User:Draelanson/Video Game Stores

History
The first popular retail video game (game inside a system) that sparked interest in a possible video game market was Pong in 1975. In the past when Atari arrived video games were sold and distrubited through major retailers in electronics departments such as Sears. The ever popular Pong took the market by supprise and introduced the possibilities of a market to come. Many more games allowed a future in the market of video game retailing as more than just a part of an electronics store.

Merchandise
-Video Games -Clothing -Toys -Collectibles

Value of Game Stores
Video games stores have brought the future in the concept of business. Buy, Sell, Trade are the typical services offered from any video game store. The idea is not new and has been used in many business models such as used car lots, pawn shops, and now even being adopted in retail stores such as Best Buy, Toys R Us, and other major retailers.

Corporations
Since the expansion of the line of products in the video game industion (ex. Atari, Nes, Snes N64, PSx product line) the amount of video games availible for collection and play have increased. Corporations such as Funcoland, EBGames, and Gamestop formed with a great and powerful force. With recent merging of these companies into Gamestop many other corporations disappeared. Play N Trade is an actual corporation that happens to franchise. Strategic planning has been said for Play N Trade corporate to form a number of other corporate locations aside from their one and only.

Notable Corporations: Gamestop Play N Trade

Franchises
Franchises for the video game business has been an upcoming trend in the video gaming market. Recently the new Play N Trade franchise company has surrounded the market in many states of the US. Notable Franchises: Play N Trade

Independent Stores
An Independent game store is usually classified as a store that holds no affiliation toward an organized company. Many Independent stores are in the form of partnerships or sole-proprietorships. However, noteable companies have risen in forms of LLCs, S-Corps, and Corps. Independents stores account for nearly 75% of the market share for video game retail shops. Site:(http://www.escapistmagazine.com/articles/view/issues/issue_124/2649-Indie-Game-Store)

Notable Companies: