Video Gamestop Case

Words: 1025
Pages: 5

When mentioning billion dollar industries, many automatically direct their train of thought to the airline, automobile, or movie industry. Few will consider the scale of the video gaming industry, regarding it as childish or mindless entertainment. Yet in 2013, the video game industry generated $21 billion alone in the United States (cox). GameStop (NYSE: GME) is one of the leading retailers in this ever-growing industry, thanks to its innovative marketing strategies and dedication to customer satisfaction. However with the rise in popularity of PC gaming and digital distribution, GameStop is now faced with new competition-one that deeply affects revenue and the success of the company. With over 711 million PC gamers in the world, I propose …show more content…
With the dawn of the digital age, the use for physical discs slowly declined as digital distribution rose. Figure 1 below illustrates how just in the past few years digital format has increased its footing in game sales. What was once a 20% stake in the market has
Figure 1 (Source:) now doubled in a matter of three years. Increasing at such an alarming rate, we can expect digital distribution to become the majority within the next 5 years. Distributing digital media is considerably cheaper because the costs associated with discs, production, distribution, and shelf space are now irrelevant. Gamers can download games and content directly to their PC from the comfort of their home. Easy access and convenience are the driving forces of digital distribution; why spend more purchasing a game at the store when the equivalent can be purchased online for cheaper?

GameStop’s identity is focused around its promise to deliver customer satisfaction through knowledgeable employees at their B&M locations. One could say the company is becoming myopic, too fixated on selling physical console games that they neglected to realize PC gaming is the future. Digital distribution has made its mark, with online and PC gaming increasing while console gaming is on a downward fall. Figure 2 below breaks down the multiple sectors of video games by
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You cannot resell a digital copy of a game, and used game sales account for a large portion of GameStop’s profit. Profit from new games is more reliant on high sales volume whereas used games generate more marginal profit. If GameStop shifts their efforts over to PC digital distribution, this could be problematic as they lose traction from used game sales. As a result, pursuing digital distribution seems counterintuitive if it affects their greatest revenue generator. To mitigate this revenue loss, I propose that GameStop create their own system of PC digital distribution. PC gaming is overtaking console gaming because of how affordable computers have become and the greater value they provide. It is time for GameStop to shift their efforts in order to please the