Gabe Newell is one tuned in bloke. In his keynote speech at the 2009 D.I.C.E. (Design, Innovate, Communicate, Entertain) Summit, Gabe pretty much puts into perspective what all gamers have realised for a long time, direct to his Peers.
If you don't know who he is , Gabe is the Founder and Managing Director of Valve software.
The G4TV DICE Feed has all the latest from the Summit including a full roundup of Gabe's Entertainment as a Service keynote.
Some Highlights:
Through this perspective, Gabe and Valve have observed the following:
- 30-year old songs with a little service (Rock Band, Guitar Hero) generate huge profits
- Pirates are ahead not just on price, but on service
- DRM appears to increase, not decrease piracy
- Privacy and transparency
- Shrinking distance to customer empowers content creators
Gabe thinks that the movie industry would benefit from incremental products. Toy Story 1.1! Just make the graphics better!
The team that's making the TF2 character videos (which are awesome!) are going to be working on comics.
Price changes in the retail world don't allow for much freedom. Steam and other services offer flexability. In fact, users apparently respond to pricing discounts within five minutes.
During the Holiday sales:
- 10% sale = 35% increase in sales (real dollars, not units shipped)
- 25% sale = 245% increase in sales
- 50% sale = 320% increase in sales
- 75% sale = 1470% increase in sales
At 75% off, they are making 15% more money than they were at full price.
Steam stats time:
- 20 million people connected
- All major PC publishers on board
- 350+ of the best PC games
- Worldwide in 21 languages
- 100% Year-over-year growth since 2004
Checkout the G4TV Keynote Feed and MTV for more.