My EB has gone from having a wall of PC games and separate new release display to having one tiny PC section. I couldn’t even find it the last time I went in there, a clerk had to show it to me. The nearby Gamestop has always been like that, so I can’t say I’m really surprised. At least Best Buy has a sizable PC section, and you can even get some deals on new releases if you look for them. I’d also say their prices are generally lower than EB/Gamestop, contrary to what MS is spurting out of his spastic peabrain.
I’m at the point where I won’t even go into EB/Gamestop unless it’s for a console title.
The tests took place back in 2005 and I haven’t seen it rolled out into any stores here since then.
From third-hand knowledge, it didn’t do too badly, but the issues came from the extra costs and complexity involved in purchasing and handling used product outweighed the additional margin that comes with used game sales.
As for Gamestop going away, I have no doubt that that as long as there’s something that can be sold, the used product market will stay strong. That said, a strong market still doesn’t guarantee that Gamestop doesn’t go under one day due to internal management issues like CompUSA did.
All it would take is a slightly better run national chain, with even slightly cleaner stores, less surly or immature staff, and even a minimal attempt at customer service to cause most people like us to switch over.
You guys who think digital distro is going to take off in the next 2-3 years are pretty silly. The recording industry isn’t tanking because digital distro is proportionately replaceing hard copies sold at retail. It’s tanking because there’s a wealth of independent music out there that people are discovering outside of the Billboard top 50 or whatever. If anything, the crackdown on piracy has hurt the industry’s sales, because people can’t as easily try before they buy.
Games are a different story. They’re expensive. They’re large in terms of data storage requirements. People actually like to be able to loan them out, sell them, regift them, etc. Oh, and those of us who buy shit online are a HUGE minority compared to the number of people out there who refuse to put any personal information into a web browser.
On top of that, digitial distribution doesn’t make any sense to most consumers. Sure, the Steam crowd loves not having to leave the basement, but outside of Gametap, DD is a raw deal for consumers. There is no price advantage realized in the overwhelming majority of potential DD transactions. Your user rights are severely abridged. Oftentimes, your ability to use the software hinges on the perpetual existence of the IP holder to manage a server or some such other verification vehicle.
And it’s a hassle. I’m still trying to get MS to apply the serial number of my replacement 360 to my arcade games purchased on a RRoD 360 that I replaced via a store replacement plan, so other profiles can access them and I don’t have to be logged into Live to use them. For the record, this is not why I dislike digital distro of games. This 360 predicament happened to me this past summer, but I’ve been saying these things for several years prior.
Quite frankly, even if I get my arcade licenses restored to full functionality, I can’t say I will be making any impulse buys or really investing a whole lot of money into Live arcade and I sure as Hell will not be bothering with X-Box Originals after this fiasco.
That’s the reality of the situation. I know a lot of you work in the industry and have been brought up to think that digital distro is going to set you free, but it just isn’t happening until somebody figures out a way to make it make sense to the customer, at the very least. Maybe then can some of the other problems be tackled with effort, and time.
Blockbuster’s business model kicked ass for a while, so did its stock price. Then, everybody discovered Netflix and a lot their advantage went away.
Gamestop, like Blockbuster, built a lot of its business model on fucking the customer hard when they got the chance. Blockbuster with late fees (they made up a surprising portion of their profit margin) and forcing the customer to rent something else when they were out of the big new movies. Netflix took the pain away and added regional distro centers so that the turnaround by mail was quick. No late fees, you almost always got what you wanted for a price that you’d already agreed to pay. Blockbuster’s advantage of being in every neighborhood, and its growth, was over.
Gamestop only carries new VG software as a carrot for trade-ins. Its margins for used software are huge and justify the neighborhood presence they have. If the margins go away, so does the reason for an expensive multi-store distribution system. The number of stores is actually a reason why the provide such bad service on new releases. To commit to 2-3 copies of every obscure release is a burden they won’t assume, especially because it adds very little to their margins.
Thus, IMO, Gamestop will continue until an alternative used game distro system reaches a critical mass OR when a critical mass of games avoids the retail channel. Then the growth goes away and the bean counters start questioning the immense labor and overhead expenses.
Personally, I hate shopping there, and I do it only when I’m looking for a certain used accessory. I certainly don’t buy there unless there’s no real alternative. I think the last game I bought was Rez for PS2.
With over 5,000+ retail stores worldwide and its world-class eCommerce platform, GameStop leverages its vast customer network, PowerUp Rewards, and omni-channel capabilities to deliver enhanced gaming solutions to its customers. Through this partnership, GameStop will standardize the Company’s business operations on Microsoft’s cloud solutions and hardware products to deliver rich new digital experiences to customers, creating the “ultimate gaming destination” for gamers in its vision to be the premier omni-channel customer access point for video game products.
Under this agreement, GameStop will standardize its back-end and in-store solutions on Dynamics 365, Microsoft’s portfolio of cloud-based business applications and customer data platform, empowering associates with integrated experiences across its business operations including finance, inventory, eCommerce, retail and point of sale. This will enable store associates the ability to access omni-channel insights about customer preferences and purchasing history, real time information on product availability, subscriptions, pricing, and promotions in order to provide a differentiated and personalized in-store customer experience.
Additionally, associates will be equipped with new Microsoft Surface devices that will transform the in-store experience and help unlock new retail experiences in the future. The mobility of Microsoft Surface will allow associates to move freely within the store footprint, meeting the needs of customers faster and more efficiently. Microsoft Surface devices have already been an important part of the digital modernization strategy for store management.
As part of its transformation, GameStop plans to roll out Microsoft 365 and Microsoft Teams to its stores, empowering more than 30,000 store associates with enhanced productivity and collaboration tools. With Teams, store associates will more easily be able to ask questions and share insights with one another, enabling them to provide a better customer experience. Associates will also benefit from enhanced security and identify management capabilities.
Following decades as an essential provider of the Microsoft Xbox gaming platform and services, GameStop has expanded its Xbox family of product offerings to include Xbox All Access, which provides an Xbox console and 24 months of Xbox Game Pass Ultimate to players with no upfront cost. GameStop and Microsoft will both benefit from the customer acquisition and lifetime revenue value of each gamer brought into the Xbox ecosystem.
Well, whatever little plastic brick of a tablet they use in store sucks now so if they change those to Surface Pros maybe the rest of us won’t have to wait 15 minutes for them to figure out how to do weird things with their rewards members.
Well I must say, this deal might sound pretty spiffy to Gamestop or MS, but absolutely nothing in the announcement makes me want to go into a store, COVID or no.
Except for MS convincing Gamestop to sell Gamepass-bundled consoles, it doesn’t sound like anything that will bring customers through the door more than once… and then never again, because Gamepass
Gamestop is probably saving a ton of money if they were still handling IT in-house - and probably got an even sweeter deal by letting Microsoft sell the All Access bundle in-store. Can’t see this as anything other than a stalling tactic to keep the corpse shuffling along a bit longer.
So apparently the partnership extends to Gamestop getting a cut of future digital revenues on systems they sell, which I can see being valuable for both sides.
I actually went to Gamestop for the first time in a while the other day to sell my PS4, and apparently they’re actually adapting somewhat to the digital present. The $15 pro membership is no longer completely focused on used-game discounts, but instead gives a monthly coupon for $5 off anything in the store. So you could use it every month on a $10 Steam gift card or something (didn’t see anything cheaper than that that I would actually use).
So if you were going to spend that money on whatever digital storefront anyway, it works out to $45 “free” over the course of a year, at the cost of having to drop by a physical store once a month. I could see that bringing people in regularly, though I’d assume it has to be a loss leader for them, so they’re banking on people buying bigger stuff when there.
