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The End of Indie Retail?

Posted by Zonk on from the don't-let-the-man-get-you-down dept.

Next Generation has a piece discussing the problems facing independent videogame retailers, with commentary from a gent who just recently had to close down his store. From the article: "In our desire to maintain our own idealistic goal we overlooked a key element to any capitalist venture: Capital. Sales are everything and as base and pedestrian as that sounds, it is not so easy to pull off. There is no room in this industry for empathy. You certainly don't get anywhere steering people away from product that you've overstocked, since you know it sucks."

3 of 28 comments (clear)

  1. a sad irony about Red Devil Games' closure by AtaruMoroboshi · · Score: 2, Interesting


    I was one of eric's loyal customers, even though there were two gamestops, two ebs, a target, and a toys r us and more 20 minutes closer to me.

    There was a morning earlier this fall when I said to myself "I better e-mail eric and reserve Gunstar Super Heroes, Dragon Quest VIII and Final Fantasy IV (gba)." It turned out that that was the morning they announced their closure.

    And if Eric's reading this: Congrats on the new baby daughter!

  2. Re:400 lb gorilla or 20 lb monkey? by egrissom · · Score: 2, Interesting

    You make a lot of good points, its foolish to underestimate the customers that are accustomed to the brick and mortar method, but if the experience is seemless enough i don't think the transition would be all that hard to pull off. Especially if XBOX Arcade and Nintendo's online game distributions are a hit this coming generation. The next generation is what- 2009? 2010? Speeds will be faster, online penetration will be larger, and Microsoft will be (if all goes well for them) on their third generation of LIVE. A system like that creates a seamless transaction- order a game the way you order a movie on a cable box. No worries about giving away a CC number- they already have it. Granted there are issues from bandwith to piracy, but hell its 2010 anyway so we are all probably slaves to robot monkeys anyway. Who knows though- its all speculation anyway, i just believe for publishers and consumers there are just too many positives in the digital distribution collumn.

  3. One failed business != death of indie retail by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Interesting

    So one guy opens up shop with way too optimistic expectations, fails within 2 years and somehow this is the death of independant game retail?? How do we know this guy had a solid business plan? How do we know he chose the right location with the right rent and right customer pool to draw from? How do we know he had the right prices and right "savoir-faire" in selecting his merchandise?

    WHY DOES EVERY ARTICLE ON /. HAVE TO BE A "DEATH OF" WORST CASE SCENARIO!?!?