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Gamestop's policy of destruction (trashing boxes and manuals)
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A game like that makes sense, but if it's a game with... shall we say, more "prestige," it seems like it would be worth it to keep the additional packaging. I'd certainly pay more for a complete game, at any rate.
Fortunately, I don't think I've seen this take effect here...
Anyway, I typically don't buy used unless I can't find something new. And GameStop isn't really my first resort, just the most commonly-found one.
Depends on how tough it is to find the game for me. I just got Super Mario Land 2, cartridge-only. I know the chances of finding that with everything is rather slim, unless I start looking for collector's grade and shelling out a lot more money. And if I'm interested in that, that's what I'll do, but to just play the game? I'm okay with just going with the cartridge for now.
In any case, there is something to be said about keeping games in as good condition as possible, box and all.
I'm not into that scene so much, though someday, if I have a bit of money to burn, I would like to buy some MIB copies of some games which hold special value to me. But I wouldn't make a whole thing out of it.
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You're buying the wrong games then.
I'd like to see trade in places give bonus trade moneez to complete case+manual.
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Or, you know, just find a used one with a case and manual. It's not hard. All this bullshit about "But it new and quit bitching" is just stupid.
What do you do in this situation? Like, if its a 360 game and you get caught playing it before its "out" don't they take some kind of banning action against you?
Not to get all Industry Thread up ins, but Gamestop rakes in money hand over fist. They're hugely profitable, largely due to the used game business. Lunker's exactly right.
That's why I said guaranteed.
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Because it accomplishes the goal pretty succinctly?
Gamefly is also very good about that. Hell they mail you the box and manual if you keep a rented game.
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At some point, you just gotta have some principles and not support the asshole corporation damaging the same industry it makes tons of money from and then pitches shitfits when the industry tries to increase its fairly narrow profit margin at the expense of the used game industry (i.e., Gamestop).
Won't someone think of the poor publishers raking in billions of dollars of revenue?
Oh lord, Gamefly is fantastic. On top of the convenience, good prices and free shipping for "keep it" purchases, they frequently give you $5 credits.
Yeah, it pretty horrible that companies who dump hundreds of millions of dollars into developing and publishing games might want to have a better profit margin than a company cutting the legs out from underneath all their effortsas their entire damn business model.
It actually turns out that in order to make those billions in revenue, huge amounts of revenue have to be spent. Gamestop, however, doesn't have to bother with any of that and just milks the ignorant and unsuspecting for all their worth. If you want to buy a used game, I don't have any problem with that.
Just don't buy it from Gamestop. There are plenty of other options available unless you live under a rock in the Antarctic.
not sure, the game I got early in this instance is Bulletstorm. I didn't get any sort of punishment for it, but that's not to say I didn't simply fall through the cracks or something. I don't think there'd be banning because they can already tell if people are playing pirate copies, that and who's to say that I'm not a game reviewer playing a review copy or something?
Gamestop made a total of ~750 million in profit from their used games sales accounting for half their profit. Assuming that those profits would in fact be lost revenue to publishers directly that is only 10% of the entire revenue of Activision and EA combined. If you throw in other publicly owned publishers THQ, Ubisoft, Take 2, it pushes it down to 7%. I could go over the 10qs of Microsoft and try to divine how much of nintendos 15 billion in revenue is derived from software sales but at suffice to say, I bet the entire publishing industry itself loses less than 3% of potential revenue to Gamestop's used sales.
Release date delivery is vastly overrated unless you'll always have someone home to sign for the package. The last time I used Release Date it took THREE EXTRA WEEKS to get the freaking game because of the required signatures, inability to change delivery addresses and refusal to accept the returned package.
Also it is the greatest thing since they started baking loaves of bread, and then slicing it for you.
I never have to sign for anything. UPS guy comes on release day in the evening when I am home every time. Prime rocks and it sucks I will lose it come this summer.
I don't like used Gamestop but if it get rid of awful generic cases with a name stamped on then ok. Also blame the douches that trade their games in with out anything else. Toys R Us and Amazon give you a lot more if you trade in with everything so its incentive.
I haven't shopped at Gamestop since they started gutting new games. This does not surprise me. I am surprised people still shop there.
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Someone there is doing it wrong apparently . . . .
I'm sure it differs by state or somesuch. Mine always requires signatures unless it's regular postal mail speed. It absolutely sucks.
Between their terrible staff and horrible return policies, I'd rather just shop at Amazon, ebay for used products, and Walmart or Bestbuy for new consoles. Everyone else simply does it better than EBGames or GameStop, so I figure, why bother? It's just not worth it.
To this day it's one of the only bad shopping experiences I've had. I think the other one was when a new employee at a liquor store had me remove my Driver's Licence from my wallet (which was terribly difficult, because leather tends to tighten around cards), and then insisted I needed 2 photo IDs to by cigarettes. Thankfully another employee was present, and told her "dude, he only needs one, chill out."
it had the case, the manual, AND the little safety insert that everyone throws away!
thanks Gamestop!
I also bought Strange Journey without a case at all, but the guy gave me a dummy case, so all I really have to do is print out the insert
but then I have one of the few half-decent gamestops near me.
I might sue them for eyestrain from all the rolling I do in there
This. Also, a huge benefit of Amazon is the video game credit they tend to tack on for preordering a game. Seeing as I work in the day time and I go to bed by 2 A.M. at the latest (freak of nature sleep schedule), I'd rather save the money I'd lose from not having the credit to enjoy it in full when I'm off work. Plus, no taxes. Plus, free shipping on everything.
I'm under the student account, however, so maybe the price is a little less justified when you have to actually pay.
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Honestly, as long as businesses are solely concerned with getting me to purchase as much as possible, I'm going to be concerned with saving as much as possible. Everytime I hear of a game company making an obvious cash grab through insanely priced DLC or peripherals or something like that, the defense is always "they're a business, they exist to make money! That's what businesses do!" So honestly I'm not really going to give much of a shit if me getting a game for cheaper means less money for them. They're the business, it's their responsibility to make sure they're seeing profits, not mine. As a consumer, it's up to me to find (legitimate) ways to save money. If they can convince me, through savvy practices or anything else, to either spend more, or figure out a way for me to save money without buying from gamestop (ala steam sales) then good for them. But the businesses that rely on the good graces of consumers to support them are pretty shitty businesses, and it sure as shit isn't going to work the other way where consumers win out because businesses want to "support their fanbase"
I've been a Prime member since it rolled out. I also split my purchases between Gamestop and Amazon based on best deal/pre-order bonuses/existing giftcards or credits. I love having things on release day, and if I looked at the last two years, I'm positive Prime has saved me more than the annual cost alone on my gaming orders. If release date delivery isn't a big deal to you, probably a different story. If it is, then it sure beats the alternative of $10 from GS or picking it up in store.
I don't agree completely with those who claim that Gamestop is stealing profits from game developers as it ignores people trading games in who turn around and spend that money on a new game, but I understand the point behind their message.
What I don't understand is logic like this. How is buying from Gamestop so terrible compared to say buying used on Amazon from the guy with 100,000+ feedback? I seriously doubt that amazon guy bought tons of new copies from the the publisher only to turn around and sell them as used for $10 online. How do you justify buying from him as being acceptable but buying from Gamestop is not, when they are both doing the exact same thing?
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Beside the dubious impact that gamestop selling used games has on new purchases from concrete numbers alone (like i said in my previous post, the amount of profit they generate from used games is less than 3% of industry wide publisher revenue), the actions of market participants is not clear in regards to propensity to buy a game based on price. Without stats from gamestop on the demographics of their used game sales (statistical distribution of sales by price, by time on the market since release, by system, etc etc) this entire concept that they're robbing publishers blind of deserved revenue is sensationalist claptrap.
Plenty of other options? Every store that sells games these days has a used business model here in Ontario. EB, Futureshop, Bestbuy, Rogers Video, Walmart, etc. There's no difference in buying from one store or the other anymore. Maybe if publishers actually reduced the prices of new games after X period of time I'd consider buying games I'm on the fence about new more often. If a game has been out for a year and it's still $59.99, I'm going to take a serious look at the cheaper used option before I purchase.
As a consumer, used games are great. Games are expensive and if I can save some money, I'm not going to fret about whether or not I'm harming the publishers bottom line. I buy plenty of games brand new as is. Maybe publishers should see the used game market as competition for our dollar rather than a threat.
I think EA's the only one who's actually made an effort down that road this gen.
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I'd love to, if I had the means. As it stands, though, I already have 80 DS games. That's JUST the DS games. (I don't sell my games after playing them, I'd never be able to bring myself to. 3 ceiling-high bookcases and counting...) There's no way I can afford MSRP and sustain that.
What, too soon?
Posterity? Nostalgia? A general inclination to take care of your possessions? (Is this a cultural thing? I know that in Japan, a game is worthless second-hand without the case and manual.) The way you talk, you seem to think video games are pretty disposable.
Ouch. I mean, geez, at least sell them for a few bucks or give them away or something.
That's just it. It's going to GET hard now, regardless of where it's bought. I imagine a large majority of these games go through a Gamestop at least once in their lifetimes. A DS game bought on Amazon or eBay is now a cart-only DS game if it went through Gamestop first. I wouldn't be AS bothered if this didn't affect people who value complete games.
I know that they make all their money off used games. Which is why they should be offering a better used game service. But clearly, as this thread has already proved, I'm in the minority as to that opinion. Which actually makes me more sad to see than what Gamestop is doing, the fact that most gamers seem to be fine with it or actually participate in it as soon as they buy a game. This isn't looking down my nose, you're welcome to do what you want with your property, but I am somewhat rudely awakened.
I only buy a game from Gamestop, new OR used, maybe a couple times a year if they happen to have a particularly excellent price on something. Like I said, I only went in to see if this was happening after hearing about it. But this practice of gutting games affects the entire aftermarket and future retro game market whether you shop there or not. They'll do this whether you go there or not.
I use The Cover Project often, and I have a whole box of DS cases from Nintendo in my closet. Manuals, though... a bit harder to get second-hand.
tl;dr: I wish there was a video game museum, I'd fucking VOLUNTEER, it's right up my alley.
I've been in these threads before repeating the same mantra: Gamestop started their trade-in business because profit margins on new titles are slim to none, and it became worse as PC software (non-game, like office products) and accessory sales slid.
This is SOP for books. Eventually the remaining copies are sold back to the publisher (at a discount), but because it's too expensive to ship them (heavy books), the books are destroyed. This is true at Barnes & Nobles, Borders, and every other store that sells books, though employees are not supposed to take them home.
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