Featured Interview with Xsolla

The global pandemic and physical distancing have disrupted distribution chains for all industries, including media. What does this mean as we settle into a new normal, where physical distancing directly impacts the brick and mortar middlemen who traditionally connected consumers with content? Most of these middlemen were already operating on declining margins and relied on entertainment content as a loss leader for upselling more profitable goods. Now that nature has forced consumers to fully adopt digital consumption, will they ever return in enough volume to sustain a business model that was arguably already in its final act? What about content creators? The move to digital distribution requires an entirely new approach for success, including building and maintaining a stronger sense of community. The video game industry provides many cautionary tales of companies that didn’t fully appreciate what it took to successfully move from analog to digital distribution, opening the door for content creators to sell directly without the need for publishers. Will we see the same play out with linear media, or will a traditionally analog industry finally make the shift to the new digital norm?