I don't know what leverage Gamestop would have to fight anything. They're foaming at the mouth for next gen to start and will take any boost in sales they can get, whether it be via the disc model PS5 or the digital version.
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Is anyone else expecting retailers to start fighting back against consoles like the PS5 Digital Edition?
- Thread starter SilverX
- Start date
Working retail (electronics at Target specifically,) there are some days where a vast majority of our departments sales come from gaming. And while the amount of money we make in profit may not seem like much (using the Switch as an example, we make ~$15 per console and ~$12 per $59.99 game,) the sheer amount of games we sell add up over the year. Publishers like Nintendo that can have multiple games push hundreds of units each are great business for us, and like you said, people often pick up something else while they're in the store. If we just sold digital consoles and accessories, we'd lose out.
I think that goes for all larger stores like Walmart. They aren't living on game sales.
They make more on accessories and headsets than they do games, iirc. Then you go into any big retailer and see a big pile of clearances games and know their not making money at all.
Smaller retailers that focus on physical media, like games, are in trouble no matter what.. it's unavoidable. The struggle to adapt is real. The big retailers will just use these console launches as draws to their store and sell you digital cards. They don't make jack shit on PC games but still sell desktops and laptops and accessories...
I'm struggling to see how moving into the digital age is a PS5 specific issue to begin with, but hey.. here we are lol.
If Gamestop dares to say they won't sell the PS5D and XSS, they will just die a quicker death, those are the two options they have.
$12 a game is actually more than I thought. Thanks for the reply, good to get the retail perspective
OP
OP
Right, it makes up an important part of their business. I don't understand how people think that these major corporations can just let that revenue continue to diminish and just forget about game sales when they constantly have to maximize their profit and top expectations each quarter. I can't imagine anyone but Amazon being able to patch up the loss they'd see from a massive decline in physical game sales next gen.
And? This is assuming that PS5 owners will continue to buy physical only with the other SKU. Some people will still be mainly digital and have the disc version for previous PS4 collections they still have. Others will digitally purchase that game they "just HAVE to" play as soon as it releases at midnight.
Even if the PS5 had no DE, digital sales would continue to grow.
I will always think that giving away the OPTION to play disc games or blurays for 100$, even if most media consumption is digital, makes no sense.
This community has this weird push for physical to die but that will never really happen.
My prediction is that disc version will always sell more than DE.
This community has this weird push for physical to die but that will never really happen.
My prediction is that disc version will always sell more than DE.
I don't want physical to die and understand why it's important and good but I know I will literally never buy a physical game to play again so it's an easy decision for me.
I'm not sure I follow. If fewer and fewer people are buying physical copies of games, they will become increasingly niche products over the course of this gen, right? The digital consoles just give that transition a head start. Over time, wouldn't that cause discounts to shrink because retailers are using inventory space for slow-selling products? Just look at blu-ray movies as a comparison. Even older movies are still going for $25-30 new
Canadian Disk to Digital ratios:
It's probably not 1% bad. And honestly, that's probably Sony choosing to ship fewer of them to start due to the significantly larger(+$80) loss per console they are taking on it, not retailers refusing to stock it.
GameStop Confirms It Will Sell The All-Digital PS5 And Xbox Series S
"The fact that GameStop is stocking the digital PS5 and Xbox Series consoles at all is noteworthy given that the retailer bristled at the Xbox One S All-Digital Edition. The company did not stock the console for a period of time before relenting and opting to sell it. A significant part of GameStop's business relies on physical media, and specifically trade-ins, and these do not exist in a digital landscape, which in theory could hurt the company's bottom line."
GameStop Confirms It Will Sell The All-Digital PS5 And Xbox Series S
The retailer previously refused to stock the Xbox One S All-Digital Edition, but things are different now.
www.gamespot.com
They'll absolutely order less and will try to smooth talk you into the discdrive version if you're going in there with the digital version in mind, yes.
Well retailers can still sell game codes, PSN credit and PS+ codes. So its not like a digital sale will be entirely lost potential revenue from them. I think if Sony wants to go digital they definitely should consider letting retailers sell codes for at least all first party games.
There's a secondary market beyond game stores... playing a game generally costs me $10-20 Canadian. Hardly "pennies on the dollar". I'll play a game digital or physical depending on price, but I'll focus more on other hobbies before I pay day one prices for years old games on a regular basis.
Just looking at my PS4 usage, I never bought a physical game and the number of times we watched a movie on a disc since getting the system at launch is probably in the single digits. I don't foresee myself buying more physical PS5 games and we're exclusively streaming (bought or subscription) for movies & TV these days. Spending $100 for something that I'm unlikely to ever use on the off-chance that I might use it makes no sense.
Also (and this is pretty minor), I hate how easy it is to bump consoles and have them think you're hitting the eject button, turning the system on and then you have to try to make sure it gets turned off (but it doesn't want to unless you actually turn the TV on and switch to the right channel).
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Will they start fighting back against iPad? It has no physical games!
This has always been a dumb argument on it's surface.
Stores would carry ONLY consoles 100% of the time if it came down to that. A) they would make profit off them B) if the store down the street carries them, they have to or risk losing business.
But it'll never be ONLY consoles anyway, there'll always be a nice profitable accessory/digital cards business to go along with it. Go in a Wal Mart to the Xbox/PS/Switch section, it'll be loaded with turtle beach headsets, HDMI cables, extra controllers, and the like too.
This has always been a dumb argument on it's surface.
Stores would carry ONLY consoles 100% of the time if it came down to that. A) they would make profit off them B) if the store down the street carries them, they have to or risk losing business.
But it'll never be ONLY consoles anyway, there'll always be a nice profitable accessory/digital cards business to go along with it. Go in a Wal Mart to the Xbox/PS/Switch section, it'll be loaded with turtle beach headsets, HDMI cables, extra controllers, and the like too.
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OP
OP
Movies are a hard comparison because there are dozens of popular streaming services that have them available by the bulk. I don't think they have been a large part of any retailers business for ages now. It is hard to compete with tons of subscription services, but for games, they have to just compete against the digital stores.
What you are saying is when retailers have lost the battle against digital
This sounds like you either read only the title or don't understand the discussion at hand. You using the iPad as an example is the only thing thats dumb here since it is a multipurpose device with functions more important than gaming.
Glad I secured my digital edition from Amazon then if the allocation is as low as people are saying.
Really did not want to pay 100 for a drive I would never use.
Really did not want to pay 100 for a drive I would never use.
Honestly the cynic in me thinks they produced a ridiculously small number of the DE version to create overall demand and "force" people that cant get their hands on the DE into buying the RE
Not sure what "years old games" you're paying full price for digitally unless we're talking Nintendo, which is its own thing.
Games on both the Xbox and PlayStation digital shop frequently go on sale a few months after release for cheap.
Take Wolfenstein II, it wasn't even out two months and I bought it digitally for $30. Even first party games like Spider-Man eventually went for $10-$15 digitally.
Subscription models like All-Access could be something retail can explore like they do with phones. They are not selling iPhones to the mass outright but instead, they sell plans.
For specialty stores it's going to be tough, we already saw Gamespot's continued fall but there's a floor they can hit because there will always be people that like to go with physical games and trade-in. There are not many ways they can fight back except to downscale.
I bet the stock is skewed towards the disc version. This notion that retailers are not sticking the digital ones to "fight back" is stupid. A sale is a sale. Your not guaranteed any further sales from anyone anyways so not taking that money is just money lost.
Ok I admit your OP is in a little different vein, but this quoted has nothing to do with anything. It's not like you can ONLY game on consoles either. You can youtube on a Switch etc. But it doesn't matter. An electronic device is an electronic device for store purposes, what do they care what it does? Should they stock more laptops than iPads since the latter are more versatile with a keyboard? Or phones since they can emergency dial 911?
An even better example might be iPods. Stores should have really not wanted to stock those since they were a direct assault on physical CD's.
I dont think there is much retail can do. The swing to digital is already over half completed. The physical games section at stores is already looking a littler slim. It'll just be a slow inexorable thing.
The $50 WM thing is a thing, but IIRC it was sometimes spotty in implementation (not all new games were 49.99). And it's still probably worth the extra 10 for digital convenience.
The digital vs discs advantages has been hashed out a thousand times anyway, IMO there's points on both sides. In the end digital is going to win though, and it's just an inexorable thing that retail cant stop (to get back to the OP).
Retail can hawk consoles, controllers, turtle beach headsets, digital currency cards, and the occasional physical game too for a few years.
Big Box stores are insulated against any one product. Now if a store was to specialize in games it might be a problem. Hmm, I wonder if there is such a chain...
Honestly I don't think so.
The most important thing for stores is to get people in the door.
The task for their staff is to up-sell the customer to make more of a profit.
The staff will probably be tasked with informing of the benefits of getting the disk drive version (movies, games trading, old ps4 discs working on the PS5 and UHD blue ray disk playback).
Just getting a customer to buy insurance for the console will probably margin wise bump up the profit.
When it comes to the Xbox all access I am betting that that gives more of a profit to the store than just selling the console full priced then and there.
I don't think it is a big issue for retailers except for maybe game centric ones like GameStop, and they don't have the muscle to put any pressure in Sony or Microsoft in my opinion.
The most important thing for stores is to get people in the door.
The task for their staff is to up-sell the customer to make more of a profit.
The staff will probably be tasked with informing of the benefits of getting the disk drive version (movies, games trading, old ps4 discs working on the PS5 and UHD blue ray disk playback).
Just getting a customer to buy insurance for the console will probably margin wise bump up the profit.
When it comes to the Xbox all access I am betting that that gives more of a profit to the store than just selling the console full priced then and there.
I don't think it is a big issue for retailers except for maybe game centric ones like GameStop, and they don't have the muscle to put any pressure in Sony or Microsoft in my opinion.
The shift to digital is happening whether Sony forces people or not, we've already seen the skyrocketing numbers year on year. From Sony's perspective a Physical Edition might work out better for them because the disc drive certainly isn't going to run them $100. The Digital Edition pricing gets heads turning in their direction and if it's out of stock the conversation in the consumer's head becomes whether $100 is that big of a deal.
But not as cheap as physical generally, and there are plenty of instances on PSN of pricing being ridiculous for the age of a game.
Not really.
Anyone who might try to push is probably the small gaming stores that are mostly dead and not really in a position to push. GameStop might like to but is in no position to turn down next-gen console sales given the crater their business is in. And the big-box chains don't give two shits.
Anyone who might try to push is probably the small gaming stores that are mostly dead and not really in a position to push. GameStop might like to but is in no position to turn down next-gen console sales given the crater their business is in. And the big-box chains don't give two shits.
I trust you have examples of a years old game on PS4 that's never had a significant digital sale? Because I'm not familiar with any. Am I buying that wrong PS4 games?
You're kinda talking past each other here.
Digital offers sales, so if you buy in the right window, you can get a comparable deal, but in-between those windows the prices are going to be higher.
Digital game sales tend to not drop standard price in ways that physical products do because stores want to clear inventory from their shelves. So, if it's just a random Tuesday and there's no active sale going, you probably have 4 and 5 year old games listed for basically full price. Look at, say, NBA 2K18 right now, selling on PSN for $60. If you walked into a Gamestop looking for NBA 2K18, they don't have it sitting on a shelf with a $60 price tag.
And in the case where somehow you did have that game sitting for $60 new on a Gamestop shelf, there's an option for buying it used that offers a lower price at any old time and not just during specific timed sales.
(Additional note, part of digital stores keeping those game prices higher is because of psychological incentives when you do put it on sale. Buy now, because it'll be a lot more expensive later, and also a game on sale for $20 seems like a better bargain if it's showing a 66% price reduction from $60 instead of a 50% price reduction from $40.)
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"Never had a sale". Did I say that? The inconvenience for me is in needing to pay attention to sales. With physical that isn't a requirement; if it's older, it's generally cheaper.
Doom Eternal is $50 Canadian on amazon right now. $80 on PSN. AC Odyssey $30 amazon, $80 PSN. That happens regularly. If you like digital, that's great. Like I said, I don't care as long as I'm playing games for cheap. I'll buy it digitally if it's on sale when I'm looking, but that generally isn't the case because I don't shop sales with the intent to build a backlog.
LudicrousSpeed has illustrated my line of thinking much more clearly than I was able to.
Ohhhhhhhhhh... when you said "plenty of instances on PSN of pricing being ridiculous for the age of a game." I interpreted that as a statement of time like "the age of dinosaurs" or "the entire time period this game has existed".
I suspect that most major retailers won't care. Specialty ones like Gamestop will probably limit orders of the PS5 DE as that appeals to the 3nthusiast crowd more than the Series S. I fully expect upselling and a greater push for for Series X and Disc PS5 from all retailers though.
