The second part of the publishing deal, the agreement to retail-exclusive physical copies, is perhaps most interesting. It has become commonplace to see retail-exclusive bundles or pre-order bonuses, but retail-exclusive games are something entirely new.
There may be a day, maybe not this year or next, but in the not-so-distant future, where physical copies of games are not the mainstream way to distribute content. Limited physical runs of major titles could become commodities for those seeking to fill their shelves with game cases.
GameStop has already established itself as the go to place for physical games, and lately they have been trying to establish themselves in the same way with merchandise and collectibles. In 2015 they acquired GeekNet, the parent company of ThinkGeek and ThinkGeek solutions, in an attempt to solidify their position in the collectibles market.
Establishing exclusive publishing deals with companies for retail distribution rights could pave the way for GameStop as the go-to store for buying disc-based games should they become far less common.
Obviously, there are no guarantees in any of this. The market can be a fickle thing, and old habits tend to die hard, but GameStop is at least attempting to be creative with their branding as gaming forges ahead into the digital-era. Publishing along with retail-exclusive physical distribution may very well be the path that keeps GameStop from going the way of video rental stores.
