Game Group is locked in a classic digital migration story that is all too familiar to publishers and fellow entertainment retailers alike.
Annual group sales, in the mainly boxed-product-centric company, fell 8.3 percent to £1.62 billion in 2010/11 – but digital sales of things like downloads and social services rose 27 percent to £41 million.
The retailer sells boxed games online and downloadable PC games via an affiliate partner, and it’s now now beginning to offer pre-owned games via e-commerce. But it’s the new social and mobile areas that it sees as key to the future, acknowledging “we have more work to do”.
The stores now sell credits cards for services like Farmville and Facebook, as well as Xbox Live and Playstation Network.
“Increasingly, we are working with supplier partners to provide customers with exclusive digital content when they buy a physical copy of a game,” says Game’s earnings report. “This helps us to introduce customers to digital content.”