My Article on GamesIndustry.biz: Store Wars

I’ve got another article up over at GamesIndustry.biz – this time looking at the ongoing battle for consumer and developer’s digital attention:

The business side of our industry used to be a fairly simple, if a little insular, affair. Developers made games for publishers who sold them in shops. Job done. However just as technology enabled our industry to exist, it also inevitably grows to complicate it. The business side of our industry has blossomed into a complex ecosystem of developers, publishers, platforms, stores and much more. This means that while overall the industry is growing in size, it also means it is growing in complexity too. The struggle for shelf space in shops like GAME or Virgin Megastore has been replaced by an infinite digital shelf of bewildering choice. Ironically it is the very success of these digital stores that powers our future which is also creating a new set of challenges. As a developer I feel it’s key to understand the store wars that are raging around us and how we will either be players or pawns in its future.