CASUAL CONNECT EUROPE: 'Retail is watching us'

"If you sell your game for $1 as a special offer download on your website for one day, it's not just your customers that are watching," suggested Marazzani. "Walgreens, Best Buy, Tesco and others will see what you are doing, and then you'll struggle to sell a physical version for $20

"The point is this; don't do what you do to make your online guys happy. Do it to make your entire business happy. You need to think beyond online."

Marazzani was speaking in a panel session at Casual Connect Europe titled 'Confessions: Big Portals. Part 2'. The debate brought together key speakers from Shockwave and MTV Networks, RealGames, Reflexive and others, who all agreed that the downloadable games market still has plenty of potential, and that social gaming through networks like Facebook is an oppotunity rather than a threat.