Marvel Universe dev emphasises gaming's transition to service model

Don't underestimate gaming's shift to a service-based business model, warns Dan Fiden, VP of publishing at Marvel Universe and Fortune Online developer Gazillion Entertainment.

"The industry is in the middle of a shift from one oriented around product development into one oriented around service operations. In my opinion, the significance of this simply cannot be overstated," Fiden told Gamasutra.

"The companies that will be most successful in the coming years will not be the ones who can figure out how to sell the same games they packaged up for Walmart in 2005 on Steam in 2011.

Fiden commented that publishers need to see distribution and monetisation as core design tenets, erasing the divide between creative and business team members.

"The successful companies will understand how to ship early, they know what data to collect and how to act on it, and they'll be able to move fast," he added.

"Game studios and publishers traditionally work very similarly to movie or TV studios. Now they need work like web service companies. It's a tremendous shift."