Mon, Oct 18, 2010 | 19:33 BST

Take-Two CEO: Digital distribution won’t kill game boxes

strauss

Digital distribution may be a growing part of Take-Two’s business, but company head Strauss Zelnick doesn’t think the days of shiny boxes on store shelves are over just yet.

Zelnick told Bloomberg (via Gamasutra) that digital accounts for less than 15 percent of Take-Two’s revenue, and the sheer size of game files means packaged goods will be around for some time to come.

While he said online distribution could comprise up to 40 percent of the company’s business in three years, Zelnick is also counting on Take-Two’s overall business growing and helping keep shop-fronts alive.

The distributor of franchises like Grand Theft Auto, BioShock and Mafia can’t be said to be averse to new avenues – it’s been a supporter of OnLive’s cloud-based product, and recently released a iPad version of GTA: Chinatown Wars on Apple’s App Store.

Expect more Take-Two products to head this way. Zelnick made a point of noting Gartner’s predictions for the growth of tablet computing – the analyst expects 200 million of them to sell in 2014.

5 comments

#1

cookiejar
18/10/10, 6:50 pm

Someone who talks sense! A rare trait these days.

#2

DaMan
18/10/10, 7:00 pm

yep, game boxes are essential. I don’t see how can anyone enjoy their games without a manual and an epilepsy warning.

not to mention they’re great dust collectors.

#3

Gekidami
18/10/10, 7:08 pm

Its pretty obvious boxed games will still be around for a long time. We’re nowhere near the point where enought people can download and store the amount of data needed that makes a quality game and be profitable to publishers.

#4

DaMan
18/10/10, 7:15 pm

btw, I always wondered why on Earth would anyone want to keep that much games on their hdd at once. you can always redownload them.

#5

freedoms_stain
18/10/10, 11:41 pm

Boxes will be around for a while longer, but personally I’ll be damned happy to see them go.

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