80°

The Fall of the Specialist Retailer and Why Call of Duty Will Never Die in the UK

The high street is changing, there’s no denying that. Over here in the UK, entertainment store HMV is entering administration, following in the footsteps of the shuttered Zaavi and Woolworths. Meanwhile, videogames retailer GAME only just managed to escape closure after significant cuts, but even now, no one believes they’re going to last for very long.
-PSLS

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playstationlifestyle.net
Sev4113d ago

No wonder why there is less innovation... and the publisher can't even be blame for taking less risks of the retailers are taking less risks and carrying less games, and consumers are taking less risks and buying only the same IP again and again.

doctorstrange4113d ago

This is why I should be put in charge of buying games for everyone

dbjj120884113d ago

lol, I don't think you know my taste in games :P

doctorstrange4113d ago

You strike me as a GTA Vice City and Max Payne sort of fellow

TrendyGamers4113d ago

I didn't realize so many UK retailers had gone out of business.

Wedge194113d ago

Yeah, we're not doing too hot over here in the US, but we still have a fair number of retailers. Selection still sucks in most of the big box stores, but it sounds like it's better than the bleak situation described for the UK.

doctorstrange4113d ago

It's really depressing, there's parts of London that are just shutterboards and for rent signs

Welshy4113d ago (Edited 4113d ago )

It makes me sad =(

There was a great little independent store called "Grainger Games" near me just outside Glasgow and i bought everything from there.

New games were always £36-37 instead of £40, loads of older games were kept in stock, had a huge, cheap PS2 section for all your collecting/nostalgia needs, and even took trades of old hardware so you could pick up a Gameboy Advance with a couple of Pokemon games along with your latest FIFA and MGS.

Makes me sad that little store has gone =( I'll support physical copies and local stores as long as i am able to (AKA before they inevitably close).

I don't know what it is, i just like to physically hold something in my hand that BELONGS to me in place of a file on my HDD. I paid £40 for PS Allstars physical copy from my nearest retailer and got Sleeping Dogs as a PC download for £18 the same day. I don't feel like i truly own Sleeping Dogs and tend to play it less knowing it's a mere file where i can see my nice bright blue All Stars case sitting proud in my collection on my shelf ready to pop in and have a laugh with my mates on any console, anywhere i take it.

Call me old fashioned, but that's my take.

Foolsjoker4113d ago

Hopefully the push for digital content will even market availability.

dbjj120884113d ago

and get more competitive pricing across the board.

Foolsjoker4113d ago

Agreed, while we have seen deals on PSN and XBL, they still haven't been nearly as competitive as online retailers.

T3mpr1x4113d ago

Yes please! We're not buying a physical product at this point...

4113d ago
200°

Players claim Fortnite ruined Call of Duty by letting in more corporate greed

Do you remember what gaming was like before Fortnite entered the gaming space? One of the biggest arguments was about loot boxes. Now we have conversations about crossovers, battle passes, and community outreach.

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gamesandwich.com
GoodGuy092d ago (Edited 2d ago )

Idk. Loot boxes did disappear and battle passes and in game purchases are all cosmetic. We get free weapons and maps post launch, any gameplay affecting content. I could care less about all the cosmetics.
I absolutely hated the days where weapons were locked behind a less than 1% chance lootbox pull where it'd take 5+ hours to have enough tokens to do a single pull and lazy remastered/remake maps cost you $15 each wave or $50 for the season pass that you didn't know what you'd get and these maps were only available to those that bought it so you get a smaller pool of players match with.

Tacoboto1d 5h ago

The "good ole days" are actually what drove me away from COD and Halo 3/Reach. Halo 4 becoming a COD-like drove me away from that only a week or so after it launched and I beat its campaign.

It sucked way back then, going a month or two without playing online-shooter-of-the-moment, and then needing to buy a $15 map pack to play with the majority of the population or your favorite playlist. The "community" rejecting Spartan Points in MCC killed that game's support, too. No revenue = no support, plain and simple.

Cacabunga21h ago

That headline could easily be something Spencer could have said 😅 I had to check if it was really an opinion piece

KyRo21h ago

As times gone on, the COD battle pass has got ALOT worse so they can push people to buy the more premium battle pass which itself is a huge rip off and nearly half the price of the base game.

The cosmetics can be fine but they've taken it to far to the point of no return. Why make a military themed game then have rabbits, dinosaurs, cats, rats & z list rappers as skins? You wouldn't add a Lamborghini to a fantasy RPG to replace a horse and you would never see Mario have limb dismemberment because they know what they are. COD is having identity crisis but kids and streamer but then all

franwex1d 7h ago (Edited 1d 6h ago )

Call of duty can simply not copy the bad aspects of Fortnite? Or is that too out of this world? Like COD, a realistic shooter-just HAD to have Nicki Minaj running around? Or super heroes?

Inverno1d 4h ago (Edited 1d 4h ago )

Exactly! Trends don't all need to be followed. Plus where Fortnite got somewhat better with it's monetization, Acti got worse. Or at least Fortnite has lended itself more to the wacky stuff, and has put more effort and quality into that stuff.

jjb19811d 5h ago

I prefer the battle passes with free maps than the $50 season pass that divided the community. I definitely feel that Fortnite had some influence on CoD having loot boxes with Blackout being introduced in 2018 with Black Ops 4.

PRIMORDUS1d 4h ago (Edited 1d 4h ago )

Actually Fortnite bullshit ruined Unreal Tournament. Epic are sellouts and I will never have that shitty store on my PC, fuck them and that shit bag Tim Sweeney. At least the community keeps the games alive, I still play UT2004.

StoneTitan17h ago

I mean cant really blame them for supporting the game that made them the most money and the most people player...ever?

Psychonaut851d 4h ago

Call of Duty ruined Call of Duty. They needed no outside assistance.

Ra30309h ago

100% correct! The makers of Call of Duty ran out of ideas long, long ago so they take ideas from other games like Ghost Recon, Fortnite and any other FPS game hat had success hell CoD remasters maps that they've remastered several times already then charge you again for it. Call of Duty is simply a cut, copy and paste and then put the $70 price on it every year. Activision and now Microsoft has been essentially remastering Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare every year since it was released in 2007 its to the point it's worse than the sports game like the Madden, NBA and others yearly sports franchises.
@Psychonaut85 is spot on "Call of Duty ruined Call of Duty. They needed no outside assistance"!

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100°

Massive new COD Black Ops Gulf War leak lifts the lid on loadouts

The Black Ops Gulf War leaks continue with a list of weapon descriptions giving more info on what you can expect from new and returning weapons.

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theloadout.com
80°

Call of Duty Players Disappointed by $80 B.E.A.S.T. Glove Bundle Deal

Recently, players of Modern Warfare 3 and Warzone were met with a new bundle featuring the B.E.A.S.T. Glove, inspired by King Kong's armament in the Godzilla x Kong movie. However, the $80 price tag attached to this themed accessory left many Call of Duty fans feeling underwhelmed.

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xpgained.co.uk
Kaii9d ago

Morons that allow themselves to be milked continuously by this company is the definition of irony.
Spend more $$ and you'll end up In easier lobbies so you win both ways when ya spend that cash

melons8d ago

Controversy in the COD community feels like it happens within an alternate timeline. Activision will take the piss with something, there will be a momentary fuss about it, and then they will forget about it and carry on anyway. Repeat this cycle literally every year for the rest of time.

Gridknac8d ago

They call that a crack head! Thats what this is really about, its an addiction. People who dont smoke cigarettes look and laugh at the addicts that spend $8-$10 a pack, but they cant help themselves, they are addicted. That same analogy applies perfectly to the whole MT industry. Only an addict that was not thinking clearly would spend this kind of money on something so frivolous. A round of multiplayer provides the same high a person gets from scratching a lotto ticket, or putting money on a sports bet. MT in general need to really be regulated because you have a generation of kids becoming adults who grew up only knowing the MT era of gaming. Its normal to them and they will in turn teach their kids the same by just being a gaming parent and getting their kids involved with them in gaming. Thats why no matter how ridiculous the headlines keep getting out of the MT industry, it never seems to fade or go away.

X-237d ago

I'm so tired of hearing about what they're doing with this game, its never going to change and it's never going to value the consumer over money, furthermore the people who engage so heavily in the microtransactions I guess allegedly are having a blast and can't wait to do it some more this year when the new version of the game drops.