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Trouble ahoy for games?

Gradius

Just got word that a rake of gamestops are permanently closing early June.

And smyths are looking ropey too.

And rage is calling it quits at current location, at least?

Oh man, this is looking bad. Forgetting the wider economy for a second, the idea of basically having nowhere to buy physical games is kinda crazy.

Some of these had the writing on the wall, but still, it's a mighty weird situation to consider.

It's the end of times, cats living with dogs, the dead rising from the grave

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o1s1n

sugarman wrote: »

Used to love heading into "town" on a Saturday as a kid hitting up the Virgin Megastore on the quays, HMV on Grafton & Henry St, Games...World? on Liffey St (Now a Gamestop) ..and the various GAME shops. As well as a browse in the likes of Maplins, Smyths and Peats.

All thats left now is Smyths

Hah, that's EXACTLY what I used to do on my Saturdays. Would get the Dart into 'Town' from Bray and hit those exact shops, with Tower Records on Wicklow Street and Forbidden Planet thrown in too.

Games world on Liffey Street was great, one of the first shops I remember which had secondhand PS1 games for sale. They had secondhand SNES games too at that point but silly me wasn't interested in them anymore at that stage. Distinctly remember buying Final Doom in there one Saturday. I remember picking up Castlevania SOTN second hand and looking at the back thinking 'nah that's not for me' :eek:

super_furry

Problem is, I can't remember the last time I went into a shop to buy a physical game. Everything I buy now is digital, it's usually cheaper than physical (if I get it on sale) and I don't have to leave the house.

More and more often, if you buy anything physical, you're going to have to download the game anyway.

BGOllie

man that's memories that shop. I'd left my ps1 in France when I moved here...
I got my first paycheck ever when Soul Reaver came out, I remember paying a round for all my friends that night, being so happy I could afford a chipper afterwards and went in Virgin the next day and bought myself a ps1 and picked Soul Reaver as the free game that came with it

Skerries

I used to love going into Virgin on a Saturday looking at things I couldn't afford
I remember the whole condom controversy in there
I saw Richard Branson in there one day just talking to the staff

Lemming

o1s1n wrote: »

Very 80's RTE report of it opening on the RTE Archives that's worth a look at;

https://www.rte.ie/archives/2016/1201/835827-virgin-megastore-opens-in-dublin/

That's a nostalgia trip! Used to love that place; was such a shame the virgin shops were rolled up.

Gradius

o1s1n wrote: »

Yeah that place was always packed whenever I went in.

Very 80's RTE report of it opening on the RTE Archives that's worth a look at;

https://www.rte.ie/archives/2016/1201/835827-virgin-megastore-opens-in-dublin/

The Rage might be reopening in Token? now that is actually a really good idea. Cut down on the massive rents and go straight to your seller base - win win!

Actually, now that I think about it, alcohol and expensive video games in the same location. Could it be a recipe for waking up with a hangover and severe buyer's remose?

Gas looking at that

And yeah, it's a very good idea for token and rage to combine. Dangerous on the pocket too

o1s1n

BrownFinger wrote: »

I can see it now,
Oisin in a nightgown ,rollie hanging out of his mouth and 4 copies of the wily wars and a thumping headache

[Deleted User]

o1s1n wrote: »

Could it be a recipe for waking up with a hangover and severe buyer's remose?

I can see it now,
Oisin in a nightgown ,rollie hanging out of his mouth and 4 copies of the wily wars and a thumping headache

o1s1n

Gradius wrote: »

Virgin megastars was fantastic. Never understood why they closed, more than likely rent as well.

I bought a few things in rage but it was always a good place for a browse at least. They might be reopening in token itself, which could be a brilliant move.

Yeah that place was always packed whenever I went in.

Very 80's RTE report of it opening on the RTE Archives that's worth a look at;

https://www.rte.ie/archives/2016/1201/835827-virgin-megastore-opens-in-dublin/

The Rage might be reopening in Token? now that is actually a really good idea. Cut down on the massive rents and go straight to your seller base - win win!

Actually, now that I think about it, alcohol and expensive video games in the same location. Could it be a recipe for waking up with a hangover and severe buyer's remose?

c.p.w.g.w

Inviere wrote: »

The extortionate costs of commercial rates & rent have led to B&M shops just not being competitive with online physical and digital pricing.

To me it seems that city/county councils won't be happy until they have empty town centres...

Take Limerick for example, the city centre has very little on offer, the crescent and childers road retail parks offer free car park and better selection of shops...

All the councils see is the money they can generate from rates, but when units are left vacant for years they blame everything else but themselves

The model of charging rates in Ireland is very short sighted, it also seems to encourage unnecessary consumerism as the stores that do survive can only do so by selling poor quality rubbish or else by playing pricing mind games with consumers...

The Last Bandit

Gamestop was more expensive as they wanted you to buy pre-owned which is far more profitable for them, if you were willing to wait a few weeks.
Physical media is dirt nowadays anyway, is little more that a licence key to download the product. Remember buying The Last Guardian for PS4 when it was released, was €70 I think and nothing in box but the disc - no manuals, flyers nothing. Screw that, I think that was the last physical PS4 game I bought...

Inviere

Deleted User wrote: »

Is it outrageous or inflated though, if their business model is unsustainable? It's hard to square bemoaning their loss due to the extra costs of doing business and complaining about their pricing.

Very much outrageous, they're consistently more expensive than rival stores for the exact same product. That doesn't come down to overheads, but instead relying on the sucker effect. It's only natural that stores that price gouge will be the first to fold in all of this. I won't miss GameStop, I very, very, rarely shopped there. I don't celebrate their demise though, I feel we should always have the physical option...but again, I can't say I'm surprised here given how they operate.

Gradius

Greyfox wrote: »

I'm the opposite, I prefer buying digitally as there's always sales for loads of games and when a game is on sale its usually the cheapest way to get the game. Gamestop are rip off merchants and have been for some time, I hope smyths and CEX survive in the future though

I just don't put any value on download stuff. Even if a physical game reduces to 2 euro worth in years, it's still 2 euro more than a download.

I remember buying an xbox one one with a bunch of downloaded games, but because it was tied to the previous owners account they basically didn't exist. Now I'm sure there are ways around all those things, but I'm just not arsed with all the extra trouble.

I saw it mentioned elsewhere that dlc content is going to disappear from some consoles soon. It's just not my scene anymore as it feels uncomfortably close to renting games for full price.

Retr0gamer

I've gone mostly digital now. I don't have space for my games anymore and really only pick up games that might become rare. However since the 3DS is a dead system there's very few games that will be rare and worth playing on current systems.

I'd prefer to own games on PC as you get the best version and also get a fan community that will keep even the most obscure release alive forever even if the likes of steam go down the drain.

Gradius

o1s1n wrote: »

I really miss Virgin Megastore on the quays, was a golden era of browsing media content in person. They even had a dedicated VHS Manga Entertainment section which was a rarity to see in Dublin at the time.

That's really sad about range disappearing from Fade Street. Didn't really buy anything there myself, but would have the odd browse as I walked down that way. Usually seemed to be a few folks in there buying stuff any time I was in.

Virgin megastars was fantastic. Never understood why they closed, more than likely rent as well.

I bought a few things in rage but it was always a good place for a browse at least. They might be reopening in token itself, which could be a brilliant move.

Greyfox

Gradius wrote: »

But digitally licensed downloads can kiss my hole either way

I'm the opposite, I prefer buying digitally as there's always sales for loads of games and when a game is on sale its usually the cheapest way to get the game. Gamestop are rip off merchants and have been for some time, I hope smyths and CEX survive in the future though

o1s1n

I really miss Virgin Megastore on the quays, was a golden era of browsing media content in person. They even had a dedicated VHS Manga Entertainment section which was a rarity to see in Dublin at the time.

That's really sad about range disappearing from Fade Street. Didn't really buy anything there myself, but would have the odd browse as I walked down that way. Usually seemed to be a few folks in there buying stuff any time I was in.

[Deleted User]

CosmicSmash wrote: »

They're way overpriced, if Smyths can sell Final Fantasy 7 or Call of Duty for 60 euro why would anyone in their right mind pay GameStop 70. Their business model will become obselete over time as more and more people embrace digital downloads. They won't have the same opportunities to screw publishers and developers over by selling a pre-owned game for 5 euro less than a new one.

So, they're creaming it... somehow I doubt it.

Gradius

Seems like more and more of the gamestops are closing.

It's very strange. I remember the likes of virgin megastores on the quays in Dublin which was brilliant just to browse around, fast forward to now and it's looking like even seeing a videogame will be a rarity soon. It's sad in a way.

My interest in new games was already waning with the bloated nature of it all, dlc, never ending updates etc.

I was talking with a friend the other day and comparing the jump from the likes of the commodore to the megadrive, how it was amazing to just flick a button and BAM, now you can play the game.

The last few years have seen all that slowly reverse again. Crazy

Obviously nobody can be 100% sure what will happen, but I can certainly guess that already existing physical games now will probably rocket in price. But digitally licensed downloads can kiss my hole either way

CosmicSmash

Deleted User wrote: »

Is it outrageous or inflated though, if their business model is unsustainable? It's hard to square bemoaning their loss due to the extra costs of doing business and complaining about their pricing.

They're way overpriced, if Smyths can sell Final Fantasy 7 or Call of Duty for 60 euro why would anyone in their right mind pay GameStop 70. Their business model will become obselete over time as more and more people embrace digital downloads. They won't have the same opportunities to screw publishers and developers over by selling a pre-owned game for 5 euro less than a new one.

[Deleted User]

Inviere wrote: »

The extortionate costs of commercial rates & rent have led to B&M shops just not being competitive with online physical and digital pricing. I won't be overly sad to see GameStop go....they had outrageous and largely inflated pricing for a long time (usually dearer by €10+ per game than other shops)...but Smyths used to be alright for the odd bargain.

Is it outrageous or inflated though, if their business model is unsustainable? It's hard to square bemoaning their loss due to the extra costs of doing business and complaining about their pricing.

CiDeRmAn

Gradius wrote: »

And rage is calling it quits at current location, at least?

Bugger, just read the post on FB, I'm not allowed comment there, I think I might have insulted someone there a while ago!
But it will be missed, certainly.
Fingers crossed they find an alternative location and keep trading.

It's the end of times, cats living with dogs, the dead rising from the grave

I get that reference....

Inviere

The extortionate costs of commercial rates & rent have led to B&M shops just not being competitive with online physical and digital pricing. I won't be overly sad to see GameStop go....they had outrageous and largely inflated pricing for a long time (usually dearer by €10+ per game than other shops)...but Smyths used to be alright for the odd bargain.

Tom Mann Centuria

All the while Bezos adds to his billions and we get less and less choice.