Here's the skinny, and like skinny people there's not much meat to this. But try to sink your teeth in.
While at work the other day, selling electronics in a blue shirt, a director (regional, district, marketing, I dunno, something that would sound impressive you were able to tell a girl's dad you did it for a living) for GameStop came into my store to buy a TV. As he was a friendly guy, I ended up talking with him. In a moment that completely and utterly shocked absolutely no one, we were talking video games.
Towards the end of the conversation, since we both worked in retail, I asked him "How have direct download services, like Steam, impacted your store performance?"
He almost replied immediately, but instead glanced away, glanced back, and smiled a big, PR-type press conference smile.
"It won't impact us for long."
Complete with a literal wink wink. It must be noted that spectators were slightly disappointed in the lack of nudge nudge.
In all seriousness, I definitely got the impression that he was letting me know something but deliberately not saying anything that would get his ass fired. Not that I felt that I was getting any inside scoop or anything, just that he couldn't comment on specifics but there was definitely something in place that would be available soon that would somehow deal with an implicitly acknowledged loss in revenue due to direct download services.
Any thoughts from anyone on what form this might take? GameStop already has a pretty good system for managing pre-order logistics and supply, so I'm assuming that any direct download deal they might offer will simply be a "buy it and get it" service rather then something that incorporates a matchmaking or community service like many Steam games do.
***Edit: This post would be epic facepalm for me if this were common knowledge already. Mostly because I've spent the past two days wondering what the heck that guy's Smirky McGrinalot face was trying to tell me.
While at work the other day, selling electronics in a blue shirt, a director (regional, district, marketing, I dunno, something that would sound impressive you were able to tell a girl's dad you did it for a living) for GameStop came into my store to buy a TV. As he was a friendly guy, I ended up talking with him. In a moment that completely and utterly shocked absolutely no one, we were talking video games.
Towards the end of the conversation, since we both worked in retail, I asked him "How have direct download services, like Steam, impacted your store performance?"
He almost replied immediately, but instead glanced away, glanced back, and smiled a big, PR-type press conference smile.
"It won't impact us for long."
Complete with a literal wink wink. It must be noted that spectators were slightly disappointed in the lack of nudge nudge.
In all seriousness, I definitely got the impression that he was letting me know something but deliberately not saying anything that would get his ass fired. Not that I felt that I was getting any inside scoop or anything, just that he couldn't comment on specifics but there was definitely something in place that would be available soon that would somehow deal with an implicitly acknowledged loss in revenue due to direct download services.
Any thoughts from anyone on what form this might take? GameStop already has a pretty good system for managing pre-order logistics and supply, so I'm assuming that any direct download deal they might offer will simply be a "buy it and get it" service rather then something that incorporates a matchmaking or community service like many Steam games do.
***Edit: This post would be epic facepalm for me if this were common knowledge already. Mostly because I've spent the past two days wondering what the heck that guy's Smirky McGrinalot face was trying to tell me.
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