News

Amazon challenges GameStop, others with release-day delivery

September 8, 2010

Online retail giant Amazon.com is getting more aggressive in its head-to-head competition with bricks-and-mortar retailers. The company tackled bookstores with the convenience of instant book delivery to Kindle devices, and now it's taking aim at video game retailers like GameStop with release-day delivery of new titles.

Retail stock analyst Anthony Agnello notes that the move is just the latest in a long string of bold initiatives from the company.

"Throughout the last decade, Amazon’s aggressive DVD pricing has helped them rule your living room, but as sales of physical media for film and television entertainment have dwindled the company has started to look at video games as their next point of attack," he writes at InvestorPlace. "Big releases like Take-Two Interactive’s Red Dead Redemption are typically accompanied by credits towards future game purchases, putting as much as $20 towards an Amazon customer’s next video game purchase through the website."

The company is also making a big push into digital delivery of game content, taking on established players like Steam and Kongregate. Agnello thinks the company's recent hire of Andre Vrignaud, former director of game platform strategy at Microsoft, indicates that "big plans are indeed in the works" for on-demand gaming.