GameStop Study Claims Game Downloads Won’t be Viable Until 2014

Posted 06/19/2009 at 10:53pm | by Nathan Grayson

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In what it claims is the “most thorough study [of its variety] to date,” videogame retailer GameStop has found that digital downloads – like those found on Steam, Impulse, Xbox Live Arcade and other such services – won’t be making any real waves until 2014. Er, what?
 
And even once the strange, mysterious stardate of 2014 brings widespread acceptance of things like “The Internet,” apparently only 25 percent of customers will “have access to the technology required to download full games.”  Also, the study found that, as of now, gamers are only willing to spend $39 per downloadable game, "so publishers will be less incentivized than some in the industry think."

So then, if this really was “the most thorough” study ever, we can assume it included PC gamers. Thus, we can conclude that we’re well within our rights asking the following question: “Are you kidding us, GameStop?” Look at Steam’s lineup, why don’t you? All those major game publishers are there for a reason. Hell, even consoles are beefing up their download services to include full, formerly retail-only games. And don’t even get us started on the iPhone’s app store.
 
All this? It’s happening right now. Five years is a long time, GameStop, and it already looks like you’re in your rocker, telling young whippersnapper download services to get off your lawn. Now just for fun, let's conduct a little study of our own: readers, how many games have you digitally purchased in the last month?