For middle-aged gamers in Singapore like me, Tec-Drome wasn’t just another video game shop. It was an institution, a place for gamers to gather, and check out the latest video games and gaming peripherals. I remember the cluttered shelves of game boxes towering over the teenaged me inside the store, with mice and gaming headphones demo stations on the outside.
But I haven’t visited Tec-Drome in years. And the 32-year store will be closed next week, according to owner Woo Liah Meng, with the business shifting online. The older, cynical me is actually surprised that Tec-Drome has stayed open for as long as it did, even surviving the Covid-19 pandemic. But the writing has been on the wall for a while now.
Physical games make up just 5% of video games revenues globally last year, according to research firm Newzoo. For PC games, the physical-digital divide was even more stark with 99% digital. I last bought a physical video game in 2019 (Kingdom Hearts III). It…
