Bad karma voor retailer GAME

Frederick Wester, CEO van Paradox Interactive, heeft gezegd dat de lopende problemen met UK retailer GAME niets anders is dan een kwestie van 'bad karma'. Wester onderbouwt zijn statement door te zeggen dat de Engelse retailer zijn klanten opzettelijk pest.

De retailer heeft de laatste tijd veel problemen met voorraad en er wordt gespeculeerd over de negatieve toekomst van het internationale verkoopbedrijf. Wester ziet deze negatieve spiraal als 'karmic retribution' met als enige uitkomst een overname door US retailer GameStop.

"GAME has basically been bullying people around and now it comes back to bite them on the ass," zei Wester tegen GamesIndustry International op de GDC.

"It's been abusing their situation in the UK for a long time but it always come back to you. Look at EA and Nintendo, they're not even willing to help. They will take the hit just to get rid of GAME and start over. One of the biggest problems is they haven't behaved nicely to other people, so it's karma."

Wester zei ook dat GAME een van de vele bedrijven is dat zich niet wil aanpassen aan de nieuwe retail-mogelijkheden.

"Why didn't XBLA and PSN become like the App Store when they came out four year's before? It's because they don't have the same openness to new content, they have multiple filters before you're in. No truly independent developers can make it through to XBLA. You can call yourself indie but you need funding, you need technology support. At Paradox we have problems getting onto XBLA with the money we have."

"On the App Store you end up with a lot of crap, but you're not forced to buy it. The customer decides. Angry Birds would never have made it to XBLA, Minecraft would never have made it to XBLA. There are so many games that are million sellers that would never have made it to XBLA."