The Fall of Physical Retail...really?

Over the last few years video games stores on the high street having been closing and stores that sell video games on the side have been reducing their stock levels.  One theory towards this is that the online market is impossible to contend with.  Website like Amazon sell the same games, accessories and consoles without having to pay rent, store staff or utilities on stores. But is this really the direction we want the retail sector of our beloved industry to go? Is it even the direction that its going in?

Arguments can be made for the online markets.  Its a lot more convenient to turn your on your computer, pop in some credit card details and hit "check out" then it is to travel into town and use cash.  An online retailer doesn't need to worry about location, opening hours or the running of individual stores, not to mention you can get most things from one website if you go to the right one.

In terms of the UK as a whole online retail is still relatively small if you don't include music downloads and ticket sales at under 10% and if you do under 20%.  But figures do show that the online retail market is growing.

From my own personal observations in my local video games stores sales are up!  I haven't been in and not had to queue for weeks! But is this really what it seems, I doubt it.  A new store has opened on our high street, a second hand game store and its one of the busiest stores around, the games I see people buying form my local are also all second hand.  Second hand games are cheaper, usually just as good and can be available soon after release for most games.

Second hand sales of video games removes millions from the market from the developers view, hence why many games these days are starting to have codes that must be registered online specifically to prevent the use of second hand games.

I do use second hand games but I could live without them. Linking back to my last post, I cannot live without new games and innovation which will die if the sale of new copies doesn't stay alive.

What is more important, the high street stores or the developers?