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In his monthly column written exclusively for Develop, Owain Bennallack has suggested that too many developers and publishers are risking falling behind by turning a blind eye to digital distribution and the associated business models.
"The technology, or paradigm, has shown its strengths" said Bennallack, when discussing the progress of digitally distributed content. "The smart money and talent are following it, some consumers are on board, but incumbent games publishers and developers still believe it’s a sideshow – of relevance to casual audiences maybe, but a bolt-on to the conventional business."
In the column, Bennallack also looks at Cloud-based services, the Korean industry, and the financial potential of small, Euro-RPGs as future foundations for traditional games publishing.
"Everything is changing, and it’s not exactly clear how studios should respond. But anybody who isn’t tracking real-time data from multiple instances of even single-player games and exploring A/B testing, who isn’t actively looking into social networking, and who can’t list 20 ways to micro-transaction-ise their next project, may soon be facing their own Kodak moment," added Bennallack, with reference to the demise of film in the wake of digital camera technology; something Kodak itself pioneered.
Click here to read the full feature.
