Down with music, up with games at HMV

UK retail chain HMV has stated that videogames will soon overtake music in sales, as it clears more and more space for interactive entertainment on its shelves.

“Within the next 12 to 18 months, it’s possible games will be bigger than music for us,” suggested chief executive Simon Fox. “Music is in our DNA and we are totally committed to it. But the fact is, the market is moving away from music – so we are giving more space in our stores to games.”

I think it has less to do with the fact that the market is moving away from music per se, and more to do with the fact that consumers are finding digital distribution vastly superior to retail. It is the age of the MP3, and so CDs are bound to decline more and more as videogames take over. 

Of course, this will also be the fate of videogames in the far-flung future. HMV is wisely moving with the times, but eventually they will not be able to catch up.