The practice of distributing video games as physical objects had a good run. Really, it was a nice idea while it lasted. But the best option we had for getting games into our houses for a good long while is just not going to last.

Don't take my word for it. That's the opinion of none other than EA Games Label President Frank Gibeau. He told GamesIndustry International point-blank that EA is "going to be a 100 percent digital company, period. It's going to be there some day. It's inevitable."

Gibeau was careful not to badmouth EA's "great partners" in the retail industry and clarified that it will continue to offer games "in whatever media formats make sense" as the industry makes its slow transition. But he also pointed out that digital delivery is by far the fastest growing portion of EA's business, with revenues increasing 47 percent to $1.2 billion in the last fiscal year. That's still only about a quarter of EA's total business, but if those growth rates keep up, this won't be the case for long.

"The ultimate relationship is the connection that we have with the gamer," Gibeau said. "If the gamer wants to get the game through a digital download and that's the best way for them to get it, that's what we're going to do."

Outside of EA, there is increasing evidence that gamers are warming up to the idea of buying games with no physical component. While a recent NPD survey found only a 35 percent minority of US game buyers prefer to purchase and download their games digitally, that ratio is up ten percentage points since from just a year ago. And while purely digital games already make up the majority of PC gaming revenues, the game industry as a whole seems poised to follow very soon. Another NPD report shows that new retail game sales across the US game industry fell about 25 percent in the first quarter of 2012, to $1.5 billion. Digital revenues, meanwhile, grew roughly ten percent in the same time, to $1.38 billion.

It all adds up to a transition away from retail games that's not a matter of if, but when. Gibeau wasn't willing to commit to anything more concrete than "at some point in the future," and console makers like Sony don't seem to think it will be happening too soon. But don't be surprised if, ten years from now, we look back with wonder at the days when you had to leave the house to buy a game. The only people appreciating games on discs then would be the equivalent of today's vinyl record-obsessed hipsters.