Gamestop on start selling retro games

The Last Bandit

Looks like they soon be selling retro gear online in the US anyway...

http://www.forbes.com/sites/insertcoin/2012/08/31/gamestop-considering-selling-classic-games-from-generations-past/

Myrddin

It'll change the whole market, expect everything to be 'rare' & overpriced. Our own version of hell!

Mr.Saturn

I'll say this, if there condition in which they sell their disc-games is any indication, I'm wholeheartedly looking forward to what sort of surprises I'm going to find lodged in a rattly Megadrive cart, or the cartridge-flap (oh, erh) of a SNES.

Considering my experience with their tellers and online staff(and in fairness, I've met some really, really nice ones too), I'm going to have to endure a 5-minute conversation in which they try to convince me the gnats jammed in my reset switch was actually part of the great Super Metroid giveaway of '94.

As I mentioned in my post in the general discussion thread, I'm excited at the prospect of these older games finding the bigger audience they deserve, and the slow-reveal of them not being antiquated bit of interactive media, or foddly bits of disposable nostaliga, but actual proper bits of gaming goodness that're every bit as rewarding as your now-typical 70-hour z-axis RPG.

That said, I'm having dreading flashforwards of a time where you're doling out a mighty premium for a cart-only copy of Micro Machines on the MD, and, as involuntarily patronizing as it may read, your average skip just plopping out his Mega Man: Wily Wars for 15e off for whatever AAA title is the choice of the month.

Then there's their probable Nintendo tax, if their GBA selection on their US site is anything to go by, where anything with Zelda on it goes up by a tenner, and Mario by twenty.

Mind, there's no indication this initiative is coming over the Atlantic, so there's that.

CosmicSmash

EnterNow wrote: »

It'll change the whole market, expect everything to be 'rare' & overpriced. Our own version of hell!

I wonder if it is a new direction they are moving in to counter the increased amount of downloadable games by the games companies. I am starting to think that the current generations could possibly be the last that will have fully complete games out of the box, by that I mean codes for extra content etc will become the norm of every game. Game developers have been taking it for too long know, selling a game once to the shop then the shop in turn selling it again and again leaving developer and publisher out of pocket for any of the subsequent sales.
I don't think there has ever been such a strong demand for "Retro Games" than at the present time. Look at the Rage, charging top whack for games. Why? because people are paying it. When it opened first their prices were far more reasonable. I think they just jumped on the bandwagon, supply and demand. So pick up what good quality games you can now at affordable prices because I don't think there going to get any cheaper. Even adverts has the same people constantly buying the same games over and over again just to resell on Ebay. Like how many copies of Pokemon does one man need.

Steve X2

Monkeykube wrote: »

I wonder if it is a new direction they are moving in to counter the increased amount of downloadable games by the games companies. I am starting to think that the current generations could possibly be the last that will have fully complete games out of the box, by that I mean codes for extra content etc will become the norm of every game. Game developers have been taking it for too long know, selling a game once to the shop then the shop in turn selling it again and again leaving developer and publisher out of pocket for any of the subsequent sales.
I don't think there has ever been such a strong demand for "Retro Games" than at the present time. Look at the Rage, charging top whack for games. Why? because people are paying it. When it opened first their prices were far more reasonable. I think they just jumped on the bandwagon, supply and demand. So pick up what good quality games you can now at affordable prices because I don't think there going to get any cheaper. Even adverts has the same people constantly buying the same games over and over again just to resell on Ebay. Like how many copies of Pokemon does one man need.

2 of each version of course

the groutch

I don't think you'll have too much to worry about Steve, if anything it'll give a better perception of value to your games when you open your shop.

of course the Dreamer Of The Year thread could get alot busier if adverts.ie sellers start using them for price comparisons.

CosmicSmash

Steve SI wrote: »

2 of each version of course

I will make an exception for you of course :pac:
I was actually thinking of you when I was looking at that picture of the house that was for sale, the project zero one that was posted the other day. But then I knew you would have to buy the house next door as well to make the pair:D

Monkeykube

Monkeykube wrote: »

I wonder if it is a new direction they are moving in to counter the increased amount of downloadable games by the games companies.

If it is, they might want to think it through a bit better. Your average gamestop bloke in the street shopper has nowhere near the level of interest in things like collecting hardware, differences between PAL and NTSC, owning rare originals, etc. They just want to play the game, and given that very many of the better retro games are available online for nothing if you take ten minutes out of your life to read up on how to find and run them, that doesn't bode well for their business plan.

I really hope that this falls flat on it's ass and never makes it out of the US. All that it will do if it's successful is raise prices and increase competition for anything that is genuinely rare out there, and cast new light on the whole "illegal emulation versus actual legitimate revenue streams" argument again.

I dont need that. I for one am very happy with retro (and by extension retro emulation) being the way it is. I don't want it to be a legitimate revenue stream again, because with that there'll be all sorts of new vested interests challenging the status quo that we've all gotten used to over the last few years.

CiDeRmAn

The staff in GS are often so ill-informed when it comes to current titles,
can you imagine making a query about a retro title!

Hmm...
"Hello my good sir, do you happen to have a copy of Choaniki for my Saturn?"
"Well, can you describe the game to me sir?"
"Erm....."

CosmicSmash

Deleted User wrote: »

I really hope that this falls flat on it's ass and never makes it out of the US. All that it will do if it's successful is raise prices and increase competition for anything that is genuinely rare out there, and cast new light on the whole "illegal emulation versus actual legitimate revenue streams" argument again.

I dont need that. I for one am very happy with retro (and by extension retro emulation) being the way it is. I don't want it to be a legitimate revenue stream again, because with that there'll be all sorts of new vested interests challenging the status quo that we've all gotten used to over the last few years.

I just can't see how they would make a large enough profit margin on games to make it worth their while unless they got the games for little or nothing but there again plenty of people seem to buy new releases and trade them in against the next big title in the window of the shop. I can't see the same business model working for them with "retro" titles. I think most people who actually collect games take great pride in the condition of the games, I know myself I avoid platinum releases like the plague and the same goes for games without manuals or spine cards.
With the advent and continued growth of flash carts for all the old consoles I think this has even made cart only games less desirable than they were and means you can play the game on the console is was designed to be played on. I don't know an loose Earthbound cart makes these days but it's probably in the region of what an Everdrive would cost.
As regards Cidermans statement I would have to agree that the majority of people who work in games shops seem to know very little about some of the niche titles of this generation never mind any of the earlier ones. These are same games that will be collectable in time to come.

After reading the article, i'm most concerned about the "And we’re working on some stuff we haven’t announced yet" line.

I really can't see selling 20+ year-old hardware as something that gamestop can do sustainably, long term. There's not enough of it around, and it's not like the current gen stuff that gets traded and re-traded. Once retro gear is bought, it's kept and treasured, and permanently off the market more or less. There has to be some angle where gamestop are looking to get into legitimately streaming or selling roms of classics (with the original devs getting their cut of course).

That smells bad news for the current emulation scene. Look what happened to napster and megaupload and the like when music publishers started getting their cut from legit download services like itunes etc. Multi billion dollar corporations lobbying congress with "Illegal downloading is killing music blah blah blah" became commonplace. That could just as easily come to the world of retro game emulation.

From Gamestop's point of view, their business model is on it's knees, it's going the way of the dinosaur. They need to change, and embrace new ways of doing business. Offering a legit option to play emulated classic games while simultaneously putting pressure on the "illegal" emulation scene with bad press would open up new options for them as a chain. Up to now games companies haven't seen fit to challenge emulation, because the games being emulated are (for the most part) not making them money anymore. A new widespread digital model like this one from the biggest games retailer in the world would change that. Look at the popularity of something like the virtual console on the wii, and apply that capability to emulating a larger number of consoles, titles, and generations, and you can see the appeal that such a business model might have.

I can certainly see money hungry companies like capcom and konami and the like jumping at the chance to make yet more money from their extensive console back catalogue and getting very vocal about the evils of illegal emulation if it suited them.

CosmicSmash

Deleted User wrote: »

I can certainly see money hungry companies like capcom and konami and the like jumping at the chance to make yet more money from their extensive console back catalogue and getting very vocal about the evils of illegal emulation if it suited them.

Them two are leading the bandwagon if you ask me.
Silent Hill HD, Devil May Cry HD, Resident Evil HD, God of War HD off the top off my head. I hear a lot of people complaining about SH frame rate issues as well.

Jack burton

And to think I started annoying everyone in my gameslop a while agoabout finding some old games in their warehouse