As a Gamesblog reader, with your finger not so much on the pulse of technology as probing around in the artery itself, you are no doubt aware of the enormous impact digital distribution is having on the world of entertainment. But now, accountancy mega-corp PricewaterhouseCoopers has spelled everything out in its annual Global Entertainment and Media Outlook report, which has just been made available for purchase on the company's website.
According to Yahoo, the report suggests that global spending via online and wireless channels reached $19 billion in 2005 and will increase to $67 billion by 2010. "Virtually every segment of the entertainment and media industry is shifting from physical distribution to digital distribution of content," explained Wayne Jackson, global leader of PricewaterhouseCoopers' Entertainment & Media Practice.
As Yahoo mentions, a key driver in the growth of digital distribution is the immense surge in the number of households with broadband connections and internet-enabled mobile phones:
"In 2005, the broadband universe totaled 187 million households, up from only 30 million in 2001. By 2010, there will be an additional 246 million broadband households, bringing the total to 433 million globally. The number of people with a wireless telephone subscription is also growing rapidly, with a total of 1.8 billion globally in 2005. That figure will rise to 2.8 billion by 2010, adding one billion potential customers to mobile content during the next five years."
Feel free to bat those figures around in the pub tonight...
Anyway, we all know that entertainment companies love digital distribution - it's cheaper, it allows them more control over how we use their products, and they can mine so much data from our download activities that they'll probably be customising games and movies for specific viewers within a decade.
What does this mean for the games industry? The success of Xbox Live and the ongoing experiments with download systems like Steam, shows a business slowly feeling its way toward 100% digital distribution. PricewaterhouseCoopers' report suggests this is an unavoidable fate.
So, will you miss videogame boxes? Are you likely to grow nostalgic for that saturday afternoon jaunt down to your local videogame retailer? As with music, there are always going to be people who like to collect, to physically own, their media. But you're just going to have to get over it, because the entertainment industry hates you.
