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[violence]

They ever try to sell you a used game as new? One time I pointed out that their “new” Tekken 5 had no saran wrap and the guy joked if I had a fetish for it..

During the PS2 era I started buying games at Best Buy instead of GameStop since they don’t push a nearly 100%-pure-profit-for-the-store insurance policy on me. I would just buy the game and go.

 

[Trogdor1123]

I very much feel like this is a be careful what you wish for thing.

 

[Soodanim]

UK equivalent GAME must be on it's last legs now too.
Sign of the times unfortunately.
They used to be brilliant.
Last few years they haven't given a fuck.
So sad.

I've known what the margins are like for GAME. At a certain point there's only so much they can do when competing against companies with wider product lines that are willing to lose money to get people in the door. Their shift to more merch was inevitable. The stuffing of GAME stores inside Sports Direct is a purely Mike Ashley thing, though, and isn't going to do much for anyone except people who want a copy of FIFA and a £40 tracksuit to play it in from the same building.

 

[Northeastmonk]

I just noticed the one I worked at in 2007 closed this last fall. I have never been impressed by their new look. Ever since they started that whole “Power to the Players” campaign. It felt like a scam to make a bunch of corporate people rich, like it wasn’t the type of place I’d buy games from anymore. The prime years definitely felt like they had passed.

Even the casual gamers noticed their downward spiral. It was Funko pops and non game related stuff. You could buy all their inventory online. I noticed I owned the majority of games they had or I just didn’t care. Why buy a physical copy of something I’m not even remotely interested in? It felt like a waste of time walking into GameStop.

I went to the GameStop at the Mall of America and it was awful. All it was, was figurines. None of the games were worth browsing through. Their biggest attraction was Spider-Man 2 promotional material on the wall and I had already ordered my copy off PSN.

I feel bad but that place made a job at McDonalds more appealing. Go work at a deli and make better money than selling video games at GameStop.

 

[Soltype]

At one point we had 3 in town, just noticed a couple weeks ago we now have none.

 

[SF Kosmo]

I feel awful for all the employees busting their asses through the holiday only to get tossed on their asses.

 

[Illyria]

Hope you land on your feet somewhere you enjoy. It stinks not having the leverage of not already having a job.

Getting laid off on Friday between Christmas & New Years is so crappy. Do it the first week of December or before you know someone is taking vacation/buying presents/making big purchase.

 

[adamsapple]

Gamestop, the organization, sucks.

But it sucks more to see people losing their jobs.

 

[Puscifer]

I mean I hate saying this but GameStop really does have too many damn stores. In Houston there's 2 in a single mall with a standalone store across the street just lol

 

[SScorpio]

Hopefully most of the workers manage to land on their feet.
Honestly at this point anyone still working at a Gamestop should be actively looking for another job.



Most of these places have tried to shift the focus away from games and start selling more accessories, figures, comic books and things like that. But it hasn't been enough (and those types of products can also be bought online).

I'm personally surprised none of these big chains went into the retro stuff sooner. I could also have seen gamestop attempting something like a limted run games publishing attempt which would have allowed them to release exclusive physical games. But then again I don't know how much money there really is in that.

GameStop tried retro stuff multiple times in the past. Every time the end result was lots of stuff getting scrapped making things even rarer. They also did have exclusive physical releases.

People will point at the move to digital being the main factor, but it's much more than that. GameStop made a lot of money by having a stream of new releases. People would play them, trade them in for credit, and then buy more. Other people would then come in and buy the used games. Yes, more digital hurts this. But the much fewer numbers of releases hurts this even more. Steam released data that only 15% of playtime this year was for 2024 releases, 47% was games released 1-7 years ago, and 37% for games that were 8 or more years old. If consoles are similar, would be be buying buying used copies, or spending $5-20 and purchasing older games digitally. GameStop got undercut because publishers don't make money from used sales. But if they can make $5-10 per highly discounted digital sale that would have been a used sale they never profited from. And there were a lot fewer people buying new releases and flipping them for other new games. If they did they likely sold them locally themselves. The buyer pays less, the seller received more, and GameStop didn't get any cut.

Finally, we're all hanging out here, that means we're likely old people. Young people play on their phones and tablet way more. And likely play live service games if they use a PC or console. Ask people who children that are teenagers or younger, or with family members that young. What games did they want for Christmas? You'll find out most didn't want games, they wanted Fortnite V-Bucks and the like instead. And who can blame them. Their just hanging out with their friends playing games together like I did with Quake World CTF, and Counterstrike. Except;t they didn't even need to each buy copies of a game to play, it's just there and free to access.

 

[Griffon]

To the moon...

 

[bender]

No clue how any gaming store can survive these days, the physical market is dead for retail outside of online.

Pokemon card sales. The owner's son of my local mom and pop has converted ~%20 of the store to trading card stuff (mostly Pokemon) and I'd guess 1/3 or more of their customers come for that product. I know Gamestop is dipping its' toes in those waters too.

 

[R6Rider]

I hope my local one isn't closing. I don't go there often, but it's nice when Amazon is failing to ship on release day or if I want to browse stuff. Plus the workers there are great.

 

[ShadyAcshuns]

I guess GameFly will be next, and the physical games you can get at stores like Wal Mart sucks with just mainstream CoD, Fortnite and Assassin's Creed and Barbie games lol.

 

[ReBurn]

I spent a lot of time an money at GameStop up until the middle of last gen. I stopped going the second time they tried to sell me an open box game as new with the dlc codes missing because they "couldn't find them." But overall my memories are better than worse. In the PS1 through PS360 days I traded a lot of games to subsidize new ones.

 

[El Muerto]

Took my nephew in there to get a birthday present, he wanted Minecraft for ps4 but they only had new and were out of used copies. Ended up getting a used copy but they claimed it was new. Never went back. They also treat their employees like shit making regular hourly employees fight over hours. Not a great place to work and not a great place to shop at.

I guess GameFly will be next, and the physical games you can get at stores like Wal Mart sucks with just mainstream CoD, Fortnite and Assassin's Creed and Barbie games lol.

Gamefly is doing pretty well and still making money. They expanded their Bluray section recently and also sell accessories. They also have the best prices on used games.

 

[Rhazer Fusion]

Sucks for the workers. But these stores just don't serve a purpose any more.

Day one physical games, trade ins and exchanges?

 

[kapshin]

I guess the Funkos finally popped.

 

[Quasicat]

I would go into my local GameStop each month and would buy something to use up my $5 a month Pro benefits. Right before Christmas I noticed a new manager with one of the regular employees that was hired for the Christmas rush. I asked where the old manager was, as there were only three employees that work there, and she told me that both the manager and assistant manager quit out of nowhere…today I noticed that they are closed. I think they knew that they were closing and found something else as quickly as possible.

 

[BennyBlanco]

They ever try to sell you a used game as new? One time I pointed out that their “new” Tekken 5 had no saran wrap and the guy joked if I had a fetish for it..

During the PS2 era I started buying games at Best Buy instead of GameStop since they don’t push a 100% pure profit for the store insurance policy on me. I would just buy the game and go.

Yup this was my last straw as well. I bought DKCTF for Wii U and they handed me a used copy for full price. I was like nah I’m good and never went back.

 

[ShadyAcshuns]

Gamefly is doing pretty well and still making money. They expanded their Bluray section recently and also sell accessories. They also have the best prices on used games.

Hope they stay afloat, because without a used game market, companies have no incentive to have sales. We'll still have online market places and swaps.

 

[Gamer_By_Proxy]

Doh! I still gotta trade in my OG PS5. Swapped for the 30th anniversary one.

 

[gothmog]

Hope they stay afloat, because without a used game market, companies have no incentive to have sales. We'll still have online market places and swaps.

There a pretty much constant sales on the digital storefronts. I don't think the used physical game market has become a thing of it's own.

 

[namenotfound]

Always remember that Gamestop purchased Impulse from Stardock, the closest thing to a Steam competitor around the 2010 era when PC gaming is dying was popular to say. Then they did nothing with it and double downed on physical games when publishers were trying to do single account redemption online multiplayer codes to kill off used games. They needed to figure something out with their online store so that if you bought a new game from it, you never had to worry about getting a disc/cart in a generic bag/box with new written in sharpie on it. Online video game buying, you're better off on Mercari/eBay/offerUp. In store still the best shot at getting lucky on an under-priced game

 

[ShadyAcshuns]

There a pretty much constant sales on the digital storefronts. I don't think the used physical game market has become a thing of it's own.

We don't know what they'll do with a monopoly when the only place to get digital console games is from one place, unlike PC. How do we know they won't raise the price of games and never put them on sale?

 

[HeisenbergFX4]

But these stores just don't serve a purpose any more.

 

[Warnen]

worked at a EB years ago, they would tell employees to take home magazines that we were supposed throw away then frame them for stealing so didn’t have to give them a raise. Cheaper to just get someone new.

What a shit hole to work at.

 

[Soapbox Killer]

People that hate GameStop are a strange breed of dog.

 

[DownLikeBCPowder]

But GME 4D chess ...

 

[Dthomp]

Day one physical games, trade ins and exchanges?

Alot of I don't do/need those things so nobody does them mentalities around here. Gamestop closing stores is mostly focused on terrible leadership, they have been trying to be a bunch of different things since I left that company in 2012 when they started dabbling in cell phones/Ipads/Cricket Wireless and credit cards. Now the new thing is heavily marked above MSRP trading cards. Their business should work almost like a pawn shop that gets in cool new games too, but their greed just wouldn't allow them to give decent value for trades so many stopped trading, thus causing empty sad used sections. I don't walk into a Gamestop for Tshirts, pop figures and cards.

I've learned over the years that GAF is a weird internet bubble that seems to make alot more bank then the average American does, places like GS made it possible for me when I used to be broke as fuck, and many others to occasionally get a new game and that is going to be taken away from many people. I feel bad for those folk that could rely on GS to allow them some way to keep in the hobby.

 

[HJuggernaut]

where can i trade my games?

 

[Silentium]

At least 75% of my nearly 300 Switch game collection was bought at a Gamestop, so your statement...

wow, your collection of bing bing wahoo games definitely outweighs the demonstrated strong secular trends in the sector

 

[Kings Field]

Lots of memories when I was a kid and it was EB. I never had any bad interactions anytime I went in. I was a regular so maybe that helped. I also didn't trade any games in to them so I guess that's why I don't hate them like others do. Went to a shit ton of midnight releases, console releases, little fighting game tournaments, etc etc.

I live in a relatively small area and had two GameStops One was at our mall which closed down when the mall closed and the one that is currently open is next to a Walmart in a strip mall which does pretty good business IMO.

I don't do physical anymore besides collectors editions but I usually order them online.

It sucks that people my age (37) pretty much just have nostalgia of a better time.

 

[gothmog]

We don't know what they'll do with a monopoly when the only place to get digital console games is from one place, unlike PC. How do we know they won't raise the price of games and never put them on sale?

Most of the games are third party so the only monopoly is on exclusives. Everything else would have to have competitive pricing with the other "monopolies" or risk an exodus to another ecosystem. I don't think anything substantial would change. With backwards compatibility there's just too many games out there to not have sales on older titles.

 

[schaft0620]

Sucks for the workers. But these stores just don't serve a purpose any more.

Ha, this absolutely sucks for me. I love going to game stores, midnight events, I like seeing what weird shit people trade in.

Now it's all just Amazon.

 

[ShadyAcshuns]

Most of the games are third party so the only monopoly is on exclusives. Everything else would have to have competitive pricing with the other "monopolies" or risk an exodus to another ecosystem. I don't think anything substantial would change. With backwards compatibility there's just too many games out there to not have sales on older titles.

Most people who play games only own and play on a single system, so multiplats are essentially exclusives if there's only one place they can get them.

Imagine having to pay $100 to play that new game you've anticipated, or waiting a year for a discount. Dystopian gaming future awaits us.

 

[bundylove]

They ever try to sell you a used game as new? One time I pointed out that their “new” Tekken 5 had no saran wrap and the guy joked if I had a fetish for it..

During the PS2 era I started buying games at Best Buy instead of GameStop since they don’t push a 100% pure profit for the store insurance policy on me. I would just buy the game and go.

Also best buy had or has still dont know , had trade ins or buy backs. There was also a used game section

 

[LavitzSlambert]

It's been a while since I can remember a decent sale, the stores are full of mid to badly worn games sold for close to new price, and their trade in prices are too piss poor to excuse that. They barely move product anymore and if you're buying anything they sell new, it's cheaper or more convenient to get it elsewhere like Amazon or Best Buy. Not surprised for the downward spiral, though it sucks because they used to be a good store and you could get actual deals on used games.

 

[WoJ]

As someone who prefers physical media this sucks. But I've also grown fed up with their business practices. Too many of their "new" games aren't. And I've hated actually going into a Gamestop for years. I got tired of being upsold.

I had a large number of gift cards I used over the holidays there because I didn't feel comfortable holding onto them knowing they will eventually go out of business. But I'm not happy about it. I wish they improved their business practices.

Anymore I buy most physical stuff from best buy, Amazon, or gamefly.

 

[kapshin]

where can i trade my games?

Reddit - Dive into anything

www.reddit.com

 

[Rhazer Fusion]

Sure, Gamestop isn’t near perfect, but the less locations and choices for physical media, the worst the things will get for the gaming industry in general for gamers who like purchasing physical games. For the gamers accepting and embracing an all digital future, you have no idea what you are getting yourself into especially with all these greedy companies.

 

[ArtHands]

Good to see another sign of consoles going digital. Hopefully this trend continues

 

[phant0m]

At least 75% of my nearly 300 Switch game collection was bought at a Gamestop, so your statement...

GUYS

it's ok. everything will be ok. Power Pro has saved physical games media

 

[Haint]

As someone who prefers physical media this sucks. But I've also grown fed up with their business practices. Too many of their "new" games aren't. And I've hated actually going into a Gamestop for years. I got tired of being upsold.

I had a large number of gift cards I used over the holidays there because I didn't feel comfortable holding onto them knowing they will eventually go out of business. But I'm not happy about it. I wish they improved their business practices.

Anymore I buy most physical stuff from best buy, Amazon, or gamefly.

Ton of ways they could have saved this business. They chose to fleece and gaslight the customer, instead.

As for the workers, it's a bummer, but anyone working there knew it was a sinking ship.

They're not going out of business, the stonk meme rallies saved them. A pro-bono CEO and pro-bono board took over and have turned a small profit the past few quarters, the business has no debt, and like 5 Billion dollars cash (Billion with a B) from selling shares during the rallies. There's still a place for trade-ins, hardware sales, and physical sales, but no longer any reason for mid-size towns to have 3 - 5 stores, especially locations operating at a loss. From what I gather they're trying to expand into new businesses like graded collectibles, pokemon/sports cards and shit.

 

[Nydius]

As for the workers, it's a bummer, but anyone working there knew it was a sinking ship.

My thoughts as well. I know it makes me sound like an unfeeling ass but the writing has been on the wall for GameStop for literal years. Employees knew that place wasn't going to be around much longer, just as I did the last 18 months I was working at Gateway back in the day. If they weren't planning ahead for this inevitability, that's kinda on them.

 

[Moridianae]

From what I know, based on an old former manager who is still with the company:

Roughly 400 stores are closing in January in waves. Some stores are closing within a couple of days, some in a week, so on and so forth until months end. A great deal of stores were told today, but the deadline to tell every store on the chopping block is tomorrow.

There doesn't seem to be any real rhyme or reason to selections. Some stores which are very profitable are closing. It may be tied to leases or store saturation? Unknown.

This is 400 in the month of January alone. Over the last few months, there have been several that have closed as leases came up for renewal.

The actual total will probably be around 500-550 counting those within the last 3 or 4 months leading up to now.

The store I began my career with in GameStop(where I worked for many years) will apparently survive. It's in an old mall that still has lots of local traffic in a smaller town.

That GameStop there is probably the only draw still in that mall and as such, they only pay like $600 a month in rent. They make profit in a day, really. I loved my time there and firmly believe they'll be one of the last stores standing, despite being in an old mall.

 

[adamsapple]

where can i trade my games?

www.estarland.com is much better than gamestop ever was for trades.

If you live in NOVA and can access their warehouse store in-person, even better.

 

[EverydayBeast]

GameStop is okay, certainly eBay is better to be honest.

 

[WoJ]

They're not going out of business, the stonk meme rallies saved them. A pro-bono CEO and pro-bono board took over and have turned a small profit the past few quarters, the business has no debt, and like 5 Billion dollars cash (Billion with a B) from selling shares during the rallies. There's still a place for trade-ins, hardware sales, and physical sales, but no longer any reason for mid-size towns to have 3 - 5 stores, especially locations operating at a loss. From what I gather they're trying to expand into new businesses like graded collectibles, pokemon/sports cards and shit.

I have to be honest I had no clue their business was that strong. I haven't looked at their Financials. I just know they're in a dying retail industry and their business practices aren't great. I'm not rooting for them to go away. I just haven't enjoyed my experiences with them in some time. But you're 100% spot on about too many stores.

 

[Spooky Scary Skeleton]

www.estarland.com is much better than gamestop ever was for trades.

If you live in NOVA and can access their warehouse store in-person, even better.

I've been there. Their retro selection isn't all that bad either.