Standing within a digital distribution market that’s both congested with competition yet years away from realising its full potential,‭ ‬it comes as no surprise that Metaboli has spent nearly seven years getting to the position it’s in today.‭

The Paris-based digital distribution business continues to grow in precise,‭ ‬measured steps.‭  ‬Days ago it had fully finalised its acquisition of Ted Turner’s sizable GameTap business,‭ ‬just weeks after striking a partnership deal with Microsoft’s MSN service.‭

We speak to Metaboli’s Vice President of Marketing and Product Jerome Gayet and Regional Business Director‭ ‬Paul Howes‭ ‬to discuss the next seven years for Metaboli,‭ ‬and the challenges it faces today.

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EDGE:‭ ‬Customers can either buy single games from Metaboli’s archive,‭ ‬or they can rent out all or part of the entire collection for a monthly subscription fee.‭ ‬Which is the more lucrative business right now‭?
Jerome Gayet:‭ ‬So far the margins are higher in the monthly subscription business.‭ ‬It’s a more lucrative service for us because each user will typically keep to their subscriptions for‭ ‬6-12‭ ‬months,‭ ‬though it’s harder to convince people to subscribe than it is to offer them a single game.‭


Is it tougher than ever to get consumers to commit to a subscription‭?
Gayet:‭ ‬Our subscription model is less linked with big releases.‭ ‬So,‭ ‬when for example Electronic Arts decided to postpone the launch of The Sims‭ ‬3,‭ ‬it obviously had a big impact on our projected sales for the download-to-own model in February.‭

Yet the delay had no real effect on the on-demand business,‭ ‬as we’re selling a catalogue here,‭ ‬of‭ ‬200-300‭ ‬games.‭ ‬A single big game does not sell our subscription packages.‭

In the current economic climate,‭ ‬the subscription model is going to face a bit more difficulty,‭ ‬because customers tend to be reluctant to take on new subscriptions to add to their other monthly outgoings.‭

Yet we feel that the system can particularly appeal to families who have more than one person enjoying games,‭ ‬because what is‭ ‬£6.95‭ ‬per month compared to all the games purchased during that month,‭ ‬for both the children and parents‭?


How have you approached the task of translating and advertising those sort of calculations to your target market‭?
Gayet:‭ ‬We haven’t done it enough so far.‭ ‬We mostly have advertised the number of titles we have and the quality of title we have to offer,‭ ‬but we really should be telling people that they can access a library with a combined value of‭ ‬£3,000‭ – ‬with no download limit‭ – ‬for a small monthly fee.‭ ‬In many cases that can be a saving.


Metaboli has completed the GameTap‭ ‬acquisition‭ ‬and is now fully responsible for the brand.‭ ‬What were the reasons behind buying the business‭?
Gayet:‭ ‬GameTap gives us access to the‭ ‬US market,‭ ‬and that makes it a fantastic opportunity for us.‭ ‬The service already has a solid subscription base,‭ ‬of around‭ ‬50,000‭ ‬customers.‭ ‬We also want to push the service forward,‭ ‬and we will be applying a download-to-own business on the site.


You plan to keep both GameTap and Metaboli as individual brands,‭ ‬does that mean neither will cross into the other’s territory‭?
Gayet: Actually,‭ ‬later this year we will begin pushing the GameTap brand into certain parts of‭ ‬Europe,‭ ‬because we think it is a strong enough brand.‭ ‬It will be a good internal competition,‭ ‬and as‭ ‬Europe is such a diverse market we feel that both brands will work better in appealing to the whole region.


Right now the market leader in digital distribution business is Valve.‭ ‬Its Steam service now has over‭ ‬20‭ ‬million user accounts,‭ ‬and a growing number of‭ ‬major‭ ‬publishers‭ – ‬such as EA‭ – ‬are‭ ‬offering their games through the platform.‭ ‬How can Metaboli’s download-to-own businesses distinguish‭ ‬themselves from the competition‭?
Gayet:‭ ‬We obviously strive to offer the best prices for single downloads,‭ ‬but we now negotiate exclusivity deals with publishers.‭ ‬We’re only just starting on this,‭ ‬but we aim to provide more and more exclusive games and add-ons for a period of time.


Paul Howes:‭ ‬We regard ourselves as a more mainstream service than Valve.‭ ‬Valve has come from a core gaming heritage,‭ ‬with a direct-to-consumer business model.‭ ‬The Metaboli proposition does go direct to the end user,‭ ‬but we also white label for over sixty partners in Europe‭; ‬companies such as BT,‭ ‬Virgin,‭ ‬Orange,‭ ‬GAME and Eurogamer.‭ ‬We’ve also just recently signed with MSN to host our service across key nations in‭ ‬Europe.‭

In other words‭; ‬we are taking the gaming business to a much broader audience.


Gayet:‭ ‬We are also focusing more on a broader audience.‭ ‬Later in the year we will be launching onto the‭ ‬UK market a‭ ‘‬Chillout‭’ ‬subscription package that will be targeted towards women,‭ ‬and children as well.‭ ‬This will be us offering over‭ ‬200‭ ‬games,‭ ‬some of which will be big,‭ ‬major casual titles,‭ ‬for our basic‭ ‬£6.95‭ ‬monthly subscription.


When it comes to exclusivity deals with publishers,‭ ‬are their any key titles that you could cite right now,‭ ‬or is this a strategy that you aim to develop down the road‭?
Howes:‭ ‬It’s something that we arelooking to in the future.‭ ‬There are examples of digital exclusives,‭ ‬EA just recently a C&C Uprising,‭ ‬which was available on Metaboli and a number of other digital distribution sources,‭ ‬but not available at the retailers.‭

We know that publishers are thinking about how they can add value to the digital distribution market,‭ ‬and we’re speaking to them on an ongoing basis about the advantages we can bring to them.‭


You mentioned the recent deal with MSN,‭ ‬what does Microsoft get from the deal‭?
Howes:‭ ‬Microsoft is very keen to offer its userbase a variety of services,‭ ‬and they already have a successful casual games portal and they were keen on offering a PC videogame service.‭


And‭ ‬the Metaboli service‭ ‬will be integrated with‭ ‬Games for Windows Live‭?
Howes:‭ ‬Yes,‭ ‬and we’re also talking to Microsoft about further Windows Live applications that could add value to its gaming service.‭