Page 2 of 4 Dissecta 21 Feb 06: The Year of Next Gen
[continued...] from the retailer and from a buyers point of view, is a little bit of the lack of piracy, a little bit of safety in terms of what they can buy and keep on the shelf, and I think it also suits the Mums and Dads mass merchants, and you have to remember that is where a lot of the units get sold."
Retailers will always support the new systems because of money said Martin. "Don't be naive to the fact that everyone buys" said Martin, saying that while the big companies don't buy directly, they will buy promotional space, they will support product with rebates for the major retailers. "It is not an even playing ground out there guys" Martin remarked, adding that indies don't get the same deal that mass market retailers get "so support your little indie."
Another issue for retailers is piracy and modding. "I think we are all waiting to see whether or not the 360 gets cracked... when? It seems to be a fair way in the market before any obvious piracy has started to appear on it.. it would be amazing if we got two years out a console without piracy... retail would go berserk, absolutely go off its head, because I don't think we have seen a fair indication of the strength of some titles due to the piracy issues."
Major retailers are different markets to indie retailers (for distributors); majors provide huge exposure for new release titles while indies provide flexibility for distribution as you "can do deals with individual" owners reports Martin. Indies follow the major retailers but for next gen consoles, there is no money in selling the console so it becomes a difficult issue.
Product Acquisition
"I spend half an hour to an hour every day looking for product... one thing we decided on is that we are not going to chase anything that is sliding out the back door in terms of format" said Martin. he went to explain that they won't be looking at the
