GameStop Deathwatch

[mr.moon1488]

Babbages used to actually do this.

To me it just makes sense. You could build a pretty good gaming rig by buying used.

 

[Daddy's Little Kitten]

They don't exist here. I think they owed the government some money and decided to leave

 

[Manwithn0n0men]

They don't exist here. I think they owed the government some money and decided to leave

they offered the government store credit

 

[Captain Manning]

Their stock is currently sitting at $6.40 a share, and while not at JC Penney levels of low price (JCP sits around $1.10 a share), from what I understand GameStop pulls this shit about making individual stores sell a certain amount to not get treated like crap, making working at GameStop seem like a Ponzi scheme (or at least, an MLM). Like seriously, who would want to put that much effort selling shit, only for the stores to get that little of benefit out of it?

It's not just selling a certain amount. That's easy if you have a non-idiot determining inventory. It's selling certain things.

This is a common practice in retail that I never understood. They sacrifice long term viability for quick kickbacks from manufacturers.

I worked two retail jobs when I was in college. One of them was EB (now owned by GameStop).

When I was at EB, they made us sell these stupid Game Doctor disc repair things. If we didn't sell enough of them, we would catch all manner of shit from the DSM. Sometimes we'd be punished by being shorted on inventory. I vividly remember a memo that went out to all stores that included the sentence "SELLING GAME DOCTORS IS NOT OPTIONAL!" Yes, in all caps. I can only imagine the company executive who inked the deal with whoever manufactured Game Doctor must have been receiving sexual favors or something.

Meanwhile, if there were some items that people actually wanted, we never had them in stock. The people who work at places like that are often gamers. They know goddamed well what you want.

I know exactly why brick and mortar is dying. It's shit like that. They really don't give a fuck about having in stock what any of you know you want. They want you in the store so some wage slave can convince you you need something you probably don't need, or can get cheaper elsewhere.

My other retail job was Assistant Manager of a Radio Shack. The less said about that, the better. Their brick and mortar stores don't even exist anymore because of incompetence like this.

 

[BrunoMattei]

I only feel empathy with the employees.

 

[Poop A Loop]

No joke, the one time I ever went to Gamestop on Black Friday was because they had used copies of Xenoblade Chronicles for $35. Half off, at a time when they were normally sold used for $70. That's what passes for a Black Friday deal at GameStop: a used copy of a sought-after game with a low print run that was, of course, Gamestop exclusive, on a last-gen system.



There's a place all over the south called Game X Change that's been growing. It's everything Gamestop should have been: nothing but games and accessories, for every platform imaginable. No pushing preorders or rewards cards. It's great.

I didn't know Game X Change was still around! That's awesome. I used to go there all the time in early 2000's but then all their locations in my area got replaced by Gamestop for some reason. It sucked since the dudes there always answered my questions really well. It was like a Microcenter but for gamers, with Gamestop being the Best Buy equivalent I guess.

Funny thing about that comparison is if I don't trust Amazon to get me a copy of a game I'm wanting on the release date I've started going to Best Buy since the only thing they push on you is a warranty and even then the cashier doesn't give a damn. At Gamestop they're pushing a magazine, pre-orders, warranty, or trying to suggest some other game when all I want to do is get outta the suit and sit down on my couch to relax.

 

[Give Her The D]

My other retail job was Assistant Manager of a Radio Shack. The less said about that, the better. Their brick and mortar stores don't even exist anymore because of incompetence like this.

Some retailers can do it right, like Kohl's. Besides the cashiers having to sign up a certain amount of people for credit cards, it was a really nice place to work.

 

[Cat Menagerie]

Some retailers can do it right, like Kohl's. Besides the cashiers having to sign up a certain amount of people for credit cards, it was a really nice place to work.

Even so, Kohl's isn't doing too hot, either. They're not nearly in the same boat as GameStop, but they're in trouble.

Kohl's shares tank on earnings miss, retailer cuts fiscal 2019 earnings outlook

"The quarter started off positive in August with another successful back-to-school season and ended strong in October," CEO Michelle Gass says.

www.cnbc.com

 

[Smaug's Smokey Hole]

Gamestop did do stuff like that, they (and other retailers) were all in on not giving the Xbox One space on shelves until Microsoft did the 180.

When Steam started offering games Valve/Newell touted digital distribution and Steam as a storefront as a revolution because there would be no manufacturing or distribution cost so games would be cheaper. Big Retail said no, you're not doing that or we won't sell your games. Gamestop not selling Half-Life 2 in 2004 would have been a pretty big deal so Valve, not being flush with Steam money yet, chickened out and pricing matched retail. Or in my case, way above retail, instead of $49.99 for the disc version my Steam copy of Half-Life 2 cost ~$84.

 

[ThinkThankThunk]

I shit you not I just got back from my local EB and I tripped on a "Make Your Own Juice" children's activity set walking in. I asked if they had any fight sticks in stock and the poor girl gave me that sad look of an employee who knows they aren't hitting their margins. It took about 15 seconds for her to ask the guy on cash and return, only to tell me to try Amazon instead. Imagine: it's the second biggest sales day of the year behind Boxing Day and you have to tell customers to go to your primary competitor.

They have one, and I mean fucking one rack of video games left in the store. It's split between a pile of traded in CoD games on PS4 and a smattering of licensed tie-ins on the Xbone and Switch. The rest is all Fortnite merch and dollar store figurines. The store is right next to Walmart mind you, which is the largest and cheapest toy store on the planet. Here's a funny page I found briefly looking for their annual revenue as of late: a quarter by quarter breakdown of their income and growth since 2006. Note those numbers from 2007 to 2012 - that's growth during the single most devastating financial collapse in generations. Gamestop looked at those cozy gains and said "You know what will really make this look good? Selling Minecraft plush instead."

It's kind of sad to me; my experiences with EB were always fantastic until they became even shittier Hot Topics. The employees were without fail great: holding newly traded in niche games for me without ever being asked to, telling me if they saw better sales elsewhere, and just generally being pleasant to interact with. I seem to have been struck by lightning in that I don't ever recall being pestered for pre-orders or trade ins, and I've actively made money when trading in shit like The Evil Within in for more than I bought it elsewhere. I was fine getting upsold on protections and shit because I think the quality of service was more than worth it. It's a real shame because yet another hobby of mine has been relegated to the Amazon monopoly. Video game stores can obviously work, otherwise they wouldn't have made any money in the first place; they just can't have paste-eating boomers quintupling down on exceptional business decisions a 13 year old wouldn't fuck with.

 

[Give Her The D]

Even so, Kohl's isn't doing too hot, either. They're not nearly in the same boat as GameStop, but they're in trouble.

Kohl's shares tank on earnings miss, retailer cuts fiscal 2019 earnings outlook

"The quarter started off positive in August with another successful back-to-school season and ended strong in October," CEO Michelle Gass says.

www.cnbc.com

It's true for any retailer, but I really enjoyed working for them last holiday season. We were a smaller store so we didn't get the blunt of the Black Friday people, but they really treated us with respect. You really can't say the same for most retail jobs.

I tried applying again this year, but apparently they changed the requirements for my position where I'd have to wake up at some crazy hour of the morning, so I didn't get it since I can't work that early.

 

[Syaoran Li]

Yes but think of the data

Who buys from them, how much they have [have not] bought, How much they spend, etc....at a low enough pp it could make sense

Agreed, I think someone will buy out GameStop for the data and other assets, but I think the GameStop brand name will die when the company does.

Personally, I think GameStop will linger on into the early 2020's and then die out a little ways into the PS5 era.

Now the real question is whether or not you'll have a full extinction event like Toys R Us, or if it will be like K-Mart where it's technically still in existence but is a de facto dead company outside a very small handful of locations.

 

[Dante Alighieri]

Every time I went to the mall I used to take a stop inside one, just to see what the new games are and what the prices are for older/used games that I've been keeping an eye on. So much shit, way too much dedication to shitty Funko Pops and soyboy toys. I think the last thing I bought from them was an xbox controller to use with my PC.

 

[Marissa Moira]

I hope the rumor is true that some gamestops would become Retro game stores.

When they have BOGOs they tend to get good deals. I got a physical copy of Suikoden 2 with it's case for 40 dollars a few years ago. I also lucked out on getting shit like Torneko:The Last Hope for 20 complete, both Tales of Destiny games with their cases for 45 each. Like you take a chance with their website on the condition,but I've been kinda lucky with it.

Then again at this point I think I'm all caught up with previous generation's RPGs and am basically down to just looking for ports and imports. Really the only big SNES RPG I'm missing is EVO:The Search for Eden. I don't have the SNES versions of breath of Fire 1 and 2 but I have their GBA ports. Phantasy Star 1-4 has been released multiple times across multiple Sega collections and I've picked them up that way, same with the Genssis Shining Force. Even Neo Geo has released collections with all their big deal games. For Playstation I think I've got every noteworthy RPG out there, same with Playstation 2. And for stuff like the Dreamcast and N64, I have the entire RPG library since it was so small.

 

[Get_your_kicks_with_30-06]

Im going to miss Gamestop when it goes under, because then if you want to go to see video games in person its either going to be Walmart or some dingy nerd shop living in the husk of a former Gamestop.

 

[moocow]

I can't believe people tolerate their practice of selling used games as new. I'm referring to the practice of taking new games out of the shrinkwrap, stuffing them in a disc sleeve behind the register, and "reassembling" the kit into a product they sell (for full retail price) once someone asks for a copy.

That's ridiculous. If I'm not taking it out of the shrink wrap myself, it's a second-hand product (since obviously someone else opened it, got their grubby paws on it, shuffled it all up, and put it back together later). I genuinely don't understand how they get away with it.

 

[Oddjob OTP]

Really the only big SNES RPG I'm missing is EVO:The Search for Eden.

Related anecdote: I own it and went with my brother to a locally owned new and retro gamestore. My brother is trying to get into game collecting (I'm more of a RetroPie sort of guy) and we were looking at prices. Anyway, they had E.V.O. for $140 dollars but the very first price I found on eBay was $90. Even the mom and pop shops seem like their prices are primarily set to gouge impulse buyers, they were trying to get $20-60 for pretty much all of the super common Nintendo first party games including Super Mario World which every single person with a SNES has or has had.

 

[Dom Cruise]

I miss the good old days of EB, when it was actually fun to visit.

I have good memories of chatting with the clerk as a teen circa 2004/2005, then the location became a GameStop and now it’s closed completely.

 

[Pissmaster]

And for stuff like the N64, I have the entire RPG library since it was so small.

Congrats on owning Paper Mario, Quest 64, Aidyn Chronicles, and Ogre Battle 64.

Really the only big SNES RPG I'm missing is EVO:The Search for Eden. I don't have the SNES versions of breath of Fire 1 and 2 but I have their GBA ports. Phantasy Star 1-4 has been released multiple times across multiple Sega collections and I've picked them up that way, same with the Genssis Shining Force. Even Neo Geo has released collections with all their big deal games.

You know, I grew up really enjoying RPGs too, but I just don't get why people would pay big bucks to collect them today, since you're always at risk of your save files getting deleted. That happened to me plenty of times when the games were still current, even. SNES might just be the best-emulated console out there, and being able to back up my saves is golden.

I'd feel better about playing a SNES RPG on a cartridge today if I could get ahold of a save file copier, at least.

 

[4str4staleatherbelt]

Gamestop will probably close before the last Blockbuster does.