is Gamestop really in trouble, and how can it recover?

[blame space]

i think the biggest thing is how employees are forced to treat their customers all exactly the same (they have scripts and words that employees are supposed to say EVERY TIME) while paradoxically also told to treat every customer as an individual. gs employees are ranked on various things and they change every so often, like the circle of life or the "selling culture" score.. but at the end of the day the reason it's a miserable experience to shop there a lot of the time is because the employee is being pulled in six different directions at once in some kind of desperate attempt to bleed more money out of the person that walked into their store. if a gamestop employee asks you what you've been playing instead of if you need help with anything, it's because they think you are a mark and they're trying to recommend yes and protect the family circle of life gpg prp best practices the one thing killing it DESTROYING it sales culture PUR pro web in store RECOMMERCE cricket wireless trades trades trades preorder bonus are you SURE you don't want the guarantee payroll ship from store RSBs distro oh my God i have to go to the bathroom but what if someone comes in and steals everything while I'm back there should i lock the door COULD i lock the door oh man i just have to pee so bad OVERCOMING OBJECTIONS

 

[Fjordson]

They're certainly in a tough position.

I'm actually someone who still buys a decent number of physical games, but it's just too easy to get them online. Amazon and Best Buy both have free day 1 delivery and I've never been one to trade my stuff back in. It's probably been like 10 years since I last went to a Gamestop.

 

[werezompire]

I truly wish it would come sooner, but I believe I will be retired by the time it becomes ubiquitous across the nation. That isn't even taking into account all the other countries with huge populations with high-speed connectivity issues.

Click to shrink...

Correct me if I'm wrong, but as far as countries with high speed Internet access go (excluding 3rd world countries where it's not prevalent), isn't the US one of the worst when it comes to pricing and availability? Asia runs circles around the US (when I lived in Taiwan, I was paying about $15 USD/month for about 60+ MBps and that was the bargain basement slow plan with plenty of faster but still affordable options) & I just moved to Mexico where I'm paying about $40-45 USD for a 100 MBps plan. Now, the United States accounts for a huge percent of total videogame spending in the world so poor Internet available in the US certainly affects the videogame industry, but it's not like everyone else is trying to catch up to the US.

 

[Zingela]

i think the biggest thing is how employees are forced to treat their customers all exactly the same (they have scripts and words that employees are supposed to say EVERY TIME) while paradoxically also told to treat every customer as an individual. gs employees are ranked on various things and they change every so often, like the circle of life or the "selling culture" score.. but at the end of the day the reason it's a miserable experience to shop there a lot of the time is because the employee is being pulled in six different directions at once in some kind of desperate attempt to bleed more money out of the person that walked into their store. if a gamestop employee asks you what you've been playing instead of if you need help with anything, it's because they think you are a mark and they're trying to recommend yes and protect the family circle of life gpg prp best practices the one thing killing it DESTROYING it sales culture PUR pro web in store RECOMMERCE cricket wireless trades trades trades preorder bonus are you SURE you don't want the guarantee payroll ship from store RSBs distro oh my God i have to go to the bathroom but what if someone comes in and steals everything while I'm back there should i lock the door COULD i lock the door oh man i just have to pee so bad OVERCOMING OBJECTIONS

Click to shrink...

And then when you perform even slightly below their expected metrics on any single category, you need to be on a special 8am conference call so you can be reeducated on proper selling "best practices".

 

[Saifu]

Gamestop is more like Hot Topic + video games right now.
And I only go there to check out some collectibles lol...

 

[xinoart]

Cams are a low quality product. They are not competitive with the legal product in the same way that the 4K HDR rip 1 minute after availability on iTunes of Movie X competes with buying Movie X. Theaters are effective anti-piracy & anti-piracy is a substantial portion of why they still exist. Other reasons - like selling one ticket for each person that wants to see a given title - can be addressed for with a digital product. The piracy issue is harder.

And, what the hell? No, most high quality movies are not on for sale on disc before theatre release, what the hell? During the awards season (late October to early December, broadly speaking) select movies are sent out to a select audience for awards consideration purposes. They tend to leak, but the frequency and quality of leaks has been diminishing in recent years. And the leaks - when they occur - occur further and further away from the launch window. I'd know - I am a member of a guild & get screeners. It's nothing near 1000 titles. It's no where near 100 titles with mainstream appeal. On a good year, it's five titles that do meaningful numbers in theaters.

Most movies that do big numbers do not release during awards season, so the threat of award screener piracy is overrated & the quality of the actual legitimate screeners is limited (they are almost always regular DVDs, not Blu-Ray) and high security streaming products are coming. A better piracy scene could deal with these measures, but all the public has for the last few years is one P2P group that releases an awful product, again and again.

You are listing edge cases as if they prove you right. Workprints - like the Revenge of the Sith leak - are a once every 10 years situation. That every mainstream movie isn't subjected to massive high quality release day piracy is because of the theater model. No thoughtful observer thinks Endgame would do 2 billion dollars if a 4k HDR rip were a Google search away starting 1 minute past Midnight in the first region to hit launch day in their given time zone.

Click to shrink...

I am right. I never once said movies are on disc for sale. I said they're made and they are sent out to Academy members. Read.

Also they rarely leak because they are watermarked with codes on who that copy belonged to. That is how they caught the person who pirated Star Wars.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Star_Wars:_Episode_III_–_Revenge_of_the_Sith#Releases

Leaked workprint

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A copy of the film leaked onto peer-to-peer file sharing networks just hours after opening in theaters. The film was a time-stamped workprint, suggesting it may have come from within the industry rather than from someone who videotaped an advance screening.[49] Eight people were later charged with copyright infringement and distributing material illegally. Documents filed by the Los Angeles District Attorney allege that a copy of the film was taken from an unnamed Californian post-production office by an employee, who later pleaded guilty to his charges.[50] The illegal copy was passed among seven people until reaching an eighth party, who also pleaded guilty to uploading to an unnamed P2P network.[51]

Shortly after the above-mentioned print was leaked, it was released in Shanghai as a bootleg DVD with Chinese subtitles. The unknown producer of this DVD also chose to include English subtitles, which were in fact translated back into English from the Chinese translation, rather than using the original English script. This resulted in the subtitles being heavily mis-translated, often causing unintentional humor. For example, in the opening crawl the title is mis-translated as Star War: The Third Gathers - The Backstroke of the West. One error that recurs several times in the subtitles is that the phrase "it seems" (好象) was rendered as "good elephant". "Jedi Council" is rendered as "Presbyterian Church", and the mis-translation also caused the word "fuck" to replace "work" four times in the subtitles. Darth Vader's cry of "Noooooooo!" (不要) is rendered as "Do not want".[52][53] This last translation error would later be popularized as an internet meme.[54] In 2016, YouTube user GratefulDeadpool uploaded a fan edit of Revenge of the Sith in which the cast's voices were dubbed by other actors to match the bootleg subtitles.[55][56]

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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Star_Wars:_Episode_III_–_Revenge_of_the_Sith#cite_note-57


I was wrong though. It came out the same week. Also workprints are used sometimes for Academy judges. Many many copies are leaked online, but now it's more likely to come from Korean or China since they get them digital day 1.

http://www.projectcasting.com/news/academy-award-judges/

Every Academy member is given a DVD screen of every movie that is nominated. Therefore, a majority of these judges chose not too watch the movie and instead vote against movies they never watched or seen. In fact, Boyhood was the only movie that was watched by the majority of Academy members in a screening room or theater, and according to reports, Boyhood will most likely win an Academy Award.


According to Barry Norman, an Academy member, many of the movies are watched by the judges' maids. "There's the question of whether all the voters actually saw all the films. It's not unknown for some, especially the elderly, to get their maids to watch them on DVD and deliver their opinions."


Norman's "maids" argument may help explain the success of The Help, a 2011 American period drama about a young white woman and her relationship with two black maids, set during the Civil Rights era in 1963.

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At least learn more about what you're talking about. You wouldn't need to be corrected so often.

 

[LuigiMario]

Does GameStop still sell opened games as new?

Not sure why I would give them money over a retailer that actually sells new products.

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Do you realize how many stores do this? It's not exclusive to games. I've worked places that will resell returns as new. It's really not a big deal, and if you have an issue you can just ask for a sealed copy and I'm sure they'll sell it if they have it.

Anyhow, hope they make it, losing a big chain specialized retailer would hurt the game industry fairly significantly.

 

[xinoart]

Correct me if I'm wrong, but as far as countries with high speed Internet access go (excluding 3rd world countries where it's not prevalent), isn't the US one of the worst when it comes to pricing and availability? Asia runs circles around the US (when I lived in Taiwan, I was paying about $15 USD/month for about 60+ MBps and that was the bargain basement slow plan with plenty of faster but still affordable options) & I just moved to Mexico where I'm paying about $40-45 USD for a 100 MBps plan. Now, the United States accounts for a huge percent of total videogame spending in the world so poor Internet available in the US certainly affects the videogame industry, but it's not like everyone else is trying to catch up to the US.

Click to shrink...

You're not wrong. The US is behind almost every single first world country when it comes to anything infrastructure related. After a major bridge collapse a few years ago, they looked across the country. They estimated about 70-80% of all bridges need major work for them to be ready for cars to drive on. Right now. This issue causes loss of life. Yet even they are ahead when it comes to comparing high-speed access to the majority of the US. Even in cities, if you don't live on the right block, you might not get it. FiOS had that issue for a very long time. I once lived one street over and they couldn't connect us for at least another year.

 

[MXT]

I am right. I never once said movies are on disc for sale. I said they're made and they are sent out to Academy members. Read.

Also they rarely leak because they are watermarked with codes on who that copy belonged to. That is how they caught the person who pirated Star Wars.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Star_Wars:_Episode_III_–_Revenge_of_the_Sith#Releases

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Star_Wars:_Episode_III_–_Revenge_of_the_Sith#cite_note-57


I was wrong though. It came out the same week. Also workprints are used sometimes for Academy judges. Many many copies are leaked online, but now it's more likely to come from Korean or China since they get them digital day 1.

http://www.projectcasting.com/news/academy-award-judges/

At least learn more about what you're talking about. You wouldn't need to be corrected so often.

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I am not going to go round and round with you forever.

During award season, screeners are sent out. Of the titles people actually want, they all generally leak. It takes time, but it happens. I will allow for a limited exception for last year, as the pirates are getting worse, but they generally all leak. But typically far from the launch window of that title.

Here's a list of stuff sent out the year before last: http://kenru.net/movies/2017-18_academy_screeners.html

Go find me a movie that was not already out on streaming/disc and has mainsteam appeal and did not have the screener leak. Now go find me one that had the screener leak during the launch window of that title.

The Revenge of the Sith leak was of a workprint. It was not used for award purposes, it was a work in progress copy of the movie that was effectively the same as the final, with tiny differences with regards to the credits scroll and that kind of thing.

I know what I am talking about. What I've said is true and holds up to analysis. What you are saying is nonsense. The existence of physical screeners of a handful of mainstream movies that are still in theaters during three months of the year - those three months not exactly being when the biggest movies open - does not disprove the effectiveness of the theatre model with regards to anti-piracy. It validates it. That pirate groups are going out of their way to desperately try to get DVD quality copies of movies, that would not be a thing if the theatre model was not effective, if they could grab a perfect copy of the movie the way they can with physical blu-ray releases and iTunes releases and Google Play releases and and and. That a workprint of a title people actually want leaks every 10 years or so does not disprove anything, either.

It's like you didn't actually read my post with some of the quotes you are including. I don't deny the existence of screeners. I get them in the mail. The existence of them just has nothing to do with my argument, except for possibly strengthening it.

 

[MrNewVegas]

MXT Im really sorry what happened between you and GameStop. Something must have happened lol.

With all your ramblings you never brought up the fact of recouped money via micro transactions that used games may have costed the publishers. These companies are not hurting. Nobody is being fucked by GameStop.

Edit- You keep saying everything holds up to analysis. Post the analytics. Let see em. Stop saying and show the data. I want correlative data proving what you are saying. Not your extrapolated take.

 

[xinoart]

FFS I'm done. The entire point is that you said actual piracy doesn't happen because of theaters. It's completely wrong. Majority of pirated movies come from theaters. Very few now come from academy screeners because of their watermark or did you miss that part of the story?

Most pirated copies come from Korean these days since they get HD quality day 1 on digital.

I think there are enough posts here from you that prove you don't know as much as you like to make people think you do.

Back on topic:

GS won't be going anywhere soon but times are slowly changing, but physical copies will always exist.

 

[Nanashrew]

I legit have no idea where the conversation has gone and why it shifted to piracy.

 

[MXT]

FFS I'm done. The entire point is that you said actual piracy doesn't happen because of theaters. It's completely wrong. Majority of pirated movies come from theaters. Very few now come from academy screeners because of their watermark or did you miss that part of the story?

Most pirated copies come from Korean these days since they get HD quality day 1 on digital.

I think there are enough posts here from you that prove you don't know as much as you like to make people think you do.

Back on topic:

GS won't be going anywhere soon but times are slowly changing, but physical copies will always exist.

Click to shrink...

I said that high quality piracy is prevented with the theatre model. You pointed to a high quality (for the time) leak of a single movie and low quality rips of screener DVDs well after the opening of said movies during a few months out of the year. You made an argument, but it does not aid your side of the issue.

It's not very few. It's just heavily delayed due to piracy group incompetence & the limited audience that gets these screeners. That the method of restricting access to those that need access to those screeners kinda-sorta works also does not aid your argument - it aids mine.

South Korea does not get Day 1 releases. Certain studios - Warner Brothers, absolutely not Disney plus a limited amount Universal Studios titles - release some time between 30 and 60 days post-US open on Korean PPV. The copies are not high quality - they have forced (and enormous) Korean subtitles. The copies also generally have a slightly wrong frame rate, due to the poor quality capture equipment being used to capture the movie. The existence of these rips would be avoided with the theatre model being fully in place in South Korea. This is my argument, not yours. Why are you repeating my points back to me?

You have yet to win an argument with me. I am glad you have decided to stop trying your luck with me. Feel free to come back if you have an on-topic argument that is substantive and tethered to the facts.

 

[Mercador]

I wouldn't keep a big credit there right now.

 

[Gay Bowser]

Do you realize how many stores do this? It's not exclusive to games. I've worked places that will resell returns as new. It's really not a big deal, and if you have an issue you can just ask for a sealed copy and I'm sure they'll sell it if they have it.

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I feel like dealing with "naturally occurring" already-opened stock on a case-by-case basis is a little different than getting a shipment of new games in and immediately opening an often substantial portion of stock, on purpose, for no good reason. (No, "we're too cheap to buy the cases Target has" isn't a good reason.)

It's an action that shows a lack of regard for the customer. It's a small thing to some, but I think it's emblematic of their general attitude.

 

[Dragonyeuw]

Start selling CBD oil.

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That's one hell of a first post.

 

[ElectricBlanketFire]

That's one hell of a first post.

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To be fair, I got it from the Family Video by us that started selling it a few months ago.

And they're closing as of this week.

 

[notme2020]

I will go in to a GameStop if the Wal-Mart I shop at doesn't have what I'm looking for. I will also shop their for Xmas.

 

[Deleted member 4976]

Do you realize how many stores do this? It's not exclusive to games. I've worked places that will resell returns as new. It's really not a big deal, and if you have an issue you can just ask for a sealed copy and I'm sure they'll sell it if they have it.

Anyhow, hope they make it, losing a big chain specialized retailer would hurt the game industry fairly significantly.

Click to shrink...

Aside from GameStop, I've never purchased a game that was outside of shrink wrap and I've never had luck getting GameStop to do even that for me.

 

[MaverickHunterAsh]

Good riddance to bad rubbish. You fuck over enough employees, word spreads and people stop shopping at your store.

Click to shrink...

Pretty much this. GameStop has always been trash for that and other reasons. I wouldn't and won't be sad to see it go, other than my sympathies for the retail-level employees whose jobs will be affected. :/

 

[Beamerball]

Heading there today to get some used Wii accessories. Doing my part.

 

[SaberVS7]

The time for GameStop to be saved was Before This Gen.

The grave they're in is one of their own digging with their behavior prior to this gen. The rise of Digital and other Re/eTailers as competitors is effectively something they did to themselves.

Basically everything Tim Sweeney accuses Valve of doing is shit GameStop did and was getting away with, and now they're paying the price.

 

[Ogodei]

They should lean into becoming a social center. Work with the publishers to do things like host tournaments or special demo kiosks (like when Nintendo did special Best Buy events after E3 2014 and E3 2015 for Smash For and Mario Maker). Get in foot traffic and then focus the merch you're pushing around the source of that foot traffic, like get a locally-famous Fortnite streamer to come by and record live and then push a bunch of Fortnite crap in that instance, get in with the FGC to get regulars, maybe add in board games in lieu of some of the other nongame merch, another way to get regulars and get people coming in the store, as well as an open-door policy on retro games (meaning they'll take all comers, period, but the seller has to prove the game works so they're not forced to stock NESes just to test games). Then you could add a treasure-hunt element to the stores.

 

[EMBee99]

GameStop is going to be fine.

 

[Deleted member 925]

I am right. I never once said movies are on disc for sale. I said they're made and they are sent out to Academy members. Read.

Also they rarely leak because they are watermarked with codes on who that copy belonged to. That is how they caught the person who pirated Star Wars.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Star_Wars:_Episode_III_–_Revenge_of_the_Sith#Releases

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Star_Wars:_Episode_III_–_Revenge_of_the_Sith#cite_note-57


I was wrong though. It came out the same week. Also workprints are used sometimes for Academy judges. Many many copies are leaked online, but now it's more likely to come from Korean or China since they get them digital day 1.

http://www.projectcasting.com/news/academy-award-judges/

At least learn more about what you're talking about. You wouldn't need to be corrected so often.

Click to shrink...

I'm sorry but you come off really condescend in your responses to MXT. I think he's gotten things right for the most part with his posts and responses to you and I enjoy his insight.

 

[Deleted member 925]

I said that high quality piracy is prevented with the theatre model. You pointed to a high quality (for the time) leak of a single movie and low quality rips of screener DVDs well after the opening of said movies during a few months out of the year. You made an argument, but it does not aid your side of the issue.

It's not very few. It's just heavily delayed due to piracy group incompetence & the limited audience that gets these screeners. That the method of restricting access to those that need access to those screeners kinda-sorta works also does not aid your argument - it aids mine.

South Korea does not get Day 1 releases. Certain studios - Warner Brothers, absolutely not Disney plus a limited amount Universal Studios titles - release some time between 30 and 60 days post-US open on Korean PPV. The copies are not high quality - they have forced (and enormous) Korean subtitles. The copies also generally have a slightly wrong frame rate, due to the poor quality capture equipment being used to capture the movie. The existence of these rips would be avoided with the theatre model being fully in place in South Korea. This is my argument, not yours. Why are you repeating my points back to me?

You have yet to win an argument with me. I am glad you have decided to stop trying your luck with me. Feel free to come back if you have an on-topic argument that is substantive and tethered to the facts.

Click to shrink...

Thank you for your contributions to this thread, some good posts and insight.

 

[MXT]

GameStop is going to be fine.

Click to shrink...

Gamestop literally doesn't have enough cash on hand to make it through the year, tried to sell the company earlier this year and couldn't find any takers and is widely expected to file for bankruptcy this year. They're in fairly big trouble.

Thank you for your contributions to this thread, some good posts and insight.

Click to shrink...

Thank you for saying so! I appreciate the kind words :).

 

[Deleted member 925]

Gamestop literally doesn't have enough cash on hand to make it through the year, tried to sell the company earlier this year and couldn't find any takers and is widely expected to file for bankruptcy this year. They're in fairly big trouble.



Thank you for saying so! I appreciate the kind words :).

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For sure.

And yeah, I don't understand how there are so many people out there who deny GameStop is in trouble and not fucking anyone over. Lol like of all companies you're going to stan and shill for GameStop? Sad.

 

[UltraGunner]

Dedicate even MORE shelf space to Funko Pops

 

[BassForever]

I think the biggest thing hurting gamestop isn't the rise of digital/online fall of retail stores (it's an element). I think the two big things hurting gamestop the most are the steam sale mentality and games as a service. When games can be fire sale clearened in a digital sale to a lower price then a gamestop used copy it hurts the appeal of used games being "cheaper then new". With gaas publishers are more willing to cut the price of a game selling like crazy like mortal kombat 11 two months after launch to try and sell loot boxes/season passes/cosmetic dlc/etc.

So if you're gamestop how can you compete? New games don't retain their full $60 value like they used to, and even if you follow that you can't mark down used copies even lower then digital sales can and keep the lights on.

 

[MXT]

For sure.

And yeah, I don't understand how there are so many people out there who deny GameStop is in trouble and not fucking anyone over. Lol like of all companies you're going to stan and shill for GameStop? Sad.

Click to shrink...

I think some posters are associating the health of Gamestop with the health of the game-on-disc model of selling games. Defending one is like defending the other, or something like that. Not entirely sure.

 

[Orwell]

Stop charging outrageous prices for ancient games. I wanted to purchase BLUR for the 360, and Gamestop is literally charging $30 for it. There's simply no rationale behind that, and it's one of its biggest turnoffs. Bully for 360 is another game that is priced absurdly.

 

[MXT]

I think the biggest thing hurting gamestop isn't the rise of digital/online fall of retail stores (it's an element). I think the two big things hurting gamestop the most are the steam sale mentality and games as a service. When games can be fire sale clearened in a digital sale to a lower price then a gamestop used copy it hurts the appeal of used games being "cheaper then new". With gaas publishers are more willing to cut the price of a game selling like crazy like mortal kombat 11 two months after launch to try and sell loot boxes/season passes/cosmetic dlc/etc.

So if you're gamestop how can you compete? New games don't retain their full $60 value like they used to, and even if you follow that you can't mark down used copies even lower then digital sales can and keep the lights on.

Click to shrink...

Close but no cigar. The Steam Sale Mentality is a PC thing, and the vast majority of the Gamestop Market is not on PC. GaaS does hurt Gamestop, and that is by design. GaaS and Digital go hand in hand.

Non Nintendo titles haven't held their 60 dollar price for far longer than this generation has been going on.

 

[melodiousmowl]

gamestop adds 0 value to buying games, and is imo unrelentingly predatory, relying on scamming people in the used market.

hell the plurality of employees are maybe fans but so so uninformed.

good riddance.

 

[Deleted member 925]

Dedicate even MORE shelf space to Funko Pops

Click to shrink...

Surprised the bubble hasn't burst on those yet and GameStop isn't left with tons of plastic they can't move.

 

[TemplaerDude]

What is a Gamestop anymore? I walk into the closest one to me and it's 60% junk and shitty merch. Not a place to buy games, not any more than a Best Buy.

 

[Osa15]

They need to diversify. Not only sell games because there are other competitors. They need to Be a grocery store as well. Or a hookah lounge. Or a love hotel. Or a library. Or a boba tea place(millennials things). And so on.

 

[DeaconKnowledge]

Febreeze. and lots of it. Every Gamestop i've ever been in reeks of sweat and failure. I refuse to go in now, even on a lark.

 

[BassForever]

Close but no cigar. The Steam Sale Mentality is a PC thing, and the vast majority of the Gamestop Market is not on PC. GaaS does hurt Gamestop, and that is by design. GaaS and Digital go hand in hand.

Non Nintendo titles haven't held their 60 dollar price for far longer than this generation has been going on.

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Steam sale mentality came to consoles as well though, we weren't seeing the deep sales of digital games on consoles until the end of the last generation, inspired by steam. It's why I called it the steam sale mentality, steam was the originator, and now it's on every major game platform. And while I agree non Nintendo games haven't held as well as even last gen, the bigger games still would. You weren't seeing titles like team sonic racing or mk11 on sale new 1-2 months after launched unless the game mega bombed.

 

[MXT]

Steam sale mentality came to consoles as well though, we weren't seeing the deep sales of digital games on consoles until the end of the last generation, inspired by steam. It's why I called it the steam sale mentality, steam was the originator, and now it's on every major game platform. And while I agree non Nintendo games haven't held as well as even last gen, the bigger games still would. You weren't seeing titles like team sonic racing or mk11 on sale new 1-2 months after launched unless the game mega bombed.

Click to shrink...

The digital sales you see on consoles are nothing close to what we were seeing on Steam during the peak of the Steam Sale era.

MK11 and Team Sonic Racing both undersold retaliative to publisher expectation. Not a huge surprise that they started to drop in price!

 

[HangryJacks]

Its basically a reflection of the retail industry in general.

 

[KoopaSwitch]

I don't think this is true. Everytime I go to a Gamestop, regardless of location, i see plenty of people coming in and buying stuff.

Not just games. They have a ton of merchandise, it's like 50% of the store. They're approaching "Hot Topic but for Gaming."

Click to shrink...

If true, they wouldn't be near death

 

[Deleted member 6730]

I don't know? Embrace the social aspect more, throw more events, go in on selling retro games/consoles, more demo stations, maybe let customers try a new system for like a week. There's a lot they can do but they need to embrace the fact they're now the only big shop specifically for games. Also don't push pre-orders and tier models and reduce the number of stores. There is no reason why my dinky ass small town has three of them.

 

[Deleted member 925]

Its basically a reflection of the retail industry in general.

Click to shrink...

Nah, not really. GameStop is in a completely different position compared to places like Target or Best Buy, who have adapted well with Amazon being a competitor and are doing great.

GameStop is just shit and has anti-consumer practices and treats their employees like they're completely disposable. Good riddance.

 

[Hexadron]

Speaking about EB Games in Canada:

1. Have free shipping
2. Ability to buy more selection of pre-owned games online
3. Open special deals for online trade-ins or similar (currently there is nothing)
4. Better store organization. I don't want to have to trip over 50,000 Pop! toys to get to the games

 

[Samanosuke Akechi]

Switch exclusively to retro and change their name to RetroStop.

Buy and sell Atari to PS3. Consoles, games, accessories.

Done.

 

[TheMan]

They need to cut 50% of their stores, minimum. I've been to malls with more than one gamestop inside, or one gamestop inside and another just outside near the chik-fil-a. Ridiculous.

Next, drop the membership shit. This is one of the major things that socially inept nerds bitch about. Drop all forced sales pitches. Focus on community engagement- whatever form that may take. Tournaments, midnight release parties, cosplay, whatever. Feed the nerd culture.

 

[Deleted member 7130]

I mean, you typically can't even buy actually new games unless it's at launch in GS stores... even then it's kind of iffy.

Their own practices are so hyper focused on making all the money right now and scamming you in the process, that their utility and appeal is negligible to me.

They just plain old suck. If they can stop sucking, maybe more people like me, who still care about physical media would actually step into their stores. As it stands, I'd rather let the digital dystopian future wash over me, rather than set foot in one of their shops on a regular basis.

 

[Shinku_King]

I wonder if they could offer a console monthly bill plan, like how cell phone companies offer phones for $20-40 a month gamestop could do the same for game consoles new/used, other than that I'm not too sure.

 

[Grizzel Greedigut]

If they had a cashier just for people that wanted to buy used games without being hassled for memberships and pre orders, I would shop there