14 DAY TRIAL // Sony is ready to increase its catalog of digital-only releases and work on making them as accessible as possible because they tend to also push up the sales of boxed products that the publisher launches.
Robert Walker, who is the manager in charge of game releases for Sony Computer Entertainment Europe, has told MCV that, “We feel that the best thing to do is allow the gamers to decide how and where they purchase their content. To make that happen, it is our job to make our content as accessible as possible, whether that is at retail or via digital delivery.”
The executive believes that, “The more accessible content is, the more likely consumers are to purchase it. How it evolves over time is very difficult to predict.”
“But what we can say is that as a business, we take this area very seriously, and have to make sure that we are constantly monitoring both technological advancements, as well as consumer demands,” Walker concluded.
The Ultimate Deals promotion that is currently running in the United States is designed with accessibility in mind, allowing gamers to get a number of titles for lower prices via download as long as they include downloadable content.
Regular PlayStation Network users will be able to get a price cut of 30 percent while those who also subscribe to the Plus service will be able to increase their reduction to 50%.
Sony has tried to use an all-digital strategy before with a version of PlayStation Portable and has been heavily promoting the concept for the recently launched Vita.
Rumors have also suggested that both it and Microsoft thought about making the next generation of consoles download-only but dropped the idea because of the limited Internet service that some gamers have.
The announcement of a new PlayStation console is expected before the end of 2012.