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Child Item

Gamestop to close Irish operations

Padre_Pio

Heard it on the rumour mill and I think the news will break later today.

Gamestop is closing it's Irish operations and all stores in the near future.

I know they were in difficulty over the past few years with more people buying online. They had a round of layoffs in 2021, but the writing was on the wall.

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Padre_Pio

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120559183#Comment_120559183

Is there any evidence to show this?

It's rare that I buy physical games with so much free stuff on PSN.

I know PC gaming is not directly comparable, but all the major platforms have fantastic sales on. How often does someone buy a physical PC game?

[Deleted User]

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120559291#Comment_120559291

You don’t because they don’t exist any longer. Outside of older titles.

even if you did buy a disc, what would you do with it? I dare say most people who regularly play video games are the same people that don’t have a disc drive!

If you go to GameStop rn and buy a “physical” pc game, it’s just the box with a code inside 😂

feargantae

Passed by one of their stores today. It was absolutely packed inside. Ironic given i don't remember ever seeing it that busy in all the years it's been open!

Padre_Pio

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120563149#Comment_120563149

I wonder how many are buying.

The second hand games were all full of the same. 20 copies of Destiny and Death Stranding.

bucketybuck

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120559183#Comment_120559183

Why do you say there will be no competition?

If you are saying digital games will increase in price without physical media, that doesn't make any sense at all.

There is and always will be huge competition, its just not between digital and physical media. The competition is with the thousands of other games available to buy online. When I have a choice between thousands of game you can be damn sure the seller needs to set its price points accurately.

I haven't bought a physical game in well over a decade and frankly find it bizarre that people still do, physical media stopped being competition a long long time ago.

RobbingBandit

Lots buying funko any discount on them draws crowds

Mrs OBumble

fyi, GameStop in Galway has big signs on it saying "store closing down", "10% off everything", "everything reduced - new stock arriving daily" .

They were closed for lunch when I walked past just after 2pm on Thursday, so may be operating on minimum staff.

Homelander

"Everything must go" "Store closing down".

10% off their already awful prices. Yeah, grand, close away.

jimjangles

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120563208#Comment_120563208

I'll give you one example,I know it's meant to be a bad game but it's just an example and I don't care. Saints Row reboot 69.99 on the Playstation Store, I bought it for 10 euro in Gamestop. There are tons of examples like that and many older games being overpriced. Physical copies a lot of the time can be had a lot cheaper than digital. With digital only there would be no competition because it'd be only one store and Sony or Microsoft or whoever would set the price maxed out. Sure there'd be deals sometimes but probably on really old games that no-one wants to buy or that they're out so long most people have already bought them.

Greyfox

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120564404#Comment_120564404

The PlayStation store like the other online stores has games on sale every day of the year, only a complete moron would pay full price for that game. Most of the time you can get digital titles for cheaper then amazon but when you can't amazon will always be there. Gamestop never have games cheaper than amazon, if they were occasionally the same price as amazon they wouldn't be closing down. Pretty much every PlayStation game released goes on sale not long after release. Gamestop closing is just removing the worst place to buy games, usually parents who don't realise they are paying a high rate for an old game.

There is no evidence that digital prices will increase. Generally digital prices are so good that many people don't bother walking into physical stores.

jimjangles

Digital prices are not good for newer games though.

I bought Horizon Forbidden West before Christmas around 30 euros. It didn't go that cheap on the store months later. Saints row lowest it went when on sale was 20. Physical is generally better, not always but most of the time you can find better deals physical and obviously being able to sell your games, swap them, do whatever you want with them.

[Deleted User]

Smyths might start doing trades even on account of this. Not sure if they’d be bothered to get into the second hand games market though.

I am curious if have any impact on independent retailers especially if it might encourage more to open?

paul71

There will never be another specialist game retailer again. The model is dead and has been for 15 years. Margins on games are 30% to 40% and since you can buy online the market is gone. Margin on hardware is 10% or less. It is impossible for any retailer to exist on 10% unless you have other product, hence Smyths toys can sell consoles at 10* because they can sell Chinese manufactured junk toys at 50% or 60%.

The Gamesworld/Gamestop/EB/Game business model is dead, gone and never to be repeated.

murpho999

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120564404#Comment_120564404

You'll just have to accept that people are not buying discs anymore, they're dying out. Digital is much more convenient especially when switching games.

For me personally I use Xbox Gamepass which means I hardly ever buy a game. If there's a game I want to buy , such as I recently wanted to buy Elden Ring. I simply held off and got it at reduced sale price. Probably a little more expensive than what could be available on disc but I don't mind paying a little extra as I just don't like having to have discs around with cases etc, too big of a footprint.

I do think in future that games will have to be available on more digital platforms than they currently are and this will also reduce prices but the idea that we need to have stores selling physical media to keep game prices down is just not going to hold up in this digital age.

Kimbot

Digital would be great if everyone had the internet for it but still alot of people dont have access to good connections so until then discs are going to be around to stay.

Padre_Pio

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120569305#Comment_120569305

Discs will still be around for the next decade, just the B&M shops that sell them are becoming a thing of the past.

You're seeing already with PS5 that people who choose physical media are paying more for the feature.

murpho999

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120569305#Comment_120569305

This argument is losing ground all the time as the percentage of people nowadays without internet is tiny and getting smaller.

Vast majority of people have good broadband and/or mobile and discs being used less.

Obviously the case with stores that sell media being in big trouble and dissapearing.

RGARDINR

Any date for when gamestop is meant to be fully closed down?

RobbingBandit

...

[Deleted User]

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120577871#Comment_120577871

Rumoured to be late July/near the end of the summer but no date has been announced by gamestop afaik

Autosport

20% off stock now

[Deleted User]

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120584192#Comment_120584192

oh mr GameStop with these sales you’re really spoiling us

TetraSonic55

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120584192#Comment_120584192

Still showing 10% for me

Princess Calla

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120584192#Comment_120584192

I was in one yesterday (Friday) and while the window said 20% once you went in, pretty much everything was still 10%.

Jordan 199

Dropped into my local one today to get a game. I'll visit it a few more times before the shop closure at the end of June.

pjohnson

The sale prices are still more than the same game in cex a few doors away.

They need to more reductions.

ChicoCannon

It is hardly surprising, when the first became Gamestop it was ran by two brothers who had ran a store in town, totally drawing a blank on the name of it.

They seemed then to take on the GameStop name but, it at least seemed to be ran in Ireland but as time went on more and more of the practices of the US stores came into play on top of that they seemed to drop the ball time and time again on console launches.

The PS5 being probably the biggest of all, granted it was hampered by covid restrictions but i had pre-ordered a console a day or so after the announcement of its launch, i know two people who ordered it months after me, both got consoles on launch day I missed out, it turns out that the store i had ordered in was not opening for launch, but the stores they had ordered from where and low and behold they seemed to have plenty to go around. It wasn't a massive issue because i got one a couple of weeks later but the customer service was a joke, i was told in emails that mine would be coming in on one day, id go to the store and they would look at me like i was nuts saying they were expecting to maybe get a console or two the following week, i got this 3 times from the customer service guys till one of the lads in the store who i had gotten to know because of the mess said he would call me.

Other issues included offers online, that said they were in store wouldnt be available to the staff in the store to actually give customers.

I think the beginning of the end was when they started making CEX look good value for money. I remember if you bought FiFA in sep and didnt like it you could get COD or BF in November for a tenner, you used to get €55-60 for a new release trade in. then it became two games from a big list, then it became two games from a small list and a tenner, then 2 games from a small list (almost all new releases, unless you still had your Mario Galaxy) and €20.

I had a look at the site the other day to see the sale, they had a new Xbox Series S with a game for €299.99 below it they had a second had Series S for €249.99 (this had 10% EXTRA off) and you know they gave the person they bought it from €175 max, probably €150 or lower. Then they had an ad up on facebook the other day, a PS5 controller with FIFA 23 (a game that came out in Sep and is possibly free on EA Access/Play) for €107.99 and they probably are confused why no one shops there anymore. The price of second hand games there as well was mental, just wait a few months and it will be half price on the Xbox or PS store in one of the seasonal sales.

Then there is all the no offence (well sort of) all the nerd rubbish they started to sell, once that happened it was finished for them it was only ever a matter of time, the only time i ever went there after i got the PS5 was to replace the controller that had two buttons that stuck about a week after getting the console, the replacement was getting stick drift by march so i went back in because i was had lvl 3 on loyalty i got to trade in my old white controllers get the new black ones (far better build quality) for €2..50 each. havent been near the place since and wont be, i feel for the staff and the shopping centres where they were based but management didnt do enough to move with the times, like HMV, they thought they were too big to fail.

feargantae

It's gas they're doing the US practice of selling absolutely everything in store. Even the shelves off the wall and the tills are for sale!

€145 for what looks like a 32" monitor.

[Deleted User]

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120604264#Comment_120604264

The tils are for sale? Fcuk off they are not? 😂

feargantae

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120604517#Comment_120604517

Was in the Cork city centre shop and they'd stickers on everything, even the cardboard displays they'd get for free from Nintendo! Pretty funny tbh