Digital downloads are growing fast in the video game industry, and Blake J. Jorgensen, Chief Financial Officer & Executive Vice President at EA, had some interesting numbers to share regarding this topic. As it turns out, one third of all their sold games are now digital downloads, and for the Madden series it has already surpassed 50%:
"Industry now is above 30%, I think it's reaching 32%. And we're fairly consistent with that, with some titles as we mentioned in the script that are well north of that. Gen 4 Madden, for example, was well north of 50% when you look at a full-year number. So you're starting to see dramatic movements there."
EA is often considered to have a somewhat casual audience, and the numbers clearly show that it's not just so-called hardcore gamers who download games. Jorgensen also says EA expects the number to continue to rise dramatically in the future:
"In terms of guidance going forward, assumptions around full game downloads, we assume that we're continually going to see growth that we saw like in the past year."
How important are discs for you? At what point do you think some developers start ditching the retail games and only opt for the much profitable digital sales?
Thanks, Seeking Alpha.