Bricks and mortar to lead the way in digital

Everyone’s talking about Steam, the App Store and Xbox Live, but one European publishing boss is convinced that physical retail will ‘win the war for digital’.

Namco Bandai’s European VP Olivier Comte says shops have an advantage as they are the experts in talking to consumers.

His comments follow recent moves from specialist retail giants GAME and GameStop in the download space.

The winner in the war for digital will be retailers, the physical retail shops that exist today,” he told MCV.

It’s because they are the people who are very close to the consumer. They have the expertise to speak to the consumer.

So it is up to them now to make sure that this expertise is being used in a digital shop.

Earlier this year, GAME vowed to ‘make digital games famous’ by promoting and selling DLC cards – containing some of the most popular XBLA titles – in its High Street stores.

Meanwhile, GameStop has recently acquired digital platforms and developers, such as Spawn Labs and Stardock’s Impulse.

If you have a digital shop or a physical shop, the job is the same,” continued Comte.

You have to speak to the consumer, you have to motivate, you have to animate your digital shop. The ones who are creative will succeed and the ones who do not move won’t.”