Are publishers shunning boxed product?

Free-to-play and downloads are the fastest-growing business models of the past five years, but how many video games publishers actually rely on them rather than more traditional methods of releasing games?
In January and February 2013, industry networking and events firm Game Connection led a publishers’ survey targeting key business managers from many major and medium-size publishers and distributors that either develop internally or have games developed by third-party studios.
This web-based survey, followed by specific phone interviews, covered various topics: platforms, business models, targets, genres, submission process and so on. Approximately 140 publishers with different perspectives answered this detailed survey.
When asked which business model they preferred when releasing games across all platforms, almost 25 per cent of respondents said that ‘free-to-play’ is the only model they use. A further 40 per cent said they use it for many games.
Conversely, the ‘retail/boxed’ model is rarely used or not used at all by six out of ten publishers. Instead, the survey found that publishers considered ‘free-to-play’ and ‘buy and download’ (titles sold through digital distribution platforms such as Steam) are the most relevant business models for publishers.

http://www.mcvuk.com/news/read/are-p...roduct/0113859