Disc-based games ‘will be around forever’

GameStop reaffirmed its fondness for physical discs earlier last month when it refused to offer consoles bundle deals that come with digital unlock codes rather than physical game copies.

Digital downloads have become a $1 billion business segment for GameStop alone and still, discs form a major chunk of the market. And those of us who buy loads of games every year don’t have the same consumption patterns as, for example, Call of Duty’s 30 million or so annual consumers – something many of us forget when discussing what “gamers” do and don’t want, and who actually shores up this enormous, groaning beast of a medium.

In addition to an optimistic outlook on disc-based games and its new-found foothold in the geek-collectibles market, GameStop is also looking toward virtual reality as another driver of revenue for the company going forward. The price difference of physical games from that of PlayStation 4 and Xbox One is still far apart and the standard gaming experience shouldn’t be as expensive.

The company has “The Witcher 3″ and “Batman: Arkham Knight” to thank for because of their contribution to their annual sales. Lisa Keglovitz confirmed that this is to ensure they’re “appropriately staffed to meet their customer’s need this holiday”.

The other thing about digital games is that they are still more expensive than physical games. “Even in a doomsday scenario, disc-based games will be around for a long time”.