GAME in serious trouble

MagicSean · 06-03-2012 8:56pm

Hope they go out of business. Stupidly expensive and behind the times.

nerd69 · 06-03-2012 9:31pm

MagicSean wrote: »

Hope they go out of business. Stupidly expensive and behind the times.

bit sad to wish any businesses away given the current economy its only natural that there a bit more expensive they have to pay for staff rent electricity etc. id hardly say its done on purpose.
personally i prefer going for a stroll down town into the shop and flicking through the games never took to steam and the likes
with regards to game i always preferred gamestop personally but it would be sad to see them have a monopoly on the market and even more so to see them follow in the same direction and go out of buisness i like talking to people who know about games when i buy them cant see the tesco staff being as knowledgeable

MagicSean · 06-03-2012 9:33pm

nerd69 wrote: »

bit sad to wish any businesses away given the current economy its only natural that there a bit more expensive they have to pay for staff rent electricity etc. id hardly say its done on purpose.
personally i prefer going for a stroll down town into the shop and flicking through the games never took to steam and the likes
with regards to game i always preferred gamestop personally but it would be sad to see them have a monopoly on the market and even more so to see them follow in the same direction and go out of buisness i like talking to people who know about games when i buy them cant see the tesco staff being as knowledgeable

Game was expensive and held a monopoly long before any economic trouble.

nerd69 · 06-03-2012 9:35pm

MagicSean wrote: »

Game was expensive and held a monopoly long before any economic trouble.

not really gamestop was always there and on the same street a lot of the time

Vadakin · 06-03-2012 10:00pm

nerd69 wrote: »

not really gamestop was always there and on the same street a lot of the time

Indeed. In Cork City, Game, Gamestop and HMV are within 100 yards of each other. Game was around a while before Gamestop but even then you still had the likes of HMV and Virgin (later Zavvi) to provide competition.

While I tend to preorder games online these days, I do still go into brick and mortar stores to pick up games I may have missed out on. It becomes a bit of a ritual, going back and forth between the shops to see where I can get the best deal.

In the US, Gamestop have a monopoly when it comes to used games. The likes of Walmart and Target have tried to get into that market but they aren't game-focused stores. Walmart is the biggest retail chain in the US, but it sells pretty much everything and can't focus on used games the way Gamestop can. They do compete pretty well for new games but when it comes to used games, Gamestop is king.

In Ireland and the UK, various retailers sell used games but Gamestop and Game are by far the most successful. If Game shuts down and is removed from the equation...let's just say that if you think Gamestop's used game prices are high right now, just wait.

Paparazzo · 06-03-2012 10:21pm

MagicSean wrote: »

Hope they go out of business. Stupidly expensive and behind the times.

MagicSean wrote: »

Game was expensive and held a monopoly long before any economic trouble.

Congratulations on two of the stupidest posts on the internet.

Blowfish · 06-03-2012 11:30pm

Paparazzo wrote: »

Again, you're forgetting that many people have rubbish broadband and download limits.

Penn wrote: »

If I want a game, it's far quicker for me to drive 10 miles to the nearest Xtra-Vision (half an hour to the nearest Gamestop), buy the game and drive home than it is for my sh*tty broadband speeds to download a game.

The post I quoted stated that Bricks and Mortar is the best way to get new games, which it quite simply isn't.

Again though, we aren't talking about them switching to digital immediately. It's going to take time, the next generation of consoles are obviously going to have to have physical media too. Broadband speed has increased a pretty large amount in the past 5 years though, much, much quicker than game sizes have increased. In the next 5, connections that wont be capable of handling large games will be in the minority. As mentioned earlier an 8mb connection would only take a couple of hours to download a full game. 8mb really isn't a particularly high end connection on average.

Aside from this, a lack of dedicated bricks and mortar shops does not mean you can't get a physical disk at all. Hell, even if you still have dialup you can preorder from a myriad of sites easier and cheaper than travelling to a bricks and mortar shop.

Paparazzo wrote:

if you have a console the likes of Steam isn't much use.

Penn wrote:

Not to mention that if I do want to download a full, proper PS3 game, I'd probably have to leave my PS3 on for several hours, unable to watch DVDs on it or play games (as they stop the downloading), or leave it on all night and have to listen to it whirring. Until broadband speeds throughout the country are improved, there will be a place for brick & mortar shops.

You are basing your digital download experience on a current generation machine that wasn't designed or built with it in mind. Background downloading isn't exactly a revolutionary concept or particularly difficult for them to implement for a new console.

Penn wrote:

And as for downloading the game, what if you need to make room on the HDD for something else so delete it (even if you could re-download it for free). If you decide you want to replay it, you have to wait for the whole thing to download again. And modern games take up a fair bit of memory. I think Assassin's Creed 1 (which we got free with AC:R) was over 8GB to download. That was an early PS3 game. Newer ones could be over 10GB each. These things build up.

I have over 100 items on my Steam account, every single one of them currently installed on my machine. That doesn't all of the other non Steam related games I have which space wise, isn't far off what I have on Steam. Given how large and cheap HDD's are (bar the current blip from the floods in Thailand), sticking ridiculously large ones in a console is extremely viable.

Notorious · 06-03-2012 11:47pm

MagicSean wrote: »

Hope they go out of business. Stupidly expensive and behind the times.

What about the thousands of employees that will be out of work if they close down?

NakedNNettles · 07-03-2012 1:57am

To those of you who think you will still be able to buy disks 5-10 years from now, well you're kind of living in the past.

In my lifetime i've seen cassette tapes come and go, vhs tapes same thing, what's going to be different about the humble cd, absolutely nothing.

Fact is there won't even be cd players installed on consoles or pc any longer. The game industry is headed purely digital.

gizmo · 07-03-2012 2:05am

NakedNNettles wrote: »

To those of you who think you will still be able to buy disks 5-10 years from now, well you're kind of living in the past.

In my lifetime i've seen cassette tapes come and go, vhs tapes same thing, what's going to be different about the humble cd, absolutely nothing.

Fact is there won't even be cd players installed on consoles or pc any longer. The game industry is headed purely digital.

We'll most certainly be using them in five years due to the timing of the console cycle. If it's going to happen in the mainstream then it will be the generation after the forthcoming one where we'll see things change dramatically in terms of distribution.

NakedNNettles · 07-03-2012 5:32am

gizmo wrote: »

We'll most certainly be using them in five years due to the timing of the console cycle. If it's going to happen in the mainstream then it will be the generation after the forthcoming one where we'll see things change dramatically in terms of distribution.

Point taken, but just because they install the hardware dosen't mean everyone will be still using them. Companies were doing the same with floppy disk hardware back in the day.

Fact is if console companies offer two versions, one with and one without, consumers will pick the cheaper option (one without).

aN.Droid · 07-03-2012 5:50am

NakedNNettles wrote: »

Point taken, but just because they install the hardware dosen't mean everyone will be still using them. Companies were doing the same with floppy disk hardware back in the day.

Fact is if console companies offer two versions, one with and one without, consumers will pick the cheaper option (one without).

I dunno about that.

Take these two made up situations.

new game comes out for xbox 1480 and the price on super xbl is 50 euro full stop, no competition.

new game also comes out in disc form, local stores fight for cheapest price, savings of 10-20% made on games because of competition, discless console owners miss out, 10 million die... etc

Ofcourse they are just made up situations.

MagicSean · 07-03-2012 5:55am

nerd69 wrote: »

not really gamestop was always there and on the same street a lot of the time

Not always no. There was a time when Game only had competition from the likes of HMV and Currys. They took advantage of this with high prices limited stocks and poor customer service. When Gamestop came on the scene Game introduced a second hand console game service that offered very low prices on the trade ins and they suffered for it. They've effectively ended their PC sales which was probably the only area they had any advantage in. Gamestop won't be far behind them after that whole Deus Ex incident showed their level of desperation.

Paparazzo wrote: »

Congratulations on two of the stupidest posts on the internet.

Thanks. Congrats on reading the whole internet.

Notorious wrote: »

What about the thousands of employees that will be out of work if they close down?

That's hardly a reason to support a dead business model is it? Look at the tons of jobs bing created by companies pedaling digital products and services. The computer game shop is a dead horse that Game and Gamestop eep flogging. The likes of Steam and Play.com could replace them as the main game suppliers in Ireland and nobody would notice other than the employees.

Xcellor · 07-03-2012 5:59am

Personally I prefer to GAME to gamestop. I always found the game I wanted cheaper in GAME. Staff helpful. Loyalty card scheme.

Plus I have 50 euro voucher to use so better not go out of business!!!!

MagicSean · 07-03-2012 6:07am

Limericks wrote: »

I dunno about that.

Take these two made up situations.

new game comes out for xbox 1480 and the price on super xbl is 50 euro full stop, no competition.

new game also comes out in disc form, local stores fight for cheapest price, savings of 10-20% made on games because of competition, discless console owners miss out, 10 million die... etc

Ofcourse they are just made up situations.

It's only matter of time before consoles will have to be accessable by any digital download supplier. I'm surprised the competition auhorities aven't already stepped in there. Once the market opens then digital downloading will be a much more competitive market than local stores.

Paparazzo · 07-03-2012 9:40am

NakedNNettles wrote: »

To those of you who think you will still be able to buy disks 5-10 years from now, well you're kind of living in the past.

In my lifetime i've seen cassette tapes come and go, vhs tapes same thing, what's going to be different about the humble cd, absolutely nothing.

Fact is there won't even be cd players installed on consoles or pc any longer. The game industry is headed purely digital.

There's a big difference between a change of media format and download only.

NakedNNettles · 07-03-2012 10:05am

http://www.gamasutra.com/view/feature/129964/the_state_of_korea_pc_games.php?page=1

Five year old article on PC gaming in South Korea but it's pretty much the same story today as i'm currently based here and see it all with my own two eyes.

Bricks and mortar game retail is dead here, online downloading and online play is king. They also have the fastest broadband speeds in the world which helps.

This is the future.

Myrddin · 07-03-2012 10:28am

It's amazing the people who are singing the praises on online distribution only...I take it you all live in Dublin yeah?

Spend some time down the shticks, enjoying Ireland's broadband infrastructure outside of the capital...& come back and let us know if you've changed your mind.

gizmo · 07-03-2012 11:21am

NakedNNettles wrote: »

Point taken, but just because they install the hardware dosen't mean everyone will be still using them. Companies were doing the same with floppy disk hardware back in the day.

Fact is if console companies offer two versions, one with and one without, consumers will pick the cheaper option (one without).

Can't say I agree. Of all the gaming demographics (PC, console and handheld) I'd wager that the mainstream console audience will be the last to embrace digital downloads. While it's easy to point out the silly prices the DD versions of full games command on the major consoles as a reason for this lack of adoption, a more relevant example is the poor sales of XBLA and PSN titles which are far more sensibly priced and have been oozing quality for the last couple of years.

K.O.Kiki · 07-03-2012 11:31am

gizmo wrote: »

Can't say I agree. Of all the gaming demographics (PC, console and handheld) I'd wager that the mainstream console audience will be the last to embrace digital downloads. While it's easy to point out the silly prices the DD versions of full games command on the major consoles as a reason for this lack of adoption, a more relevant example is the poor sales of XBLA and PSN titles which are far more sensibly priced and have been oozing quality for the last couple of years.

When was the last time you saw advertising for XBL/PSN titles?

EXACTLY.

Sesudra · 07-03-2012 11:50am

EnterNow wrote: »

It's amazing the people who are singing the praises on online distribution only...I take it you all live in Dublin yeah?

Spend some time down the shticks, enjoying Ireland's broadband infrastructure outside of the capital...& come back and let us know if you've changed your mind.

This is the big concern for me - does this mean that Ireland will get left behind if things do go all digital? So only people in the urban centres will have access to fast enough broadband, and tough luck to everyone else? I'm living in Dublin at the moment so it wouldn't be an issue but am planning a move down the country, I wouldn't fancy my chances of being able to download the latest game.

Cherry_Cola · 07-03-2012 11:58am

Sesudra wrote: »

This is the big concern for me - does this mean that Ireland will get left behind if things do go all digital? So only people in the urban centres will have access to fast enough broadband, and tough luck to everyone else? I'm living in Dublin at the moment so it wouldn't be an issue but am planning a move down the country, I wouldn't fancy my chances of being able to download the latest game.

Most of us will more than likely have emigrated before it becomes mainstream anyway

gizmo · 07-03-2012 11:58am

K.O.Kiki wrote: »

When was the last time you saw advertising for XBL/PSN titles?

EXACTLY.

Everytime I turn on my 360 I see ads for newly released titles. Then there's the ads for the ones which are on sale. There's also the fact that I've learned to check the Games Marketplace weekly to see what's out on the off chance I haven't seen anything pop up on the gaming websites.

While the last point isn't relevant to mainstream gamers who don't take the time to browse such sites on a daily basis, I think there's still enough advertising on the main Dash to at least draw some people's attention.

On a different note, there's an interesting reponse from publisher/developer/GamersGate operator Paradox to the whole situation on gamesindustry.biz today. Seems like GAME really rubbed some of these guys up the wrong way over the years.

Sir Digby Chicken Caesar · 07-03-2012 12:00pm

i have 3 meg atm, and that's more than enough to leave steam downloading while I sleep and download just about any game
unless you're stuck with 512/1meg or something equally horrible digital distribution isn't a huge problem. you'll just have to plan ahead, unlike **** with 50 meg connections who can download a full game in 3 minutes

I miss my 50 meg

NakedNNettles · 07-03-2012 12:04pm

EnterNow wrote: »

It's amazing the people who are singing the praises on online distribution only...I take it you all live in Dublin yeah?

Spend some time down the shticks, enjoying Ireland's broadband infrastructure outside of the capital...& come back and let us know if you've changed your mind.

I live in South Korea currently, not in Dublin.

Why wouldn't anyone sing the praises of online distribution if they have an excellent connection?

Anyway I like most are talking about the future for bricks and mortar retail not the present.

No one is gonna take your shiny disks away from you for the moment. Jeeez, get with the program man!

NakedNNettles · 07-03-2012 12:11pm

Sesudra wrote: »

This is the big concern for me - does this mean that Ireland will get left behind if things do go all digital? So only people in the urban centres will have access to fast enough broadband, and tough luck to everyone else?

Good point, could well be man.

The way things are going all over the world, populations are moving to urban centres so its only logical that all business and infrastructure will concentrated on these areas.

There wouldn't be much point in running expensive infrastructure to remote parts just to support a smaller demographic of people. I'd say urban centres round Ireland will be up to date though.

Myrddin · 07-03-2012 12:13pm

NakedNNettles wrote: »

I live in South Korea currently, not in Dublin.

Why wouldn't anyone sing the praises of online distribution if they have an excellent connection? Anyway I like most are talking about the future for bricks and mortar retail not the present.

No one is gonna take your shiny disks away from you for the moment. Jeeez, get with the program man!

I've no problem whatsoever with online distribution. I've a 50Mb connection & tbh traffic & speeds arn't a concern. However, I realize I'm lucky enough to live in an area with semi-decent broadband infrastructure, & I also realize that a vast amount of Irish citizens have really poor 'broadband', & dial up in some cases.

My mind is open to the bigger picture, not just my own situation. Get with the program? Tell it to the government, who neglected our telephony/communication infrastructure for so so long, & is getting more & more apparent by the day.

If things do go online only, I'll not have a problem with that. But I pity those in Ireland who live outside of the capital

Yakult · 07-03-2012 12:15pm

Haven't bought a physical copy of a game in years and dont plan on ever starting so it doesn't affect my gaming one bit. Still, alot of jobs on the line and any business in general having that looming over is them is not good.

Out of all the industries, I thought game shops would stay pretty strong, I guess not.

EnterNow wrote: »

If things do go online only, I'll not have a problem with that. But I pity those in Ireland who live outside of the capital

It's not 2001. Most people now have 8/20mb (if not more) outside of Dublin and that's plenty.

Myrddin · 07-03-2012 12:19pm

Yakult wrote: »

It's not 2001. Most people now have 8/20mb (if not more) outside of Dublin and that's plenty.

Quite a few mates of mine don't. And it's 2012. How sad is that.

Sir Digby Chicken Caesar · 07-03-2012 12:20pm

its not really, if you want ot live outside of urban centres you can't complain overmuch when you are denied the benefits of living in an urban centre. it's a trade off people living in rural areas decided to make.

GAME in serious trouble

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