June 17th, 2010 
Cliff Riseborough Nobody denies that the digital market is increasingly the way forward in the games industry, particularly in the PC realm. However, according to MCV, some publishers are beginning to worry that the market is currently being oversaturated with a glut of digital content all at once.
Is there a big enough market that it can be profitable for everyone? How big a risk is there right now of releases being lost in the flood? Is the onrush perhaps a threat to overwhelm the average consumer?
“I am really concerned about that,” said THQ’s VP of core games Danny Bilson. “Our strategy is based on the fact that Taco Bell has games on Facebook. It seems every commercial venture has a game on Facebook now.
EA Sports’ senior VP of worldwide development Andrew Wilson added: “I think it is always a risk when moving into a new space of getting there before your consumer does. The corporate graveyard is filled with companies that moved into a new field before the consumer got there, and then someone comes up five years later with exactly the same thing and makes a gazillion dollars.
“The preference now is not to buy lots and lots of games, but to spend more money on fewer games. In fiscally challenging times, maybe a gamer won’t buy three games anymore, maybe they’ll buy two and spend the other £30 on extendable content, on experiences they know they love rather than taking the risk on another product.”
Sega West president Mike Hayes said: “The challenge for us is not if the market is big enough, but how we adapt. We need to be cautious. It is exciting and there is a huge opportunity, but we have to be very smart in how we approach it.”
One thing that seems likely is that we will start to see fewer games being released at once, both due to market saturation and costs. Also, this year has seen AAA releases more spread out than normal, rather than the usual flood of games in the Christmas rush and during the summer while the rest of the year is a barren wasteland. Perhaps that will prove to be more of a trend than an anomaly.
The games business is already changing with the shift in to the digital realm. However, it’s pretty clear that the digital realm is not some magical panacea that will serve as a cure all, and it comes with a whole new set of potential problems.
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