14 DAY TRIAL // Video game developer and publisher Paradox Interactive, which specializes in the creation of niche strategy games, has said through the voice of its CEO that it is at the moment getting most of its revenue from digitally distributed products, with retail no longer needed to make the company profitable.
Fredrick Wester, who is the chief executive officer of Paradox Interactive, has told PC Gamer magazine that, “This year we’re close to 90 percent of our revenue being digital. Retail sales are like a bonus for us now. We don’t really need retailers any more and that is a release because retailers have not been good for the industry. They’ve not been good for the creative part of the industry, for finding new cool games.”
He then added some comments about how retailers affect the games industry, saying, “People complain to publishers that there are only sequels on the market, but that’s because retailers want to see sequels. Because they can do their chart diagrams for how things sell and things like that. So one of the things preventing more creative gaming has been the retail challenge.”
It's highly unlikely that the only cause of lack of creativity in the video game industry is pressure coming from retailers, but it's interesting to see that a company that has thrived in recent years, like Paradox Interactive, is able to rely so heavily on digital distribution.
It helps that the company is focused on niche titles that have an in-built following of gamers who are ready to embrace innovation in order to get their gaming fix.
At the moment, Paradox is working internally on Crusader Kings II, a strategy game which includes quite a few role-playing elements and focuses more on the destinies of noble families and dynasties than on those of states during medieval times in Europe.
The company is set to publish Sword of the Stars II and Sengoku in the coming months.