Here Today Gone Tomorrow

People have been talking about digital distribution for as long as I can remember. The idea of removing the physical distribution and only sending the Bytes is extremely appealing. This will not only remove the cost of making CDs, boxes and paper manuals but also the distribution which has a negative impact on the environment and the problem of a lack of shelf space which has a negative impact on profit.

We’re now starting to see digital distribution really take off. iTunes has shown the success of such a model with music and we’re just starting to see PC games and videos follow along the same lines. An important point to flag here is that these forms of entertainment are all available to buy in a physical form i.e. you can still go into a shop and buy the CD/DVD if you want.

The question is what happens when something becomes completely digital, when there’s no other way of getting hold of the product other than to download it? Mobile is the first content that has no physical presence and yet there’s no long term industry strategy for keeping mobile games. This opens up the issue of history, there’s no way of going back to the original version of games unless they’re kept. The interesting fact is that like the content itself, the museum will also become digital. There’s little point in providing a physical presence for what is a purely digital experience.

The digital museum seems the fitting place to put this content. There’s an attempt already in progress and it's vital that this is done soon. Often no one cares about products until it’s too late. The history of mobile may seem irrelevant at the moment but in 10 or 20 years people will look back at a birth of an industry in the same way we look at the birth of TV, cinema or the traditional games industry.

As games become purely digital and with more MMORPG games they will exist in a very fragile state. Switch off the server and the world will be gone. Like a dream, we will lose these places and experiences. Some people may not see this as important but in future generations the history & archeology of digital content and experiences will become as important as the digging up of roman ruins is today.

Mobile is at the start of a revolution, if the future is purely digital we need to look at ways of capturing the present for future generations before they disappear into the ether never to be seen again.