CDW Feeds Video Games the Bomb
CDW (Computer Discount Warehouse) has decided to stop selling video games. You heard it here first! Twenty seconds of Google searching didn’t uncover this story anywhere else, so it must be exclusive.
Ok maybe this isn’t particularly newsworthy. But, this is meaningful in another way: perhaps this is a sign of the end of an era of PC games as we know them. As consoles gain more and more popularity perhaps this is adversely affecting traditional sales of desktop PC games.
I remember shopping at CDW at their retail outlet store when it was in the Buffalo Grove, IL area (before they moved to Vernon Hills) way back in the early 1990’s. I thought the store was great because they had just about any computer component in their warehouse, from obscure adapters, to strange varieties of backup tapes, to just about every software package you could think of, including games. This was probably one reason CDW got so popular; they had a large inventory of stuff of almost every component imaginable.
So why is CDW discontinuing the sales of video games significant? Well considering how large CDW is, and how they have a reputation for carrying a large variety of components, it’s interesting that they’ve chosen to do this. Shelf space for video games is supposed to double by 2007; the already huge multi-billion dollar game industry continues to grow. Since CDW hasn’t traditionally concentrated on console games, the only conclusion I can come to is they haven’t been selling many PC games.
CDW execs attempt to dig a hole with little shovels. They don’t notice the big ass backhoe behind them.
Also, don’t forget that two years ago CDW bought Macwarehouse, one of the largest online retailers of Mac hardware and software. This move away from video games affects Macwarehouse. A search on the Macwarehouse section of CDW for video games reveals only two games: a Windows game and a PS2 game. For Mac users, this means yet another retailer that doesn’t carry Mac games.
For me, it means the only stores that carry a selection of Mac games are the Apple Store, Microcenter, and CompUSA. With the possible exception of the Apple Store in Chicago (which isn’t particularly easy to get to in my case), none of these stores have a particularly large selection of Mac games. I’ll have to rely on mail order to purchase my games.
And with about three handhelds and three consoles (with more to come), it seems like traditional video game stores have chosen to neglect the PC games. EB Games stores I’ve seen seem to have reduced their shelf space for PC games—they even shoveled the games off into a corner at one store I visited. Gamestop appears not to have a lot of shelf space for PC Games, either.
Personally I hope this isn’t the end of PC games–I prefer playing them even when the same game can be found in a console version. But things certainly look bleak for the PC desktop gamer.
). Those people who aren’t savvy enough to need a selection of 40 different video cards to choose from will go to one of the above mentioned stores and pick from the 5 or 6 that they have available, feeling that they’ve missed out on nothing. Those that are savvy enough to need the variety are just as likely (or perhaps more so) to shop online at the same company’s e-commerce site or a NewEgg or ZipZoomFly where they can get better pricing and significantly greater options. It’s not the games section that’s dying…it’s the whole superstore location business model.