It’s been almost a year since I saw anything really compelling in games retail, so I was surprised to see a cool idea out of… Wal-Mart of all places. I’ve only been inside Wal-Mart a handful of times, having grown up in southeast Michigan and thus buying everything at Meijer for the first 20 years of my life. But Wal-Mart’s in-store “Family Night Center” sounds like it could solve some serious problems getting more casual gamers to warm up to purchasing more games throughout the year.
In a nutshell, it’s a section of the store that is full of products that could help plan a fun family night in, regardless of product category. So you’ll find family-friendly DVD movies right next to the Doritos right next to Scattergories. This being Wal-Mart and times being what they are, they put a $30 ceiling on everything in the section. Smart.
If this section really takes off, it could mean big things for board and video games. Settlers of Catan* is retailing for right around $30 now, and most of the games on my shelf could really use the boost that would come from being available at the world’s largest retailer.
There’s tremendous potential here for the industry to embrace. Last month, we saw Wal-Mart slash the price of Batman: Arkham Asylum at release in all of its Canadian stores to just above the $30 threshold for the Family Night Center. It was so well-received, Canadian Gamestops had to follow suit. I’m guessing this was a test from the überetailer to see how marquee games perform as a loss leader in a non-holiday part of the year.

Wal-Mart tested lower pricing for the stellar Batman:AA in Canada
New revenue streams like in-game ads and microtransactions could make it entirely reasonable for a big publisher to put out a serious title at a price point of $30 or less, if it means achieving the scale that comes with prestige shelf position inside Wal-Mart. We’ve already seen plenty of manufacturers create special versions of their product specifically to meet Wal-Mart’s pricing standards. So by the same logic, couldn’t a developer like EA put together a much less feature-rich version of their next Skate game for a lower retail price as a Wal-Mart exclusive, qualify for sale inside the Family Game Center (which no doubt boosts the hell out of sales), get a ton more customers into the game, and then reap greater awards by selling these consumers new skaters, outfits and levels a few dollars at a time? Let’s talk, guys.
*In case you missed it, be sure to check out Andrew Curry’s excellent Wired piece on Settlers of Catan. After years of reading about what a great game it is, and seeing so many outstanding videogame developers list Settlers among their greatest influences, it became my gateway into more elaborate games designed with adults in mind.