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[Ron Mexico]

Electronics Boutique before their IPO ultimately leading to the GS merge was an absolute blast. Your goals were only to beat last year and for retail, you were actually treated fairly well. That was also nearly 25 years ago now? Time flies.

Signed, former employee of both Blockbuster and Electronics Boutique

 

[fart town usa]

Good riddance.

Funcoland had character. I miss the days seeing shelves stocked with Nintendo, Sega and PlayStation One games. That's when going into the shops felt special. Now it's just a bunch of funko shit.

Man, my local Funcoland was so much fun to go back in the day. The clerks there were like something out of Clerks, just so apathetic and self-depricating but super friendly too. They'd give me and my brother preorder bonuses all the time for free. Those sample OST CDs that Square would have with most games.

There was a Toys R Us next door and if something was cheaper there, they'd just straight up tell you, lol.

 

[Sgt.Asher]

The one I go to is in a sorry state. Looks sad more anime shit than video games.

 

[fart town usa]

their online site is a joke and their entire business model feels ancient. If you could use their site reliably and still have it function towards their stores reliably, that would have been nice too. Instead if you buy a used game online, you literally are playing the lottery on what you'll get condition/completeness wise. Meanwhile, even Amazon goes far enough to list condition notes on returned/used items, really ridiculous. GS has been outclassed significantly from almost every angle, and every move they make just makes it worse.

Oh my lord, buying RE3make during the pandemic. It was gift card only so I go to their website and buy a gift card. It doesn't even give me anything, I get an email saying that the gift card code will be available when they have digital codes available.

Called customer service, on hold for probably an hour, asked the GS Rep if the email meant what I thought it meant and the woman said yes. I'm like, please, just cancel my order outright. I wasn't rude but it's like, wtf kind of business practice is that? They can't even generate a damn code on the fly. It's just such a complete mess and it feels that way when you go inside one of their stores. It's truly a shame.

I ended up going somewhere else to get RE3make.

 

[Kacho]

Those sample OST CDs that Square would have with most games.

Hell yeah! Didn’t those come in white jewel cases? I remember getting those for Chrono Cross, Legend of Mana annnnnd Threads of Fate I think it was called? Man those were the days. Peak Square and Capcom.

 

[Gambit2483]

Electronics Boutique before their IPO ultimately leading to the GS merge was an absolute blast. Your goals were only to beat last year and for retail, you were actually treated fairly well. That was also nearly 25 years ago now? Time flies.

Signed, former employee of both Blockbuster and Electronics Boutique

Geez.. Electronic Boutiques is a callback...(even Funcoland). When Brick n' Mortar was King..

 

[fart town usa]

Hell yeah! Didn’t those come in white jewel cases? I remember getting those for Chrono Cross, Legend of Mana annnnnd Threads of Fate I think it was called? Man those were the days. Peak Square and Capcom.

Yessir, I had the Legend of Mana one for the longest, that one was definitely in a white case. The kind of case that has stickers for the album art, quality stuff though. That one in particular managed to stick with me through all kinds of moves. Might still have it but not sure.

from ebay

 

[mortal]

I haven't stepped inside a GameStop in years. Seem many others haven't as well if that's the case.
I lamented when my local mom & pops game store closed much more tbh.

 

[THE DUCK]

Every day they are still in business blows me away. Where I live if I even step foot in a store I feel dirty after the used car salesperson slimes me. And I even feel bad for them too.....

 

[SmokedMeat]

Any store that has employees take opened game boxes off the shelf, dig around in a drawer to get the disc out of paper sleeve, and sell that as “brand new” deserves to go out of business

On two separate occasions (many years ago) I’ve gone to pick up a preordered game and found that my copy was gutted so they could have a display copy.

 

[Stevonidas]

GameStop needs to reinvent itself as a "boutique" chain; a place where hardcore gamers can go to buy rare and unique gaming hardware, figurines, art, collector's editions, etc. Get rid of all the stupid non-gaming Funko POP bullshit.

 

[BackBackPunch]

On two separate occasions (many years ago) I’ve gone to pick up a preordered game and found that my copy was gutted so they could have a display copy.

Thats even worse!!!!!

 

[Lord Malachite]

I've never understood why so many gamers have become anti-physical. I get that digital is convenient and I'm not at all anti-digital--but having access to both formats is how you are assured to get the best deals on games. Gamestop has sold new copies of games cheaper than digital on occassion. I go with whatever offers me the best price.

Gamestop as a company has gone way downhill, but they do serve a purpose at times.

 

[ReBurn]

Isn't that the funko pop store?

 

[StreetsofBeige]

I've never understood why so many gamers have become anti-physical. I get that digital is convenient and I'm not at all anti-digital--but having access to both formats is how you are assured to get the best deals on games. Gamestop has sold new copies of games cheaper than digital on occassion. I go with whatever offers me the best price.

Gamestop as a company has gone way downhill, but they do serve a purpose at times.

If you do home sharing with a friend or fam member, you can cut the price of digital in half right off the bat. That even goes for sub plans.

Discs are fine, but if there's one thing that is trending is more digital and more digital only consoles. It can get to a point you can even play a disc unless you hold onto an old console (something many people dont care about).

PS5 Digital console is $100 cheaper than the disc version already.

 

[Gambit2483]

GameStop needs to reinvent itself as a "boutique" chain; a place where hardcore gamers can go to buy rare and unique gaming hardware, figurines, art, collector's editions, etc. Get rid of all the stupid non-gaming Funko POP bullshit.

I'm pretty sure Funko Pop is the only thing keeping them relevant between ages 11-15...

 

[Stevonidas]

I'm pretty sure Funko Pop is the only thing keeping them relevant between ages 11-15...

11-15 year-olds don't have any money. Teens/adults do.

 

[checkcola]

The people who wanted to short Gamestop stocks during stock meme wars were right?

 

[wolffy71]

I mean their biz is selling hard copy when the entire world buys digital. Game stop has been over

 

[Gambit2483]

11-15 year-olds don't have any money. Teens/adults do.

No, but their Millennial parents do....

 

[Quantum253]

-Selling used games as new
-Poor trading values and poor inventory

The mental gymnastics on this one. Years back, traded in a few games to offset a new game purchase. One of the trades was still in the shrink wrap. I was told "sorry, we can't accept games in the plastic since they are not considered used." So I removed the shrink wrap, the clerk took it no problem as it now was considered used.
Immediately afterwards he took the case I had, went into the drawer, pulled out a game from a white sleeve, and put it in the case. I apologized and said that I wanted a new copy. Somehow forgetting the comment he had just made about the trade in said, "oh it's new this is how we store games now."
We agrued about it, but eventually I just canceled the transaction and left.

1) I understand this probably came down from corporate and they could give two shits, so I don't fully blame the guy at the counter although he seemed to agree with it.

2) Gamestop has been on a steady decline for years and surprised it has lasted this long in digital sales and online marketplaces. Hopefully, those affected by the layoffs find something they enjoy

 

[Leonidas]

The last time I stepped into a GameStop was when I got them to accept a broken Xbox One X trade-in for ~$270 early last year.

The last good thing GameStop did was their $5 monthly credit for their Power Up Rewards. For $15/year you could get $60 worth of value if you used the coupon every month and found something worth it to use it on. This was great for me when you could use the credit on PSN and Xbox Live credit, but sadly they removed the ability to use the $5 monthly credit on digital items this year, so now the $5 monthly credit and GameStop as a whole is now completely useless to me.

As a result I am stuck with $200 in GameStop trade-in credit and I can't think of anything to buy

 

[FullMetalx117]

It’s the basic stuff for me recently - I have a ton of reward points but unfortunately it’s only of use in store. I redeemed for online recently and as soon as I apply it any free shipping offer (which is standard for everyone these days except gamestop) disappears. So like if you buy a $15 online reward, want to save some money on Harry Potter with $15 off, you’ll see an additional $8 shipping charge…

And then even in store, the $50 off applies to a single item now - not the entire cart - so don’t expect to buy multiple games on sale adding up to it. And I also recently bought persona 5 series x version during holidays and of course it’s an opened copy.

It’s the basic stuff they can’t get right. Like I want to buy physical copies but gamestop is legit the worst. I still think they offer the best pre order bonuses though

 

[Innoculis]

Good riddance.

Funcoland had character. I miss the days seeing shelves stocked with Nintendo, Sega and PlayStation One games. That's when going into the shops felt special. Now it's just a bunch of funko shit.

Loved my job at Funcoland in the late 90s. Was an awesome place for nerd like me to work.

 

[YeulEmeralda]

Ah videogame stores. I will never forget that that time when a new Call of Duty came out and I was there to pick up a preorder of Blue Reflection 2.
Goddamn normies.

 

[StreetsofBeige]

I dont know when it all changed (it might had been regional or store by store basis), but for you younger gamers who only know the modern day GS/EB, guess what?

If you stepped in an EB in the mid 90s, the stores near me did this:

- Had the lowest prices
- Price match (bring in an ad)
- 10 day return policy even on new games you ripped off the shrink wrap (I did it myself)
- All gaming. Video games and PC games. Shit loads of games. Easily the biggest selection of games even beating out mom and pop stores who might skew to bigger sellers. It didn't matter if you wanted a blockbuster game or Namco Museum. It would be there on the shelf. I think their first step into non-gaming is when they tried selling DVDs in the early 2000s (failure as they stopped after a few years)
- You bought your game at the counter and that's it. Zero upselling

 

[habibihijababy]

They’re already dead to me after they shipped me a new game in a used game box two months ago.

 

[Alex Anderson]

Saying everything is on clearance all the time is a little bit dramatic.

 

[ByWatterson]

They’re just a hot topic now with all the funko pops, tshirts, and random shit filling 90% of the store.

And their Funkos are never even game related! Just dumb weird Marvel side characters and television bullshit.

It's less a store and more of a missing shipping container full of all the things no one could sell 24-36 months ago.

 

[Grizzled Ghost]

The old Radio Shack (I think they are all dead).

Car dealership.

Furniture store.

Gamestop/EB.

What do they have in common? You walk in the door. You're probably no more than 5 ft in. You probably havent even decided which aisle to go to yet.

Before you even decide you get the 'ol Vulture Eyes in seconds just to make you know they are there to ring you in a sale: "Hi, if there's anything I can do, just ask".

Best Buy is the worst for this imo

Last time I was there I got approached 5 times just walking to the TV section

 

[Hayabusa83]

I used to work at Gamestop way back in my college days. Back then the store was filled to the brim with games, consoles, and gaming peripherals. Shame to see what it has become.

 

[CLW]

I like the stock

 

[Danjin44]

I never really had any bad experience in my local EBgames, so I hope they dont close down. They very close to house and much easier shop from there compare to other places.

 

[Havoc2049]

Best Buy is the worst for this imo

Last time I was there I got approached 5 times just walking to the TV section

The video game section at Best Buy these days is pretty pethetic and unorganized. Reminds me of the sad video game section at K-Mart before they went under.

I only buy limited edition physical games these days and it's usually through Gamestop or directly from the publisher. I bought my Wanted Dead LE from Gamestop and had no issues and got $5 off.

 

[Bigfroth]

There are 2 GameStop's in my city and there always dead when i visit them. One of them barely has any inventory. Also in my town is a mom&pop game store it's always busy and has tons of used games, action figures, movies, D&D stuff. I picked up gold cart NES Zelda 1&2 in pretty good condition. GameStop's are empty husk's of what they once were in an industry that's left them behind.

 

[wipeout364]

I see a lot of people talking about ma and pop video game stores. Do those actually still exist? I haven’t seen one in years.

 

[Klik]

There is a subreddit Superstonk on Reddit, basically a GME subbredit.It has almost 900k subs.I've been following it for months, man those people are completely delusional, its feels like a some sort of sect. Conspiracy theories about big institutions holding some "invisible" GME stocks to short, its crazy. People investing loads on money into it without any reason and ground, basically a hope stock will go up same as in 2021.


They've been hyping up NFT Marketplace like crazy, it turns out it nakes only few thousand $ profit a month which is laughable. Of course when NFT marketplace floped, they "hid it under a rug" and ban people for discussing about it.

People in that subbredit think they are some sort of experts, the are writing DD about "financial armageddon". Thes are just completely delusional,feel sorry for those people they really need a reality check.

Few weeks ago i couldn't stop laughing about, basically a post(with almost 2k upvotes) was made about GME went down about 5-6% premarket and "experts" discussing how it is manipulated with invisible stock but when i commented it went down(like everything else that day) because of bad CPI data that came my post was removed and i was banned for 1 week

 

[Davevil]

We've been there before with Blockbuster
So sad but inevitable

 

[winjer]

I've only used Gamestop stores a couple of times, and always felt like they are just leechers on the gaming community.
Gamers won't loose much, when they are gone.

 

[SLESS]

Wonder if this means Ebgames is fucked here in AU too. Only thing I am sorry for is folks losing work, the stores themselves are fucking shonky.

 

[Zimmy68]

They should have been gone years ago. A bunch of redditors thought it would be cute to extend their life cycle but the chickens always come home to roost.

 

[RafterXL]

Gamestop has been terrible since the change from Babbage's. And then they took over EB Games, which was far superior, and turned most of them into shitty Gamestop locations.

Good riddance to a shit company.

 

[DevilMayFlyForAWhiteGuy]

I’m going to GameStop later today to get my preorder of Metroid Prime Remaster and they better not try to give me another open “new” copy like they did the last several times I went there to get games. The only reason I’m bothering to go there is I still have store credit.

 

[Zombie9ers]

Bet their severance is $2.15!

 

[SteadyEvo]

Went to Walmart this morning for groceries and grabbed Metroid Prime. This was at 0730. Why would I wait till 10 or 12 to get it from GameStop? Early releases would help them. I was cool with a GameStop manager at my old town. He’d let new releases go the day before. Then there’s the fact they screwed up my powerup rewards and didn’t care to fix it. Yeah… I’m done

 

[StreetsofBeige]

I see a lot of people talking about ma and pop video game stores. Do those actually still exist? I haven’t seen one in years.

Ya they do (at least in my city). Not too many. Some even have multiple locations (a handful). Some are a combo video game + board game store, and many focus on retro stuff. Or racks and racks of used games.

 

[Braag]

I think the last time I visited GameStop was in late 2007 when they sold me a "brand new" copy of BioShock for 60€ and when I got home the disk was scratched and looked like it had been in heavy use.
I never bought another game from GameStop after that.

 

[Ron Mexico]

Went to Walmart this morning for groceries and grabbed Metroid Prime. This was at 0730. Why would I wait till 10 or 12 to get it from GameStop? Early releases would help them. I was cool with a GameStop manager at my old town. He’d let new releases go the day before. Then there’s the fact they screwed up my powerup rewards and didn’t care to fix it. Yeah… I’m done

It was a different world back in the day and they never adapted. We knew Walmart and other big box retail were going to be a threat in the late '90s but the EBs and FuncoLands of the world traded on the experience. As much as things like gutting new copies of games were a pain point way back when, it was also an opportunity to get your hands on the actual item. You didn't have as many sources as we do now to get all kinds of information prior to making a purchase. Big box retail (and you could throw Amazon et al in here as well) was always going to be the superior if you knew exactly what you wanted. The game stores couldn't compete on a transactional level. Their edge was knowledge, experience and (formerly) depth as they'd carry more than the big boxes did.

And then they never adapted. They were right in predicting that gaming as a hobby was going to become more and more mainstream. They missed wildly on capitalizing on that fact. When they could have been working out a better infrastructure, they were instead selling Game Doctors and magazine subs. Instead of taking the data from their customers' purchase habits, they instead sold marketing space in their stores. The way forward was to make their niche the best niche it could be. Instead, they went to the generic retail playbook and got burned by it.

 

[TheUsual]

The only positive thing I can say is that it was through GameStop.com that I secured a Switch and PS5 release date reservations. Besides that, nothing else too positive to say. A few online orders here and there, but that's it. Maybe existing as an online only retailer will keep them alive a bit longer but they need something to get eyes to them.

 

[StreetsofBeige]

It was a different world back in the day and they never adapted. We knew Walmart and other big box retail were going to be a threat in the late '90s but the EBs and FuncoLands of the world traded on the experience. As much as things like gutting new copies of games were a thing way back when, it was also an opportunity to get your hands on the actual item. You didn't have as many sources as we do now to get all kinds of information prior to making a purchase. Big box retail (and you could throw Amazon et al in here as well) was always going to be the superior if you knew exactly what you wanted. The game stores couldn't compete on a transactional level. Their edge was knowledge, experience and (formerly) depth as they'd carry more than the big boxes did.

And then they never adapted. They were right in predicting that gaming as a hobby was going to become more and more mainstream. They missed wildly on capitalizing on that fact. When they could have been working out a better infrastructure, they were instead selling Game Doctors and magazine subs. Instead of taking the data from their customers' purchase habits, they instead sold marketing space in their stores. The way forward was to make their niche the best niche it could be. Instead, they went to the generic retail playbook and got burned by it.

Exactly.

It also made no sense that a specialty retailer that focuses on games (the exact same product whether it's GS or Walmart) has the highest prices with zero price matching. IMO, it's better to make $10 on a game matching WM than make $0 if they buy it there. With low margins on new games, I can understand not doing a "price match and beat by 10%" but just simply matching would work wonders. I never bought new games at GS unless they had a trade in deal. I'd buy new from other stores.... even Dell.ca when they sold 360 games were cheaper than GS. I'd just buy off Dell and they had free shipping. I'd rather just buy at the lowest price on my way home, but for me I'll save $5-10 and wait a few days ordering elsewhere if cheaper.

But Gamespot is counting on the hardcore gamer to stop by and buy whatever it is at high prices assuming there's no such thing as WM, BB or Amazon.

No doubt with digital that video game stores would drop like Blockbuster. But they could had done more strategic options.

For example, with the onslaught of non-gaming stuff they fill their store I dont think they even have a strategy aside from jam in as many board games and FUNKO toys and stack them in a pile or wall and hope customers sift through the pile themselves.

If COD is the most popular game, I dont think they even organize the store or get their clerks to cross promo COD related stuff. You never know, maybe a COD gamer will buy a COD FUNKO toy. But if they dont know about it and the FUNKO is on another wall, thats a lost opportunity. At least cross promo to people related stuff. There's actually COD Monopoly and an old COD card game. Most people probably dont even know that. Only reason why I know about the Black Ops card game is because I saw it randomly in their board game section.