On the possibility of boxed retail being abandoned in favour of digital distribution, Livingstone told MCV, “Boxed games aren’t being abandoned just yet. I think the next iteration of consoles – the PS4 and the next Xbox, have got optical disc drives even though they probably don’t want to have them. Broadband speed globally isn’t at a level that justifies digital-only.”
“So they’ve gone halfway,” he added, giving the example of Microsoft’s supposed next-gen approach, “
With the next Xbox, you supposedly have to have an internet connection, and the discs are watermarked, whereby once played on one console it won’t play on another. So I think the generation after that will be digital-only.”