Evolution of retail

photo.jpg, originally uploaded by Kim Pallister.

Having not set foot in a retail game store for some time, I found myself at Target recently.

Holy balls! Look at the PC game shelf! Approx 1/3 traditional PC hardcore fare (not shown), 1/3 kids & adventure (e.g. Dora, Nancy Drew, etc - also not shown) and 1/3 $20 casual download titles.

Once the domain of Mumbo Jumbo and a couple others, now every downloadable title to have proven itself beyond a given threshold (not sure what that might be - 100k units? half that maybe?) graduates to physical retail.

I wonder whether this is a nice secondary market or whether it's "the big leagues". I'm guessing the former, but who knows!?

As an aside, it's interesting to see their box designs. Most of these games had to sell themselves on a name and a 60x60 thumbnail. The luxury of a big cardboard box lets them mix it up a bit.