@WhatTheFrag: "Game developers all over the world are losing money, firing staff and going right into the wall as the economic downturn continues to bite. In other news, GameStop is raking in the millions on the back of their highly controversial 'used game' business."
@tralfaz23: Not necessarily a problem. In the UK, when GAME bought out Electronics Boutique, you wound up with a lot of shopping malls that suddenly had two GAME stores. In some cases (Bluewater shopping centre in kent, for example) both stores continued to to do really good business and GAME just left them both open - even though they may have been only a few hundred yards apart - rather than consolidate then into single stores. It may seem inefficient, but it seems to work for them.
@Andrew Alexandrescu: Yes, thank you. That's what I was going to say. If people want Gamestop to fail, that's fine. Now might not be the time to wish that though.
@kylenalepa: why do you want to see a successful business that employs many people fall in this current economic recession? or in general? every business has their niche. Let them have theirs.
@XperimntNterror: I used to work for them and quit, in large part, because I was disgusted with their business practices. I was tired of lying to customers to cover GameStop's incompetence. I never had to do it more than a couple times, but even once was too much.
@Jourdal: yeah, if assholes didn't steal shit we wouldn't remove the packaging. But, there are some who can't be honest, and Gamestop would rather remove plastic from some copies that up the price on the games to make up for the ones that get stolen.
Oh, also, did you know that if you preorder a game, that they'll hold it for you for 48 hours, and you'll get a pretty sealed copy to smile about? It doesn't even cost extra AND sometimes there's extra stuff too!
this whole ordeal could be avoided if the company would buy security, like every other normal company.
Its simple, you buy two sensors that go by the door. They go, 'beep, beep, beep' when people are stealing.
Furthermore, with those in place they would have the sensor to demagnetize the security in the boxes, so for those mall stores, you can go into other stores without already looking like a thief.
For all the money they're making, you think they could afford a more respectable store.
Yeah, the thing is though, for medium to high-profile releases there are about 15 perfectly sealed copies for every one that is opened and put on display. That is really the least of Gamestop's consumer-issues right now.
I've opened a lot more shrink wrapped and freshly shipped product than you have, and there are no security tags or sensors present in the cases when they are received.
"They are feeling no pain, and just wanted to make sure everybody knew it. Good for them, but in the current economic climate it's like walking into a room full of starving people, rubbing your stomach and saying, "Mmmmm, I am sooo stuffed!"
You make it sound like it's a bad thing to be making money. Granted, I don't agree with every business practice that ye olde Gamestop lives and breathes by, but you still can't blame them for being being successful, or even proud of their success.
@Gyaruson: I don't mind them making money but they need to learn from other stores that did this. Sure things are going well now, but what happens when people stop buying so many games from them? They already have a gamestop every mile you drive over here. They should take notes from Circuit City and CompUSA. Stop opening so many stores and focus on the ones you already have. The future of gaming is in downloads anyways.
That would be sage advice if they were losing money, but they're not. Even in this shit-hole of an economy they managed to pull off records numbers in 2008. Circuit City's problem was they kept trying to "sale" themselves out of the red and into the black, rather than closing a few stores to help ease the load. When they realized that there was no other option than to close some stores they were already too far gone to recover. They don't really have to be cautious at all, actually.
I do agree with you that downloads are the future, but I think Gamestop will also play some part in that. They pretty much control the distribution side of the gaming industry, and they won't let that go without a fight.
@Gyaruson: You make it sound like you believe that Gamestop will always be successful and that they're untouchable in this recession.
Starbucks was always successful... until they began to fail and had to close massive numbers of stores. And people were shocked--shocked!--when that happened.
The problem is that I don't see what these extra stores are going to do for their business. Like Starbucks, they're already close to a saturation level by almost any standard (they both number in the triple digits in the chicago area) and they're going to start cannibalizing each others business most likely.
I've just seen so many businesses over-expand and then collapse like a house of cards. I was hoping Gamestop was smart enough to avoid the trap
And they very well might be. We don't know that the new Gamestops will be opening in America. Since they bought EB there's a lot of European ground to be covered. I agree that oversaturating the market is a sure-fire way to destroy yourself, but look at Wal-Mart. Every town, no matter how big or small, has at least one Wal-Mart. I live in a town of only 225,000 people and we have three, all of which are SuperCenters with McDonald's on the inside and open 24 hours. They figured out a way to survive while being a dominating presence worldwide, so I think Gamestop can figure it out too. I don't think they're untouchable, I just don't think they have any reason to be concerned at the moment.
ah yes, i clearly remember the internet imploding when kotaku posted the story about FF13 coming to the 360. that was the craziest amount of comments in kotakuland.
ANd WTF, what about the article in which kojima talks about mgs4 not being to his vision? that was insane.
03/26/09
03/26/09
Partial thanks to Kotaku.
03/26/09
I've run into a bunch of employees who don't know squat, but they never last more than a couple months.
A lot of the time, if we know about 6/10 random games somebody asks us about it isn't good enough... Sorry I haven't played Nascar 09...
03/26/09
Not that I like Gamestop in anyway at all but yeah this is just going to cause that.
03/26/09
Yeah, I can imagine a hint of resentment...
03/26/09
[lamrimmusic.files.wordpress.com]
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Luckily Best Buy has filled the Circuit City void for many, many years now.
03/26/09
I hope that OnLive thing succeeds only so I can see GameStop crumble and fall to its knees.
03/26/09
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Oh, also, did you know that if you preorder a game, that they'll hold it for you for 48 hours, and you'll get a pretty sealed copy to smile about? It doesn't even cost extra AND sometimes there's extra stuff too!
03/26/09
blame your less than honorable fellow customers for that one. We can't put out anything with product still inside of it due to shoplifting.
@phreakindee:
The policy is pretty much "used is used" Though we would prefer if they let us get actual boxart than what they offer.
The box is taped up so that you can return it if you change your mind.
03/26/09
this whole ordeal could be avoided if the company would buy security, like every other normal company.
Its simple, you buy two sensors that go by the door. They go, 'beep, beep, beep' when people are stealing.
Furthermore, with those in place they would have the sensor to demagnetize the security in the boxes, so for those mall stores, you can go into other stores without already looking like a thief.
For all the money they're making, you think they could afford a more respectable store.
03/26/09
So you want us to open the boxes and put a security sensor inside... so we won't have to open the boxes?
03/26/09
Yeah, the thing is though, for medium to high-profile releases there are about 15 perfectly sealed copies for every one that is opened and put on display. That is really the least of Gamestop's consumer-issues right now.
03/26/09
there's already security in the boxes.
Like I said, for the mall stores, if you walk into another store after buying from gamestop, eb, you are going to set off the other store's sensor.
so, no I don't think they should open the boxes to put in security to not open the boxes.
03/26/09
No, there is not.
I've opened a lot more shrink wrapped and freshly shipped product than you have, and there are no security tags or sensors present in the cases when they are received.
03/26/09
03/26/09
You make it sound like it's a bad thing to be making money. Granted, I don't agree with every business practice that ye olde Gamestop lives and breathes by, but you still can't blame them for being being successful, or even proud of their success.
03/26/09
03/26/09
That would be sage advice if they were losing money, but they're not. Even in this shit-hole of an economy they managed to pull off records numbers in 2008. Circuit City's problem was they kept trying to "sale" themselves out of the red and into the black, rather than closing a few stores to help ease the load. When they realized that there was no other option than to close some stores they were already too far gone to recover. They don't really have to be cautious at all, actually.
I do agree with you that downloads are the future, but I think Gamestop will also play some part in that. They pretty much control the distribution side of the gaming industry, and they won't let that go without a fight.
03/26/09
Starbucks was always successful... until they began to fail and had to close massive numbers of stores. And people were shocked--shocked!--when that happened.
The problem is that I don't see what these extra stores are going to do for their business. Like Starbucks, they're already close to a saturation level by almost any standard (they both number in the triple digits in the chicago area) and they're going to start cannibalizing each others business most likely.
I've just seen so many businesses over-expand and then collapse like a house of cards. I was hoping Gamestop was smart enough to avoid the trap
03/26/09
And they very well might be. We don't know that the new Gamestops will be opening in America. Since they bought EB there's a lot of European ground to be covered. I agree that oversaturating the market is a sure-fire way to destroy yourself, but look at Wal-Mart. Every town, no matter how big or small, has at least one Wal-Mart. I live in a town of only 225,000 people and we have three, all of which are SuperCenters with McDonald's on the inside and open 24 hours. They figured out a way to survive while being a dominating presence worldwide, so I think Gamestop can figure it out too. I don't think they're untouchable, I just don't think they have any reason to be concerned at the moment.
01/01/09
01/01/09
01/01/09
01/01/09
01/01/09
ANd WTF, what about the article in which kojima talks about mgs4 not being to his vision? that was insane.
01/01/09
looks like Bill Hicks had his finger closer on the pulse than he thought...
01/01/09