Electronic Arts claim ‘digital’ sales is the future

The death of retail stores is coming, if Electronic Arts chief operating officer Peter Moore's prediction is right. He spoke to Reuters and said “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.”

Physical retail stores are already struggling as the popularity of online services such as Valve's STEAM continue to grow.

Electronic Arts are planning to deliver 40 social mobile and free to play games this fiscal year, according to Moore and he pointed out that more games could be added to the list by the end of the year.

The company said t hat they have seen a huge increase in registered users of their own ORIGIN digital distribution platform, jumping from 11 million in May to a staggering 21 million a couple of months later.

Luckily they aren't planning to abandon the physical media despite the shift in sales. Moore added “We will never abandon physical media. As long as the consumer wants to buy something on a disc, we will be there to offer it.” With declining sales however will a retail store in a major city be able to pay rent, staff and all the other costs associated with the business?

Kitguru says: Is there a long term future for retail game stores? Or is the time coming when they all have to close with only online giants such as Amazon selling physical game discs?

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