Thu, Aug 23, 2012 | 20:46 BST

Peter Moore: “Packaged goods will get a rebirth,” with next-gen systems

Peter Moore feels packages goods will see a resurgence when the next-generation of gaming consoles arrive on the market.

Speaking in an interview with MCV at gamescom, Moore believes that eventually, the digital “tipping point will come,” but while it may overtake boxed good, “packaged [ins't] going away.”

“Let’s not misunderstand this,” said Moore. “Our forecast this year is to also do $2.6 billion in packaged goods. So there will be a £40 console game, but there will be an iPhone experience and a PC experience too. There is always a big opportunity for a Battlefield or a FIFA.

“If you had asked me two years ago, I would not have known where free-to-play is going, and I wouldn’t known how powerful mobile devices would become. But we simply react to what consumers want and where they want to be – and we are everywhere. If consumers say in emerging markets that their broadband isn’t fast enough for a 20 gigabyte game, then fine – we’ll have it on disc for them.”

Just because digital games come without the packaging, don’t expect the cost of the games to go down, said Moore – nor free-to-play for that matter.

“If you have ‘Battlefield 6’, with detailed maps as far as the eye can see and hundreds of soldiers – that doesn’t cost a few bucks to make,” he said. “It’s like in movies. There are indie movies that cost a million dollars to make, and then there’s The Avengers. You can sit down and watch a documentary at home or go to the movies, and there’s everything in between.

“Games are no different. And don’t forget that with a new generation of consoles coming up, packaged goods will get a rebirth.”

EA executive vice president Patrick Soderlund, however, is of the opinion boxed games will commercially disappear within 10 years – or sooner – as digital becomes the norm.