Digital downloading is not a threat…yet
June 24, 2009 by srfto
Digital downloading is not a serious threat to your corner game store just yet. Citing a new internal study, GameStop estimates that serious digital distribution will not be viable until 2014. This shaves six years off of their previous estimate of 2020.
Their study suggests that only 25 percent of the gamer population today has the technology to download full software packages. Even after the technology becomes available to everyone, GameStop is counting that price and storage capacity will limit downloads and keep the brick and mortar locations in business.
Avind Bhati, an analyst for Sterne Agee, said that GameStop management believes in the peaceful co-existence of the digital download market and corner store expansion. Not only that, GameStop is actively seeking to capitalize on the downloading market growth.
Microsoft’s Xbox 360 and the new Sony PSP Go have already begun to capitalize with digital downloading. The 360 will soon unveil its Games on Demand service. This allows players to get some of their favorite games without having to leave the comfort of their big screen TV. The PSP Go completely does away with standard Universal Media Disk to which we have all grown accustomed.
Digital downloading is here to stay. According to their newest survey, so is your local neighborhood GameStop.
- Share
Related posts:
- Green Man Gaming: Digital Trade-In Service Coming Soon
- GameStop Moves into The Casual Digital Download Market
- Persona PSP to be Released Digital and Physical
- Amazon’s Kindle Refund Policy Shows Giant Flaw in Video Game Digital Distribution
- Sony’s PSP Digital Reader & PSP Mini Store Video at GamesCom ‘09
