Saved by the till

Oldies are now goodies like never before, and new stuff need not be so expensive to buy ever again. All thanks to the growing trend in download games, cutting out the middle man - retail - and potentially leading to a single gaming hardware platform.

Ah, if only.

I almost wrote today's blog as though we'd reached the Promised Land. Then a couple of games hit Xbox LIVE Arcade and PlayStation Store at silly prices, and it struck me: without retail as the go-between we could be in trouble.

The common view of retailers, especially those in ‘Rip-Off Britain', is that the only thing they care about is making the most money. Alright it is the main thing they must worry about, but there are other contributing factors that benefit both sides.

First you have the buyers; guys who stock product according to its commercial potential and, as sometimes happens in extreme cases, suitability for its customers. Having known many buyers on the videogames sector for many years now, I have seen how their shrewdness ensures that our attention is drawn toward quality while less worthy product is treated with caution. It's their reputation on the line after all - it isn't just the magazines and newspapers that thrive off a certain degree of integrity.

Next you have the power of the retail outlet. This mainly applies to the larger chains and online retailers. Using their retail experience they can suggest to the software publishers and hardware manufacturers that a certain campaign would work well at a particular time of year. There is also excitement generated around the Sales, when older or less popular (but not necessarily poor) titles sell for marked down prices.

So, anyway, I was very much looking forward to Braid (Xbox LIVE Arcade, Xbox 360) and Bionic Commando Rearmed (XBLA, PlayStation Store - 360 and PS3) and was shocked, along with everyone else it seems, at the premium prices being charged. And then I realised that, without retail, there's no longer such thing as Estimated Retail Price (ERP), it'll just be full price like it or lump it.

In addition to this meaning the end of a good old-fashioned retail bargain, I then got to thinking about trading in old games for new games. I'm sure many families see this as just about the only way to avoid shelling out £40-50 for the latest FIFA or GTA in the launch period. Also it keeps games coming into the household throughout the year, minimising waste for the original user and helping the next customer to save a few pounds. And this is all thanks to the retailer-led initiatives we see on the high street and increasingly online.

My original thought for today's blog ended with the decision Apple should now get involved, introduce iGames for Apple Mac and iPhone bringing together all the major publishers under one slick, independent digital distribution service. Then realised that this cannot work as well for games as it does for music, simply because games are so highly priced and it seems that we still need retail - as in actively thinking about consumers retail - to be on our side.

Save our shops!

Your thoughts welcome as always...