Gamestop is going to fail

[tjoe1bkhjtqxm]

https://m.ign.com/articles/2018/11/30/gamestop-reports-third-quarter-loss-of-4886-million

 

What's your opinion about? 

According to me, this is a great news. They definitely deserve it... Years and years of games with extremely expensive prices, sales which in Italy at least, they're all insult. 

[Xorhi]

yeah, go to target here and you can get a new game just under $80. But go to ebgames and it's 100+ for the same game. But in saying that the psn store prices especially with dlc content has been sky rocketing in my opinion with the average cost of a season pass. Maybe its been like that for long time but I've only just noticed this in recent years. 

 

Though in saying that some regions cost even more again so I guess it's not so bad considering. 

Edited December 8, 2018 by Xorhi

[Dauersack]

The writing has been on the wall for years. People buy more digital games every year, people do not borrow games from shops anymore because they could do that cheaper with services like ps now, the few people who do like to own physical copies of their favorite games rather buy the game entirely new (and there are much cheaper options than gamestop), also reports about their bad practices have been going around for quite a while, almost anybody got the message about them by now. They also like to talk people, even kids, into shitty subscriptions they don't want or need and once a customer figures that out he will usually not go back to Gamestop. The entire business model is living on borrowed time. Even shops who were liked by their crumbling customer base could not prevent their eventual downfall so gamestop, a shop no one I have ever met really liked all that much, will either have to think of a new way to make more money or they will die out, like most video rental shops and other antiquated business models.

Edited December 8, 2018 by Nighcisama
grammar

[Dreakon13]

1 hour ago, Nighcisama said:

The writing has been on the wall for years. People buy more digital games every year, people do not borrow games from shops anymore because they could do that cheaper with services like ps now

 

Personally, I don't think it's a physical vs digital thing.  Physical is fine, just the gaming-specific brick and mortar shops are a bit of an antiquated idea... especially if they aren't doing regional pricing correctly.  Retailers like Amazon are alive and well, even stores like Best Buy found their niche (until they ended the GCU thing at least).

 

That being said, I have absolutely no idea why people hate Gamestop so much.  I have the pro rewards membership and it's worth it for the Game Informer magazines every month alone (great toilet material) and preordering a couple games every year, which I'd do either way, pays that off.  If the prices are out of whack, it must not be a factor in the US because I'm paying the same if I go physical or digital... and Gamestop's prices match up to the Amazon's and the Best Buy's and the Target's.  If they treat their employees poorly, that sucks but I'm not nearly bored or desperate enough for a cause to champion to care about the minutia of being a Gamestop employee.  I have my own work shit to deal with.  Unless there's serious physical or mental abuse happening, I'll pass on that one.  My advice to them is not working there anymore if they don't like it.

 

I went to pick up Super Smash Bros yesterday and they offered up some fighter pass and the Nintendo Online stuff and insurance on the games, and I said no.  Simple.  Then I had a nice little back and forth with the employee about Hellblade (since I was picking that up too).  He asked if I wanted to preorder anything, I said no and quipped "unless you can make Resident Evil 2 come out sooner".  We had a laugh and I went back home with my games.  I can understand why people might see it as badgering, but they're just people doing their jobs.  Folks need to be less sensitive/anti-social.  And I can't believe I'm saying that because I should probably be the most anti-social out of the lot of us.

Edited December 8, 2018 by Dreakon13

[Priere]

As a strict digital-only consumer with only like 1 physical game bought per year, here are my two cents.

 

I personally cannot afford even a cheap physical game offer ($30-$20) let alone a full retail price, which varies very deeply from one country to another considering if the game is imported or manufactored in the same country you are in or not since as far as i know, they charge for that whether individually or bundled with the game price itself as if it's a tax bonus. And i'm sure others can't either for various reasons, mostly financial reasons. And as such, i guess we wait for the games that we want to be discounted digitally through the offical PS store or trusted sites like Humble Bundle or PS+ if the games offered on that service are your cup of tea.

 

I'm not blaming retail stores or faulting them for charging high or low on physical games because i never know their intentions nor why they do that, and that is why i, personally, cannot understand why Gamestop alone is falling or whatever ALONE. I understand it's because of the digital consumer demographic increasing, just not why Gamestop alone took the earliest hit. Unless this means the downfall of most retailers, which is sad but also would happen sooner or later so meh. I did not deal with Gamestop personally so there may be a reason pointed out in posts above me that i have not seen yet that put all the pieces together.

[Dreakon13]

43 minutes ago, YaoiGod said:

As a strict digital-only consumer with only like 1 physical game bought per year, here are my two cents.

 

I personally cannot afford even a cheap physical game offer ($30-$20) let alone a full retail price, which varies very deeply from one country to another considering if the game is imported or manufactored in the same country you are in or not since as far as i know, they charge for that whether individually or bundled with the game price itself as if it's a tax bonus. And i'm sure others can't either for various reasons, mostly financial reasons. And as such, i guess we wait for the games that we want to be discounted digitally through the offical PS store or trusted sites like Humble Bundle or PS+ if the games offered on that service are your cup of tea.

 

While I (sorta) get your point here... the industry doesn't survive on people waiting for discounts or bundles.  It survives on the early adopters and the people who pre-order or buy their games full price throughout the critical launch periods (which happens regardless of physical or digital).  While it may be important to you, Gamestop isn't going to war over who gets the sale with a 90% off game three years after its released... nor is it particularly important in the bigger picture.

 

Besides, regional pricing aside, if you know where to look you can often find newer releases cheaper going physical over digital (assuming it isn't a limited print collectors release of an indie).  Digital just has a lower floor with older games and games that do poorly.

 

 

43 minutes ago, YaoiGod said:

I'm not blaming retail stores or faulting them for charging high or low on physical games because i never know their intentions nor why they do that, and that is why i, personally, cannot understand why Gamestop alone is falling or whatever ALONE. I understand it's because of the digital consumer demographic increasing, just not why Gamestop alone took the earliest hit. Unless this means the downfall of most retailers, which is sad but also would happen sooner or later so meh. I did not deal with Gamestop personally so there may be a reason pointed out in posts above me that i have not seen yet that put all the pieces together.

 

Gamestop is falling alone for a few reasons...

1. Amazon and Best Buy (until recently) offered better money saving options for pre-ordering games.

2. Everyone and their grandmother has Amazon Prime now.  Convenience is huge.

3. Gamers are increasingly anti-social (in person, the huge/anonymous online presence of bitching and moaning is noted) and Gamestop is probably the worst offender of retail stores as far as mandated follow up questions go when buying games.

4. There have been a number of articles recently of consumer/employee unfriendly practices out of Gamestop, and everyone likes a good cause to rally against.

Edited December 8, 2018 by Dreakon13

[Crispy_Oglop]

I think Gamestop is going to gradually decline with it's game sales in the next couple of years. But I actually think it'll survive because it's slowly phasing out game sales and selling loads of gaming and pop-culture merchandise instead.

 

I can only speak for the stores in my country, but in the last 12 months, over half of their store space is taken up with Funko-Pop, t-shirts, figurines and posters etc. The two local Gamestops near me only have the new releases on the shelf and nothing else, the rest of the store is geeky merchandise.

 

Gamestop is the reason i pretty much buy digitally now, i got tired of going in to find a game thats 9 euros in the PSN store priced as 49.99 euros in Gamestop.

 

It wouldn't surprise me if they end up stopping selling games bar the chart stuff altogether and focus on merch.

[GT__Jedi]

Well, I really like Game Stop for the pre-owned games.  Gives me a chance to add to my never ending library, and the prices are lower than the other stores in my area.  And, I can trade in the psycho DS4 for a deal on a new one.  

[Crispy_Oglop]

26 minutes ago, Dreakon13 said:

3. Gamers are increasingly anti-social and Gamestop is probably the worst offender of retail stores as far as mandated follow up questions go when buying games.

 

Forgot to add this into my last post

 

What data do you have around the point you mentioned about all gamers being increasingly anti-social? I'm a bit of a data-hound so would be really interested in those insights.

 

I personally don't think that The Gamestop employee script of questions and up-selling is a cause of it's decline due to anti-social feelings. I think it's just really really annoying regardless of what your approach to social interactions are. I'm pretty social and i'm a gamer, but whenever i go in there I just honestly don't like how pushy they are.

 

If i order digitally or a physical copy on an online store - i only need to click 3 buttons and i've got my product/my product starts to get dispatched. I don't have to stand there for 10 mins while someone reels off a bunch of points that they have to reel off for fear of being disciplined by their boss.

Edited December 8, 2018 by Crispy_Oglop

[Priere]

13 minutes ago, Dreakon13 said:

 

While I (sorta) get your point here... the industry doesn't survive on people waiting for discounts or bundles.  It survives on the early adopters and the people who pre-order or buy their games full price throughout the critical launch periods (which happens regardless of physical or digital).  While it may be important to you, Gamestop isn't going to war over who gets the sale with a 90% off game three years after its released... nor is it particularly important in the bigger picture.

 

I get these points. I guess the industry has all forms of consumers and it survives mostly on the high payers regardless if physical or digital. I'm actually grateful for people who do support big or small companies by pre-ordering or buying on day 1 since it means that we can hope to see more great stuff from them in the future and i hope i can do that as well in the future.

 

20 minutes ago, Dreakon13 said:

Gamestop is falling alone for a few reasons...

1. Amazon and Best Buy (until recently) offered better money saving options for pre-ordering games.

2. Everyone and their grandmother has Amazon Prime now.  Convenience is huge.

3. Gamers are increasingly anti-social (in person, the huge/anonymous online presence of bitching and moaning is noted) and Gamestop is probably the worst offender of retail stores as far as mandated follow up questions go when buying games.

4. There have been a number of articles recently of consumer/employee unfriendly practices out of Gamestop, and everyone likes a good cause to rally against.

 

That makes sense, thanks for the enlightenment. I can't comment on the anti-social part though since i can see some sense in it in some gamers.

[Dreakon13]

10 minutes ago, Crispy_Oglop said:

 

Forgot to add this into my last post

 

What data do you have around the point you mentioned about all gamers being increasingly anti-social? I'm a bit of a data-hound so would be really interested in those insights.

 

I personally don't think that The Gamestop employee script of questions and up-selling is a cause of it's decline due to anti-social feelings. I think it's just really really annoying regardless of what your approach to social interactions are. I'm pretty social and i'm a gamer, but whenever i go in there I just honestly don't like how pushy they are.

 

No data, just my own observations.  If you can't handle a few seconds of follow up questions from a fellow human being when going to pick your games, maybe you can take off your "social" tag.   You certainly aren't alone in that feeling.  A ton of people (younger people specifically) I've talked to say the same thing... hence why I feel gamers are becoming increasingly "DON'T TOUCH ME!" with basic social interactions that aren't dicking around about how bad No Man's Sky is in every comment section of every site ever.

Edited December 8, 2018 by Dreakon13

[Crispy_Oglop]

8 minutes ago, Dreakon13 said:

 

No data, just my own observations.  If you can't handle a few seconds of follow up questions when going to pick your games, maybe you can take off your "social" tag.   You certainly aren't alone in that feeling.  A ton of people I've talked to say the same thing... hence why I feel gamers are becoming increasingly "DON'T TOUCH ME!" about basic social interactions.

 

I guess it's hard to figure out perception vs reality - going from 'I feel like it this is the case' Vs. 'This the case because of x,y,z'. If there's no data or evidence, then it's just a feeling and isn't necessarily fact. I definitely think there are a portion of gamers who are anti-social and that your theory might apply to, but I suppose that's the case for every group and demographic.

 

I'm not here to defend or prove my own 'social tag' as you put it, if that was directed at me  apologies in advance if it was not.

 

Edited December 8, 2018 by Crispy_Oglop

[Dreakon13]

12 minutes ago, Crispy_Oglop said:

 

I guess it's hard to figure out perception vs reality - going from 'I feel like it this is the case' Vs. 'This the case because of x,y,z'. If there's no data or evidence, then it's just a feeling and isn't necessarily fact. I definitely think there are a portion of gamers who are anti-social and that your theory might apply to, but I suppose that's the case for every group and demographic.

 

I'm not here to defend or prove my own 'social tag' as you put it, if that was directed at me  apologies in advance if it was not.

 

 

You're the one to claim you're "pretty social" in a rebuttal about anti-social behavior in gamers... so I'd apologize for directing something like that at you, but I really can't imagine what you expected to happen there. ?  You made yourself the point, so I included you in my rebuttal back.  Not trying to be a jerk or anything.

 

I don't think there could ever be "data" persay to prove/disprove anti-social behavior in an entire group of people.  And I don't think perception is immediately unrealistic for lack of having it.  I just feel that "wanting to avoid extra conversation wherever possible" people get from buying online/purchasing digitally (a category you even say you fall in) is both somewhat anti-social behavior and one of several reasons for Gamestop falling.  I'm sorry if you disagree?

Edited December 8, 2018 by Dreakon13

[Crispy_Oglop]

2 minutes ago, Dreakon13 said:

 

You're the one to claim you're "pretty social" in a rebuttal to my point about anti-social behavior in gamers... so I'd apologize for directing something like that at you, but I really can't imagine what you expected to happen there.   You made yourself the point.  Not trying to be a jerk or anything.

 

I don't think there could ever be data to prove/disprove anti-social behavior in an entire group of people.  I just feel that "wanting to avoid extra conversation wherever possible" people get from buying online/purchasing digitally is a reason for Gamestop falling.  I'm sorry if you disagree?

 

Even so, the whole comment was needless and derailed the flow of the thread. I made myself an example because it contradicted your generalization. Which you then decided to make the point by challenging my 'social status' to devalue my opinion

 

Whether I disagree with you or not, isn't really the point and not something that you should get defensive about in the slightest - it doesn't take the meaning away from your standpoint - you believe that gamers are becoming anti-social, a feeling that you are more than entitled to.

 

My disagreement or antagonistic points don't propose that you are wrong and i am right or vice versa. It's part of the flow of the discussion. I asked you for data to back up your feeling purely because i thought you were referencing a study or something not to try and disprove your generalized comment about all gamers being increasingly anti-social. That's all.

 

Let's just get back to the discussion shall we? Rather than bringing butt-hurt and purse raising into the equation.

[NightRusticDawn]

As someone who works at a Gamestop, manager level all I can say is; Frankly don't care and they can burn the place down.

 

To elaborate I do like Gamestop and if a well run shop is in your area you will notice it, our store is peaking at 80-92% satisfaction and we barely do deals.

 

We have good prices, generally 10-25$ cheaper then any other store that sell games in the region, which I think is mostly because of me, every month when a new batch comes in I undercut the initial price on day one to match the digital market, as long as we still are making a progress in terms of sales who cares if we give the consumer a fair price at the same time as that just makes it a win-win relationship.

We do have great deals and discounted "Used" copies in the store but the majority of profit is merchandise or systems of course even if we sell less quantity of them. POP Vinyl, Game cards, clothing and stuffed animals are the most profitable.

 

Then it comes to the parts that just kills a gamestop store and any other store. the sales pitches.

 

Oh fuck me I wish the higher ups would stop with this fucking crap, nobody wants to spend more money on a single purchase for the level 2-4 cards just to get 10% of the next purchase. It's a lame practice that nobody cares about and on top of that we lock people's card at rank 2 before the discounts happen (Those that are worthwhile), put it behind said paywall for what reason? to gain 4 bucks per purchase? Fuck the higher ups for this and I've been fighting it for years now.

I tell my employee's to NOT promote this garbage and just hand out memberships, if people want the discount they can come to us. Gamestop needs to stop with the sales pitch shit and do what we do where I work; Sell games at a decent price, be kind and social and talk about games with frequently visiting consumers.

 

I like my job, wanna keep working there But this "article".. well I knew it was happening years ago.

 

*Gamestop store varies from store to store of course*

Edited December 8, 2018 by NightRusticDawn

[Dreakon13]

7 minutes ago, Crispy_Oglop said:

 

Even so, the whole comment was needless and derailed the flow of the thread. I made myself an example because it contradicted your generalization. Which you then decided to make the point by challenging my 'social status' to devalue my opinion

 

Whether I disagree with you or not, isn't really the point and not something that you should get defensive about in the slightest - it doesn't take the meaning away from your standpoint - you believe that gamers are becoming anti-social, a feeling that you are more than entitled to.

 

My disagreement or antagonistic points don't propose that you are wrong and i am right or vice versa. It's part of the flow of the discussion. I asked you for data to back up your feeling purely because i thought you were referencing a study or something not to try and disprove your generalized comment about all gamers being increasingly anti-social. That's all.

 

Let's just get back to the discussion shall we? Rather than bringing butt-hurt and purse raising into the equation.

 

In fairness, my points always have gone back to the topic of Gamestop failing/falling (as I believe the anti-social elements play a role in that).  You're more than welcome to derail things trying to "catch me" in generalizations or perceptions that I never claimed to be more than that... and/or jam how you perceive yourself into the topic to try and contradict something you disagree with... but I wouldn't waste too much energy pinning that onto me.

Edited December 8, 2018 by Dreakon13

[Crispy_Oglop]

9 minutes ago, NightRusticDawn said:

As someone who works at a Gamestop, manager level all I can say is; Frankly don't care and they can burn the place down.

 

To elaborate I do like Gamestop and if a well run shop is in your area you will notice it, our store is peaking at 80-92% satisfaction and we barely do deals.

 

We have good prices, generally 10-25$ cheaper then any other store that sell games in the region, which I think is mostly because of me, every month when a new batch comes in I undercut the initial price on day one to match the digital market, as long as we still are making a progress in terms of sales who cares if we give the consumer a fair price at the same time as that just makes it a win-win relationship.

We do have great deals and discounted "Used" copies in the store but the majority of profit is merchandise or systems of course even if we sell less quantity of them. POP Vinyl, Game cards, clothing and stuffed animals are the most profitable.

 

Then it comes to the parts that just kills a gamestop store and any other store. the sales pitches.

 

Oh fuck me I wish the higher ups would stop with this fucking crap, nobody wants to spend more money on a single purchase for the level 2-4 cards just to get 10% of the next purchase. It's a lame practice that nobody cares about and on top of that we lock people's card at rank 2 before the discounts happen (Those that are worthwhile), put it behind said paywall for what reason? to gain 4 bucks per purchase? Fuck the higher ups for this and I've been fighting it for years now.

I tell my employee's to NOT promote this garbage and just hand out memberships, if people want the discount they can come to us. Gamestop needs to stop with the sales pitch shit and do what we do where I work; Sale games at a decent price, be kind and social and talk about games with frequently visiting consumers.

 

I like my job, wanna keep working there But this "article".. well I knew it was happening years ago.

 

*Gamestop store varies from store to store of course*

 

Really interesting perspective there! I can definitely tell the fellas that work in my locals don't like the up-selling. The closest Gamestop to me has some really nice people in there who'll engage and chat with you about the actual game which for me at least is so much better than asking me about deals and upselling. The store in Dublin city close to me is really tight in terms of that kind of conversation though so I can definitely see what you meant by noticing if there is a well run shop in the area.

 

I think at the end of the day if you strip away the debates about Gamestop, it's the jobs that are precious, especially where I live. So if something did happen to the stores, i'd much rather it just be a case of them switching focus on different merch rather than anything serious. I honestly think Gamestop could leverage the whole demand for pop-culture merchandise even more now.

 

7 minutes ago, Dreakon13 said:

 

In fairness, my points always have gone back to the topic of Gamestop failing/falling (as I believe the anti-social elements play a role in that).  You're more than welcome to derail things trying to "catch me" in generalizations or perceptions that I never claimed to be more than that... and/or jam how you perceive yourself into the topic to try and contradict something you disagree with... but I wouldn't waste too much energy pinning that onto me.

 

That's a pretty odd way of looking at it and i'm sorry that you feel you need to be so defensive or that i'm trying to 'catch you'. I'll leave you to it pal.

Edited December 8, 2018 by Crispy_Oglop

[Dreakon13]

 

2 minutes ago, Crispy_Oglop said:

That's a pretty odd way of looking at it and i'm sorry that you feel you need to be so defensive or that i'm trying to 'catch you'. I'll leave you to it pal.

 

Please do.  And take your passive aggressive one liners with you.

[Dauersack]

2 hours ago, Dreakon13 said:

 

Personally, I don't think it's a physical vs digital thing.  Physical is fine, just the gaming-specific brick and mortar shops are a bit of an antiquated idea... especially if they aren't doing regional pricing correctly.  Retailers like Amazon are alive and well, even stores like Best Buy found their niche (until they ended the GCU thing at least).

 

That being said, I have absolutely no idea why people hate Gamestop so much.  I have the pro rewards membership and it's worth it for the Game Informer magazines every month alone (great toilet material) and preordering a couple games every year, which I'd do either way, pays that off.  If the prices are out of whack, it must not be a factor in the US because I'm paying the same if I go physical or digital... and Gamestop's prices match up to the Amazon's and the Best Buy's and the Target's.  If they treat their employees poorly, that sucks but I'm not nearly bored or desperate enough for a cause to champion to care about the minutia of being a Gamestop employee.  I have my own work shit to deal with.  Unless there's serious physical or mental abuse happening, I'll pass on that one.  My advice to them is not working there anymore if they don't like it.

 

It is a physical vs digital thing. You can bet that it hurts Gamestop significantly that the amount of people who buy physical gets smaller and smaller each year, because they lose the chance to get any money from someone who only buys his stuff on steam or the ps store. Granted it is not the only reason, but at least a major one. Amazon is a very bad example if you want to compare another retailer with Gamestop because Amazon does not only sell things like games and gaming hardware, Amazon sells pretty much everything, their prices are also far better than Gamestops (at least where I am from) and they deliver the shit to your door. You could even say Amazon doing great business is one of the reasons Gamestop is struggling too, because there is no logical reason to go to Gamestop and pick up a copy of a game when you could deliver it to your house for far less cash.

 

I can tell you why people dislike Gamestop, at least the ones I spoke with. Gamestop is expensive, Gamestop employees try to fuck you over during trade ins, they also often try to talk you into shit you stated your dislike for multiple times (because they get pressured into it by their managers most likely), hardware they sell for far too much is often faulty, same with games. Adding to that, anyone who tries to be aware of who he is giving his money to (I count myself among those, so I for example automatically lose a lot of respect for anyone who currently gives money to EA or Bethesda during this storm of fuck ups) really is disgusted by many of the things Gamestop as a company does to both customers and the poor fools who work there.

 

I feel safe to say that you are not really comparable to a normal customer thankfully. You preorder stuff, which is always a very questionable thing to do, you have a pro membership that includes things you don't really want or need and you don't give a fuck about what message you send when you give someone your money. Quite rare to find someone who has all these 3 faults at once, if your behavior would be the norm, then Gamestop would not struggle, but thankfully you are a minority because the industry as a whole could be a lot worse off for it if we had many more people with your behavior. You can do whatever you want of course don't get me wrong, but I would be ashamed of it at least.

Edited December 8, 2018 by Nighcisama

[Dreakon13]

29 minutes ago, Nighcisama said:

 

It is a physical vs digital thing. You can bet that it hurts Gamestop significantly that the amount of people who buy physical gets smaller and smaller each year, because they lose the chance to get any money from someone who only buys his stuff on steam or the ps store. Granted it is not the only reason, but at least a major one. Amazon is a very bad example if you want to compare another retailer with Gamestop because Amazon does not only sell things like games and gaming hardware, Amazon sells pretty much everything, their prices are also far better than Gamestops (at least where I am from) and they deliver the shit to your door.

 

Where I'm from, games cost the exact same on Amazon.  Right down to the sales tax.  And I actually said in the post you quoted that Gamestop being a game-specific brick and mortar shop gives places like Amazon the edge.   Silly billy.  As long as places like Amazon exist and thrive, there's a distribution method for physical games... so I see no reason to emphasize digital vs physical too much, though obviously it plays its role with Gamestop specifically.

 

Also, I'd rather get my games the day of and not 2+ days later... that's more important to me than never needing to leave the house.  I leave the house every day for work anyways.

 

 

29 minutes ago, Nighcisama said:

I feel safe to say that you are not really comparable to a normal customer thankfully. You preorder stuff, which is always a very questionable thing to do, you have a pro membership that includes things you don't really want or need and you don't give a fuck about what message you sent when you give someone your money. Quite rare to find someone who has all these 3 faults at once

 

First... you can preorder stuff anywhere, and many gamers do.  More than either of us probably realize.  Preordering and buying during launch week is critical to the success of a franchise, a development studio and the industry as a whole.  Of course I'm not ashamed of it.  Early adopters are only reason there are quality games waiting there on deep discount three years later for people to enjoy.

 

Second... the games that I buy pay for that pro membership in reward points, and I do want those Game Informer magazines.  I can't say I feel too bad about that.  Also... at no point is gaming ever a "need".

 

Third... the message I'm sending is supporting physical games and supporting the industry.  Two things I greatly care about.  I just don't give a fuck about whatever message you want me to send.

Edited December 8, 2018 by Dreakon13

[eigen-space]

If you click on the actual GameStop report linked in the article, you'll notice that they're actually increasing profits in every line of business except one: Used Games.

 

This is honestly unsurprising to me. Every time I see a used game for a newer title or popular title, it's marked down *maybe* 10% from the brand new game sitting one shelf over. I'd simply prefer to pay the extra $5 for a brand new copy (hence why I think New Software sales are up for GameStop). I don't think I've ever seen a game marked down more than 30% from it's New retail value unless there's a sale going on specifically for used games (I'm rather fond of their used games sales to be honest... good deals to be had there).

I think they'd start seeing modest gains in that line of business if they would look at some of the local used game stores' pricing. I can often go to any one of about 5 used game stores in my area and find better deals on used games than GameStop offers. 

 

I still prefer GameStop over anywhere else for used hardware purchases. They make it painless to return a malfunctioning system, and actually offer pretty good deals on them too. 

 

Wish I knew a bit more about finance... the part in the GameStop article where it talks about having an increase in the Adjusted Net Income versus a loss in GAAP Income makes it a bit difficult to understand whether or not GameStop is truly posting losses (IGN's article doesn't mention it).

[Dauersack]

29 minutes ago, Dreakon13 said:

Also, I'd rather get my games the day of and not 2+ days later... that's more important to me than never needing to leave the house.  I leave the house every day for work anyways.

 

 

 

 

Delivery service must suck in your country if you have to wait several days more after ordering it on Amazon. I do not have this problem in any way because I rarely ever feel the need to play a game on day 1, as it is a inferior experience 100% of the time due to patches and improvements flooding in, sometimes for weeks after release day. Going into a Gamestop is just a bad experience compared to pretty much every other shop, how you can like that is beyond me honestly, maybe your Gamestop employees are not as bad as the ones in Germany, in any other case what you do makes no sense to me.

 

Quote

First... you can preorder stuff anywhere, and many gamers do.  Preordering and buying during launch week is critical to the success of a franchise, a development studio and the industry as a whole.  I'm not ashamed of it.

 

Second... the games that I buy pay for that pro membership in reward points, and I do want those Game Informer magazines.  At no point is gaming ever a "need".

 

Third... the message I'm sending is supporting physical games and supporting the industry.  Two things I greatly care about.  I just don't give a fuck about whatever message you want me to send.

 

This is getting way off topic but fuck it, still gonna reply to that nonsense. Companies make a big deal out of preorders, they want you to preporder because then they can fuck you over with half finished games, they want to already have your money by the time negative reviews flood in. There are almost no companies that deserve enough trust to justify a pre order. Also, in reality, very few games have a noteworthy number of people preordering it compared to the entirety of the playerbase. People who preorder are a minority, simple as that, you can check the numbers easily. To even imply that preorders could have any positive impact on the industry is one of the most idiotic and naive things I have ever heard, but I doubt it would make much sense to explain it to you, as you already stated that you don't really care. You have every right not to give a fuck about what other people think of your behavior, and I have every right to call you out for making the industry worse for us all by rewarding shitty practices like pre order bonus and all that other crap with your money. If you don't want to hear it, feel free to put me on ignore, probably the easiest thing to do as I do not imagine that we could ever see eye to eye on anything.

 

 

 

Edited December 8, 2018 by Nighcisama

[Dreakon13]

27 minutes ago, Nighcisama said:

Delivery service must suck in your country if you have to wait several days more after ordering it on Amazon. I do not have this problem in any way because I rarely ever feel the need to play a game on day 1, as it is a inferior experience 100% of the time due to patches and improvements flooding in, sometimes for weeks after release day. Going into a Gamestop is just a bad experience compared to pretty much every other shop, how you can like that is beyond me honestly, maybe your Gamestop employees are not as bad as the ones in Germany, in any other case what you do makes no sense to me.

 

Here in the US at least, Amazon Prime is free 2 day shipping and that's about as good as it gets.  If you don't have Amazon Prime it's basically "we'll send it whenever we feel like".

 

 

27 minutes ago, Nighcisama said:

This is getting way off topic but fuck it, still gonna reply to that nonsense. Companies make a big deal out of preorders, they want you to preporder because then they can fuck you over with half finished games, they want to already have your money by the time negative reviews flood in. In reality, very few games have a noteworthy number of people preordering it compared to the entirety of the playerbase. People who preorder are a minority, simple as that, you can check the numbers easily. To even imply that preorders could have any positive impact on the industry is one of the most idiotic and naive things I have ever heard, but I doubt it would make much sense to explain it to you, as you already stated that you don't really care. You have every right not to give a fuck about what other people think of your behavior, and I have every right to call you out for making the industry worse for us all by rewarding shitty practices like pre order bonus and all that other crap with your money. If you don't want to hear it, feel free to put me on ignore, probably the easiest thing to do as I do not imagine that we could ever see eye to eye on anything.

 

I don't see the need to ignore you.  I prefer you speaking your mind to the catty passive aggressive high-roading that other guy was doing.

 

I'm not just towing the company line since I don't really care about Gamestop.  If they went under I'd do the same thing with Amazon or whoever (but without my Game Informer magazines ).  It's just common sense.  If no one bought games on launch (which includes preorders, day one and launch week purchases)... development studios, even the good ones, would go under because they wouldn't be making any money until it was too late.  If everyone refused to buy games unless they were super cheap, super cheap is exactly the quality of games we'd get.  Sometimes you have to put your money where your mouth is, or at least appreciate those that do.  I like the lower priced indies as much as the next guy... but games like Uncharted/The Last of Us, GTA/Red Dead, [insert whatever AAA franchise you respect if any] employ a lot of people, are expensive to make, and deserve adequate compensation to continue to support those franchises and make more games.

 

I can understand the idea that preordering specifically is giving developers/publishers too much leeway, and the negative impact that could have, but I only preorder like 5-6 games a year (which is a small amount considering the number of games that come out) and that's only franchises and developers that I trust.  The rest wait until I see how they are received, and from there I decide who gets full retail for it.

Edited December 8, 2018 by Dreakon13

[MidnightDragon]

I think it'll still take a long time before GameStop is gone entirely.

[Guest]

Gamestop go bye bye!!? does that mean my used games can actually sell for more soon!?