found a good reason why retail stores should fight back NOW!

[scorpion226]

found a link which I thought is interesting as well as the retail stores in Australia being eaten alive from within due to Digital Distribution companies this same problem is also happening in England Found this

http://www.gamesbrief.com/2010/11/wh...s-about-steam/

I don't think its a complete attack on steam but the link takes you to a post made by some one in England which I agree with the successes of steam and other digital distribution companies.

Taking money out of retail stores pockets, retail stores will eventually vanish if they don't fight back BUT what about the hardware we buy for our gaming systems if there is no retail stores left where can we buy additional consoles, PC gaming parts or hole PC's, controllers and other bits and pieces.

Yes there is online shops where you can buy hardware but what about those who like face to face contact buying I for one like face to face contact buying because i can see the product i am buying and have a better assessment of the product to see if it will work on the one of my gaming systems and have a better chance of a refund if the product does not work.
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[Martin Pham]

It is tough for retailers right now, especially last year in AUS where we’ve had a good run of the AUD/USD. However, as a consumer it does come down to price. When two products of the same brand and same type are being sold with differing margins on the basis where it actually is sold then chances are you’re going to go for the more cheaper option.

When we buy our games to evaluate we’ve always sought after the cheaper option. Even better when you receive games delivered for free, for example, from online stores with dependable reputation. For us, because we’re purchasing the same product that you’d normally see in physical stores (EB, GAME or JB HiFi) the first option is to see whether a physical product sold online would be cheaper. And, 10 times out of 10, it’s always been cheaper by at least 50%.

Personally, it’s not a case about Retailers needing to “fight back” but rather figure out a way to compete against the online market. It’s the same thing with Publishers and Piracy although that’s digressing a bit.

Best example is how AUS retailers price books, for example. Compare what you’d normally get from Angus and Robertson and then compare it with BookDepository. In fact, if you used a proxy and bought your books from BookDepository it would still be cheaper than if you went to the same website the conventional way. It’s one of the reasons why Borders and Angus and Robertsons have gone into administration – they didn’t adapt and fell back on the same reasons as to why they price their books so high.

I can understand if it’s higher-priced items (Cars, certain whitegoods, etc). For ‘disposables’ like Books, CD’s, DVDs and Games? The answer is clear when you’re opting to purchase those things.

[Lisa Pham]

Yes, I agree.

With the FACT of a lot of games going mainly Digitally Distributed, the retail stores will find themselves in a bind, but mainly for the PC games side of it. But it is a sad truth unless there is a turn around in companies attitudes and them turning back to always making sure they release physical copies. But until that happens, nothing will change in that either.

PC's and PC parts will always be available due to not only gaming needing high PC specs, some top quality editing programs also need them too, and PC's aren't going anywhere in a hurry.

Try to not worry too much... We are trying to encourage the gaming industry to not let it go that far. :)