GameStop Boss Says Disc Drives Should Be Required On Game Consoles
«It would be great if people had to buy more of the thing,» says guy who makes money selling the thing.
By Eric Frederiksen on
Whenever any «chief» officer within a company speaks publicly, you can assume that they're speaking in the best interests of the company. It's no different with Ryan Cohen, the CEO of GameStop, who said that he thinks gaming console makers should be required to include optical disc drives on their systems in a tweet this weekend.
«Big win for consumers,» Cohen said, replying to a news story about Apple's move toward USB-C charging and away from its proprietary lightning port. «Consumers have also invested their hard earned money into physical video games. Disk drives should be required on consoles.»
Big win for consumers.
Consumers have also invested their hard earned money in to physical video games. Disk drives should be required on consoles.
Cohen, as the CEO of GameStop, has a vested interest in people buying physical game media alongside accessories. While PC games began to shift toward digital in the early 2000s with the opening of Valve's Steam Store, digital console games only became prevalent with the previous generation of consoles, the PlayStation 4 and Xbox One. GamesIndustry.biz noted at the end of 2022 that only about 28% of console game sales were for boxed copies of games, with 72% going toward digital purchases.
Cohen's choice of venue for this sentiment was a bit odd. Apple's shift toward USB-C charging is a result of a push from the European Union for Apple and other mobile device makers to embrace a universal standard for better interoperability and future mitigation of electronic waste from having to regularly replace multiple different kinds of chargers. The standard includes
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