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?
"It would be great if people had to buy more of the thing," says guy who makes money selling the thing.
If they did then collectors wouldn’t be getting f***** over with discless collectors editions
No shock, GameStop is alive because of trading. If they don't have used games on their shelves they are absolutely donezo.
Well of course the GS boss thinks this... that's their bread and butter business. That and funco pops and clothing, though those two were added as a means to supplement the decline in people buying used games or even new games. GS just sucks overall when it comes to gaming. I buy my physical stuff on Amazon or Best Buy.
As for "requiring" disc drives... nah. Not anymore, but i like having them as an option. They had a means back when games actually ran off the discs and were more/less complete. Now they are incomplete and the disc is really an installer with a license to play. If you want to change games you have to take out the disc and put in another. Its more convenient to just use digital. I have been into digital for years now and when the PSPortal comes along i wont even have to go into my game room. I will just play my PS5 from my couch downstairs. I have a bunch of digital installed games to my 5... I'm all set.
Gamingbible writes: "Luckily, if you’re living in the US you can trade your Xbox into Gamestop, where you’ll receive a hefty amount of cash as well as a $50 bonus for certain customers, just short of enough to buy the PS5."
At this point in time If I didn't own a PS5 I would have done this in a heartbeat but I had already acquired a PS5 first before I acquired an XBSX.
I'll stick to keeping both. Gamestop though... seems kind of desperate to take in Series X units. What could they be plotting???
I just want some games for my series X I have both since release and after weighing the offerings in PS Essentials to Gamepass I quickly realized I Owned anything of worth in both catalogs. And, the things I didn't I didn't see as justifiable for maintaining both subs.
Since then my series X is a legacy machine that I play my old games on and that's it. 3 years ago I really thought from that Xbox showcase we were going to have some great games by now. Instead, it's just been a lot of meh
PlayStation 5 consoles will once again drop to just $449.99 on August 6 in the US.
They going to bury Xbox. Xbox will turn around and justify the mobile/streaming shift.
This is how Sony goes for the jugular. Microsoft can’t afford to make games exclusive if it doesn’t have any marketshare. Also clear that the discless PS5 will be the single PS5 going forward and the disc drive will be an add-on. When the $300 PS5 slim launches, the hot sales of PS5 will go super nova. (Don’t feel like you need to wait. On an annual cost basis, you may be better off getting a $400-$450 PS5 that you can use now versus waiting for a console that will be obsolete sooner.)
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.