It’s all part of the plan to secure more exclusives
Love it or hate it, GameStop does one of the best jobs in the gaming industry with regard to getting exclusive content for its customers. It’s so good at it that it’s a main reason that GameStop’s one of the top videogame retailers. But, that’s not to say that it’s content with the intricacies of the model that it currently has.
GameStop is trying to push the boundaries in order to secure more exclusives. One of the ways that it’s looking to do that is by being involved early in games’ development process. As reported by GamesBeat, GameStop recently met with investment firm R.W. Baird to discuss long-term strategies.
Baird analyst Colin Sebastian told GamesBeat as a result of this meeting that GameStop’s strongly considering “getting involved at the time of game development where there could be some content exclusive to [the retailer] included in the game.” GameStop’s ultimate goal seems to be to give consumers more incentive to pre-order games by upping the value that they receive.
GamesBeat reached out to GameStop to confirm Sebastian’s comments, and was told that they were accurate. A public relations representative elaborated “We are working with our [development] partners to build in a longer lead time. And we are working with them to get both physical and digital exclusives for our customers.“
With so many retailers offering different chunks of exclusive content, it’s already the case that it’s almost impossible to have a definitive and complete edition of a game at launch. In the event that GameStop can see this through and borderline colludes with game developers, it’s looking more and more likely that it will be the retailer with the best chances at offering a “complete” experience. That sounds exactly like what GameStop wants.
GameStop’s next step for preorder exclusives: Getting into a big game’s development process [GamesBeat]
