The dynamics of the way that retail relates to gaming is changing all of the time. For Valve marketing VP Doug Lombardi, he wonders how the next generation of consoles will adapt to changes in the market.
“You know, the erosion [of brick and mortar retail] – and I would describe it as an erosion – was something that I think we all got a little numb to, and the GAME one was a bit startling to me,” said Lombardi. “Is it too soon I don’t know. I can remember after we launched Half-Life 2 and we fixed the situation with Steam and whatnot, GAME said, ‘how long do you think it’s going to take us before Steam is really a big deal ‘ And I sort of laughed at them and said, ‘oh jeez, it’s going to be at least five to ten years.’”
“And here we are less than ten years from then, and it’s a pretty big deal. It’s a big percentage of a lot of people’s sales over here, and it’s becoming a bigger deal over there,” he added. “I think the big event that’s going to happen is: when are we going to see the next generation of consoles, and how are they going to play into some of the new dynamics such as free-to-play ”
Source: PC Gamer UK