Consumers still ”overwhelmingly prefer” physical game copies over digital says GAME. They will be ”bold in preparing for” the ‘download revolution’.
”It is easy to overstate the magnitude and speed of that change – consumers still overwhelmingly prefer to buy video games as physical boxed product and the view of our industry is that this is likely to remain the case for some time,” said GAME chief executive Ian Shepherd. The GAME Group will close 85 UK stores by 2013.
”As Sony Computer Entertainment CEO Kaz Hirai recently said, ‘To think everything will be downloaded in two years, three years or even ten years from now is taking it a little bit to the extreme’.” Kaz Hirai admitted the PSPgo was a ‘failure’ going digital-only.
”However, even as we are cautious about the speed with which the ‘download revolution’ will happen, we must be bold in preparing for it,” Shepherd added.
”GAME has made investments this year in a wide range of new technologies including mobile apps, digital downloading on the web and even a presence directly in the ‘virtual malls’ on consoles themselves.”
”Fundamentally, we believe that the strength of our customer relationships and our brand position as an expert and trusted retailer give us strength in those emerging channels and our investment in them will continue.”
4 percent does seem incredibly low a figure and perhaps hasn’t taken into account full sales figures from the likes of major digital distribution platforms yet. This is set to change soon enough as GfK Chart-Track will be pooling all digital stats together.
