Video game retailer GameStop is looking to expand its partnerships with developers in order to secure larger swathes of gameplay it can brand as "exclusive" to its customers, presumably in a bid to remain competitive as the business of buying video games goes digital and traditional pre-order incentives -- limited stock and physical tchotchkes -- lose value.
The news comes courtesy of wealth management firm R.W. Baird's analyst Colin Sebastian, who -- in a market advisory newsletter received by Gamasutra -- published snippets of a recent GameStop investors meeting in which the company laid out plans to involve itself in game development at a deeper level.
"Management indicated that at the recent E3 conference, software publishers were more enthusiastic about partnering with GameStop, for example by offering exclusive content on each major game release," wrote Baird. "Future models may include GameStop participating in development with some gameplay exclusive to the retailer."
VentureBeat
reports that GameStop is seeking to build relationships with developers that afford it earlier access to games in development, allowing the retailer to negotiate for broader swathes of content to be reserved as pre-order exclusives for its customers.
While GameStop has continued to report modest growth on the back of used hardware and software sales, the company's ablity to sell new games is slipping -- in its most recent
financial report, GameStop saw sales of new software drop twenty percent year-over-year.
Gamasutra has reached out to GameStop for more information on how it hopes to expand its relationship with game developers and will update with any meaningful response.
