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Gamestop's Power Pass


DistantFox

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19 hours ago, ExHaseo said:

I'm legitimately asking when I say, how is Gamefly able to do anything better and more efficiently?

 

Well, here's one way. As you said, Gamestop is relying on stores to get these games. It is certainly true that you can pick up the game instantly, but here's the problem: do you remember Blockbuster Video? When new releases came out, each individual store would buy a lot of this release. As the movie aged, they would then sell off the old rental copies as used.

 

Gamestop, however, doesn't have this option. They are using exclusively their old pre-owneds. And while trophy hunters can certainly benefit from this system (because, after all, we want the trophies, and don't care so much if the game is old), most people who purchase pre-owneds at Gamestop are looking for the latest releases. There is already limited supply, there is a large consumer group that wants to buy these games, and there is now a new group who would love the opportunity to rent them. So, while the average trophy hunter can get instant gratification, the average gamer is probably not going to jump for joy at the prospect of getting Tornado Warning, or Venetica, when they came in looking for Assassin's Creed: Origins.

 

Gamefly, however, mitigates this problem with its hub system. Here, Gamefly can purchase a lot of a single game at a single, individual station, which allows it to distribute more easily desirable titles to people. It's not a perfect system, as the wait lists will tell you. But I can't see how in the world Gamestop can compete with it.

 

I think back on Blockbuster Video. The store model was great in the 90s, but when they tried to integrate it with an online component, and compete against a company like Netflix, they fell flat almost immediately. 

 

tl;dr: I think that Gamestop's store system works poorly with the rental system they're touting. That time has passed. Further, I think Gamestop cannot effectively join its online and its brick-and-mortar operations (this has been a problem for years now). 

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The deal is pretty sweet but i don't think it's for me. For one i'm a fan of collecting physical copies of my games but more importantly, i think i'd force myself to finish games super fast to make sure i can get the most out of my money. Probably won't be healthy in the long run.

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2 hours ago, starcrunch061 said:

 

Well, here's one way. As you said, Gamestop is relying on stores to get these games. It is certainly true that you can pick up the game instantly, but here's the problem: do you remember Blockbuster Video? When new releases came out, each individual store would buy a lot of this release. As the movie aged, they would then sell off the old rental copies as used.

 

Gamestop, however, doesn't have this option. They are using exclusively their old pre-owneds. And while trophy hunters can certainly benefit from this system (because, after all, we want the trophies, and don't care so much if the game is old), most people who purchase pre-owneds at Gamestop are looking for the latest releases. There is already limited supply, there is a large consumer group that wants to buy these games, and there is now a new group who would love the opportunity to rent them. So, while the average trophy hunter can get instant gratification, the average gamer is probably not going to jump for joy at the prospect of getting Tornado Warning, or Venetica, when they came in looking for Assassin's Creed: Origins.

 

Gamefly, however, mitigates this problem with its hub system. Here, Gamefly can purchase a lot of a single game at a single, individual station, which allows it to distribute more easily desirable titles to people. It's not a perfect system, as the wait lists will tell you. But I can't see how in the world Gamestop can compete with it.

 

I think back on Blockbuster Video. The store model was great in the 90s, but when they tried to integrate it with an online component, and compete against a company like Netflix, they fell flat almost immediately. 

 

tl;dr: I think that Gamestop's store system works poorly with the rental system they're touting. That time has passed. Further, I think Gamestop cannot effectively join its online and its brick-and-mortar operations (this has been a problem for years now). 

 

I really don't see how it links back to Blockbuster. I really don't. You seem to be trying to link Gamestop to it, even though they're entirely different companies. Gamestop relies on sales, Blockbuster relied on rentals. Gamestop is not going to be relying on rentals to keep the lights on. Like I've said, they're doing this to increase foot traffic, because higher foot traffic means higher sales. Blockbuster also relied on movie rentals, and games were a secondary thing. They went under because movies can be streamed at home, and leaving the house to rent a movie was pointless, because you had thousands of movies at your fingertips, with no difference between a disc, and a movie that was streamed.

 

Yeah, Gamestop probably won't have a lot of the newest games for use in the subscription system, but like I said in my previous post, the exact same thing happens with Gamefly. I never got anything recent, and always got the bottom of the barrel stuff. My brother used Gamefly for a while and the same thing happened to him. Same thing happened to a friend of mine use who used Gamefly as well. Unless you're really lucky, that's really a leg up. Especially since you're having to pay more than 50% more for it, and having to wait longer between games. Like I said, at least with Gamestop's system, you will go home with a game you want to play right then, or they can help you find a store that does have a game you want to play. Things aren't limited to a single store, and there are Gamestops everywhere. 

 

Also, people who are used to playing games at launch, have the money to constantly drop money on the newest releases, and really don't need or want a subscription service anyway. And if people are going to try and use the subscription service as a way to not have to buy games on release, and that it'll be a whole new world where they'll get to play every game as it comes out for free, yeah, they're going to be disappointed (that's also a wildly unrealistic expectation though). The exact same thing can be said for literally every rental service that has ever existed though, including Gamefly, and it happened all the time at Blockbuster too. I remember going in looking for a new game all the time, and being disappointed almost every time. Maybe Gamefly has a slight leg up in this department, but like I said, it all boils down to if you're lucky enough to get one of the new releases. Considering you're paying more than 50% more for this chance, and having to wait 4-5 days to get a game, I don't see how it would really be worth it.

 

If there was gaming streaming service, that worked exactly like playing a disc, then this wouldn't work. It would be pointless and outdated, but that doesn't exist. There is no Netflix of gaming. So this does exist, and it's a good way to play a lot of games for cheap. The newest games within a month or two of release? Probably not. Games that came out 6 months to a year ago? Yeah, most likely. Older games you've been waiting to drop in price? Absolutely.

 

Like I've said, this is a marketing tactic to increase foot traffic, in order to increase overall sales. Not to replace all sales and transform Gamestop into a rental store. And in that regard, they're pretty set to succeed. I've seen a lot of people excited about this. I know I am. I'll finally have a chance to play tons of games I never wanted to shell out money for, because I wasn't sure I'd like them, or because I wanted to wait for it to be a reasonable price. And as someone who collects pops and figures, I'll be way more willing to buy something when I come in, since I'm not spending as much money on games. I've also been generally buying used games online through amazon and ebay, so they also have that $60 that they wouldn't have had, if I had bought the games I'll be playing online.

 

If you don't understand it, and it doesn't seem worth it to you personally, then there's nothing wrong with that. My main point here is that it's definitely better than Gamefly, because of cost and convenience. For trophy hunters especially, this is going to be a way better way to get games, without having to pay as much.

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33 minutes ago, ExHaseo said:

If you don't understand it, and it doesn't seem worth it to you personally, then there's nothing wrong with that. My main point here is that it's definitely better than Gamefly, because of cost and convenience. For trophy hunters especially, this is going to be a way better way to get games, without having to pay as much.

 

Well, possibly. It wouldn't be the first time I was wrong. But I can say that it will fail in Ames. We can rent games for free at our library.

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I actually am now pretty informed of this because of my training at work. (Still not fond of it) .. but before you consider let me make this clear because I swear to god 99% of the population cannot get into this account....

 

DO NOT BUY THIS SUBSCRIPTION IF YOU CANNOT GET INTO YOUR POWERUP REWARDS ACCOUNT. The reason is once you use the pass for the first time and "rent" your first game, a coupon will be sent into your active offers. We need that coupon in order to swap out the game(keep in mind it takes up to 72 hours to get this coupon sent to you and also yes, some stores have store tablets that could look up your active offers but they have been EXTREMELY faulty lately as in it's impossible to look up customer info. Our personal store tablet hasn't been working for almost a year now, company claims in the internet....). From what I've grasped from the training you need the receipt or it has to be in your last 5 purchases in order to verify what game you borrowed which sounds like an absolute fucking nightmare. I'm also not sure if this applies for all passes and not ones that are gifted, but it says all passes must be activated by January 31st.

 

so let me sum it up.

You need to be able to sign into your powerup rewards account.

You need to have your receipt or literally not buy anything.

The swap coupon can take up to 72 hours to be sent to you.

(If I'm not mistaken) Passes need to be activated by January 31st.

 

 

Think about these factors before purchasing. I'll post pictures of the actual training article page when I get home from work so it doesn't look like I'm talking BS lol.

Edited by DuckSwimmer
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