Do we need High Street shops?
It’s a legitimate question, particularly following a year where digital games made more money than boxed ones (according to the latest estimates, at least).
If the future of this industry is in downloads, or streaming, or some combination of the two, how can a retailer – which has rent, staff and bills to pay – hope to survive?
GAME thinks it has some of the answers. It believes it can take a major slice of that digital revenue, and last year it claims that 2m of its customers bought digital content from its outlets.
But it also believes the future of the High Street shop is in marketing or – to use a not-so-dirty word – education.
“The on-going development of digital makes a physical experience more important than ever,” insists David Howard, stores director at GAME Retail.
