Digital distribution won't kill retail - Blitz

The director of Blitz Arcade, Chris Swan, has told GamesIndustry.biz that he doesn't believe that digital distribution will strike a fatal blow to bricks-and-mortar retail - even if he does think that some changes will take place.

"I think it will affect it, but I don't think it's going to be the end of it by any means," he said. "It's just going to shift things a bit. Again - look at the music model, and you can see that music stores are still there, and they're still lovely places to go to and browse.

"So you're still going to want that element, but you're going to get those people that just want the easy buy of download-and-pay, and get content right now."

However, he does agree that the dynamic between publishers offering digital distribution solutions and retailers offering second-hand game sales is likely to cause some friction.

"It may strain relationships a little bit on the publisher side, but then I think for a while there was a bit of a fear that perhaps publishers weren't going to be needed in digital age - but I think people can obviously see now that's not the case," he explained.

"The publisher is still needed in a digital age, and they probably welcome more things going online, and less things going to retail - because there's the resale returns element, and it's just been so hard for them to get real data on it."

Blitz Arcade is currently working on five titles, all of which will be available via digital download platforms.

The full interview with Chris Swan is available now.