GameStop Considering Selling Digital Copies of Games In-store

Purchasing games online in lieu of walking into a store is preferable to some due to the convenience factor, but as a result, retailers such as GameStop are stressing out over figuring out ways to keep gamers coming to their stores. Over the years, we’ve seen many different techniques, including the offering of special in-game items, bonus levels, and so forth.

The latest idea the popular retailer has come up with is to allow gamers to walk into a store, purchase a digital game, and then have it waiting in their download queue upon arriving back home. The idea is that the gamer could get the in-store experience, talk to the sales reps about the game, then commit to a purchase without having to lug home a game box.

This idea might not suit everyone, including me, but the potential is huge. GameStop already sells cards for in-game DLC, and other cards for Microsoft Points and the like, so this is just taking things one-step further. And given that the majority of people who walk into a GameStop are not going to be the best versed on what games might be good or not, this method combines the best of both worlds.

The article seems to focus mostly on services such as Xbox Live and PlayStation Network, but I’d be interested in seeing if Steam could be brought into things as well. For cooperation, though, any service would need to work with retailers such as GameStop in order to “link” accounts, so that when something is purchased in-store, it’s waiting for the gamer the next time they turn on their console.

What do you guys think? Is this a great idea or one that shows off GameStop’s growing desperation?

It goes even further than point cards. You can now go into a GameStop and buy cards that give you access to map packs, or to Xbox Live Arcade games themselves. Freeman shared with us GameStop’s ambitious plans to deliver that content directly to users: “Today you pick the card up off the rack that’s associated with that map pack, we ring it up as part of your transaction in the store, and then we give you the code that allows you go home and [access the content].