With the next generation of consoles having all retail games be available digitally on Day 1, it’s going to take sales away from the retail market, something that is on the decline.
Surprisingly, Chris Early, Ubisoft’s Vice President of Digital Publishing, doesn’t think that retail stores are going anywhere, something he told GI.Biz:
The underlying question is, ‘Is retail going away?’ No. And maybe that’s funny coming from a digital guy, but I think retail’s a strong part of our industry and it will continue to be so. Over time, when it goes to 50-50 or maybe beyond, will some stores close? Probably, just like some record stores closed. Maybe the store experience will morph. Maybe you’ll see more of an Apple-type experience store where you’re able to do things, but I don’t think it’ll go completely away.
Early then continued by explaining why he thinks retail isn’t going away:
The physical store is a well-designed mechanism for discovery. You have expert help right there, a wide variety of products you can go through relatively quickly. That’s hard to do still on a console or a PC. There’s lots of content, but how do you easily discover what’s the best thing to do? We haven’t solved that.
Do you side with Early that discoverability is a big plus for retail? Or do you go into stores knowing exactly what you want? Let us know in the comments below.
