Maybe in the north, but not here(Frankfurt). If you take the shovelware and "Pyramide"/Re-releases out of the equation there is exactly one row of PC games left. Which is about half the space each console gets.

Yes, because instead of profits a game company should spend their money on trinkets....

In Hamburg neither :)
Does not matter if Sturn or Media Markt, huge area for console games, 1 row for PC Games, 1 row for PC Software.

Digital will replace physical because publishers have a much higher margin on digital.

I still listen to radio from time to time, and I almost exclusively buy "physical" games. So what?

come on, that was just an attempt to joke, and it felt too short (and lonely) without the good old compact disk ;)

http://youtu.be/BiB0VgOKojg

If they expect to sell their retail copies, they'd better do it.

The only reason to buy retail games today is physical shit they give as an extra.

Which is exactly the reason to abandon this concept for good. Especially people in eastern Europe should know the pain of regional distribution contracts ...

I would agree, but still, many folks, at least here, appreciate retail distribution.

We have plenty of cheap retail series. For example, the same game goes to lower tier after a while, 15 EUR , you get some printed out walkthroughs, guides, trivia aboud the game. Then it goes to 5 EUR tier, and you get a box with printed manual.

They still sell pretty well, even though these games are often cheaper on digital distribution much faster than in retail.

I guess "occasional" gamers are more fond to buy real boxes, still. Retail distribution in Poland isn't shrinking at all, but, as you mentioned, it causes sometimes huge problems, like "You can't buy Skyrim on Steam because Cenega Poland has exclusive distribution rights in Poland and you have to buy it directly from them"

But somebody is paying the price. Either the store or the devs/pubs. With digital you can get the same deals without any party actually loosing money.

Edit:

On a personal note, I thought DD was stronger in eastern Europe. Personal experience have shown be a MUCH higher preference for internet and computers in general there.

It may be Polish market specific. Russian and Ukrainian copyright laws are so fun, you may buy pirated, printed out copies in a oridinary store, and they don't even try to make it look original :D

Recently, we started our first Polish-only digital distribution platforms, so I guess it starts to change. Retail is still strong, though.

And check this out, games with books!!!

http://img3.powernet.pl/mw/657/410/image_files/news/pl_3905_1351702717.jpg

I'd gladly buy physical boxed games if they didn't require steam anyway - what's the point of that?

the last boxed game I bought and it let me just play it was Alice Madness Returns (thank you, Alice)

I rather buy my books separately ;-).