Over the last few days, there has been increased speculation about the future of physical media and video games. While some physical game collectors have gotten worried about the possibility of an all-digital future, Ubisoft believes that physical media won’t be going anywhere. The publisher recently shared a Q&A with Chris Early, Ubisoft’s SVP of strategic partnerships and business development. In the Q&A, Early discussed Microsoft’s acquisition of Activision Blizzard and its impact on Ubisoft+. Early thinks the market for physical games might shrink, but he also lists several reasons to expect it won’t go away completely.ย
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“There’s a collector edition market. There’s the aspect of gifting physical items and allowing access for people to be able to easily purchase a game in a store and gift them to their friends or family. Some people will always want to own the physical disk. I just don’t think it’s going away. Do I think physical sales might get lower over time? Sure, but will it ever completely go away? I don’t think so,” said Early.ย
Early raises several good points. While there has been a lot of talk about an all-digital future, the fact remains that the holiday shopping season is a big deal for the video game industry. There are a lot of people that give and receive games as gifts, and eliminating physical game releases could do more harm than help for publishers. There are also a lot of gamers that prefer physical media, as it allows them to continue accessing games years or even decades after release; there are still countless people playing and collecting games that released on platforms like the Super Nintendo and Sega Genesis.ย
Best Buy’s Physical Media Exit
While discussions surrounding video games and physical media have been going on for years now, there are several reasons the topic has started to heat up. One of those reasons is Best Buy’s recent announcement that it will cease selling physical media in-stores and online starting next year. That strategy won’t extend to video games, but news leaked ahead of an official announcement, leading to speculation among physical game collectors.ย
Activision and Ubisoft+
Ubisoft clearly thinks physical media is here to stay, but the company is also investing heavily in digital. Following Microsoft’s acquisition of Activision Blizzard, Ubisoft has obtained cloud streaming rights to Activision Blizzard games. All of the company’s existing games and DLC fall under that umbrella, as well as any future games released within the next 15 years. Cloud streaming has yet to take off in a significant way, but Ubisoft CEO Yves Guillemot has been a big believer in the technology, recently stating that cloud streaming is poised to take off within the next 5-10 years.ย
Do you think physical video games will continue to exist? Do you think cloud streaming will take off for video games? Share your thoughts with me directly on Twitter atย @Marcdachampย or on Instagram atย @Dachampgaming!
[H/T: Eurogamer]
