Major game retailer GameStop will be moving away from digital console bundles with a view to offering physical bundles instead. The change in tack is an attempt to navigate a retail environment in which digital sales continue to eat away at the chain’s disc-based bread and butter.
The decision was aired during a recent company conference call in which GameStop CEO, Paul Raines, explained that consumers “prefer those physical bundles, because they know that the disc has value in the trade-in program at GameStop.”
It’s a transition that’s well underway according to GameStop COO, Tony Bartel, who revealed that the company recently renegotiated a deal with Microsoft, Sony, and EA to offer a free physical copy of Madden when bought with either a PS4 or Xbox One.
Bartel then told the three publishers that if they continue to offer digital packages, GameStop customers could start to see “more physical bundles from third parties.”