Game Publishers Love That Midnight Launch

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Many people are predicting a future where our media (movies, games) is all distributed digitally without any physical media. But, some video game publishers are purposefully keeping their game content in the regular retail channels, and that’s because they love the extra publicity from the midnight game launches (among other things).

Vice President of Global Retail Games over at Vivendi-Universal Games, Mr. Pascal Brochier talked with Joystiq’s Mike Schramm (no relation) on the issue of digital distribution, particularly regarding their #1 game, World of Warcraft. Brochier says that they internally considered going with an all-digital distribution route regarding the latest WoW expansion: “We were patching all the time. It was always in the discussions internally; ‘Should we go direct digital or should we go both with retail?’”

But, as he goes on, the publishers love the extra exposure those midnight launches get. “When you’re at the store with all of the events, you actually have people who’ve dropped [their subscriptions] come back. The midnight events and all of the functions help people come back who’ve stopped playing, but also guys who’ve wanted to try it will be attracted to the event and become new-found players.”

Some big stores will have various attractions (girls dressed up like Night Elves) and giveaways to keep people entertained for these midnight launches. Plus, local news stations love shooting film of dorks fans stacked up outside stores at night in the freezing cold.

Although Blizzard did the option of digitally getting your WoW expansion later, the game will always have a retail side to it (for the foreseeable future, anyway). Mr. Brochier continues, “[R]etail is a very important critical part. There’s also a significant percentage of players who just play through pre-paid cards, and that’s retail, that’s a retail model. So you’ve got to find the balance.”

Do you buy games online digitally? Have you ever waited in line at midnight for a game?

Image Credit: Gamespot.com