[Grisham]

Fewer and fewer games are being bought on DVD or Blu-Ray - at the same time, income from downloads, in-game purchases, subscriptions and season passes is growing. At this point, the games market does not differ fundamentally from the film or music business, where the data carrier share has been falling steadily for years (analysis / column).

At the same time, this almost inevitable development has a huge impact on the German branches of major game publishers. Because, with a few exceptions, the digital proceeds accrue to Luxembourg letterbox companies or the English European headquarters – the German subsidiary has 'nothing' from it.

Example: While business with Grand Theft Auto and NBA 2K is booming, the turnover of the Munich-based Take-Two Interactive GmbH is 24 million at a part of 14 million. €.

At Activision Blizzard, this paradoxical luxury problem has led to the local location being completely dissolved. Digital share of sales: almost 90 percent. The physical games including the Collectors Editions of Appel du devoir , crash bandicoot , Diable et World of Warcraft are now distributed to retailers by Plaion (formerly Koch Media).

One of the largest game manufacturers is in a similar situation: Electronic Arts. Among the EA bestsellers are the series FIFA , Champ de bataille , F1 , fou , légendes de l'apex et Les Sims . With FIFA Ultimate Team trading card packs alone, the listed US group generated more than 1.6 billion dollars last year.

The European EA locations are now facing profound changes. Electronic Arts GmbH, based in Cologne's Rheinauhafen, employs around 100 people who, in addition to the German market, also look after Austria, Switzerland and Scandinavia.

In the latest annual report from EA Germany, est states: "The ongoing shift from physical goods to digital downloads continues to have a negative impact on sales development. Revenue from digital downloads is not processed through EA, but through an affiliate."

Therefore, an "economic restructuring" was initiated: Local customer contracts had already been terminated as of May 2022 - after the restructuring, Electronic Arts will "no longer generate sales with packaged goods" in German-speaking countries . As a result, EA is already expecting a "significant decline in sales" in the current 2022/23 financial year .

Provisions in the tens of millions were made on the balance sheet, both for staff and for take-back obligations and discounts. However, the German Electronic Arts headquarters in Cologne should be retained – also because many EA games are localized (also translated and synchronized) there.

Electronic Arts verkauft weiterhin Games auf Datenträgern (Update) - GamesWirtschaft.de

Auch nach dem Ende des Vertriebs physischer Games durch die Electronic Arts GmbH will EA weiterhin Computerspiele auf Datenträgern anbieten.

www.gameswirtschaft.de

 

[regawdless]

Makes total sense. Especially given the increasing costs for transportation and production, as well as the declining share of physical sales. Others will follow.

 

[Bernd Lauert]

Some boomers don't want to accept it, but physical is dead. It is what it is.

 

[The Bloody Nine]

Some boomers don't want to accept it, but physical is dead. It is what it is.

That last sentence really added a lot.

 

[Grinchy]

I don't live in a country full of bloody Germans, so I can still buy physical for years to come.

 

[Nobody]

No physical games, no consoles for me, simple as that (specially now that PC gets Sony games). Console manufactures are digging their own graves here.

On console you are tied to a single store on a closed system, it's just a terrible deal without discs. Right now even if I'm buying a game day one I'm not paying full price because stores will always have plenty of deals (here you get at the very least a 15% discount and the possibility of selling it later if you want).

On PC games are cheaper, you have multiple stores and devs are held back from abusing you by the fact that you can abuse them since piracy is so easy.

 

[DonDonDonPata]

what happens when the cost of internet bandwidth/power is greater than the cost-savings of going digital-only...

 

[regawdless]

what happens when the cost of internet bandwidth/power is greater than the cost-savings of going digital-only...

Production, transportation and storage will always be more expensive.

 

[zebraStraw]

I don't know why, but digital on console seems wrong to me. I've accepted digital on PC for 20 years, but not on console.

 

[lock2k]

The physical aspect, at this time, is virtually just a shape because most of the stuff comes in downloads anyway. Gaming hasn't been truly physical since the PS3-360 era. The last truly physical era was the PS2 gen.

 

[Zog]

Having the option of digital or physical was always going to be temporary, options usually are. If digital worked out, then we were always going to lose physical. If digital didn't work out, it would have gone away instead. When people say 'it's good to have options", they don't realize that options are a foot in the door to taking away the existing thing. For example, consoles with and without disc drives is only easing us into all digital consoles.

 

[Chozofication]

Germany stays losing

 

[DonDonDonPata]

The physical aspect, at this time, is virtually just a shape because most of the stuff comes in downloads anyway. Gaming hasn't been truly physical since the PS3-360 era. The last truly physical era was the PS2 gen.

Not so, it varies. Plenty of physical games come with all the data on them. Boutique indie physical printers (like Limited Run) often make it a point to include all DLC/patches.

Also, there's still the matter of a physical disc acting as a physical key. Yes, your system might have to dial the Sony servers, but you can do so on a game-by-game basis and as far as I know this doesn't require a PSN login, just an internet connection. Without the internet, yes, a physical disc might not have all the up to date patches. But without internet, you won't have any access to a digital collection.

 

[The Bloody Nine]

You can sell a disc. You can't sell your digital copy.

 

[Chozofication]

Not so, it varies. Plenty of physical games come with all the data on them. Boutique indie physical printers (like Limited Run) often make it a point to include all DLC/patches.

Also, there's still the matter of a physical disc acting as a physical key. Yes, your system might have to dial the Sony servers, but you can do so on a game-by-game basis and as far as I know this doesn't require a PSN login, just an internet connection. Without the internet, yes, a physical disc might not have all the up to date patches. But without internet, you won't have any access to a digital collection.

I would just add to that saying sometimes it's actually a BENEFIT to have only the 1.0 version on disc sometimes, if patches made the game worse, took out options etc.

So basically right now with a disc you can have both the original launch code plus Access to the latest version with patch.

Also sometimes companies re print discs like Spyro reignited for example, launch only had Spyro 1 on disc but the new print has all 3. Nintendo does updated prints all the time.

 

[lock2k]

Not so, it varies. Plenty of physical games come with all the data on them. Boutique indie physical printers (like Limited Run) often make it a point to include all DLC/patches.

Also, there's still the matter of a physical disc acting as a physical key. Yes, your system might have to dial the Sony servers, but you can do so on a game-by-game basis and as far as I know this doesn't require a PSN login, just an internet connection. Without the internet, yes, a physical disc might not have all the up to date patches. But without internet, you won't have any access to a digital collection.

True, but piracy will solve all the digital problems in the future, I'm not worried.

 

[Zog]

True, but piracy will solve all the digital problems in the future, I'm not worried.

You can't really pirate games without internet either.

 

[lock2k]

You can't really pirate games without internet either.

No problem.

 

[Soodanim]

Apparently this was untrue the whole time. Rejoice, Deutschland

 

[Grisham]

EA Denies Claims It Will Stop Selling Physical Games In Some Parts of Europe - IGN

EA has provided a statement to IGN denying reports that it will stop selling physical games in some parts of Europe, meaning business will continue as normal.

www.ign.com

EA has provided a statement to IGN denying reports that it will stop selling physical games in some parts of Europe, meaning business will continue as normal.

"We have not stopped physical distribution of our games in Germany, Austria or Switzerland and players will continue to be able to buy our games from retailers across the region," an EA spokesperson said. "Recent reports stating otherwise are an inaccurate reflection of disclosures made in EA Germany's statutory financial statements."

IGN has reached out to EA to clarify how the change of policy, mentioned below, will affect its business in the region, and regrets the error as published on October 27.