Opinion: The Future Of Retail And The Blockbuster Myth

**Kugyince** · 04-03-2010, 10:56 PM

Often in this industry I hear people speak of the imminent death of retail game stores. At each conference I’ve attended for the past two years, there’s been at least one talk about how digital distribution is poised to consume the now anachronistic brick-and-mortar institutions we all know so well.

I hate to be the one to burst our glorious digital dream, but retail's got a longer life than we, as an industry, seem to think.

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**jim5cents** · 04-04-2010, 10:24 AM

i have never thought the retail for video games was going anywhere. to play current gens, the majority of gamers do not have the knowledge about how to mod a console to play burned games. even still, those who do are likely to purchase the hard copy anyways. the online game rentals aren't going to hurt as hard copies of the games will still be sold to the providers.

concerning blockbuster, it has little to do with digital downloads, and much, much more to do with its poor business model and direct competition with other providers, notably netflix, redbox, and on demand entertainment via direct tv, dishnetwork, or cable provider.

in the comments section, the topic of consumer demand for a digital download only console is brought up. this would be the only situation that could hurt retail. from a production standpoint, it makes sense to distribute games in this fashion. reduces production costs, storage, shipping and they would likely not change the price.

subquestion - has anyone purchased a full length, current console game in digital format? i don't mean dlc, wii vc, or xbla. in my case, i have purchased fallout 3 on xbl for $30.

**Kong** · 04-04-2010, 11:14 AM

Blockbuster Falls Below NYSE Listing Requirements - Forbes.com

Blockbuster is discussing declaring bankruptcy next month. Kind of ironic. It has nothing to do with games though. BB is first and foremost a video rental store. Movies decide their fate. Constant changing formats: tape, dvd, blue-ray, Netflix, and video kiosks killed them. Not games. They might find a plan to make it past next month and last a few more years but they are going to die.

**Slime Slayer** · 04-04-2010, 02:10 PM

It's strange, I was waiting in the car while my wife went into the pet store, and people were just flying in and out of the blockbuster next door, I was really surprised it must of been 30 people in the span of 5-10 minutes.

**Dudebro** · 04-05-2010, 02:27 AM

@Steven- did you check to see if it was closing down? Two near me went out of business and put all their games/movie on rock bottom clearance. I got some 360 games dirt cheap(slightly used obviously). They were also selling the fixtures and wall hangings. My gf wanted the Willy Wonka(not Depp) one but the bidding was like 50$ or more.

**Slime Slayer** · 04-05-2010, 02:38 AM

I didnt notice anything about a blowout, but there were quite a few people simply returning movies.

**Tails** · 04-05-2010, 08:20 AM

Both of mine are closed.

**StarfoxFan2009** · 04-05-2010, 08:24 AM

I've noticed that some have closed down in my area but some also open. Hollywood Video, however... has been wiped off the face of the earth in this area

**jim5cents** · 04-05-2010, 12:06 PM

hollywood movie was bought out in 2005 by a chain called movie gallery, interesting story about that, the movie galley building in my town was built under code, in a storm the building blew over, completely destroyed. one of the injuried was my friends then finance, now wife. got her leg out of the cast just in time for the wedding.

Storm Prediction Center 20060518's Storm Reports

check under wind reports, county taylor, city campbellsville

**Ridley** · 08-14-2010, 11:53 AM

The Escapist : News : Blockbuster Bankruptcy Looms

Personally, I'm really not surprised at what's going on here. Considering how the moment Netflix or Redbox came out, Blockbuster would be crushed and the whole selling video games didn't help either thanks to GameFly.

Your thoughts on this?

**samejamesbond** · 08-14-2010, 11:59 AM

Hollywood Video also died out a while back, I'm not suprised myself.

And welcome to RU Ridley, I'm sure you'll enjoy it here.

**TrakMastaTom** · 08-14-2010, 12:59 PM

I think it sucks. I also think Blockbuster has plenty to offer that Netflix, Redbox and Gamefly can't.

It takes a day of two to get a movie in the mail. That's pretty quick, but sometimes it isn't quick enough.
Redbox has only new movies, nothing older.
Netflix sends you TV series a disc at a time, where at Blockbuster you get the whole season for the price on 1 rental.
Gamefly is too expensive and rarely has the games I want. To me Gamefly is just a bad service and Blockbuster is a much better option for renting games.

All that being said, I do love Netflix. I'll just miss Blockbuster.

That and a lot of my friends work at Blockbuster and have for years. Blockbuster is my "Cheers". Haha.

**fenrir1887** · 08-17-2010, 08:50 AM

That really sucks, especially since I see a Blockbuster store from time to time. They put up a machine similar to Redbox at a store in Missouri called Red X. I'm surprised they don't have more.