Goozernation takes a look at some of the big box retailers such as Gamestop, Best Buy, Amazon, Walmart, as well as the idea behind the Mom and Pop store and places like eBay and Glyde.com and asks who has the best deals for gamers these days? Can a independent video game store survive in this gaming economy?
GameStop is one of the last remaining relics from a bygone era where stores like Blockbuster, Game Crazy, Hollywood Video, and many others were found on every corner. If you…
Don't laugh at GameStop Retro. If it turns into anything like the United Kingdom's CeX, it might be onto something.
Eh, I have a love/hate relationship with CeX. We have several dozen of them here in Portugal.
I've found some really good deals sometimes, especially like PSP games. But at the same time, it's absolutely insane that they charge full price for a number of used consoles. I've read the reasoning is, they're made for people who are trading in stuff and can turn around and use their credit towards them. As a Walk-In though, it's absolutely crazy. I went in a bit over a week ago to look at the Playstation Portals. They had them priced at €220 used! I walked away and found them brand new on a Sale for €175 at FNAC, so I finally picked one up.
Gamestop Retro could do good by looking at stores like CeX, learning what they do well, but also acknowledging where they lack, and try to improve upon it. It's funny, I was working at Gamestop in the States back in 2005 when we were removing all the Retro product from the store, and we were even ordered to field destroy a ton of low value games, such as old PS1 sports games. (They actually had us snip the discs, then throw them in the dumpster) my, how we've come full circle now with Gamestop Retro!
Here in Australia they sell used ps5s for pretty much brand new retail price, they are crazy, they give good money for stuff though but their prices are way too high on alot of stuff. My local cex is selling used gpus for more than retail lol
Honestly don't know how CEX are still in business. Half the shop window you can go out and buy the same things new for cheaper most of the time 😂
I don't think it can work at all in any way tbh. They are mostly just trying whatever they could to get people into their stores and retro gaming is a bit of a enthusiast hobby. Anyone who wants anything related to retro gaming won't consider going into a GameStop.
GameStop is pivoting to retro games at select locations. As the industry moves to digital media — and the retailer struggles to adapt to the shifting landscape — the company is betting on the old school.
They better do something. The stores near me only sell mostly collectables and a very small amount of games.
Compared to say 2 years ago, I barely see any games in my town's either, there's barely one wall of games (almost half of it is taken up by controllers and other stuff anyway). I don't even walk into there to see what the new releases are anymore.
Replies(1)Used to be you walked into their stores and see GB/GBA/N64 games behind the glass despite the PS2 being the newest console out at the time. Now it's PS4/Xbone in the far right corner of the store with a tiny current gen section up front and the rest of the walls covered in ugly Funko pops and a whole lotta collectible figurines. Lame as hell dood, their stores are depressing. Same with Hot Topic, it's like games and goth/alt stuff have been completely replaced with this weeb stuff.
Looking through those glass cases at Funcoland with your GameBoy to try each one was childhood bliss
Is it really weeb stuff when it's all Funko pops, T-shirts, Minecraft, controllers, mice and keyboards? Or at least, that's all I see in my local store.
I also thought Funko Pops were falling out of popularity, but I'm still seeing them everywhere.
I love this move with more games going digital there clearly more shelf space and going retro via a chain gives us more choice for how and where we buy retro games and more regulated pricing which since covid retro game pricing has gone batsh"t insane.
I hope they take this international as EB games in Australia these days is like 20 percent games and 80 percent junk items like Pokemon Ramen Bowles and geeky clotheslines and just clearly dumb items. And we do have retro stores but they are few and far between here your basically forced to ship items around which is another expense
I for one would love this change. I miss wandering in and walking out with a used retro console and a few games
Seriously. I'm never going to buy modern games in there but I absolutely would go in if they had a decent N64 selection.
Amazon is my #1... it's tax free for me and I have Prime so I get free 2 day shipping and free release day shipping on pre-orders. Oh, and when they have the $ credits with pre-orders... that makes me all kinds of happy. Next is Wal-Mart and Best Buy, they have good online sales and I can buy it and just run in the store and pick it up. I really don't care for GameStop unless they have some exclusive pre-order bonus like they did with Starhawk. My main gripe with GameStop is when they sell a new game and it's not shrink wrapped.
Besides selling your games to them of course, I would say Steam trumps all of these in sheer amount of dollars saved. That's without any type of rewards program either, their deals are straight up amazing and you don't need to be a special type of member or anything like Gamestop's PowerUp Rewards Pro.
So basically this article states that we should look everywhere does the best deal. That's what I do for buying and trading in. Sometimes eBay is good to buy and sell. If the market is saturated then buy and so not sell and vice versa. If u r really in tune, u can actually make money or play games for next to nothing. Many times, $10 isn't enough of a saving to forgo a preorder bonus. I know gamers both slot about pricing, but an astute shopper can find great deals if u r patient. And it's easy to b patient this year. I can't keep up. Rpgs have me very happy right now but way behind.
Amazon for sure.
I just bought 5 games for 2.50...total. After two promotions applied and stacked.
Tomb Raider Underworld, and Guardian of Light.
Command and Conquer 2,
Just Cause 2
and
Kane and Lynch 2
I'm pretty happy.
As for myself, I've found that a combination of Amazon and Gamefly seems to offer the best prices almost all around. Especially if you're a Gamefly subscriber. If you check out Gamefly's store prices, there are a massive amount of games you can get "used" for lower than anyone else offers. The reason I put the word "used" in quotations is because those games can hardly be considered used. The games themselves have been played before (the copies they send to customers), but they are all guaranteed to be working copies of the games (I haven't received a game yet that's had more than a few smudges that I could wipe off, no visible scratches at all), and they always come with the case and manual, including any downloadable content or online passes that normally would come in a new copy of the game.
A few examples of deals I've checked out... I was able to get SOCOM 4 and Fist of the North Star for $7 each back in December, Rage for $5 in February, FFXIII-2 for $7 in May, and Soul Calibur 5 for around $10. If you are a Gamefly subscriber you also automatically get free shipping, and every three months you get $5 toward their used games, as well as getting a 5% discount on any purchased games after 6 months, and that goes up to a 10% discount after hitting a year as a subscriber.
And as I said, Amazon is another obvious choice due to their pre-order benefits for upcoming games (often times $10 to $20 credits are given out), the free super saver shipping (plus 99 cent release day deliveries for pre-orders, and the free 2-day shipping for Prime members) and sometimes they can beat out Gamefly's prices for slightly older titles. As for new releases, there really have not been any places I've found that offer decent prices until three to six months after release.
As for other places, I've noticed Best Buy can have great prices on certain specific games and awful prices on others, but the real issue is dealing with their customer service. I have had some of the worst and most atrocious experiences with Best Buy's customer service departments (both on the phone and in-person at my local store). And aside from them, I could also mention GoHastings. I haven't used them a whole lot, but of the three or so purchases I've made on their store, I've bought three games each time (on their buy 2 get 1 free sales) and have received all games with their original case, manual, and the games themselves have been in pretty good condition. Definitely playable. I hope this helps some.