GameStop: Games’ digital distribution not a threat

A lot of people are predicting a rather doomsday-ish scenario for the plight of the games’ retail industry in the rise of the DL format. While many are saying that game discs will eventually bow down to their downloadable counterparts, GameStop is keeping calm, and is, in fact, of the belief that the DL format is no threat to retail business such as theirs.

A lot of people are predicting a rather doomsday-ish scenario for the plight of the retail industry in the rise of the DL format. While many are saying that game disks will eventually bow down to their downloadable counterparts, GameStop is keeping calm, and is, in fact, of the belief that the DL format is no threat to retail business such as theirs.

Says Tony Bartel, VP for GameStop,

Actually we really don’t see it as a threat. When you talk about a threat, we actually see a couple of things. First of all, when you look at the digital download space, 95 percent of the games taht are downloaded today are on the PC side, the majority of which are casual. About 2 percent of the entire console market is downloaded today, and that’s a growing rate that’s slightly less than the actual boxed product on video games. So the console market really today consists of what we call microtransactions, where you add the extra maps, where you add the extra pieces. So there’s very little of the full game downloaded that is actually taking place on the console side.

And according to him, what’s gonna keep them afloat and distinct from these downloadables are the manpower they have in the store. Yes, it’s thanks to their helpful staff that the convenience of DL games will be no match to retail ones.

What we see is that the games are incredibly complex, and with the complexity – and espe

cially with the investment that they actually have as well both in terms of time and money – we actually see that there is an increased need for someone to explain the game.

What do you guys think? Will it be any time soon that you prefer to get your games online, or do you think dragging yourself away from the computer for a good ol’ walk under the sun to GameStop is still a huge hit?

• Downloads in, Blu-ray out in the near future
  
• Downloads to replace traditional media within 10 years?
• Microsoft official reflects on digital distribution

Via Gamespot