More and more these days, anytime you see the word “digital distribution” in a sentence, chances are high you can also find “Stardock” nearby. Not that there’s anything wrong with that — Stardock CEO Brad Wardell usually has some pretty insightful things to say about the subject.
Talking with Gamasutra in an interview, Wardell made a comment that could be deemed as hyperbolic, but I actually find the statement to be accurate: “A lot of publishers are viewing digital distribution as the thing that is going to save PC.”
Whether or not you think PC gaming has “died” is besides the point. It’s obviously not flourishing like it once was — the signs are right in front of our eyes, and have been for a while now. With retail shelves for PC games shrinking, digital distribution has done nothing but expand.
Wardell gave an estimate of how much of the PC market is made up of digital games. He believes it’s around the 25% mark, and thinks that number could possibly double in as short as two years from now. I couldn’t say how close to reality that number is, but I do know that digital distribution is here to stay, for better or worse.
