GameStop Up for sale, End of Retail Game Shops?

The US Gaming retail giant, GameStop, is up for sale.  We may indeed be looking at the beginning of the End of Retail Game Shops.  Read more inside.

This is hand on heart sad news for gamers who’ve been buying games the “Ol’ fashioned way”.  GameStop has been in the retail gaming business for many years now.  But news has come out the company is in talks of a buyout sale.  It seems the retailer may have been running on fumes and is now up for sale.  With a huge retail giant like GameStop seemingly going out of business, could this spell the end of retail game shops as we know it?

Many factors could be contributing to the fall of GameStop.  I would guess that the rise of online stores and digital distribution has a lot to do with it.  GameStop’s been holding their own for a while, but their stock has been steadily declining over the years.  According to Bloomberg up to 22% this year.  I can’t help but feel that a lot of the other smaller retailers will also be facing the same fate.

The gaming market itself is a massive industry that makes billions of dollars annually.  It’s going head to head with the likes of Hollywood.  However, the gaming industry isn’t reliant on ticket sales or physical sales to make its money.  Games are sold digitally, via online retailers and other means.  With the rise of this form of businesses, it seems the old Brick and motor gaming stops will not become sustainable for much longer.  As more and more gamers are preferring buying games digitally rather than walking to a store to make their purchase.  Even SkyGamers itself has opted for a digital game store to curb some of the obstacles of an actual physical store.  We don’t have to worry about the logistics of getting a physical item from one place to another, our customers make their purchase and their digital game code is instantly sent to their mailbox.  From there you just download the game at your leisure.

Even though this seems to be a superior sales model for gaming, I can’t help but feel saddened.  Shopping malls will have massive gaming retail store holes to fill.  I foresee the days of grabbing a game on special at the local store, coming to a slow and painful end.