What happened to Gamestop?

Calhoun

callaway92 wrote: »

Nah, I know economics quite well. Just thought it was strange that you put an absolutely meaningless sentence in there to be honest.

I'm not claiming to be an expert. I'm giving my opinion on it.

My point was the impact that price has on supply and demand which is what has led gamestop to the current version it is in.

Your giving and opinion sure but your being overly harsh and then wondering why people are biting back.

callaway92

Sephiroth_dude wrote: »

So your happy paying 75 euro for a new game? when it can be gotten cheaper else where? and don't get me started on there prices for "2nd hand games"

I said in an earlier post that I haven't bought from Gamestop in about 10 years. I don't buy much games really but just buy them off Amazon for the convenience.

eeguy wrote: »

There's nothing they can do.

When was the last time you saw a bargain in Gamestop?

I can get any new or second game much cheaper online. Download it if I want it now, or wait a few days if I want the disk.

I'm not prepared to spend an extra 10 or 15 euro just for the privilege of getting something good immediately.

I have seen plenty of bargains in CEX, but I wonder how much they make on hardware.

Exactly, nothing really they can do. If they reduced prices they would be crippled even faster than the rate they are going at the moment. They are probably looking even further into diversification as I write this in reality.

Mister Jingles wrote: »

My guess would be that Gamestop will be around for many more years but eventually it will get to the stage where they will no longer be able to operate out of there own stores and have to go into partnership with another store, such as Harvey Norman or even HMV.

Ya that sounds realistic enough in fairness.

eeguy

Calhoun wrote: »

Not quite true they are a global company there is quite allot they could do something if they wanted to. There is a middle ground between making a loss and genuienly skalping people.

There is, but they're in a dying retail sector.

B&M shops are dying out. Plenty of empty shopping centres around the country will attest to that.

Virgin have gone, HMV are a shadow of themselves, Goldendisks are gone and I'm sure I'm forgetting some more.

As broadband speed and penetration improves less and less people will need to buy physical media.

ERG89

I might be wrong but I never found gamestop that expensive until HMV & Game all got shut down a few years back.
They saw an opportunity then to put the screws into customers.
€55 for a 3DS game & €75 for next gen. Sorry I'll look elsewhere. Even recently you'd notice a Fallout 4 or a system dropped in price in Smyths & other retailers well it doesn't in Gamestop. Second hand never nets you a bargain either. My only criticism of CEX is my god they have no standard on what you trade in. Got a copy of Forza 4 last week with a HUGE scratch on it so that had to be returned.
I never see anyone buy that comic stuff, if I wanted that I'd order those online mail loot crates which seem kinda cool.

Mister Jingles

callaway92 wrote: »

Ya that sounds realistic enough in fairness.

They'll just go in a similar way that Xtra-Vision went but just not anytime before the next 5 - 8 years I reckon.

I had a chat with the manager of a Gamestop not too long ago where he was telling me that they makes most of their money on games that are traded in. And that on a average 65 - 75 euro game only about a tenner is what they make off it. So their margins are not the best when you think about it.

callaway92

eeguy wrote: »

There is, but they're in a dying retail sector.

B&M shops are dying out. Plenty of empty shopping centres around the country will attest to that.

Virgin have gone, HMV are a shadow of themselves, Goldendisks are gone and I'm sure I'm forgetting some more.

As broadband speed and penetration improves less and less people will need to buy physical media.

Just as an addition to this. I think some sort of credit is due to Gamestop to still be around at this stage really. I'd love to have their figures to see how badly they are bleeding money just to know if they are just running through every cent of their rainy day fund and then packing it in or is there something leading to them actually breaking even or better.

Calhoun

eeguy wrote: »

There is, but they're in a dying retail sector.

B&M shops are dying out. Plenty of empty shopping centres around the country will attest to that.

Virgin have gone, HMV are a shadow of themselves, Goldendisks are gone and I'm sure I'm forgetting some more.

As broadband speed and penetration improves less and less people will need to buy physical media.

True that but gamestop is furthering it's own demise with some of its own practices, some of selling techniques I've seen in some stores have been horrendous.

It doesn't have to be this way and they could prolong their longevity by improving customer service.

Golden disks are back apparently the vinyl record industry is doing well at the moment

callaway92

ERG89 wrote: »

I might be wrong but I never found gamestop that expensive until HMV & Game all got shut down a few years back.
They saw an opportunity then to put the screws into customers.
€55 for a 3DS game & €75 for next gen. Sorry I'll look elsewhere. Even recently you'd notice a Fallout 4 or a system dropped in price in Smyths & other retailers well it doesn't in Gamestop. Second hand never nets you a bargain either. My only criticism of CEX is my god they have no standard on what you trade in. Got a copy of Forza 4 last week with a HUGE scratch on it so that had to be returned.
I never see anyone buy that comic stuff, if I wanted that I'd order those online mail loot crates which seem kinda cool.

I see this argument the whole time but the reason they are charging more is in correlation to the reason the others closed down. If Gamestop weren't charging that bit more they would end of going the same way quickly.

Obviously I wouldn't have any market share figures but it would be cool to compare Gamestop's quarterly since the closing down of the ones you mentioned.

FAILSAFE 00

mcgooch wrote:

One of the reasons Gamestop charge more than other B&M stores for new games is simply because they want to push their (dwindling) customer base towards their used games section where the mark-ups they make are significantly higher..

callaway92 wrote: »

Will you get real please. What you are saying here is that they actually don't want people to purchase the brand new games. Do you actually understand what you just wrote!!!!

What Mcgooch posted is quite accurate IMO.

We all know Gamestop makes it biggest game sale margins from used game sales. Also remember for many years Gamestop has been running Trade 2 games in and get a new game for €9.99. This is because they make a bigger margin on the traded games when compared to new games.

callaway92

FAILSAFE 00 wrote: »

What Mcgooch posted is quite accurate IMO.

We all know Gamestop makes it biggest game sale margins from used game sales. Also remember for many years Gamestop has been running Trade 2 games in and get a new game for €9.99. This is because they make a bigger margin on the traded games when compared to new games.

Good post,

Yeah I understand the second-hand market is the bigger money here but he was just saying that they don't want people to buy new games which is totally untrue. You do make a good point though since it is actually a fact.

Jordan 199

I mostly use Gamestop to get limited edition/collectors edition games like I did last year when I got the Fallout 4 Pip-Boy Collectors Edition from them.

Staff are great to deal with too at my local Gamestop.

ZeitgeistGlee

MilesMorales1 wrote: »

*inb4 someone says 'Gamestop are so overpriced' yes we get it, thats not what I'm talking about*

It's (partially) exactly that though, you can only be regarded as significantly more expensive than your competitors both online and B&M before you stop getting custom. I fully accept that Argos and Tescos can undercut them with loss leaders but back when GAME were still around Gamestop still had a reputation for being more expensive despite being a bigger brand. Their used game prices are ridiculous as well.

One thing that I always missed after GAME went was that nobody offered a loyalty card, it was a small thing but it always made me feel like GAME valued me as a customer and buying a console let me chip a bit off the next game I was buying.

Only time I'd ever go into Gamestop now is looking for older games they might have in stock but reduced to a few quid. I've generally found their staff's knowledge of games pretty poor as well actually but they're normal and I'm just an obsessive.

TitianGerm

callaway92 wrote: »

I'd love to have their figures to see how badly they are bleeding money just to know if they are just running through every cent of their rainy day fund and then packing it in or is there something leading to them actually breaking even or better.

You can get their company accounts from the CRO website.

mcgooch

callaway92 wrote: »

Will you get real please. What you are saying here is that they actually don't want people to purchase the brand new games. Do you actually understand what you just wrote!!!!

I understand exactly what I've posted and I stand by it. It's interesting that you're the most vocal advocate of GS current business practice in this thread yet you're unable to grasp the simple concept that used games equals higher profits for GS. It seems to me that you're being willfully ignorant or that you simply don't know what you're talking about at all.

For what it's worth - on my last two visits to GS to purchase a new game the staff behind the counter were very quick to advise me that they had the same game(s) in their used section for €10 to €15 cheaper than the €70/€75 game I was there to purchase.

MilesMorales1

Occasionally you get good pre owned bargains in Gamestop? But the really good deals seem to have been gone for a while. Not that its the fault of the staff working in the stores.

callaway92

mcgooch wrote: »

I understand exactly what I've posted and I stand by it. It's interesting that you're the most vocal advocate of GS current business practice in this thread yet you're unable to grasp the simple concept that used games equals higher profits for GS. It seems to me that you're being willfully ignorant or that you simply don't know what you're talking about at all.

For what it's worth - on my last two visits to GS to purchase a new game the staff behind the counter were very quick to advise me that they had the same game(s) in their used section for €10 to €15 cheaper than the €70/€75 game I was there to purchase.

Well you obviously didn't read my earlier posts in the thread where I did say how they make a higher profit off pre-owned games . . . . . .

rogercross

MilesMorales1 wrote: »

Occasionally you get good pre owned bargains in Gamestop? But the really good deals seem to have been gone for a while. Not that its the fault of the staff working in the stores.

I suppose it really comes down to the question of why would anyone pay the same price for a pre-owned that they could for a brand new copy elsewhere.

There's definitely better value in other B&M's, and even better value again in some cases with the likes of Amazon.

Generic Dreadhead

I don't get why people get so affronted by Gamestop charging what they want.
It's like people take it as a personal insult

Nobody is forcing anyone to walk in there and buy the game.
Every time a big new AAA game is released, several pages of the thread, especially around launch day, are full of the same ole tired tripe about "The Gamestop Price".
I don't see people getting like this about Atlantic Homecare, the just go across the road to B&Q or Argos and get over it and get X-Product at Y price.

I'm Soooooo over this "robbing b@stards" carry on, it's really Irish. Full of bitterness, begrudery and feeling like they are "getting one over on you".
Don't like it? Don't buy stuff there. I but most of my games from Amazon as I don't like going fully digital.
I don't wish Gamestop any ill will even if they charge €20 more, I just don't go there and get on about my life

People who take on the whole "Parents being ROBBED when they go there to buy stuff for their kids".... Please... I mean come on.... This are fully grown adults you're taking about.
People are bing ROBBED by Boots, Mothercare, Toys R' Us, Cormacs Child Car Seat Sales, Johnnys-Buy-A-Nissan-Quasui-for-your-1-toddler all their lives.

Dropping €75 on a game worth €60 doesn't exactly mean there needs to be a Holy War waged on Gamestop in Honour of the Besmirched Parents

FAILSAFE 00

Cormac... wrote: »

I don't get why people get so affronted by Gamestop charging what they want.

I get it

Calhoun

Cormac... wrote: »

I don't get why people get so affronted by Gamestop charging what they want.
It's like people take it as a personal insult :rolleyes:
Nobody is forcing anyone to walk in there and by the game.
Every time a big new AAA game is released, several pages, especially around launch day are full of the same ole tirder tripe about "The Gamestop Price".
I don't see people getting like this about Atlantic Homecare, the just go across to B&Q or Argos and get over it
So over this "robbing b@stards" carry on, it's so Irish.
Don't like it? Don't buy stuff there.
I but most of my games from Amazon as I don't like going fully digital, I don't wish Gamestop any ill will even if they charge €20 more, I just don't go there and get on about my life.
People who take on the whole "Parents being ROBBED when they go there to buy stuff for their kids".... Please... I mean come on.... This are fully grown adults you're taking about.
People are bing ROBBED by Boots, Mothercare, Toys R' Us, Cormacs Child Car Seat Sales, Johnny-Buy-A-Nissan-Quasui all their lives.
Dropping €75 on a game worth €60 doesn't exactly mean there needs to be a Holy War waged on Gamestop in Honour of the besmirched parents :rolleyes:

Not really folk taking it overly personal but folk remember what it used to be like and I suspect there is an element of wanting a decent bricks and mortar store to buy games from.

People also remember how the prices on both used and new games were kept in check by competition but now without and real competition they are higher.

As for the parent argument I think your bring a little disengious there are a generation ahead of me in particular who wouldn't be as into technology as my generation and would believe some of the aggressive sales selling techniques.

I think the problem is not just with parents but people don't like the aggressive sales tactics. As I said already I have seen them being used on vulnerable adults which isn't quite right. I also have some examples of older family members being told bald face lies to get them to purchase from GS.

Generic Dreadhead

Valid point on Bald Face lies and overly aggressive selling techniques (I mean, I myself have seen these issues with my SO going to return a game for me etc). But lets not pretend these practices are exclusive to Gamestop.

But all this hyperbole about how much better life was when HMV/Virgin was around is off the mark and a bit ironic, given it was the same type of push for "Digital" (coupled with some piracy) which pushed them out of business gradually.

I love Bricks and Morter shops as a thing, as another posted commented back a few pages, it's the nostalgia of going in and looking at the backs of the boxes etc etc. Comics and that general tat hold no interest for me.

Stone Deaf 4evr

callaway92 wrote: »

Will you get real please. What you are saying here is that they actually don't want people to purchase the brand new games. Do you actually understand what you just wrote!!!!

In the past I've approached the counter with a new game in my hand, only for the guy behind the counter to say that they have it pre-owned for a tenner less.


on principle I wont take it - because gamestop pocket 100% of the profit on a pre-owned game. coupled with the fact that they probably already sold it for a tenner above the RRP.

Calhoun

Cormac... wrote: »

Valid point on Bald Face lies and overly aggressive selling techniques (I mean, I myself have seen these issues with my SO going to return a game for me etc). But lets not pretend these practices are exclusive to Gamestop.

But all this hyperbole about how much better life was when HMV/Virgin was around is off the mark and a bit ironic, given it was the same type of push for "Digital" (coupled with some piracy) which pushed them out of business gradually.

I love Bricks and Morter shops as a thing, as another posted commented back a few pages, it's the nostalgia of going in and looking at the backs of the boxes etc etc. Comics and that general tat hold no interest for me.

It's as much off the mark as the charge of the Irish begrudgery comment you can't expect folk to see these blatant practices and not push back a little. While the practices aren't unique to Gamestop they make a big target as they are a very large company.

Life wasn't hugely better when these guys were in the market but the nature of competition means there was a check and balance in place from a pricing perspective.

Things aren't changing and b+m will go the way if the dodo but this is a thread discussing what happened to an establishment folks used to enjoy shopping in . While there are many and varied external factors there is also responsibility to be leveled at.gamestop own practices.

petes

The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt. €49.99 in Gamestop new, preowned €54.99. Last time I was in my local one it was €54.99 preowned so not sure if they have reduced it in line with the price of the new one. Argos and Smyths have it at €25, Amazon have it around the £20 mark.

Some difference.

Hollister11

Uncharted 4 - PS4

Gamestop : €74.99
Argos: €56.99
Smyths: €64.99
HMV: €69.99

GreatDefector

That €9.99er really does my nut in

Trade in 2 games from a list of ones we can sell for at least €50 PLUS give us &€10 for the privilege

they're getting paid at least €110 for the game

Shambles

Umekichi

Straight Edge Punk wrote: »

Smyths is a shop for kids therefore sell everything for kids.

Gamestop, at one point was a GAME shop. The one in the Crescent in Limerick is now 80% tat and a small section of games. It is sad to see because I worked there when it was Gamesworld and it was a good place to work.

I loved it when it was gamesworld! Got some my first games there. Stopped going into gamestop for ages when I started buying online but went in recently to buy some games since I had a crescent voucher and I was surprised to see how few games there were and how much of the shop was devoted to funkopops and other merch.

eeguy

Hollister11 wrote: »

Uncharted 4 - PS4

Gamestop : €74.99
Argos: €56.99
Smyths: €64.99
HMV: €69.99

€50 inc. shipping
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/381599343204?clk_rvr_id=1035816367344&rmvSB=true

MilesMorales1

GreatDefector wrote: »

That €9.99er really does my nut in

Trade in 2 games from a list of ones we can sell for at least €50 PLUS give us &€10 for the privilege

they're getting paid at least €110 for the game

Shambles

Long as you're getting a decent deal for it though?

GreatDefector

GreatDefector wrote: »

That €9.99er really does my nut in

Trade in 2 games from a list of ones we can sell for at least €50 PLUS give us &€10 for the privilege

they're getting paid at least €110 for the game

Shambles

A few of us did well back when they had the huge list and you could get some of the games for peanuts in cex or hmv to use on the offer

Can't recall what the games were now.