Digital distribution and the "games as a Fut 18 Coins service" model opens up freedom in pricing, but it also gives developers opportunities to connect with their audiences and take risks in ways that were never previously possible, says Valve's business development director Jason Holtman -- the traditional methods of post-release support are merely one option."
Everybody knows that the entertainment industry is fundamentally changing these days, and it's changing because everyone is connecting, and they're becoming connected because of the internet and the open PC platform," Holtman said during a Montreal International Game Summit keynote this week.Valve has been learning new lessons about that model
For years, and those lessons have driven the company to attempt increasingly experimental and off-the-cuff promotions, updates, and adjustments to their games. "We learned this from Counter-Strike. We learned this from Team Fortress 2," he said.Now, Valve's games see nearly-constant updates and price adjustments over unusually long periods of time, in an industry where retail shelf life is notoriously low.
This is particularly true of 2007's Team Fortress 2, whose stylized look and inherently bombastic tone and gameplay make it a prime candidate for wackier experiments. And since the company doesn't need to worry about shipping individual updates at retail, or dealing with onerous certification requirements, it can iterate and experiment at an extremely high pace. "If you talk to Buy FUT Coins the game's development leads," commented
