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Capcom talks about all digital future
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Digital distribution is a growing factor in the gaming world today. With services like WiiWare, PlayStation Store, and Xbox Live Arcade, gamers are downloading small titles for cheap prices directly to their gaming console of choice. Sony has taken the concept to a different level with the PSPgo, but it’s still an early concept that needs to be further explored before becoming the new way of purchasing games.
Capcom’s Christan Svensson recently told GamesIndustry.biz that if he could, he would have a disc free world tomorrow. Crediting Sony for their move with the PSPgo, he also talks about Microsoft’s approach to digital distribution of Xbox 360 titles via the Games on Demand functionality. Though Microsoft limits to the Xbox 360 titles to a select group, they are slowly, but surely, introducing the idea to consumers in a gradual way.
“If it were up to me it would be tomorrow. However, there are other gatekeepers who will make those decisions for me. Sony, I think, has taken a very bold step with the PSPgo - I think it is an excellent first step in the all-digital future. I am eagerly awaiting the day that Microsoft expands its Games on Demand programme to encompass more than just platinum hits.”
Capcom has been a big player in digital titles this generation, with releases like Flock, Marvel vs Capcom 2, and Street Fighter II HD Turbo Remix. With DLC planned for Resident Evil 5 next year, Capcom is certainly looking at digital distribution as a potential future way to move games, but Svensson also knows it may not work well for everyone at first and that it’s a process that will take some time to adjust to before companies will truly jump into it.
“There are going to be a lot of other companies that are going to approach digital as they do retail, and they are going to lose a lot of money. Figuring out the right scales, figuring out the right vehicles for marketing, figuring out the right announcement strategies: they're all different with digital. It's not rocket science, but until you go through it a few times, and until you figure out how to build the right products for that audience - because this is a slightly different audience too, with very specific tastes - people are going to struggle.”
He continues, “There are challenges to digital: there is not the transparency of sales figures. So building models around what you think your forecast is going to be and what you should spend on a title is difficult. A lot of publishers have been going by Braille -some have been lucky; some have been not so lucky."
Unfortunately, not all of Capcom’s efforts have gone rewarded.
“A couple of our new IPs have not quite performed to the level that we would have hoped, one performed almost exactly as forecast, and I would argue that the ones that are underperforming are less to do with the market and more to do with the products, and their appropriateness for where they went.”
So far, we have each major home console with some sort of digital distribution function, and both Nintendo and Sony have expanded that into their handhelds. With Steam doing well for PC gamers, Steam is a step ahead of the home console market.A disc free world won’t be here tomorrow, but it’s a potential world we may see as the gaming industry continues to grow. With internet connections getting faster, HDD space increasing rapidly, it’s only a matter of time before we can download a new game on launch day in minutes and save our entire collection on one massive HDD. If this day comes, will you be ready for it?
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