Consoles Aren't Going Anywhere, Says GameStop

[Logan Westbrook]

Consoles Aren't Going Anywhere, Says GameStop

We won't all be gaming in the clouds for a while, says GameStop's president.

Despite increasing competition from mobile, social, and cloud gaming, GameStop president Tony Bartel thinks that consoles have plenty of life left in them, and will be the "gold standard" of gaming for a long while yet. Bartel said that people's relationship with consoles will change, but they won't be abandoning them just yet.

"People will begin to digitally download first a lot more downloadable content," he said. "Eventually, full games will become more relevant to some consumers who want to do that." Bartel thought that DLC revenues would increase from $3 billion right now, to $6.4 billion by 2014. He also said that streamed games, like the ones offered by Gaikai, OnLive, and soon GameStop itself, would continue to grow as internet speeds became faster and faster and people had access to more bandwidth. He didn't want to speculate about it too much however, preferring to focus on existing business models.

While GameStop is making inroads into providing more digital content, as a brick and mortar retailer, it is understandably keen on games consoles - and physical media in general - being around for a while. His predictions seem entirely plausible, and as long as GameStop manages to stay ahead of the change, then it could remain relevant even when pre-owned sales have been confined to the scrap heap.

Source: Industry Gamers [http://www.industrygamers.com/news/game-consoles-will-continue-to-be-gold-standard-says-gamestop/]



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[LittleMikey]

I agree. Now I have Steam, I hardly ever buy games for my consoles.

 

[Lucane]

I agree. Now I have Steam, I hardly ever buy games for my consoles.

Well I'm the opposite I only have 3 Steam games and 2 were free(I got it with Portal 2 >.>)
Plus it's a lot easier to buy games as gifts for consoles than on line if you don't use the service already like a grand parent buy the new Halo for Christmas for little Timmy.

 

[Ayjona]

Sometimes, it seems as if those prophesying the continued survival of traditional gaming do so more out of hope and a fervent wish than an an analysis of the state of the gaming industry, and the interplay between old and new gaming paradigms.

It can also sometimes seem like those prophecies originate mostly from those who have money riding on this survival ;-) Now, this might be for reasons of logic (such as people investing money into traditional forms of gaming because they truly believe in this market), but I can't help but to notice what sounds like a slight hint of desperation in many of the predictions... ;-)

 

[Kotaro]

While I personally prefer my games on PC, I will buy a game for a console if it's not on PC. But I know a lot of people (like my own brother) who are the other way around.
As long as the big developers and publishers are making and releasing for consoles, the consoles will probably stick around. Brick and mortar stores may not, but the consoles themselves will.

 

[MercurySteam]

Considering my 360 is my most played console, I sure hope they're here to stay for good.

 

[Heart of Darkness]

So we're stating the obvious now? Cool, let me try: water's wet, the sky's blue at high noon, and Scout hurts people.

Until we see a massive overhaul in worldwide Internet infrastructure, physical gaming isn't going anywhere--we simply do not have the capability to have everyone playing games on the cloud at the same time.

 

[Bacontastic]

*snort* they pretty much stopped selling pc games in general where I live so of course they are gonna say that consoles are going no where. Aw well *goes to steam* ooooo a sale

 

[Waaghpowa]

Cloud gaming sucks anyway, I'd rather have a new Playstation.

 

[MaxwellEdison]

Considering they sell consoles, I would expect that to be their hope.

 

[Waaghpowa]

*snort* they pretty much stopped selling pc games in general where I live so of course they are gonna say that consoles are going no where. Aw well *goes to steam* ooooo a sale

*cough* Witcher 2 on sale *cough*

 

[Ulquiorra4sama]

I own something like 4 Steam games and get most of my gaming experiences on the console. Hey, maybe if the console war stopped they could join forces and battle PCs next

But yeah, i really hope consoles aren't going anywhere, except maybe up a ladder of advancement or something. I for one will be supporting the consoles until the end since i have a pretty shitty internet connection and like the fact that i don't have to be online to get my games.

Also i like the controls better since they don't look as intimidating as the keyboard on a regular computer

 

[scorptatious]

I would hope so.

While I will admit PC gaming is pretty cool, I grew up with consoles and it would be a sad day for me when they actually do go away.

Besides, as convenient as simply downloading games from my computer is, I much prefer going to the store and buying a physical copy of a game. Call me old-fashioned I suppose.

 

[Worgen]

I really just play pc games but it would be a bad thing if we just went to all digital, that would mean that pretty much the last vestiges of ownership by the consumer would be gone and we would only being licencing games, plus chances are that big publishers like ea would go even further and pull pretty nasty crap, kinda like what ea keeps trying to do with origin.

 

[XT inc]

I think they last game I purchased full price console was Black ops, to keep playing with my gaming group. Maybe asked for some dirt cheap used games for xmas. Other wise It has all been steam.

To put it bluntly I must have bought like 40+ games off of steam for what it would have cost me to keep playing black ops 20 new maps. Couple of Major releases here and there indie bundles etc.

Console gaming is sadly becoming the Cable Companies. They treat you like shit, charge you out the ass, you Have no choices or options as to how to watch your games were as pc has mods and cable has to deal with netflix.

So in short, consoles need to buck up, change prices and let devs do what they want without pissing off the community. Ie the shell of a game that is Team fortress 2 on xbox 360. Which I have all the Achievements for because it is so neglected matchmaking put me in a hacked server that opened up all the cheevos.

 

[Koroviev]

Until Japanese games migrate to the PC, I'd prefer that consoles remain alive and well. Steam sales are nice though.

 

[Alandoril]

Personally I think cloud gaming and hardware gaming can co-exist. Cloud gaming would be the perfect supplement.