Wednesday, July 4th 2012
EA to go 100% Digital, Calls NPD 'Irrelevant'
EA has made a major push into PC digital distribution with Origin, and it seems to be paying off. Analysts have predicted that we're heading toward an all-digital age, and EA intends to speed up the process by actively moving toward that goal itself. "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," EA Games president Frank Gibeau said. "Ultimately Electronic Arts, at some point in the future - much like your question about streaming and cloud - we're going to be a 100% digital company, period. It's going to be there some day. It's inevitable." He also noted the problem that many in the industry have pointed out: our only measure of tracking sales numbers is through NPD, which tracks retail sales but has lagged behind on reporting digital numbers. Part of that is probably that the large digital marketplace Steam is reluctant to share its sales data, but it still creates a definite issue of incomplete data. "I think one of the problems with this industry right now is that people tend to look at it like they're looking at an elephant through a straw," he told GI.biz. "They only see a little parts of it and they're not looking at the total picture, right? Between Facebook, social, mobile, free to play on PC, Asia, consoles... it's a vibrant, growing, huge market. An occasional bad report from NPD, which measures a sliver of what's actually happening in gaming gives people an erroneous impression."
Mr. Gibeau also said, "My point is it's an irrelevant measure on the industry. It's totally irrelevant. We don't even really look at it internally anymore. We're more focused on our services and how we're connected with consumers." This is similar to a previous statement from corporate communications executive Tiffany Steckler, who called NPD's data "a misrepresentation of the entire industry." In a statement to GameSpot, NPD Games president David McQuillan said he was surprised at Gibeau's comments. "Successful companies are looking at how their products are performing within all channels, particularly retail," he said. "For that reason, we were surprised to read the comments by Mr. Gibeau that EA does not look at NPD data internally at all. While we will not comment on the specifics on our long-standing relationship with EA, we can say with confidence that we have daily dealings with all of our major publisher clients. And we know for a fact they're using the data." He also noted that their estimates show 56% of consumer spend is in physical software, and 70% in Q4.
While NPD defends its retail figures as valuable, it seems to understand the changing tide. The company announced last year that it would be moving into digital tracking as well. In the same breath, however, it pointed out that it needs digital retailers to open their doors to the tracking firm to have accurate figures.
Source:
Shacknews
Mr. Gibeau also said, "My point is it's an irrelevant measure on the industry. It's totally irrelevant. We don't even really look at it internally anymore. We're more focused on our services and how we're connected with consumers." This is similar to a previous statement from corporate communications executive Tiffany Steckler, who called NPD's data "a misrepresentation of the entire industry." In a statement to GameSpot, NPD Games president David McQuillan said he was surprised at Gibeau's comments. "Successful companies are looking at how their products are performing within all channels, particularly retail," he said. "For that reason, we were surprised to read the comments by Mr. Gibeau that EA does not look at NPD data internally at all. While we will not comment on the specifics on our long-standing relationship with EA, we can say with confidence that we have daily dealings with all of our major publisher clients. And we know for a fact they're using the data." He also noted that their estimates show 56% of consumer spend is in physical software, and 70% in Q4.
While NPD defends its retail figures as valuable, it seems to understand the changing tide. The company announced last year that it would be moving into digital tracking as well. In the same breath, however, it pointed out that it needs digital retailers to open their doors to the tracking firm to have accurate figures.
123 Comments on EA to go 100% Digital, Calls NPD 'Irrelevant'
If 100% digital with no physical copies and downloading and relying on the internet to be connected to not only download but to play the games is the future...FUCK the future...that is what I say, give me my physical copy and fuck you EA is what I say.
There is a reason why Origin still says Origin Beta. Think about that for 5 mins, compare what is truly lacking from Origin, then look at how much further along Steam is...add in Gabe comment about how behind Origin is. Then consider how EA has been strongarming Origin into the market...and you might understand a tenth of the hate against Origin.
I don't mind using Origin if it is through Steam. But all purchases will be via elsewhere just so Origin won't get a sale.
They only have a large user base by forcing people to use the platform without their key games being locked to said digital platform they would have nothing,
The EULA on their digital content is bs certain things are limited such as if you dont download a particular title after x # of years you need to buy it again, EA did that back with 2142's expansion, and its still present in their EULA today.
Bad customer relations
0 sales that are worth a damn
Franchise Milking to the extreme and inflated game costs
vs Steam
mediocre customer support
awesome sales and full catelog deals i mean come on $320 in games for $75
simple reinstall procedure i mean hell copy pate the common folder click play install done
theres more but in General EA has a long way to go security issues are still a problem or like in brandon's case they cant fix the issue where he cant buy content from them honestly what good is a digital store if people cant use it and said publisher cant fix the problem :roll:
Ill buy EA games but only when they are bargin bin prices which takes forever Steam wins hands down in the majority of things that matter.
Its pretty sad when on a DAILY basis, Origin games tend to be cheaper on Amazon than from EA themselves, if they stopped being douches they would keep more of that money in their own pocket.
Blizzard Store... Steam... Origin... Bring em on I love them.
I use Steam and Origin to buy and install and play games. If they have the game I want ill buy it and play it i don't care about what program I use. I can't help but laugh at people who bitch about a game and saying they won't get it unless its on Steam.
The Software is what I don't like, afaik it collects information. and also the interface and features is not as good as Steam's. it seems lacking on something
The blind hatred and bashing that's allowed here is... well, disgusting.
yeah im with you on this one, i like to have my own copies of my own games that i have paid for
store.origin.com/store/ea/en_US/DisplayProductDetailsPage/productID.78869400
So it's a matter of what you want from them too.
Edit: Have had a few problems with GameStop app though, so it's certainly not perfect.
3. As time goes on more people will have Origin. When I switched to Steam for Counter-Strike 1.6 (when 1.5 shut down) almost nobody wanted to use Steam. They all considered it a huge step back. Yes, these days Steam is amazing, but there was about a 2-3 year stretch where it was absolute garbage. People need to remember Steam took quite some time to mature as well.
5. I don't really see how they are that much different. Granted, Origin's store doesn't have as much categorization up front, but it also isn't as vast. I'd imagine as time goes on they will incorporate more organization when it is actually beneficial to do so.
6. VAC is garbage, and the only people that get VACed are people who literally Google Search "<Game X> Hacks" and just download the first link. VAC-proof cheats have been around longer than Steam has been public, and it's my understanding that it hasn't gotten any more difficult to bypass over the years.
I mean SERIOUSLY, How ambiguous of a statement is this ? "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,", i read it as "Bland press statement #92844425" or "we only change when a competitor forces us to"
I hope steam smashes their pitiful little forced content distribution system, AKA origin.
Can you tell i don't much like ea ?
I very much prefer steam because of its decent security, very polished and easy to use interface and also all of the backup options, save-game cloud etc I could go on. However I still much prefer buying the hard-copy of a game as I find just a bit more satisfying.
Origin is already (imo anyway) much better than when it first came out. As it actually works when you click button 99% of the time now instead of crashing all the time. As long as I can play my games, I'll be happy.
People that don't have broadband available where they live.
People that don't have high speed broadband where they live.
People that have very low monthly download limits.
People that don't have a credit card or a bank account to link to PayPal to purchase digital copies.
I live in a country which decent internet speed cost a fortune, We have small gamer community and downloading full game is a difficult option since ISP charge some of us up to 1/3 of our normal monthly salary.
I recently bought BF3 and many of the times i cannot play it cause of crap internet speed, not to mention huge update size and i can afford better internet speed more than some of my gamer friend here. with time pass it's getting cheaper but the rate of price decline and speed rise is too slow when compare to other country. few years ago it is impossible to play game that consume big bandwidth but now its playable even that will be high cost gaming.
Pirating is common practice in my country, I have been promoting to buy original game but when game company decide to go full digital and left us behind, it will become harder to stop using pirate game.