"Fysieke games verdwijnen binnen 10 jaar"

Het is inmiddels geen originele voorspelling meer, maar RuneScape-ontwikkelaar Jagex maakt hem toch weer: fysieke games gaan binnen tien jaar verdwijnen. Dit zei Jagex-baas Mark Gerhard in een interview tijdens de BAFTA Question Time gisteren.

Het einde van retail is volgens Gerhard nabij en het is tevens onvermijdelijk: "I think, 10 years out from now, we'll be talking about [physical] retail nostalgically, as a museum piece. I don't think there's much there that would give it a second life."

Gerhard zei ook dat retail in de weg van ontwikkelaars staat: "They take a chunk - say 20 or 30 per cent - the publishers take a bit, and after inflation it's no wonder that the independent games industry isn't alive and vibrant, because they're not making any money."

Het onderwerp is op dit moment levendig door de problemen die GAME (de Gamemania van Groot-Brittannië) momenteel ondergaat. "It's sad to see an institution decline," zei Gerhard over GAME, "but the writing has been on the wall for quite some time - the internet didn't happen yesterday... People are still playing games. They're still doing business; they're just doing it in a different place... If you don't adapt you die. It's as simple as that."

De volledige digitalisering van games en de game-industrie is reeds gaande dankzij de popularisering van online distributieplatformen zoals Steam en OnLive.