Apple Games has posted a new article on the topic of digital download portals and their impact on marketing and selling Mac games. The article includes commentary from Virtual Programming's Mark Hinton (Deliver2Mac), TransGaming's Paul Nowosad (GameTree Online), Codeminion's Maciej Biedrzycki (Game Club Café), and Inside Mac Games's Tuncer Deniz (Mac Games Arcade).

But will digital delivery services make physical distribution obsolete, the same way iTunes has made many music lovers forget about CDs? Not everyone agrees on the ultimate fate of the game-on-a-disc model.

“Retail stores will never go away,” notes Deniz. “That said, digital downloads are becoming more and more important each and every day. Game companies that don’t offer them will be left behind and will lose out on big sales.”

Nowosad adds: “GameTree serves as an alternate vehicle of distribution that supplements the Apple retail channels.”

On the flip side, Hinton remarks: “Digital downloads will eventually replace physical products. Our customers like the fact they can access products anytime they like, and they’re becoming more confident about downloading digital content. In addition, the new generation of game players is more inclined to digitally download. To that end, a digital download version is always available at Deliver2Mac weeks before retail boxed product.”

And Biedrzycki says: “There will always be some kind of boxed games, such as premium collector’s editions, but they’ll be a niche market and the vast majority of games will soon be available online. Even with digital delivery, people tend to order backup CDs, but what they really want is to start playing the game as soon as the download finishes.”

Apple Games: Digital Downloads

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