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Self-confessed gamer and ‘hardcore-retailer’ (whatever that means) Richard Hammond announced that 2005 will see the launch of a new chain of stores dedicated to videogames, called Control.
With key objectives being to shake-up the conventions of the retail side of selling games, Mr Hammond enthused ‘I’m a gamer but a hardcore retailer too – our plans are based on changing the relationship between gamers and game sellers, tipping the balance back in the favour of players, but doing so in a commercially viable way. We will open great places to buy videogames from – stores that customers will want to return to.’
Know as something of a business guru, Mr Hammond, author of Smart Retail (Pearson Education 2003) continued “Retail is literally the shop-window for videogaming and we intend to represent our industry in a new and very positive way. We will be taking games retail somewhere new and on the way we are prepared to shake-up some of the old conventions for the benefit of us all.”
Whilst no concrete details have been revealed as yet, it is certainly a development welcomed by Pro-G. Currently, the market for selling videogames in the UK is dominated by the Game Group chain, and the only real competition provided by Gamestation. Smaller chains such as CEX also do their bit, along with more diverse high street stores such as HMV and Virgin but a shake-up of the sector could well see a bit more competition between stores, which could only be a good thing for consumers.
We’ll bring you more details on this exciting development when we have it.
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