big win for the console and right now, we're building content that goes through that pipeline, how the Downloader evolves over time, to be able to give customers choice on how they get that content.

GS: Big talk for the future, but what's your agenda today?

CL: My biggest mission on Downloader to date has been to put something in the marketplace that lives up to the quality standards of our demanding customers. We didn't bite off something so big it would fail. And, you know, when you look at all the different major initiatives that have been launched in our industry online, almost all of them fail at first. I'm proud of the fact that Downloader actually worked for 95 percent of the customers that tried it.

GS: Is there DNA from EA.com (the games portal developed in partnership with AOL back in 2000) in Downloader?

CL: Everybody is fast to dismiss EA.com as a universal, unilateral disaster, but one of the greatest things about EA is that we were able to finance projects like EA.com and survive. There were a lot of good things EA.com did and there were a lot of mistakes that they made. The good news is that those mistakes didn't take our company out of business and we were able to institutionalize that learning and apply it into our future business plans.

GS: Overall, how do you think this current wave of digital distribution is going to change the overall landscape of the retail value chain?

CL: I think it's going to do a couple things. One thing is I think it's going to grow the market. Anytime you give customers choice, they'll reward you with commerce. Second, it's going to force everybody who's in that value chain to develop a solution to this emerging distribution channel.

If you're in the distribution business and you ignore your customer's demands, that's a mistake.

A good example is Napster and Apple. Customers were demanding the ability to download music on a song-by-song basis. By giving the customer a legal option on how they could take what they want at a fair price, Apple built a new company around it. I think that's going to happen here. I think giving the customers the ability to download product legally in a format that they have been demanding is a win for the industry. Everybody who's involved in that value chain is going to need to have a strategy in this space.

GS: Is the geographic scope of Downloader US-only or is it global?

CL: It's a global effort. You can buy the Battlefield product digitally in Europe.

GS: In terms of just raw numbers, are you tracking how many downloads you are serving?

CL: Yeah.

CL: Where do your numbers stand?

CL: We're really happy with them, but we never release numbers on sales.

GS: Finally, what's a sports expert doing in the direct-to-consumer download space?

CL: I'm a man of many interests. One of the interests that I have is online sports gaming, online gaming in general. I am fascinated by online communities and the way in which you can enable those communities to do cool things. So I took a step and tried to put my money where my mouth is and now I'm trying to build a cool online sports bar.

GS: Sports bar?

CL: When I say "sports bar," I mean a place to hang out where I'm comfortable. I know I'm going to be surrounded by things that I like. I find sports bars--whether I want to go play a game of pinball, whether I want to go watch the Niners game, whether I want to talk to my buddy and check my Fantasy scores...those kinds of locations--facilitate that. And I don't see any reason why online shouldn't be the same thing for sports fans, but also for fans of any type of activity, right?

Plus, I got tired of feeling confined by the limitations of the CD platform. Does that make sense?

GS: Sure does. Good luck with Downloader.

24 Comments

  • toddarooski

    Posted Jan 10, 2006 5:31 pm PT

    For those of you complaining about the lack of a price discount, keep in mind that this isn't just a case of EA being greedy -- Half-Life 2 wasn't any cheaper online, either. The problem is that the retail stores don't want to be undersold -- stores are reluctantly accepting of publishers cutting them out of the profit chain by selling products directly to consumers, but there's no way they'd let these publishers make it more attractive to buy direct.

    I can pretty much guarantee you that Wal-Mart would put their massive foot down if EA tried to undercut their price by $10.

  • ajadoniz

    Posted Jan 5, 2006 1:34 pm PT

    Listen, a lot of you are saying: "What if I have to format... get a virus... spill a drink on my PC." Umm... how about you just burn it to a CD/DVD after you download it. Come on people, it's 2006.

  • Lasafrog

    Posted Jan 5, 2006 12:55 pm PT

    Staggering. The reason we pay 50-60 freaking dollars a game is because of all the packaging, manuals, and the little fact that a retailer bought all that for 20-40 dollars and now has to turn a profit to keep the lights on. EA tells you its about "giving the gamer options", to charge us twice what they charge EB for literally NOTHING? Some magic data that sits on my puter until I get a virus and have to wipe? Is everybody here missing the point? I can NOT believe anybody still supports EA, after all they do to make gaming worse. Add it to the list of reasons I'll giggle when they go belly up after crashing the industry.

  • limpbizkit818

    Posted Jan 3, 2006 4:15 pm PT

    i really like what EA is doing. iam sure if anyone can make this big its going to be microsoft using XBL.

  • SpeedFreak14

    Posted Jan 2, 2006 1:17 pm PT

    This Idea will work for EA, they could release old ps1 games for download on their or something to play on ps3. I also like the idea of not having to go down to the store to buy games like modern combat and the sims.

    Sounds fun, Good Luck EA

  • snakes2solid

    Posted Jan 1, 2006 10:56 am PT

    If I'm not getting the case..booklet with instructions and free demos and occasional shirts like i usually do .......why should i pay the same as retail?..Knock a few dollars off the price!!!!..make it worth it for us to go download ..sheesh!..all these brains with ideas and not a mention of a price break for a dedicated customer?..... and the premise for retail download is not so new!..but maybe if they give us a price break..cause they're cutting out the " middle man"...then i might be swayed to check it out!

  • darkxinos

    Posted Jan 1, 2006 4:47 am PT

    Being the conservatist I am, I rather get my games as a tangentable retail box and disk. It feels more authentic. And then you have to redownload all the games if you reinstall your OS or switch computers.
    But I supose it could help keep the prices on games down since there arn't any stores that have to gain proffit..

    Stay tuned as the story evolves eh?

  • darth-revan

    Posted Dec 31, 2005 7:46 am PT

    i got an idea for you on if this is original look at valve for example they are pushing this farther than EA is and started a whie back with steam, i cant remember the exact date to it but steam was the first game program that allowed you to buy games online and many people bought half-life 1 and 2 off of steam and they got more bonus features and such and you didnt have to wait in line at any game store or drive there you could buy it and it was without any problems at the time [and i believe still is].

  • Darcius

    Posted Dec 28, 2005 6:45 pm PT

    it really is a good idea but its old. all new games have a form of this in the way of online auto patchers and content installers a good one is DoW and AOE3 both have built in patchers which work much like this idea.

    but lets not forget halflife has been using this idea for a long while every sence the time steam first start (which was the worst downloader at the time, but it got better ) sure they expect big things from this for EA as they can now sell expations online instead of in stores there by saving production costs on boxes and manuals and cds and such. as well as they no longer need to pay for shippments or making sure it gets out for the release date. if its online they can flip a switch or hit enter and boom its there.

    but no way in hell am i going to spend 1 week downloading an EA game. bf2 or mohaa or anything. if they plan to have full games downloadable off this instead of instores they will lose large amounts of cash. as i forone will not spend time to download a 1gb or more game simply to get an errored download. EA forgets that maybe 60% of the total industrialized world that uses PCs have cable or a good broadband most still use 56k or low end broadband. plus not everyone will want to pay 30-80 bucks for an online game to have to spend XX amount to get high speed connections to download it.

    im quite happy to buy a boxed game. as not only does the game have more value in boxed form. just think of years from now. you can walk up to a son or daughter and look at them downloading games and using the old timer voice rant about how it was when you were a kid. then pop open a box and whip out your old PC game boxes and show off the fancy graphics and the manuals.

    basicly the point i'm tring to make is. though its a nice idea you miss out on the real enjoyment from buying the boxed game.

    you always have to have high speed net to redownload if you format your pc.
    you dont get a manual or other papers to read or have charts for units or nations.
    plus there is always that problem i find with any downloaders if your after a popular one you may wind up having to wait weeks on end to get it only to have it either not work or suck :/

    where as you can return a bought game for store credit or cash back. and buy a diffrent game.

  • andrewtyen

    Posted Dec 28, 2005 12:16 pm PT

    Alright

  • sinceps1

    Posted Dec 24, 2005 2:58 pm PT

    Too download I mean.

  • sinceps1

    Posted Dec 24, 2005 2:57 pm PT

    Well, they are talking about releasing games by chapter or level. So after you beat the first level, u would then dl the second, and so on.

    Not terrible if they can make it less than a minute per level.

  • fitzza_1301

    Posted Dec 24, 2005 5:04 am PT

    yeah but games get bigger alot bigger there has been an average game size increase from around 700 meg to atleast 3.6-4.8 gig which in any case is huge cus ive got broadband and i sure as hell would be unable to download a 2 gig file let alone a 5 gig file

  • inomyabcs

    Posted Dec 23, 2005 4:52 am PT

    Exactly right GothicBlack, this is not a new idea. In fact, Real Networks producer of the RealPlayer has a service that lets you buy off the market games via RealArcade. Now they don't have any mainstream games on it but they have proven its a viable service. I forsee see companies using a similar system, eventually replacing brick and mortar stores within 5-10 years as you get an explosion in bandwidth and an increase in the services ease of use.

    Ummm... and Westwood was taken over and killed by EA. So was Origin. Now those were companies that knew how to innovate (sorry, just read an article about innovation on GS).

  • GothicBlack

    Posted Dec 22, 2005 11:34 am PT

    Well, not to disappoint anyone, but this is not a new idea. It's an old idea that EA got a free ad for by offering an interview. Does anyone remember Westwood Studios? (http://www.gamespot.com/news/2909852.html?q=Westwood%20Studios)

    They made this little known of game called "Command and Conquer" I think it was...*sigh* the good ol' days. They had begun a similar project to offer PC game fixes screens, skins, etc. Somehow this was not as cool in the days of dial-up...some things are just way before thier time.

    As for the retail-box vs. download issue...there is no issue. If you're a company producing 10 games a year who else is going to promise buying 500,000 copies of each? (Think DeerHunter, Mall Tycoon, XP Powertoys) Trust me Wal-bang crew ain't nuttin' to f-with.

  • miiiguel

    Posted Dec 22, 2005 10:42 am PT

    I like to have the package. If producers ever stop doing the package I start with piracy.
    I think for instance, that today's DVD's suck, as there are no production values withing most editions. Video-Games still have some sort of production care within it's products, I hope they keep it that way, if not improve.

  • SavoyPrime

    Posted Dec 22, 2005 10:32 am PT

    I'm cool with consumers having more options, but I'll continue shopping at my good 'ol traditional brick-and-mortar stores.

  • sorcloudtidus

    Posted Dec 22, 2005 9:46 am PT

    This is a great idea. An idea that in the right hands it has a great possibility of becoming another alternative for us gamers. It might be too soon, but given 5 or more years I predict that most companies will be using this service and as a result the retail stores piece of the pie will be smaller. But in the future it will never be so low that retails might close ( or I could be wrong!) You see not everyone has a high speed connection to use this service, also not everyone wants to put their credit card online because of security reasons, but still if companies start giving good incentives like if u buy it from our downloaders will give you free stuff, free game conten that you can't have anywhere else or we'll mail you your free t shirt then it will be a popular alternative to wait in line for a game that might not be there when you can just download it at the comfort of your house with no worries and freebies, also companies can slash the price a bit more since you are buying directly from them, although I don't see that one happening anytime soon.

  • PCmetal

    Posted Dec 22, 2005 7:35 am PT

    EA's downloader service offered nothing except no-CD for BF2:SF expansion pack. It costs the same as the store AND you didn't get a free t-shirt. Why would one use the downloader service it there aren't more advantages over retail?

    Because of no box, no manual and no retail costs, the downloader price should've been cheaper, but they are greedy.

    "Where do your numbers stand?

    CL: We're really happy with them, but we never release numbers on sales. "

    Their goal could've been 50 to 100 downloader sales, if the number were large they'd throw it around all over the place gloating about it. The marketing people would be zealous to share it, to claim supreme victory... but it's not so. Thus the "policy" of not sharing; there's nothing to be won by releasing the stats.

  • chrisdojo

    Posted Dec 22, 2005 5:31 am PT

    0k

  • dossaer

    Posted Dec 21, 2005 7:00 pm PT

    It's definitely the way things are going. Nintendo are going to be offering downloadable back catalogue games for the Revolution too.

    Could this mean simultaneous world wide releases in the near future?

    I hope so

  • newguy957

    Posted Dec 21, 2005 3:04 pm PT

    hmmmmm seems lik a good idea

  • Hesperax929

    Posted Dec 21, 2005 3:03 pm PT

    [This message was deleted at the request of a moderator or administrator]

  • Dignity29

    Posted Dec 21, 2005 3:00 pm PT

    [This message was deleted at the request of the original poster]

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