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It’s time to stand up and face up to that elephant in the corner of the room. Retailer GameStop has officially launched a digital games store on Facebook.
It claims to be "he first multichannel gaming company to launch a storefront on Facebook and provide true social commerce to more than 1.8 million Facebook fans".
The store will host a range of rich media options such as videos, reviews, product carousels and is highly customisable by the user. GameStop is selling it as a "showcase" store that "is set to usher in a new era of Facebook store development by top retailers which utilise the most cutting edge technologies available".
Users will also be able to pre-order games via Facebook for in-store pickup and purchases made within the portal will earn customers PowerUp Rewards points, just as they would on the High Street.
"Social commerce on Facebook is a natural complement to our trusted store and online networks," GameStop’s VP of ecommerce Kelly Mulroney stated. "We have millions of customers already engaging with us on Facebook, and ShopFans gives those loyal fans more reasons than ever to shop GameStop across multiple channels."
The news is the latest in what has become a quite aggressive focus on digital retailing for the High Street giant.
In its last financial year GameStop saw its digital revenues rocket by 61 per cent. At the end of last month it launched a Facebook game based on the iconic Championship Manager brand, and last week it acquired streaming games tech firm Spawn labs.
It’s even been speculated that GameStop could actually be preparing to launch in its own hardware in the form of a games tablet.
