Why Would A Publisher Want To Release A GameStop Exclusive Game?

By Spencer . October 20, 2009 . 3:13pm

Why Would A Publisher Want To Release A GameStop Exclusive Game? A reasonable question since greater retail distribution should yield more sales. And yet, a selection of niche titles are only available at GameStop.

 

By the end of this month, Natsume will have shipped two GameStop exclusives this year, Harvest Moon: Magical Melody (the Wii version) and Adventures to Go.

 

Why did Natsume go this route? I asked Graham Markay, Vice President of Operations at Natsume, to elaborate the benefits of being a GameStop exclusive.

 

Adventures To Go is a niche title aimed at hardcore and casual RPG fans. GameStop is really the best place to go for gamers who want to find those niche titles that won’t necessarily be out on the shelves of all of the big-box retailers. So this lets us put our title in the store where it’s going to get plenty of attention and shelf space, and it really helps us focus our advertising on where it counts most.

 

Obviously the con is that, on some level, you’d always like to see your game getting the treatment of a Halo or Madden and have it out there front and center at every single retailer, but that just wasn’t a strategy that made sense for a niche title like this one. GameStop has a ton of stores across the county, so we don’t think anyone will have a problem finding this game.

 

Interesting note about the shelf space. Aren’t GameStops typically cluttered? If Adventures to Go gets a big sign or centered display that might help the tiny title get attention. We’ll check up on this next week when Adventures to Go arrives in stores.

 

Want to know more about Adventures to Go? Markay will be back later this week to give us an overview.


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  • http://www.siliconera.com Spencer

    Aww man I remember you giving us a tip about that and it hasn't gone up! It really should now in light of this info. :)

  • http://www.younganimal.com/berserk Mr_Qoo

    You know, this is one of the bonus items I actually didn't get and refused to fork out that kind of cash. I think I'll check their site tonight to see if it's still available. =) Thanks matty!

  • Tbag_of_Doom

    I'm a manager at Gamestop and as of this coming Monday, 10/26, this title will be displayed on the Feature Tower. This fixture is a tall, thin, silver display that holds 16 game cases per side and should be located towards the front of the store. This month it will showcase four Anime/RPG titles on one of the sides including the upcoming Adventures To Go. This is of coarse assuming the manager at your local Gamestop setup this month's marketing correctly. Good luck with that.

  • Tbag_of_Doom

    I'm a manager at Gamestop and as of this coming Monday, 10/26, this title will be displayed on the Feature Tower. This fixture is a tall, thin, silver display that holds 16 game cases per side and should be located towards the front of the store. This month it will showcase four Anime/RPG titles on one of the sides including the upcoming Adventures To Go. This is of coarse assuming the manager at your local Gamestop setup this month's marketing correctly. Good luck with that.

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