The president of EA Games, Frank Gibeau, is putting his foot down on the issue of digital content. He said the massive publisher is pushing for a digital-only future. But if you are like just about everyone else visiting PSU, you may not be ready for a world without discs. Gibeau said he understands that.
EA’s digital business is doing extremely well. The publisher brought in $1.2 billion from digital content for the year. This includes add-on content, social platforms, and subscription fees, in addition to downloadable games. You can also expect EA to continue growing its digital landscape in the coming year.
"It’s in the near future. It’s coming," he said. "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. 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."
He added: "But if customers want to buy a game at retail, they can do that too. We’ll continue to deliver games in whatever media formats make sense and as one ebbs and one starts to flow, we’ll go in that direction. 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."