With a collapse of Gamestop (or you local retailer) how would you handle the next gen console launch?

[EvilBoris]

A sentiment that is echoed by gamers across the world is how they entirely dislike specialist gaming retailers, whether it may be Gamestop , Game or whoever.
Now these aren't retailers that I buy from a great deal, however they are my core location for offloading hardware and software (if I have a physical copy).

A couple of months ago we saw Sony launch their own website for servicing physical items to consumers, Microsoft having had the Microsoft store for some time doing the same.
Whether this is Apple, Tesla or Microsoft. We are seeing more and more tech companies moving from a wholesale and 3rd party retailers as the primary stockists of products, to the manufacturers themselves creating the infrastructure to sell themselves.

We know that the effect of digital purchasing is hitting gaming retailers hard and rumors are often circulating that these companies are right on the brink of failure.
If either Sony or Microsoft announced any kind of centralised , direct purchasing or preorder system for their console, this could push gamestop or GAME to collapse.
Now if we did see some kind of scheme to preorder or purchase directly from Sony/MS (a little like the PS2 preorder system) what will launch day look like for you if you cannot trade in a machine to partially fund your upgrade?

 

[@TheFriendlyBro]

When it comes to buying a physical copy of anything, usually just stick to Amazon. I've sometimes used GAME but have had a lot of negative experiences with pre-orders shipping late and getting lost.

 

[TheGhost]

Either Amazon or the Bestbuy 30 seconds down the block.

 

[TheDarkKnight]

Best Buy. Order online and pick it up locally

 

[Deleted member 9584]

Walmart or Amazon. I usually always get my consoles from GameStop, but the future is Amazon, it seems.

 

[Vic Damone Jr.]

Best Buy. Order online and pick it up locally

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This.

 

[Whatislove]

Either Amazon or Best Buy, depending on if I have time off to burn for it.

 

[EvilBoris]

Best Buy. Order online and pick it up locally

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What will you do with your old machines?
Do best buy do trade ins?

 

[Why would you do that?]

Best Buy and Target are also places where I get games from. I've been going to Best Buy more lately, anyway.

I never do trade-ins, I have all my old consoles. If I wanted to sell something, I never do GameStop anyway, usually eBay.

 

[DNAbro]

Amazon

Not that hard lol

 

[corasaur]

while I did buy the switch new from gamestop, I did it without tradeins. I don't think i've bought any switch games from gamestop or a similar local store. i've bought tons of things from limited run, tons from best buy, a few from target, and then the occasional amazon sale. even after GCU ended, gamestop never got my business back.

I traded in a ton of games as a kid to get more funds, but over time I wound up regretting the majority of the trade-ins. I just don't do it any longer. If I can't afford a console I just wait. I also rarely buy individual games at their release date any longer. I don't need trade-ins to fund the hobby if things have dropped in price drastically by the time I get around to playing them.

shoot, even Nintendo hasn't got my money day-1 this year. the Fire emblem purchase was a few weeks late, while I haven't picked up any of the year's other first-party releases yet.

 

[TitlePending]

Amazon with their store CC for 5% cash back has always been my plan!

 

[Diarrhea Day-Lewis]

I would hate to see GameStop end. They have bad practices for sure, but they do far less damage to the world and to their employees than Amazon or WM. If those are the big two options for games and if there is no major uses game option in the market we will all be worse off for it even if you never shop there.

low income consumers need the ability to resell their games and the option to buy cheaper used games, especially when new copies are no longer on shelves but used copies are in circulation

I would probably order my consoles at whatever retailer I can first that isn't Amazon/WM. Maybe Best Buy. But if I couldn't get a pre order there or somewhere that doesn't treat their low levels workers like subhumans, I would not pre order and just wait until I found one at a store.

hopefully GS doesn't go belly up anytime soon. They suck at times, but more options are always better

 

[Kyrios]

Best Buy. Order online and pick it up locally

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This. I haven't bought anything from GameStop since 2016.

Target is good with order and pick up too.

 

[Dest]

Best Buy.

 

[Transistor]

Amazon (most likely) or Best Buy. I haven't stepped foot in a Gamestop in years.

 

[Slappy White]

Best Buy. Order online and pick it up locally

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This. It's what I did for the PS4 and One. Very convenient.

 

[Torpedo Vegas]

Never bought a console from Gamestop. I've order from Bestbuy or Amazon and never had an issue.

 

[Rocketz]

There's a MS store at the mall 10 minutes from me. MS does trade ins so that's probably the plan at the moment.

 

[PlanetSmasher]

I can't buy physical products online because my house is a street-level apartment on one of the busiest streets in Chicago with no mail room. If I'm not physically present when the package is to be delivered, I'm fucked, and I work a day job.

So if there was no local place to buy them, I guess I would just skip the new consoles entirely. Order-by-mail just isn't viable.

 

[LBsquared]

It changes nothing. I'll go to Target and get my 5 percent Red Card discount and if there's any sort of problem with the hardware I'll take it back for a full refund and they won't say shit about it like they try to do at GameStop.

 

[--R]

Good ol' Amazon.

 

[Strike]

Best Buy or Amazon. I haven't bought a game from Gamestop in years.

 

[Dreams-Visions]

Target, Bestbuy, Amazon, Newegg, Dell. Same as it's been for a long time, actually.

What will you do with your old machines?
Do best buy do trade ins?

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If you really need to trade something in, you can trade things into Amazon. Or you can sell them on eBay/Craigslist.

 

[Evan]

Always been BestBuy, will continue that tradition.

 

[Transistor]

I can't buy physical products online because my house is a street-level apartment on one of the busiest streets in Chicago with no mail room. If I'm not physically present when the package is to be delivered, I'm fucked, and I work a day job.

So if there was no local place to buy them, I guess I would just skip the new consoles entirely. Order-by-mail just isn't viable.

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Can you have them shipped to your job? That's what I do for all my expensive purchases.

 

[Wireframe]

Amazon

 

[Magoo]

I've used Game and HMV (when they still did consoles) for all my console launches until getting an Xbox One S from Smyths over Black Friday. I'd probably go there for a store pickup after ordering online if I had to.

I still remember the PS2 days at Game where you could pay some off when you wanted and your order slip had a number on saying where you were on the list. Seems weird but that added to the excitement even though it meant if they didn't get enough in you'd be waiting until the next batch. I was number 20 so I got one.

 

[Tobor]

I can't buy physical products online because my house is a street-level apartment on one of the busiest streets in Chicago with no mail room. If I'm not physically present when the package is to be delivered, I'm fucked, and I work a day job.

So if there was no local place to buy them, I guess I would just skip the new consoles entirely. Order-by-mail just isn't viable.

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Sure you can. Buy on Amazon and ship it to the nearest Amazon locker location.

 

[Absoludacrous]

I had already stopped going to Gamestop by the time the PS4 came out, so nothing would really change for this next round of systems.

 

[jviggy43]

The literal same way I have handled it for this entire generation-by not shopping there haha. I purchase 99% digital these days, anything I don't I order online and shipped to me.

 

[Arrakis]

Best buy probably , do they do preorders for in store pickup ?

 

[Kokoro]

I know that I'm not concerned by the topic since I'm not American (I'm french) but I personnaly don't buy in specialised game shops anymore. I buy from Fnac, a retailer who sold a lot of things (books, movies, music, PC, games...). Isn't there something like that in the US?

 

[plagiarize]

Amazon for me. I've had a lot of luck getting things shipped to my house even if I'm not home given where I live.

 

[Xtortion]

I had planned on trading in my XBX at GameStop towards the Series X since the Series X has full backwards compatibility. If I just bought the Series X from an online retailer for full price, I'd have to go through some hoops to get rid of my X after the fact (and pay more money upfront). Kinda hoping my GameStop doesn't close down because this is one of the few times I would go there.

 

[PlanetSmasher]

Sure you can. Buy on Amazon and ship it to the nearest Amazon locker location.

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I'm not carrying an expensive console half a mile through Chicago in the dead of winter.

Can you have them shipped to your job? That's what I do for all my expensive purchases.

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I'm sure I theoretically could, but I also don't really know how that would work. The mail room people in my office building aren't usually very good at delivering things.

 

[Patapuf]

I just order them online, like most electronics.

 

[Nayishiki]

Amazon/BestBuy online or Walmart in store for me. I did buy my Switch and Xbox One S on Amazon and there is a Walmart like 30 min walk from me. I don't do trade ins as I always keep my old consoles.

 

[Sain]

Best Buy. Order online and pick it up locally

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That's my plan as well.

 

[PowerThroughLov]

Best Buy / Target / Walmart / Amazon, etc. Craigslist completely takes care of offloading older things.

 

[Berordn]

Best buy probably , do they do preorders for in store pickup ?

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They do!

Best Buy's much easier to deal with, and I hadn't really been shopping at Gamestop outside of random sales for years now. There was always an unusual scarcity of popular titles back when I did shop there that I was told were only available enough to cover preorders, but somehow I could always find what I was looking for at the Target across the street.

 

[Vonocourt]

Probably order them on amazon like last time. Buy gift cards over time and put it towards the order so I don't get hit with the full amount when shipped.

 

[Falcon511]

Best Buy or Target. The Walmart in my town is...just no.

 

[Tobor]

I'm not carrying an expensive console half a mile through Chicago in the dead of winter.



I'm sure I theoretically could, but I also don't really know how that would work. The mail room people in my office building aren't usually very good at delivering things.

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I'm not following. How are you getting it home from the store? Why would the locker be any different than picking it up at a store? The locker is serving the same purpose as the store, a local location to pick up the merchandise.

 

[Governergrimm]

The only time I go to GameStop is to trade off my old gear.

 

[PlanetSmasher]

I'm not following. How are you getting it home from the store? Why would the locker be any different than picking it up at a store? The locker is serving the same purpose as the store, a local location to pick up the merchandise.

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The closest locker to me is in a completely different part of town from where I live that's not really accessible by public transit. By comparison, my closest GameStop is like three bus stops away and the bus picks me up literally right outside of the store and drops me off in front of my house.

It was even better when the Best Buy next door to my office was still open, but that closed last month. So my options for retail are increasingly limited.

 

[Solobbos]

If the new consoles have BC, sell them privately to a friend or through the internet or just gift 'em away.

 

[SliceSabre]

Amazon or Best Buy since in both cases I can get next day delivery. Maybe ebay or the publishers own website in certain cases.

Walmart is also an option because I pass by one everyday to and from work.

 

[DeoGame]

I have a Toys R Us down the street. It's still a thing in Canada. People forget to pre-order from them so I usually get first dibs on a pre-order. That's how I got a Switch when everywhere else was sold out. I may go there or...

As for the console. I may trade in and buy at EB Games instead. Or may give it to my brother. Haven't decided yet.

 

[tadale]

I like preordering from Best Buy. They've been very reliable for hardware in the past and also you get the option of picking up in store.