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More Publishers Join EA’s Origin Digital Distribution Service

Sam Naylor — Tue, 24 Jan 2012 20:15:44 +0000

Eleven publishers have been signed up by EA to sell and distribute their games on Origin, EA’s Digital Distribution Service.

Trion Worlds, CD PROJEKT RED, Freebird Games, Recoil Games, Autumn Games, 1C Company, InXile Entertainment, Paradox Interactive, Core Learning Ltd and N3V Games have all joined the service, and will be adding their games to the service’s catalogue over the next few months.

Warner Bros. Interactive, THQ and Capcom have already signed up to the service, and Origin can surely only get better with more publishers prepared to sell their games there. Let’s just hope that the economists were right when they told us about price competition.

Obsidian Wants To Go All Digital… To “Stab the Used Game Market in The Heart”

Catherine Cai — Tue, 13 Dec 2011 21:31:01 +0000

Obsidian Entertainment is apparently not a fan of the used games market, which is pretty understandable, considering the videogame industry doesn’t make any profit from used videogames. Online passes and undeletable saves have all been attempts by developers to chip away at used games, to no avail.

Obsidian wants to try a different approach. One that probably won’t anger fans quite as much, although it will surely piss off gamers that love “owning” their videogames in the form of a hard copy.

In a recent interview Obsidian’s Chief Creative Officer and keeper of all Fallout lore, Chris Avellone, says he wants Obsidian to go all digital:

“Our eventual hope is that we can stockpile enough resources to release our own titles digitally,”

“Smaller games can be very satisfying projects to work on, and it would be great to do that. But it’s going to take time for us to get there; we want to make sure we do it right.”

“Of course, one of the greatest things about digital distribution is what it does to reduce the used game market. I hope digital distribution stabs the used game market in the heart.“

Besides hurting the used game market, Obsidian will also no longer have to worry about ship dates since a digital release could be delayed without any monetary impact.

This is definitely an interesting move on Obsidian’s part. I wonder how much, if at all, Obsidian will be hurt by going completely digital. It’ll also be interesting to see if Obsidian has a lot of success with this method, and if other AAA publishers will follow suit.

via [VG247]

RipTen Radio Down Under – Episode 15

Bryce Wilson — Fri, 25 Feb 2011 08:18:53 +0000

RipTen Radio Down Under – Episode 15 is a busy busy show, but first and foremost what do you think of the new intro? We’ve replaced the traditional intro and instead opted to use a video-game related song, and that’s what we’re going to be doing weekly, so let us know your feedback in the comments below.

Episode 15 covers a number of latest news pieces including the announcement of the Gears of War 3 release date, the premiere gameplay trailer for Battlefield 3 and even the possible reveal of the Sony NGP models and prices. So click the play button and relax as we bring you some of the hottest news and discussion this side of the internet.

Don’t forget to answer our weekly question for your chance to win a Limited Edition Mafia II Artbook (Australia only). This weeks question is; “Will we see a GTA V announced at E3 2011?“.

All answers are read out during the show and the winner of the artbook will be announced at the same time by random.

Thanks to our podcast sponsors the Australian Cyber League. This weeks song was the Super Meat Boy v 2Pac mashup “Holla if Ya Meat Me” by Stuck in the Middle of Somewhere forum user ‘Tomato’.

Meet the Crew:

Bryce Wilson: Facebook – Twitter: @DrjftGaming.
Aaron Alexander: Facebook – Twitter: @iamaaronalex.
Shaun Hammond: Facebook – Twitter: @iisshaunhammond.

RipTen Radio Down Under – Episode 15
44 Minutes – 40MB

Click Here for Episode Notes.

Riccitiello: Digital Sales to Beat Retail by the End of the Year

Sam Naylor — Mon, 10 Jan 2011 23:17:03 +0000

EA CEO John Riccitiello has said that digital game sales will beat out retail ones by the end of 2011.

He said:

At the end of [2011], the digital business is bigger than the packaged goods business, full stop. No questions in my mind. Then, you know, I think that we’ll find ways to even sell our packaged goods content in chunks and in pieces and subscriptions and micro-transactions,

Riccitiello also made it clear that revenue from free-to-play titles is very promising for EA:

“Our highest ARPU (average revenue per user) are free-to-play games among paying users. You think about that and say, ‘how can a free game be the game they pay the most for?’ We have people who are giving us $5,000 in a month to play FIFA Ultimate Team. And it’s free. Dirty little secret.”

It’s mind-boggling, really. Do you fork over for free-to-play games? I’m genuinely interested, so leave a comment explaining why if you do. I’ve never felt the need to pay for anything in a microtransaction, so I wonder whether this is something common amongst Ripten’s readership.

Via Shacknews

Orange Box to be Opened and Contents Sold Separately

John Kershaw — Fri, 01 Feb 2008 22:52:31 +0000

In a move many people wished had been made when the Orange Box launched, EA have announced that TF2, HL2:ep2 and Portal will soon be sold individually for PC.

Unless you use Steam, Valve’s digital distribution service, up until now the only way you have been able to buy the new games from Valve has been to get them as part of The Orange Box. If you were put off from buying all 5 games but still want to try the sweet, moist cake of Portal, or see what happens to everyone’s lovable mute, Gordon Freeman, you’re in luck.

In a conference call to investors, EA have said that they will soon be selling the new games individually and that they will be in stores for PC before the end of March. No word on if the 360 or PS3 versions will follow suit or if The Orange Box package will continue to be produced for PC.

Source: Videogamer