MCV/DEVELOP News, events, research and jobs from the games industry
Digital revolution comes at the cost of retail devolution, right? Perhaps not.
GameStop’s director of retail digital distribution Brad Schliesser has said that DLC is not only an easy sell at retail – retail is also possibly the best place to sell it.
Downloadable content is easier for us to sell compared to strategy guides or accessories,” he told Destructoid. They’re games and our sales associates are gamers.”
He also added that selling codes for digital product is more appealing to consumers than selling them points cards and then having to explain how to access the content they want from the relevant digital store.
A recent Power Up Rewards poll found that only half of its customers had ever purchased DLC and a quarter hadn’t even heard of the concept. In addition Schliesser says that the majority” of DLC sales are as a result of a sales rep directly selling to customers.
GameStop achieved a 10 per cent attach rate of DLC sales to every copy of Gears of War 3 it sold and has successfully grown this ratio with subsequent releases. Mass Effect 3’s From Ashes DLC hit 30 per cent.
In addition, 65-70 per cent of GameStop’s DLC sales are paid for by either cash or trade-in credit – a market that obviously is precluded from buying directly through a console using a credit card.
