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Moore, Huang call for the end of disc-based gaming

by rawmeatcowboy
19 October 2009
GN Version 3.1

Both Kai Huang, co-founder of Red Octane and parent of the Guitar Hero franchise, and EA’ Peter Moore believe that the end of disc-based gaming is too far from rounding the corner. Mr. Huang said that this generation of gamers is going to be the last one to own physical media, and that in 5-10 years, everything will be digital.

Mr. Moore had a lot more to say on the topic, calling the current console setup a ‘burning platform’.

“Look at the platform we’re on, it’s a burning platform. As a concept, do you stay on the platform and face certain death, or do you jump into the water and face probable death? Most of you would choose probable death, so you start moving towards a hybrid model of digital distribution. I’d say the core business model of video games is a burning platform. Absolutely. We all recognize that, and we’ll recognize it 10 years from now when we tell our grand kids. We’ll tell them we used to drive to the store to get shiny discs that have bits and bites on them and we’d place them in this thing called a ‘disc tray,’ and it’d whirl around…and they’ll go ‘What?’ So, the concept of physical packaged discs and the core business model that is video games as it currently stands is a burning platform. As digital distribution becomes more and more, we’ll continue as an industry to work with retail and to ship discs, but more and more of the content will be in the ‘cloud.’ More content will be delivered daily, weekly, or monthly, and less will be of the old model of cartridges and discs. As an industry, I still think we may be as many as a decade away from saying goodbye to physical discs. The important question is, what does the next console look like? Does it actually have a disc drive?”

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