GameStop to offer in-store DLC purchases and new loyalty program this year
GameStop knows how sick you are of those silly, antiquated, digital ways of purchasing your downloadable content, and company COO J. Paul Raines has a solution: buy the content in stores! During today's quarterly earnings call for investors, Raines detailed the new system, as well as the previously discussed customer loyalty program.
"We've been working on the technology for DLC for well over a year," Raines said, "and I think what's important to understand is that we've had to create proprietary point of sale technology in partnership with Microsoft to be able to show that DLC catalog at retail. We're also working on merchandising and marketing the DLC content in our stores. So this is something that we feel like the industry is moving our way, and our investments are starting to really be timely and publishers see us as the destination for sale of DLC in stores."
Raines also noted that the in-store DLC program will be launching in 35 locations this spring with a "limited catalog," and then adding "select titles and SKUs over the course of the summer." A nationwide roll out is planned for the fall. Also launching nationwide this fall will be GameStop's new customer loyalty program, which will be tested in four regional US markets beginning in May. Raines declined to name the test markets, saying only that we'll "have to wait till May 28 to find out".
