COO Peter Moore projects publisher's revenue from digital games to surpass boxed software in years ahead, says company will "never abandon" physical.
The lion's share of Electronic Arts' revenue will stem from digital products in the coming years, company COO Peter Moore told Reuters in a new interview. The executive said the firm will increase digital revenues to surpass its boxed gaming business by looking to Internet-based and mobile device games.
"There will come a point, whether it is two or three years from now, when we say, 'We are doing more in digital media now than we are in physical media,' and it's clearly…not far away," Moore said, mentioning EA's record $1.2 billion in digital receipts for its latest fiscal year.
Moore said EA has 41 social mobile and free-to-play games "on the slate," and potentially has additional games in the development pipeline that have not yet been announced.
Elsewhere in the interview, Moore claimed that investor confidence in EA is returning.
"Investors are starting to understand our strategy, are starting to see light at the end of the tunnel, starting to see growth rates in the areas we have invested in and in the industry as a whole starting to attract attention again," he said.
Lastly, Moore made clear that gamers who enjoy physical products will always have that more traditional optional available to them.
"We will never abandon physical media," he said. "As long as the consumer wants to buy something on a disc, we will be there to offer it."
Eddie Makuch (Mack-ooh) is a News Editor at GameSpot. He works out of the company's Boston office in Somerville, Mass., and loves extra chunky peanut butter.
Did EA not see the hundreds of forum threads across the internet talking about the multitude of problems Origin had (and still has) with Battlefield 3 before making this statement?I bet they could do better in the digital market if Origin wasn't so stupidly broken.
Bandwidth caps make me hold on to the hard copies of games. I just prefer boxed to digital.
I don't understand who these people are that are buying over-priced digital downloads over the cheaper boxed versions. One day I assume I'll meet one of them, but I haven't yet.
Well Downloads still take forevor for just one damned game! i want it now not 2 days later! after purchase which is why hard copies are better cause its alot quicker to buy then just slot the disc in and im playing.
Also EA just really needs to shut up! I agree with the comments below me! Every time I see EA I get all worked up about how the gaming industry is getting screwed up because of publishers like EA!
Also ill never use origin for a start its spyware!
Second there is a superior service called STEAM and they have cheaper games for sale so I think ill stick to that instead of buying from origin which sells ten year old games for £15-20 and you can just go into a games store and get it for £5
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1 Like EA really just needs to shut up for awhile their not some all powerful company and most people just want to forget about them for awhile.
@blackwing55 I agree. I would like to hear less from EA. If the games they publish are still good, I'll play them, but otherwise I can do well without them, though I understand a lot of devs can't do without EA, thus they have my sympathy. But, yes EA annoy me whenever they mention the industry.
1 Like Considering the fact that Microsoft charge £50 for some games on their "Games on Demand" marketplace, I think it would better for us gamers financially if physical copies stayed.
Digital is fine, but I still like having a disc and case. Call me old-fashioned all you want. :P
"Digital will outsell boxed soon" yeah it will, but not with the same prices of the
boxed version.
Didn't the latest NPD numbers already prove this point. Maybe not for EA but that time is already here for the industry. I just hope they figure out something with used digital sales and consumer rights, when it comes to digital content soon.
like i said before digital distribution is on the rise get with the times people & beside digital distribution is good for the environment & save people $
@demonkingx5 Seriously? "Get with the times"? Do you realize how terrible that viewpoint is. You're saying that because it's new we should all do it. People like you are exactly how EA has the ability do whatever it wants, no matter how much it may screw people over. And by the way, I couldn't care less about physical games affecting the environment, as I don't believe making a disc in a plastic case is going to kill the Earth. Not to mention that if physical games really are harming the environment, then so are the digital marketplace gift cards people use to buy those games digitally. Also, it wouldn't save you money if tons of games were digital because all the sudden you would need a lot more memory.
@KeeseKiller7 like it or not digital distribution is the future if you look inside a BF3 game case the booklet is almost not even there the manual is all on the disc why it cuts down on paper waste that help the environment & save $
@demonkingx5 The problem is the console DD stores are complete garbage in relation to steam and every PC DD store that isn't Origin (just as bad as the console DD). Since MS/Sony/Nintendo would have no competitors on their consoles, they have no reason to lower prices like it is on PC. Digital is definitely the future for PC, but physical will always be around, especially for console gaming.
@ApocaLeepse think about steam dead space 1 & 2 are 5$ on there just wait for a price drop your not force to buy it at that price like with max payne 3 pc gamers waited till the steam summer sale & got it for 30$
@demonkingx5 Save money?! Think about this for a second. If gaming went entirely digital, prices would be controlled directly by the publishers. We'd probably end up paying more for our games than we do now!
@jtthegame316 you cant put Steam & xbl in the same comment Steam utterly destroys Xbl period i have both
It makes no differance what matters about a game is that it is fun to play not how it is delivered. If they keep there prices down then digital will outsell boxed games however if they make the prices high then boxed games will reamin on top. i bet when it comes to digital download xbla probably does best along with steam because xbla games are cheap where as games on demand is hit and miss sometimes reasonable sometimes stupidly priced. and steam sometimes gets some good deals.
5 Like Nothing will ever be able to replace that feeling of opening a case for the first time of a game you've been anxiously waiting for.
Personal, I have more full retail games on my hard drive from digital purchase than actual physical games.
3 Like Whether his telling the truth about sales or not...
He's obviously just promoting digital, and GS is giving him the space for that.
8 Like I always wondered, if the entire industry goes full digital, then what happens to our digital purchases when the company we bought it from goes bankrupt? Let's say we start buying from EA Origins, and then EA goes bankrupt, and Origins becomes inoperable....and no company wants to buy up Origins as a platform. What would happen to our past purcahases then?
4 Like @jhcho2 Its a good question, I unfortunately bought BF2 Euro assault (or whatever it was called) back in the day digitally, EA no longer have any record of the transaction and the account is now defunct. So its gone, not that I wanted to play it but the point is that you are at the sellers mercy. And I don't trust EA as far as I could throw them.
@collingtonuk the same with people who got halo 2 on the original XBOX they have the physical disc but when the original XBOX lost its live support they cant use that physical disc online capability don't 1 side this it may happen on physical disc as well
@KeeseKiller7 look im swiching from this PC soon & building another 1 i bet you i will have all my steam games they are saved to my account what happen to this guy may never happen agian companies are smarter than that to let us loose our downloaded content
@demonkingx5 This has nothing to do with Halo 2 losing live support. For one thing, it was long after the game came out. Also, that was planned. What he said happened is an error (a pretty crappy one). The Halo 2 thing was announced before hand. People knew it was happening before it happened. Not to mention you can still play it whenever you want. Because it's on a disc. It doesn't require online connection (because it's on a disc) so having no connection doesn't completely stop you from playing it. In fact, the only thing you can't do anymore is matchmaking. You can still play multiplayer, just not online. He can't play the game at all anymore.
No matter what happens to a disc game (not physically), you can always access any offline part of the game. When games require services like Origin, you can lose the entire game whenever.
1 Like Notice how he said investors instead of consumers. Shows you where his intentions are as well as ours. That being said, I am strangely compelled to admire that EA will not go all digital, at least until they can't make any money on physical copies. Still, if a huge company like EA will take this stance, then perhaps the others will see that us old schoolers dread the only digital future.
9 Like "We will never abandon physical media" Smartest thing I've heard come from EA in a while.
1 Like @jeremyc99999 Funny that they go say that after saying just 3 months ago they said they were going all digital.
@eric_neo3 Aye, they think gamers have a very short attention span. They're just backpedaling because they created a shit-storm with their earlier commentary.
2 Like no plz no....what will happen to people like me who have limited bandwidth and not that fast internet....it would take me ages to download big games....especially if they are 15 gigs or sth.....and if i somehow i do manage to download it, i'd be afraid to uninstall it......and download it again -.-
@ramcool789 Don't worry. They're not going all-digital anytime soon. You'll be able to buy a disc for a long time. By the time gaming goes all-digital (if it does, which I don't think it will), connection probably won't be a problem in the world.
As for one company going all-digital, that could happen, and could screw you over. Which is the main reason that EA going all-digital probably won't happen soon.
Soon EA's gonna reinvent sex, where it's all digital. No physical contacts required!!!
I can see it now...
SIMS alimony addition - LIFE TIME SUBSCRIPTION
(docked straight from your pay)
2 Like Oh EA everytime you open your big mouth your share price drops, look you did it just now!
Destroyed your own IPs in order to be more like your competition,
Destroyed innovation from your DEVs while claiming you supported it,
Forced spyware on your customers,
The worst company in America award,
No matter how many people you pay to put your company name in the news again and again it's not gonna help your recover your share which plumeted $14.25,
The only thing that can save you now is if you short your s*** and out fire your greed driven incompetent management.
Sourcy it's related:
@eric_neo3 EA: ""Sort your s*** AND out fire your greed driven incompetent management??." woo woo woo buddy, one thing a time. you can't have both.""
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