Busy summer will give games retail the cold shoulder

It’s not just a lack of games that will hurt the market this summer – retailers fear the upcoming Jubilee, Euros and Olympics will keep customers away from the High Street.

The Entertainment Retailer’s Association told MCV?that these events, combined with a lack of content, could make June and July one of the slowest sales periods on record.

Entertainment retailers have long been concerned by the uneven spread of major games releases through the year and with the Jubilee, Euro 2012 and the Olympics, this year looks like it could be the worst offender yet,” ERA’s Kim Bayley told MCV.

There seems to be little understanding among suppliers that retailers have to bear the fixed costs of keeping stores open 52 weeks of the year. In that context squeezing all of the biggest releases into a tiny window doesn’t make sense. It’s bad for retail and it is also bad for customers.

Last year only 16 per cent of UK boxed software revenue at retail came in Q3 compared with 47 per cent in Q4. This is crazy.”

One entertainment retail giant added: Will customers want to play games during these sporting and social events? It could be a very long summer.”