In a recent interview with Fortune, GameStop CEO Paul Raines said he isn’t worried about the future of digital gaming. In fact, Raines thinks the switch to digital gaming provides new opportunities for traditional brick-and-mortar game retailers.
“We have a pretty healthy digital business,” he said, “which includes downloadable content for PC and console games, full game downloads, Steam points cards and currencies, and casual games site Kongregate’s online and mobile games sales.”
To Raines, digital gaming is a profitable prospect.
“We see that as a $1 billion business this year.”
Despite his faith in the digital market, Raines doesn’t think more traditional styles of gaming will dissipate anytime soon.
“Disc based games will be around forever,” he told Fortune. “I see a complementary business where we sell discs plus download like the current console mode. Virtual reality games will also likely follow this model.”
Raines might be on to something. Over on the Pixel Dynamo forums, we’ve been discussing the merits of buying physical games vs. simply downloading them from the comfort of an online marketplace, and folks seem to be split down the middle. Some prefer the convenience of digital downloads, while others like to have an actual, physical representation of their purchased product.
And that’s to say nothing of the extensive and ever-growing retro market. Small mom-and-pop shops have been popping up all over the place, selling old games that used to be permanently banished to dusty flea markets and messy thrift stores. YouTubers and Let’s Players have inspired a resurgence in interest regarding old games, and that’s a market that GameStop currently doesn’t have any stake in.
Is there really a place for disc-based gaming in the future? Let us know what you think.
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