GameStop lets consumers buy, trade, and sell their games but the company has also made lucrative business out of preorder campaigns that offer bonus digital content for the most dedicated consumers willing to fork over cash well in advance of a game's release. Now, the company says it hopes to get involved in that process even earlier in a game's development.
Speaking with investment firm, R.W. Baird, GameStop executives apparently "indicated that software publishers are more enthusiastic about partnering with it. For example, by offering exclusive content on each major game release, and longer term, future models may include GameStop offering exclusive gameplay."
Nevermind that that sentence is a bag of cats all its own, I'm not sure how GameStop's involvement in early game development will necessarily help the industry or its creators. I'm fully aware of how it'll help GameStop and the millions of employees it has, though increased expenses on preorder bonuses will likely increase pressure on those employees.
When Venture Beat asked the firm to clarify this statement, analyst Colin Sebastian said the retailer has started to consider "getting involved at the time of game development where there could be some content exclusive to [the retailer] included in the game."
Later, a GameStop spokesperson said "We are working with our [development] partners to build in a longer lead time. And we are working with them to get both physical and digital exclusives for our customers."
Many of the biggest video games include preorder bonuses and other piecemeal content in their development plans as it is, but to put further emphasis on that business model might force content creators to take unnecessary risks.
