Gamestop: PC Sales are Decreasing

Talking to Gamasutra, GameStop executives have revealed that PC sales in their stores are down from a year ago, with the number of new PC retail games "down probably more than what I had anticipated", according to SVP Bob McKenzie -- but with spikes for key games like Spore and digital downloads.

[Charmers]

lol that was a good laugh. I don't doubt for a second PC games sales are down at game stop. I haven't been in a games shop for nearly 10 years. Nearly all PC gamers will use their brains and buy their games either from an online e-tailer (which is cheaper) or use an online distribution service. I know I for one avoid game shops like the plague I don't want to go into a shop that has dozens of screaming kids wanting mummy to buy "generic cutesy game number 30000".

[JsonHenry]

I usually download my games (especially through STEAM) or go to BestBuy/Circuit City who usually have PC games cheaper than Gamestop or WalMart.

[ChrisGTR1]

yea,its rare when trolls go outside their house.

[TheIneffableBob]

I haven't bought a game from GameStop in a long time.

It's either digital distribution (Steam) or a store like Circuit City. Circuit City usually have very low prices on games. I bought Battlefield 2 for $9, Darwinia for $5, and The Ship for $2.

[DeadlyFire]

I doubt that its just the people that are online that decrease the sales of PC games in their stores. Its the layout of the stores themselves. Not only that I doubt that everyone has converted to digital downloads and buying off the net just yet. I know a good chunk has though. Its not likely I will be joining that group for another 2-10 years or whenever I get faster Broadband.

Gamestop is hardly PC gamer friendly. I find PC games easier in Wal-Mart. Gamestop doesn't have the PC section labeled very well and usually its in the back of the store on a rack and away from everything else with nothing marking it as a PC section except whats on the boxes of the games. Meanwhile they have PS3, Wii, and X360 on the wall when you walk in the door you can see them clearly by the markers over the wall and the wall of games with a marker above them on the wall telling you what platform they are on instantly. If you want a PC game you have to take a minute and scan the store. I don't see how this is shocking news though. Wal-Mart probably sells a hell of alot more Retail versions of PC games than they do.

[moses]

After my last dealing with gamestop, I'm never going back. Recently I've been using steam for my games, and I love it. I don't have to deal with EA's DRM bullshit with Crysis:Warhead on steam. Also, I get up to 1.8mpbs downloads, so games install really quick, rather then going to the store and paying just as much, plus gas money, plus tax to buy the same game.

[Charmers]

hate to break it to you moses but buying from steam does not make you immune from the EA DRM. I believe Crysis Warhead on steam uses the exact same drm as the retail version and that includes limited activations. I only just found out myself and it is too late to cancel my order now. However this is a heads up for the future steam DOES include the same drm as the retail versions.

[moses]

If you delete the local content and redownload it, same deal? I've had multiple people download it from my account so far, and it's been fine, unless they upped the original amount.

[Charmers]

I can't comment on it really since I can't even get the game yet. Steam seem to be acting like right idiots at the moment with the european release. However there is a 6 page thread on it already :-

http://forums.steampowered....

including this latest post :-

"Ok get this! After having so many issues with Crysis: Warhead installation via Steam I did a HD format. Guess what? I've downloaded the game again and now it's asking for an activation code????? 1 freaking format!!!!"

I won't be touching an EA game again no matter what format it takes I can tell you.

[fourteentoone]

You don't need to look at stats to work out that PC retail games will probably not exist for that much longer.

Digital distribution / Steam etc... is the way forward.

[REPLOID24]

the games are requiring rigs that average gamers can't afford.

[JsonHenry]

Meh - $700 can build you a gaming rig easy. Even less money if you already have a case/powersupply/OS on hand.

[Parapraxis]

have more to do with most PC games bought at retail come with Keys now, and they aren't suited to resell. Gamestop is a glorified pawn shop, they don't have any interest in PC games because they can't mark them up and resell them 100 times over.

[moses]

And buy it from a name brand like Alienware or Dell maybe. If you take a few hours to research how to build and what to buy, you can save yourself more then a thousand dollars.

[Gorgon]

And you're expecting game companies to spend millions of dollars in PC game development just so that the only people who plays them are the more tech savy people who build their own computers more cheaply? Gaming is a mass market and game companies want MONEY. That's why PC gaming is going down the drain. That and piracy.

[Altered_Soul]

@4.4

You would be surprised how many people are tech savvy enough to realize they don't want to pay Dell out the ass, and that pretty much everyone now knows someone who can build them on on the cheap, if they don't know how to do it themselves. Pretty much my entire family is running computers that I built for them, and they aren't even gamers, nor highly tech savvy.

[REPLOID24]

you are dead on, dude. i get intimidated by pc gaming because i don't know what the hell i'm doing. i wish i did, though.

[Gorgon]

"You would be surprised how many people are tech savvy enough to realize they don't want to pay Dell out the ass..."

I do know, I build my own PCs. It just happens that if you want to sell games like Crysis to people, you can't rely on the techies or that potential buyers know people to buy affrodable gamming PCs. You simply have to assume that the game runs well on any medium speced PC, which clearly is not the direction die-hard PC gamers want to go. Add piracy to the recepie and you get the explanation for the rise of consoles.

[Xi]

I use steam or some other online application to get it.

[Nasty]

Gamestop is a rip. Don't shop there.

[Altered_Soul]

Not that surprising that PC game sales are down for Gamestop, when their retail stores carry at most like 50 titles at a time, packaged in the back corner somewhere on a tiny little cart you would miss as it is surrounded by a mountain of used games.

I went there to preorder Fallout 3 on PC and they told me it was only coming out on the PS3 and Xbox, and I should get it on there because it would come with something for free and that if I get an Xbox it would work better than my PC. I sighed and asked him to please let me preorder the PC version, and he then typed it in and found it going, "Oh, well thats weird, why would the Fallout sequel be on the PC".

Oh man.

[Parapraxis]

..then you promptly turned around and left the store and ordered it online right?
Why support companies that are like that? if they are ignorant don't give them your money!

[Altered_Soul]

Pffff duh. What do you think I am, some sort of idiot?

I was there for another preorder (one I figured they would all be on about, GH: WT for the Wii, which they were), and figured, what the hey, preorder FO3 too. Then I changed my mind...

[Parapraxis]

good to hear, and no i don't think you're an idiot lol.
Unfortunately a lot of people do put up with Gamestops crap.

[FantasyStar]

hahahahahahaha!!

I'd rather hear from places that actually does sell PC games of all flavors and not just your "WoW Expansion".

[NanoGeekTech]

PC is for streaming HD movies to my PS3 and Storing them.....

PC is for blogging.....

PC is for writing stupid @ss comments like this.....on N4G

Why would I want to play any games on PC and I have a PS3 and 360.......?

And for the PC guys that think the best experiences are on PC.....hey the sales numbers...says...No it is not..........

[FantasyStar]

I'm a PC guy and I'm a console guy and I find your comment offensive. I know there are PC jerks out there that think only the Elite game on PC, but don't be like them and stereotype certain gamers now.

I prefer playing GeoW on PC rather than 360 because mouse controls makes the game absolutely fluid and fun. PC gaming is alive and well, despite some criticisms by people. Where else am I going to get my fix of Company of Heroes?

[lordgodalming]

Last time I was at a Gamestop (I had ten minutes to kill before meeting someone at a nearby restaurant), they had about 10 PC games on the shelf, one of which was Hexen II.

You heard me.

[Dogswithguns]

I don't go to GameStop anymore. and it's been two years now.... don't like that place.

[Mutley416]

They got no deals on the PC shelves-

They have lost touch with PC gamers-
+ I feel the PC has`nt had a good exclusive, but Spore...

All the New Cutting Edge= Consoles
So of course PC games are in a slump... Expansion Packs... that`s all a PC gamer needs... Till something great comes along-

[Plughead]

Hasn't had a good exclusive? Pssh, who cares about whether a game is 'exclusive' or not. It doesn't make it any better, unless you happen to think that the amount of hype a game gets correlates to its quality.

The fact is that the game shops et al still haven't caught up with the digital age - as has been said, lots of people playing, say, MMOs will be downloading a client and then buying the game online, never once stepping into a shop.

It is what I did with Vanguard: Saga of Heroes (though I wish I hadn't) and it is (almost) what I did with World of Warcraft. So GameStop's comments are pretty much irrelevant in the grand scheme of things.

Only when games like Football Manager 2009 or Warhammer Online fail to sell via online AND physical sales combined should PC gamers get worried.

In two years, when the Xbox 360 and PS3 are looking very creaky and delapidated, expect the PC to be the 'big' name again. Swings and roundabouts

[steve30x]

A Gamestop store just opened here two weeks ago with just one very small section for PC games. How do they expect PC games to sell if theres very little PC games in their store. We need more PC games in there.

Also Gamestop is the only game store in this small town in Ireland.