Bleeding at Blockbuster

Over the weekend I popped into a local Blockbuster store on a terribly rainy Saturday. It was just after a workout class and I stunk, was sweaty under my jacket and outside my jacket was wet from rain. Inside the Blockbuster it was even more unpleasant as everything in this location was being liquidated. While the DVDs were disorganized, many of them without a case or in a generic yellow/white/blue Blockbuster DVD case, the state of the leftover games for sale was even worse. Everything was picked over and the 30% discounts off used games prices weren't worth it unless you just had to play NHL 2k8 or similar product.

But one thing caught my eye, The Beatles: Rock Band bundle on sale for $89.99. The common retail price had dropoped to $150 (down from $200 at launch in Sep this year). A ten year old kid and his mom were looking it over:

Mom: "Look at that price. We should get it."
Boy: "But if it breaks we probably can't return it here since the store is closing."
Mom: "It's 90 bucks. We're never going to find that price anywhere else. And they have it on Xbox."
Boy: "Ninety bucks is still a lot for a game."
Mom: "It's the Beatles."

Interesting role reversal from the typical mother/son video game shopping dynamic.

Anyway, it makes me wonder if at some point a similar fire sale will happen at GameStop due to eventual digital distribution. It killed most of retail music sales, and combined with Netflix/Redbox/etc. it should kill off Blockbuster entirely. Gaming is a different animal but we're all watching, waiting and prognosticating...