Researchers always find the craziest things to spew out to the public, and sometimes they actually happen to be true. In this recent case, Electronic Entertainment Design and Research released data indicating that while the retail circuit has held steady sales for video games, in the next few years the numbers could drastically decline due to a few factors.

According to Game Force 4, the EEDR believes that growing purchasing trends within the gaming industry could hurt retailers in the long run including the rather obvious alternative of digital distribution.

Leon Thomas from GF4 writes that…

EEDAR claims that shelf space and consumer spending will factor into the decline of new games hitting retail. Furthmore, the advent of digital distribution could cause a serious dent as well. Lastly, services like OnLive could affect this well -- on the assumption that OnLive will actually work.

Speaking of OnLive…the service is still expanding on its beta platform and on track for its 2010 debut. Nevertheless, it’s a bit of a no-brainer that retail will eventually decline with services like Steam, Switch Games and Good Old Games eating into the used and new game market.

You can learn more about the research by visiting the Official Electronic Entertainment Design and Research Website.