VAMatt said:
If GameStop can shrink their store count substantially, and evolve the business, I see no reason that they ever have to go away completely. Even ifphysical media production stopped today, there's still 40 years of retro software, and both modern and retro hardware, lifestyle products, and more for them to sell. The gaming business is huge. I think there will be room for specialized physical retail indefinitely. I don't know if GameStop is the right company long term, but they certainly dominate the biz right now. |
Sure, if they can survive without selling new physical games, they can survive indefinitely. I'd be curious to see the % of their profits coming from physical new games compared to everything else (merchandise, used games, digital download codes of new games, etc).
I just think the physical market will dwindle to almost non-existent in our lifetime, as digital is far more convenient (less weight to carry, redownload on different devices, games can't be stolen, etc). I say this as someone who, during the GC/Xbox/ps2 and Wii/ps3/360 era was STUBBORNLY opposed to digital games. When the 3ds/Wii U came out I started being open to the idea and now with the Switch after the first year I've bought everything digital basically. I have no intention of ever going back to physical. It is just a far simpler and more convenient way of gaming.
