14 DAY TRIAL // On the one hand, we are pushing for bigger and bigger disks like the Blu-ray, designed to contain the ever increased gaming content developers pack into today's titles, on the other hand, companies say that digital distribution, aka pushing content through the Internet, will quickly become more important than the traditional distribution model.
But GameStop, arguably the biggest game store chain in the world, says that it's doing better than ever and that the future might bring good news for gamers. The retailer has posted record earnings for the second quarter of 2008 and it says that the future will be a lot brighter, even if the company is planning to put together special promotions for the Xbox 360 and for the PlayStation 3 which will be offered to buyers during the holiday season.
Sony recently announced the imminent release of a 160 GB gaming console which will use its increased hard drive capacity to become a "media hub". Microsoft also announced that it plans to bring more games to players via the Xbox Live service.
But GameStop says that the digital distribution push touted by both Microsoft and Sony, is not a real threat to the traditional business model of selling videogames in brick and mortar stores. Mr. DeMatteo, who is the Chief Operations Officer of GameStop, says that "We don't expect full distribution of new games to be a threat due to game size" and that the company expects to shift more game copies during this holiday season than ever.
GameStop also pointed out that even if the prices of the Xbox 360 and of the PlayStation 3 drop in the future, the Nintendo Wii is still the fastest selling console in the store. The game store chain is expecting supply issues to make it harder and harder to get the console as the holiday season nears.