Gamestop Now Offering Pre-Orders on Digital Downloads

In a surprising change of pace, it appears that GameStop will be returning to the PC games market with an announcement that customers can now place pre-orders for digital downloads.

Seemingly following EA's lead, the brick-and-mortar retailer has begun shifting the some of its focus off of packaged goods sales and onto digital distribution. GameStop recently nabbed up the Impulse digital distribution platform, in a bid to compete with Steam and EA.

The first game to receive the new treatment will be Deus Ex: Human Revolution, which launches August 23 in-store and online. Customers looking to purchase the game can even put store credit from trade-ins towards the pre-order if they so choose.
"This is a great illustration of how the digital distribution model and in-store experience really complement one another," said GameStop general manager of digital distribution Steve Nix. "We have seen great success selling DLC for console titles in our store, so expanding on that model and helping customers discover digitally distributed PC games in stores is a natural fit."

As an incentive to get customers pre-purchasing the digital title in-store, GameStop is offering Deus Ex: Game of the Year Edition and Deus Ex: Invisible War for immediate download, as well as the Explosive Mission DLC pack for the new game and extra PowerUp Rewards points.

Store credit and gift cards are not yet accepted as payment methods for online purchases, but the company claims that they will be available as options in the future.