One of the issues that has been present in analysis, debates, and forecasts of the industry is the transition to the digital marketing services, especially for what this means in terms of license agreements and the alleged possession of the product in the hands of the consumer. It will always be important for large companies to reveal their position in these situations and Karl Slatoff spoke about the expectations of Take-Two Interactive.
In a meeting with investors, Karl Slatoff, president of Take-Two Interactive, not only spoke about the company’s position regarding the controversial loot boxes but also about the transition from the industry to the digital market.
According to the manager, the total transition from the industry to the digital sector is an inevitable fact: “I think over the long-term, it will be 100% [digital]. I just can’t predict whether that’s five years, 10 years, or 20 years. It’s probably less than 20 and maybe more than five, but I think it ultimately gets there. That’s the zeitgeist. Things are moving in that direction.”
At the same time, Slatoff based his statement highlighting the success that, in the digital field, have had with the services of Sony and Microsoft: “Why I think it’s a little quicker than people imagined is honestly, Sony and Microsoft have done a really nice job with their services. You’ve got more people on Xbox Live, more people on PSN, and it helps. The friction is going away at a quicker rate because these platforms have been really well developed, and the consumers love it.”
Finally, the president of Take-Two assured that they will continue supporting the physical market, currently the one with the most sales, but they are aware that at some point it will disappear and before that nothing can be done: “The truth is physical retail is still the majority of our business, and very important partners of ours. And we want to do everything we can to support that environment. And we do. They’re very strong marketing and distribution partners for us. But again, it’s out of our control. Whether we want it or not, it looks like it’s going to happen eventually.”
What do you think about the digital market in the video game industry? Do you think that the physical market is soon going to disappear? Let us know about your opinion in the comments below.
