Digital Watchmen: Warners Explains Retail Threat

Warner Bros has indicated that, should the download-only sale of Watchmen the video game go well, it could expand the approach to 'future film' releases.

“This is an experimental effort”, said Warner Bros Interactive Entertainment's senior VP of development and production Samantha Ryan to MCV, “...it’s quite possible this is an approach we’ll take to future films.”

That's a comment that sounds like the click of a gun pointed at retail's head. Watchmen is a huge property and not having the game on shop shelves is money out of retailers' pockets. What if Warner Bros decided to take that approach with Harry Potter? It certainly makes for a powerful bargaining tool...

Further to that, Ryan had a key message for gamers - “The episodic game will have the look of a full retail game, but will be shorter in length.” While PC gamers are used to downloadable games that directly compare to retail games (read: are the same as), on consoles they're still, to some degree at least, viewed in terms of the likes of Geometry Wars and flOw.

Granted, there are the likes of WipEout HD and the upcoming download release of Burnout Paradise that break the mould, but Warners is obviously keen to sell the idea that downloadable games can carry the same quality as their boxed brethren.

Episodic releases of content, for Warners, represents a steady flow of income, compared to the high week one sales then inevitable plummet usually seen for film licenses at retail. Then, of course, there's a much higher profit margin when you cut out retail...

Watchmen is the ideal property to try it with, too. Its audience is typically Western males in their very late teens and upwards - a demographic that's mostly already online and tech-savvy enough to give a purely downloadable game a chance.

If Warner does feel like it's missed a few punters once all the episodes have come out, it can always bundle them up for a collected edition at retail.

In a similar move, Zen Studios is putting out an FPS using the license to Marvel's The Punisher as a download-only title on the PSN. Watch out, retail...

^{Source: MCV}