We’ve reported on several interesting developments in the gaming world over the past few weeks.
Firstly, the industry’s creeping shift towards a digital distribution model. Secondly, GameStop, in an apparent fit of nostalgia, is apparently considering stocking and selling old school titles.
Like the current progression towards digital distribution, it seems as if old school games may be available online instead of stacked up at the GameStop stores, with one new report claiming this indeed is going to be an “online initiative.”
As CVG reports, J. Paul Raines, the CEO of GameStop, didn’t want to speculate about when the old school gaming initiative could potentially happen because his team “won’t be able to surprise the world with their announcement.”
With so many games long gone out of print, a lot of this is also going to have to depend on the fans. “We have to go source a lot of this product,” Raines continued. “Get customers to trade some of their old product with us, and go find some old consoles, but we also own a lot of old product.”
As previously reported on TG, Raines had told Forbes, “We think there’s a vintage sales opportunity, so we’re accumulating some inventory. We’ve got to be in that business. We will be.
“Our website is becoming unbelievably rich,” Raines continued. “We can’t just be trying to go head-to-head with Amazon, beating each other to death on delivery dates. We do plenty of that. But we’ve got to be a destination for gamers where, for cool stuff for gaming, you’ve got to go to GameStop.”
It’s also interesting to mention that GameStop’s definition of old school goes back to 2000, and not much further in the reaches of games of the past.
Still, Raines was reluctant to give away any details just yet, and he added, “We’re thinking about everything. Our dotcom team is right now grinding through a lot of opportunities to see what’s out there, what we can get our hands on, and what we can merchandise.”
