GameStop Is Still Important To Microsoft, Will Sell Xbox Game Pass Memberships

Microsoft confirms a partnership with the retailer.

After Microsoft announced a new Xbox One digital game subscription service yesterday, retailer GameStop's stock value tanked, dropping by 8 percent. Now, Microsoft has confirmed that it is working with the store to offer Xbox Game Pass to shoppers, presumably in the form of prepaid subscription cards. GameStop already sells prepaid Xbox Live cards, and others from different companies.

"We've been extremely happy with the response to yesterday's announcement of Xbox Game Pass," Xbox marketing executive Mike Nichols told BusinessInsider. "We also know that our fans look for a variety of ways to purchase and try games and services, and I'm happy to announce that we are working with retail partners, such as GameStop, on offering Xbox Game Pass to their customers. We'll have more details to share in the future."

Xbox Game Pass ($15/month) is theoretically a threat to GameStop in that it provides access to an ever-updating catalog of digital games that subscribers never actually own and thus cannot trade in. The popularity of the service will likely depend on the quality of the offerings. There will be 100-plus Xbox One games and backwards-compatible Xbox 360 games from a number of genres in the library.

There are more than 10 confirmed titles already, including Halo 5, Fable III, and Payday 2--you can see all the confirmed games so far here.

GameStop's shares have rebounded slightly today following yesterday's dropoff.

GameStop shares also took a hit more than two years ago when EA announced its EA Access subscription service, which is very similar in nature to Xbox Game Pass. While brick-and-mortar retailers like GameStop are still important to Microsoft and others, the digital sector is definitely on the rise.

GameStop is preparing for a more digital-centric future. By 2019, GameStop is expecting 50 percent of its total revenue to come from non-physical sources.

A beta version of Xbox Game Pass is currently available on Xbox One for testers; the service is expected to launch for all Xbox One owners this spring, though a specific date has not been announced.

Xbox Game Pass does not impact the Games With Gold program, while we've also learned that memberships will only be sold on a monthly basis.

http://www.gamespot.com/articles/gamestop-is-still-important-to-microsoft-will-sell/1100-6448330/

I'm sure the same strategies were floating around in the corporate offices of Blockbuster around the end of its era, which you saw when they pushed services like Blockbuster Total Access. I can imagine their executives thought they had the time to adapt, not knowing how quickly everyone was about to shift to streaming and on-demand.

Obviously the games market is different, and there is a deeper foothold of collectors that makes up a larger percentage of the total amount of console gamers out there that will always want physical games, and the comparison is also between retail and rental stores, but the days of Gamestop's core business is numbered, and its yet to be seen if they can truly adapt. They cannot exist in an age when the only product to sell is a console, and everything else is exclusive to digital storefronts. Nobody is going to drive to a Gamestop to buy download and subscription codes. This is a desperate company, and all of their strategies and behavior serves to prove that.

So it's assisted suicide?

Does anyone go to walmart to buy a netflix subscription? I dont think so! GOODBYE GAMESTOP!

The push some gamers have to get rid of GameStop is really sad. Advocating for it disappearing for stuff like, "ew the staff asked me a question wen i was tryin 2 buy my limited edition copy of ride to hell retrinution!!! ugh i hope they go awayyy" and similar stupid bullshit. I think the company has another 5-15 years left.

Not to mention, it's not like GameStop is beyond redemption. It has the capacity to improve itself and adjust accordingly. In that context, everyone wins but of course, it all depends on what GameStop will do.

Bingo. I don't get people getting annoyed by a question.

Here's my issue a lot of people don't seem to fucking get through their thick skulls. If Gamestop goes anyway, a lot of communities will not have access to games. At least not easy access. For example, I had an ex who lived near the middle of nowhere in California. There wasn't a big city within 2hrs of where she lived. Sure, there was a Walmart (neighborhood Walmart, btw people), and a few groceries stores here and there. But the only game store within 2hrs of where she lived, was GameStop. She was remote enough that she actually didn't get mail at her house, it was delivered elsewhere due to wherever the hell it was she lived in the desert. So even if she wanted to order online she'd have to go an hour out of her area to her aunt's to get her mail so for some people, GameStop IS important. Not everyone has free access to 10 local mom&pop game stores

Was anyone here advocating for the death of gamestop? It seemed like the point was that its death is inevitable and that Xbox's latest strategy seems to be an added mile in the journey to what will ultimately be a nearly exclusively digital future.

Personally I'm holding on to my ability to buy physical games with every fiber of my being, and if GameStop were to go away (even though, thanks to amazon prime I have no reason to shop there), we'd probably see the walls protecting retail stores from being undercut by digital storefronts completely erode and the next consoles would likely not even support physical media. But just because GS is the last bastion of defense for physical games, at least in the US, doesn't mean it's a secure business. And they WILL have to change drastically or be lost to time.

Isn't another option for her downloading her games?

If she has a data cap playing games will be a hassle anyway due to practically every game having massive day one patches and gbs of patches throughout.