Writer, Agilist, Elder Geek
As I've noted a few times I'm pretty much only playing Dragon Quest IX game-wise. It's a great, deep, addictive, and just plain fun RPG with a lot to do, plenty of character, and some great challenges.
It's also got a very interesting amount of Downloadable Content.
You ever get a magazine subscription – and sometimes read it? You still renew it you know . . . just in case.
Or maybe you get comics in a pull at a comic store. You buy them, and might even read them.
Or a book club.
Or . . .
Well you get the idea. We all have experience with subscriptions one way or another. However in an age of eMedia, DLC games, and the iPad-ness, think about what kind of subscriptions you're going to see.
I think we're going to see a lot more subscriptions in the future. Your business models, your publishing models, and your estimates on profitability are going to need to keep this in mind. If you're writer, an ePublisher, a game developer, this will be a factor.
I was thinking about electronic distribution – indeed, not a surprise for any of our long-term readers. However among my usual speculations, it struck me that electronic distribution is changing cover art.
Think of how used we are to cover art. It's on our albums, it's on our books, it's on our games – and also in advertisements for those products. It's omnipresent and at times surprisingly impressive (paging Boris Vallejo and Michael Whelan).
Only now, with electronic products, things are changing.