It's often claimed that there's no place in the modern games industry for brick-and-mortar retailers. The truth, I suspect, is that there's no place in the modern games industry for brick-and-mortar retailers like venerable UK giant HMV, which joined Zavvi, Blockbuster, Comet and Woolworths on the autopsy slab earlier this week. Many of the criticisms levelled at the high street are actually the work of a select committee of ageing titans, too ponderous or obstinate to respond effectively to the growth of digital retail and the corrosive power of supermarkets.
But HMV's sins aren't those of physical retail across the board. The high street may be losing ground rapidly to digital storefronts, but however ardently Amazon's advocates pimp the relative cheapness and convenience of buying online, the existence of firms like HMV serves an important purpose. For starters, let's not over-estimate the scale of the damage - physical sales still account for a sizeable share of new games purchases, despite notable declines, and the sector is likely to see a dramatic resurgence when next generation consoles arrive this year.
A significant proportion of consumers have yet to see the point of ordering online. Another, equally significant proportion of core enthusiasts are in love with the notion of a game in a box - a love reinforced by the sadly escalating popularity of draconian digital rights management schemes and anti-pre-owned measures. Even if you don't buy anything from GAME and its ilk, the presence of whole stretches of storefront dedicated to Call of Duty or Skylanders is great for the industry's public profile, insensibly boosting purchases across the board.
Microsoft clearly holds the high street in some regard, for all the talk of transforming "Xbox" into a service brand. During the unveiling of the new Lift London studio, dedicated to the development of cloud games for tablets, consoles, PCs and phones, corporate vice president Phil Harrison was careful to assure retail partners of their on-going significance. Under Harrison's model, boxed games remain a vital point of origin for digital, feeding into a five-year ecosystem of downloadable or cloud-based offerings. "The shift is from packaged goods to connected products," he said. "We will continue to support retail with our products, for sure. But we are going to keep creating features that are enhanced and improved by the network."
13 comments so far...
Gazisdaman on 16 Jan '13 said:
I pretty much never order online, unless I can then instantly download the game and seeing as how xbox's marketplace is so bad that means I'm pretty much buying all of my xbox games from the shop, the main one I frequented was HMV, so yeah sucks for me.
CunningSmile on 16 Jan '13 said:
Interesting freudian slip there Edwin
There's a really interesting article on the BBC News site today from HMVs marketing guy for the last 25 years. He says that he stood up ten years ago to warn about digital downloads and online retailers and was told by the MD that digital was a "fad" and no one would buy music online because the atmosphere was too important to buying music. The MD after that still refused to expand online but instead decided to start selling electrics since several noted retailers of those products had recently gone bust and HMV could steal their market (I fail to see the logic in stealling customers from a company that has just gone bust because they had no customers myself) so I think Ed makes a good point about obstinate old men who can't move with the times, but unfortunately very few of the high street stores at the moment are any different when it comes to their top people.
I think there is a future for bricks and mortar alongside the digital age but I don't think it's with any of the firms we currently know. I think newer shops set up and run by young entreprueners will start to fill the vacum, and I really hope they don't expand too rapidly, run out of liquid cash and go bust like Fopp did a few years ago.
OXM ETboy on 16 Jan '13 said:
Hah!
/edits
FishyGinger on 16 Jan '13 said:
Dyson would be rolling in his f**king grave is he read that. And if he were dead.
I'm not sure I can see much of a future unless these stores sell a range of things, which essentially means becoming supermarkets almost. Clothes, electronics and the more physical things yes but games and music, not so much. I'd love to be wrong but for games especially see on these and other forums how many people look for bargains and the like.
It's already a sad state, clothes shops fine but how many mobile phone stores do we need. One for every coffee shop it seems.
msbhvn on 16 Jan '13 said:
Retail shopping needs to be more exciting to survive. They need to provide services that you don't get online to offset being unable to compete price-wise. The store needs to be clean and inviting, with staff that are visible, but don't jump on you asking if you need help ten seconds after you walk in. Staff need to know what they're talking about and not give you the hard sell for worthless warranty/insurance packages. If a customer walks out feeling like they've been ripped off, they're not likely to come back, are they?
Jabraham on 16 Jan '13 said:
Why dont they do one of the preorder DLC package things for like the first week or so if they go in store or something to that extent
Drainwater on 17 Jan '13 said:
I do all of my console game buying in brick and mortar stores, but I am beginning to lean away from it for a couple of reasons. I live in an area where gaming, while popular, isn't a big business for the locals. That means I have Wal-Mart or Gamestop to choose from unless I make a trip near St. Louis, then good game stores are all around. But anyway, of my two convenient choices, Wal-Mart seems to be ever so slowly phasing out their stock in games. They have all the super hyped titles of course, but more and more they don't have titles I would think could turn a profit. Titles such as Dishonored or Sleeping Dogs. So I still have my fallback Gamestop. The problem with Gamestop is the workers. I don't know if aggressive desperation is something they teach them to rely on or just something they (all) picked up but I almost have to argue with them not to put me down for pre-orders I don't want. They always have any recent or current gen titles I might be looking for, but actually completing the purchase and getting out the door is a hassle most of the time. No, I don't want to pre-order the South Park RPG. Yes I could have pre-ordered Dishonored and gotten some card deck, but why would I want to? Just because something is free doesn't mean I want it. Ah sorry for the vent, I made myself frustrated just talking about it. The point is, I love the idea of Brick and Mortar game stores but the execution is what might drive me from them.
SidTheSloth on 17 Jan '13 said:
I think that's a point quite a lot of people on here would agree with...
My poor impulse & self control issues should mean i'm like a kid in a sweet shop every time i walk into a game/music store, but 99% of the time i walk out empty handed and just find the experience beyond frustrating. I WANT to buy something, but an extra fiver on every game, plus the extra on music/dvd's i'd pay from buying my stuff in stores could buy me a new xbox each year, or at least a few extra games.
So many gamers across so many forums saying the same thing, can't help but wonder what the market research teams for these companies are doing?
On the subject of Blockbuster/DVD rentals, i feared for them a while ago. There's something still quite cool about dropping in on a saturday and picking up a film to watch that night, but with DVD's being so cheap now and things such as Lovefilm then they were always going to be up against it. Sad but true...
CunningSmile on 17 Jan '13 said:
@ Drainwater
I'm guessing from the place names that you're a cousin from across the pond? Hello. This article has been prompted by the high profile bankruptcies of several major UK stores that traditionally provided a lot of the game retailing over here, so I was wondering if there had been anything similar in the States? You mention Wal-mart reducing it's range, and we've seen a few of our supermarkets doing similar, but Game going bust here would be the equivalent of Gamestop in the US so anything like that?
Sorry for the cross examination but I'm curious.
FishyGinger on 17 Jan '13 said:
He's tri-curious.
cade360 on 17 Jan '13 said:
HMV is megaly (I know it isn't a word :p) over priced for games
Drainwater on 17 Jan '13 said:
Most of the nationwide game retailers over here were actually bought out by Gamestop, or at least many of their locations were within the last 5-10 years. I can't say it's the only one left, but it's certainly the top dog at least where I travel. We also have plenty of non-franchise local brands wherever you look. Each decent sized urban area has at least one, and most of the locals will never have heard of any other game store beyond their local brand and Gamestop. So we didn't really notice a reduction or many major bankruptcies of game retailers so much as one conquering the others.
CAP198462 on 18 Jan '13 said:
I prefer brick and mortar stores over digital downloads as well, guess it's my loss.