CD Team on Digital Distribution

In preperation for the London Games Conference 2009, Tim Ingham from MCV magazine asked Jo Fone and Richard Dearing the following questions regarding Digital Distribution and the Future of the European Games Market.

How will digital distribution impact the business of a disc replication company?

CD Team offers services and equipment which support the games development community before the release of the title to the consumer so the effect on our business will be different to that of a disc replication company which is tied into the mass production of discs for retail distribution.
Before a title is released the development and marketing budgets are under constant scrutiny so providing a cost effective method for testing and pre-release marketing, including short run distribution, is critical to the success of any project. The current generation of consoles utilise optical media as the primary method to deliver the content so our multi-platform Games Development Xpress which supports Blu-ray, dual-layer DVD and RVT-R* (*available to Authorised Nintendo Developers only) is the perfect solution for today’s development requirements.

While the next generation of consoles will undoubtedly continue the move towards online distribution as either the primary or secondary means of delivering content there will still be the opportunity for the development and marketing teams to use physical media to provide instant access to pre-release content and marketing materials.

Removing the optical disc drive from the hardware will reduce cost but it also removes a proven content delivery method and a range of ‘backwards compatible’ entertainment features. USB has become the standard for peripheral connections so it is likely that Secure USB flash drives will be supported and support for Secure Digital memory cards has also become a standard feature of home entertainment devices.

The services and equipment CD Team offers to the games development community is a vital part of the process. The methods of delivery, physical and online, will change when the next generation of consoles are released but we believe there will be a requirement for both. 

What's attracted CD Team to support LGC?

In partnership with Imation TDK it was clear to see that sponsorship of this event was an excellent opportunity to demonstrate our continued commitment to the games development community and to enable CD Team to be part of the ongoing discussion regarding its future.

We're into our 15th year in business and have been working very closely with the games industry since the company was formed in 1995. We supported customers in the early days of CD then the transition from CD to DVD and were the first in Europe to sell a Blu-ray publishing system. We will continue to support our customers with our services and products, today, tomorrow and in the years to come. We see this as an ideal event at which the industry can come together as a whole to discuss and debate the opportunities for all of us in the future of digital distribution.

Why is digital distribution such an important issue to address right now?

The media industry is in turmoil. New platforms, such as online, mobile, and social networking, are driving major shifts in consumer behaviour and advertising. Companies are rethinking their business models. In this environment, all media companies and the games industry must address some critical questions. We also need to be sure we work on practical solutions for today’s business. The consumer experience must be the focus and whilst we can’t say exactly what the future will look like, we are supporting customers today – developers and publishers, pre-release titles, PR and Marketing materials with reliable digital delivery on disc, flash memory and USB formats.

Has the games industry explored everything there is to know about digital distribution? Which business models are still to be investigated properly? (e.g. in-game ads for online games, microtransactions, etc.)

Far from it, our industry has so much to be proud of as one of the most creative and innovative, I am confident it will constantly evolve to enhance the consumer experience whilst maximizing revenue streams. CD Team specialise in delivering content, securely and on time with our range of services, and providing solutions in the form of duplicator hardware, software and discs to enable developers to do themselves so in-house. We work with pre-release content however we don’t influence what that content is. We do ensure companies can share and test their content in-house, and journalists across the world receive their marketing and review titles on time.

How do CD Team see the relationship between physical goods and digital sales developing in the years to come?

Downloading has been around now for several years and consumer demand will continue to shape how content is delivered, the PSP GO for example makes perfect sense as games content is small. The all important Q4 when the vast majority of disc based sales are bought as gifts, with titles already reaching 25GB and soon to be 50GB downloads on current broadband speeds, even with the planned improvements, will not appeal to all consumers and even less so as gifts. We’re certain the retailers will agree, it will be more than 3 years before the boxed disc based product is dead.

Anyone who plays games online at peak times will already be aware of the limitations, restrictions and priorities imposed by various ISPs. Large content patches can also be extremely frustrating even if you have the latest high speed broadband connection because of the number of users accessing the content at the same time.

It is also difficult to compare the delivery of compressed audio files, mobile games and streamed media to the download and decompression of high definition game content for the latest generation consoles. The former is measured in megabytes and the latter is measured in gigabytes with a typical high definition console game weighing in at 4 to 24 GB. 

So the games development community needs to focus on the consumer experience, in the same way that CD Team focuses on pre-release development and marketing for our customers, and we believe this is best served by using a combination of physical and online digital delivery methods. 

The edited article, published in MCV issue 561 (on page 42), can be found here.

Submitted by Richard Dearing, Operations Director