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[Gamestop] is quite possibly fucked

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    Skull2185Skull2185 Registered User regular
    One time I walked into a Gamestop and the guy working there stabbed me in the kidney. When I woke up hours later, there was a brand new rewards member card in my wallet, but my ID was missing. It was replaced with a note that said "now I know where you live, preorder a kinect or else."

    Everyone has a price. Throw enough gold around and someone will risk disintegration.
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    3cl1ps33cl1ps3 I will build a labyrinth to house the cheese Registered User regular
    One time I went in to trade in an old xbox 360 (which worked perfectly well, I just had no use for it any longer) and the Gamestop people tried to convince me that it needed so much refurbishment I should pay them to take it off my hands.

    It was funny but also one of the sadder things I've ever seen.

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    XaquinXaquin Right behind you!Registered User regular
    Skull2185 wrote: »
    One time I walked into a Gamestop and the guy working there stabbed me in the kidney. When I woke up hours later, there was a brand new rewards member card in my wallet, but my ID was missing. It was replaced with a note that said "now I know where you live, preorder a kinect or else."

    gamestop once tried to sell me a used kidney for $495 or $480 and a trade in PS3 but I just got one new from best buy for $500

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    Johnny ChopsockyJohnny Chopsocky Scootaloo! We have to cook! Grillin' HaysenburgersRegistered User regular
    edited January 2019
    I'd be bummed out about losing my local Gamestop. The people there are nice and friendly and not pushy and up to talk about games. I've been slowly trying to push the manager on the merits of Yakuza.

    Shit, and I've got DMC V all paid off there too.

    Johnny Chopsocky on
    ygPIJ.gif
    Steam ID XBL: JohnnyChopsocky PSN:Stud_Beefpile WiiU:JohnnyChopsocky
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    Skull2185Skull2185 Registered User regular
    Hah, what a totp...

    Everyone has a price. Throw enough gold around and someone will risk disintegration.
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    SynthesisSynthesis Honda Today! Registered User regular
    I'd be bummed out about losing my local Gamestop. The people there are nice and friendly and not pushy and up to talk about games. I've been slowly trying to push the manager on the merits of Yakuza.

    Shit, and I've got DMC V all paid off there too.

    To be fair, they might be happy to lose you.

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    Skull2185Skull2185 Registered User regular
    Synthesis wrote: »
    I'd be bummed out about losing my local Gamestop. The people there are nice and friendly and not pushy and up to talk about games. I've been slowly trying to push the manager on the merits of Yakuza.

    Shit, and I've got DMC V all paid off there too.

    To be fair, they might be happy to lose you.

    Until finally playing Yakuza, and then sending Johnny a Hillshire Farms giftbasket as a thank you/apology gift for not listening sooner.

    Everyone has a price. Throw enough gold around and someone will risk disintegration.
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    Johnny ChopsockyJohnny Chopsocky Scootaloo! We have to cook! Grillin' HaysenburgersRegistered User regular
    Synthesis wrote: »
    I'd be bummed out about losing my local Gamestop. The people there are nice and friendly and not pushy and up to talk about games. I've been slowly trying to push the manager on the merits of Yakuza.

    Shit, and I've got DMC V all paid off there too.

    To be fair, they might be happy to lose you.

    I may have embellished it a bit to demonstrate that I don't have bad times when I go to Gamestop every couple of months.

    ygPIJ.gif
    Steam ID XBL: JohnnyChopsocky PSN:Stud_Beefpile WiiU:JohnnyChopsocky
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    SynthesisSynthesis Honda Today! Registered User regular
    edited January 2019
    Synthesis wrote: »
    I'd be bummed out about losing my local Gamestop. The people there are nice and friendly and not pushy and up to talk about games. I've been slowly trying to push the manager on the merits of Yakuza.

    Shit, and I've got DMC V all paid off there too.

    To be fair, they might be happy to lose you.

    I may have embellished it a bit to demonstrate that I don't have bad times when I go to Gamestop every couple of months.

    With the caveat that I actually find the Yakuza series to be fun and charming, "Gamestop customer pushes suggestions on clerk or manager," has to be like a modern take on a lesser circle of hell. Cats and dogs living together. Mass hysteria.

    Synthesis on
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    NightslyrNightslyr Registered User regular
    3clipse wrote: »
    One time I went in to trade in an old xbox 360 (which worked perfectly well, I just had no use for it any longer) and the Gamestop people tried to convince me that it needed so much refurbishment I should pay them to take it off my hands.

    It was funny but also one of the sadder things I've ever seen.

    One of the guys at my GameStop was convinced that my old 3DS (which I was selling because I got a New 3DS and transferred everything over) was defective because the charging port didn't look right to him for nebulous reasons. Argued with him for 10 minutes before he smartened up and looked at the units in the back.

    "Oh, I guess they're all like that."

    Dipshit.

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    spool32spool32 Contrary Library Registered User regular
    edited January 2019
    Steam and Amazon and XBox Live are annihilating the market. There's not much more to read from this - GameStop isn't a Games Store - it's a retail physical thing store, and games themselves are selling like crazy still.

    It's just that plastic disks aren't popular formats any longer, so stores that stock a physical wall full of them are less and less compelling.

    spool32 on
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    EnigmedicEnigmedic Registered User regular
    Yeah, everyone is going digital. But that are still huge swathes of the the country with totally shit internet and/or have really shit data caps. Hard to justify getting a digital copy of something when you then have to download 80% of your monthly data cap. And not all gamestops are created equal. The ones around where i grew up were fine, probably because i went to school with or at least knew a lot of the people who worked at them, and they were just gamers not clueless plebs just pushing the extra crap. But when i moved to GA for a bit, those gamestops were trashpiles of dickheads. Oklahoma's have surprisingly been not too bad, but you can definitely see the funkopop creep...

    Also sometimes they legit do have good deals on used games, or sometimes its the only place to get some games unless you want to pay $200 on ebay.

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    GONG-00GONG-00 Registered User regular
    I can appreciate that Gamestop's practice of selling used copies of freshly released games at nearly the price of a new copy helped accelerate the transition to an entirely digital marketplace.

    Black lives matter.
    Law and Order ≠ Justice
    ACNH Island Isla Cero: DA-3082-2045-4142
    Captain of the SES Comptroller of the State
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    LucascraftLucascraft Registered User regular
    Xaquin wrote: »
    I feel kind of bad because they're forced to say that kind of stuff. Hard to get too mad at a guy just trying to hang on to a job.

    As a former Gamestop employee, yes, they required us to say all sorts of stupid shit. I worked under managers who actually encouraged us to lie and spin whatever tales we could to win those preorders, Gameinformer subscriptions, game protection plans, and any other nonsense they were pushing.

    So I say again, fuck'em. I hope they all close.

    Oh, and as a person with a bit of ethics and a moral conscience, I just declined to participate in all their shenanigans. And you know what? I never got in trouble for it, despite all their threats of writeups and all that. Not once in my 3 years with that company did I offer a game protection plan. Not once did I do any of their flavor of the week marketing bullshit. If a customer walked in and said "I would like to preorder such and such a game" I would do my job and I would preorder it for them. But I never pushed preorders and I never begged for sales.

    They tried all sorts of shit too, while I was there. Selling Kongretate game points. Giving out "free" game cards that were big ol' scams for freemium games. I never pushed any of that shit either. I'd just set the stack of whatver_it_was out on the counter and let people take it if they wanted it, or let them ignore it if they wanted that too.

    Basically, I just did my job without being a pest to society, and put on a good face to the customers, and everything worked out fine.

    But seriously. Fuck that company so hard. I've been hoping for their corporate demise ever since I left there. What a shitty company to work for. You have no idea the kind of awful strain and demands they put on their store managers and shift managers.

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    TDawgTDawg Registered User regular
    Where am I going to get Pokemon download codes from now?

    Despite the objectively terrible management practices, the actual boots on the ground workers at my local gamestop have never been anything but gracious, welcoming, helpful, and enthusiastic. Sucks that they are out of a job.

    NNID: ohnoTom || 3DS: 1762-3198-2019 || Steam || Take My Good Pokemon
    Let's Plays of Japanese Games
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    TheStigTheStig Registered User regular
    edited January 2019
    I remeber when street fighter 4 came out I was trying to get madcatz stick to play it on. Everywhere would sell out right away and when I went into gamestop to look for one the dude basically told me they'd never have them because he would ebay them as soon as they came in.

    TheStig on
    bnet: TheStig#1787 Steam: TheStig
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    NightslyrNightslyr Registered User regular
    TDawg wrote: »
    Where am I going to get Pokemon download codes from now?

    Despite the objectively terrible management practices, the actual boots on the ground workers at my local gamestop have never been anything but gracious, welcoming, helpful, and enthusiastic. Sucks that they are out of a job.

    GameStop's not gone yet.

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    LucedesLucedes might be real Registered User regular
    I really need to spend this Gamestop gift card pretty soon, is what you're telling me.

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    Mostlyjoe13Mostlyjoe13 Evil, Evil, Jump for joy! Registered User regular
    Funny thing with Gamestop loosing market share I've seen something I thought LONG gone. Classic Local Used Game store return. It's an actual vintage gaming resaler. Old consoles, carts, etc. They have it all. I walked in and saw Gameboy, GBA, NES, SNES, etc carts and repaired consoles. I almost cried. I thought Gamestop ate them all. But they didn't.

    PSN ID - Mostlyjoe Steam ID -TheNotoriusRNG
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    RT800RT800 Registered User regular
    edited January 2019
    I've never really understood when people get angry about being ripped off on game buybacks at GameStop.

    I mean... yeah. That's the business model. They buy cheap and sell high.

    If people don't wanna go to the trouble of finding their own buyer on E-bay or whatever, that's the price they pay. They didn't know this going in? Nobody's forcing them to accept GameStop's offer.

    RT800 on
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    ZythonZython Registered User regular
    Honestly, I'm kind of nervous about the loss of Gamestop. Not that they're GOOD or anything, mind you. Rather because they're one of the few centralized second-hand markets for video games left. Their loss is going to make getting games made before 2014 a LOT more difficult and potentially more expensive.

    That said, the moment I knew Gamestop was in trouble was when the one near my university dorm shut down. If you can't make a profit on video games near a critical mass of college students, you're kind of fucked.

    Switch: SW-3245-5421-8042 | 3DS Friend Code: 4854-6465-0299 | PSN: Zaithon
    Steam: pazython
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    cloudeaglecloudeagle Registered User regular
    edited January 2019
    I wouldn't expect Gamestop to die immediately -- they're still "looking at options" and are digesting the Spring Mobile cash. Also it's possible the fourth-quarter results (which include Christmas) will be profitable, or at least much less bad than the third-quarter results. I'd wager even the worst-case scenario wouldn't happen for at least six months.

    Though the worrying detail from that link is that Gamestop is still looking for a permanent CEO to replace the guy who left last May.

    cloudeagle on
    Switch: 3947-4890-9293
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    chamberlainchamberlain Registered User regular
    Many many years ago I ran an Electronics Boutique. That was a good time. Than I ran a few different EB Games. That was also a good time.

    Them Gamestop bought EB. I was gone in a year. It wasn't a good time anymore.

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    urahonkyurahonky Registered User regular
    cloudeagle wrote: »
    I wouldn't expect Gamestop to die immediately -- they're still "looking at options" and are digesting the Spring Mobile cash. Also it's possible the fourth-quarter results (which include Christmas) will be profitable, or at least much less bad than the third-quarter results. I'd wager even the worst-case scenario wouldn't happen for at least six months.

    Though the worrying detail from that link is that Gamestop is still looking for a permanent CEO to replace the guy who left last May.

    Hell I'll do it. I won't turn anything around but I'll take the paycheck.

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    Skull2185Skull2185 Registered User regular
    urahonky wrote: »
    cloudeagle wrote: »
    I wouldn't expect Gamestop to die immediately -- they're still "looking at options" and are digesting the Spring Mobile cash. Also it's possible the fourth-quarter results (which include Christmas) will be profitable, or at least much less bad than the third-quarter results. I'd wager even the worst-case scenario wouldn't happen for at least six months.

    Though the worrying detail from that link is that Gamestop is still looking for a permanent CEO to replace the guy who left last May.

    Hell I'll do it. I won't turn anything around but I'll take the paycheck.

    Hah, I was going to volunteer as well. I'll even take a salary 50% less than what the last person made.

    Everyone has a price. Throw enough gold around and someone will risk disintegration.
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    ShadowfireShadowfire Vermont, in the middle of nowhereRegistered User regular
    edited January 2019
    Many many years ago I ran an Electronics Boutique. That was a good time. Than I ran a few different EB Games. That was also a good time.

    Them Gamestop bought EB. I was gone in a year. It wasn't a good time anymore.

    I worked for Gamestop for almost twelve years, 96-07. Opened the store in my area in 03. When the EB buyout happened, I was the one who got to go to a few of the "nearby" stores to see what I could do to help them improve their numbers.

    One was doing trade-in fraud, processing multiple trade-ins for cash without the product present. These customers, including Abraham Lincoln, Mickey Mouse, and George Washington never came to the store. Shocking, I know.

    At another store, I found camera footage of their store manager having sex with a part timer. On every surface imaginable in the back room. That PS2 you bought with the corner of the box a little dented? That might have been the problem.

    I'm just saying... maybe both businesses were bad. :winky:

    Shadowfire on
    WiiU: Windrunner ; Guild Wars 2: Shadowfire.3940 ; PSN: Bradcopter
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    EnigmedicEnigmedic Registered User regular
    It was weird near my house for a while. There was an EB in the mall which was awesome, and a gamestop at the strip mall like 200ft down the road. The gamestop was bigger so it obviously had more stuff. Then EB got bought out and they would split supplies between the stores because they were so close so you always had to call to see which store had what.

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    chamberlainchamberlain Registered User regular
    Shadowfire wrote: »
    Many many years ago I ran an Electronics Boutique. That was a good time. Than I ran a few different EB Games. That was also a good time.

    Them Gamestop bought EB. I was gone in a year. It wasn't a good time anymore.

    I worked for Gamestop for almost twelve years, 96-07. Opened the store in my area in 03. When the EB buyout happened, I was the one who got to go to a few of the "nearby" stores to see what I could do to help them improve their numbers.

    One was doing trade-in fraud, processing multiple trade-ins for cash without the product present. These customers, including Abraham Lincoln, Mickey Mouse, and George Washington never came to the store. Shocking, I know.

    At another store, I found camera footage of their store manager having sex with a part timer. On every surface imaginable in the back room. That PS2 you bought with the corner of the box a little dented? That might have been the problem.

    I'm just saying... maybe both businesses were bad. :winky:

    I know, it's just that for a few wonderful years it was fun to run a brick and mortar videogame store.

    If I had the cash to start up (and lose money on) a mom and pop videogame store I would totally do it.

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    PolaritiePolaritie Sleepy Registered User regular
    Shadowfire wrote: »
    Many many years ago I ran an Electronics Boutique. That was a good time. Than I ran a few different EB Games. That was also a good time.

    Them Gamestop bought EB. I was gone in a year. It wasn't a good time anymore.

    I worked for Gamestop for almost twelve years, 96-07. Opened the store in my area in 03. When the EB buyout happened, I was the one who got to go to a few of the "nearby" stores to see what I could do to help them improve their numbers.

    One was doing trade-in fraud, processing multiple trade-ins for cash without the product present. These customers, including Abraham Lincoln, Mickey Mouse, and George Washington never came to the store. Shocking, I know.

    At another store, I found camera footage of their store manager having sex with a part timer. On every surface imaginable in the back room. That PS2 you bought with the corner of the box a little dented? That might have been the problem.

    I'm just saying... maybe both businesses were bad. :winky:

    I know, it's just that for a few wonderful years it was fun to run a brick and mortar videogame store.

    If I had the cash to start up (and lose money on) a mom and pop videogame store I would totally do it.

    Based on the local stores... stock physical game stuff too (although these are game stores that branched out to carry video games).

    Steam: Polaritie
    3DS: 0473-8507-2652
    Switch: SW-5185-4991-5118
    PSN: AbEntropy
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    ManetherenWolfManetherenWolf Registered User regular
    cloudeagle wrote: »
    I wouldn't expect Gamestop to die immediately -- they're still "looking at options" and are digesting the Spring Mobile cash. Also it's possible the fourth-quarter results (which include Christmas) will be profitable, or at least much less bad than the third-quarter results. I'd wager even the worst-case scenario wouldn't happen for at least six months.

    Though the worrying detail from that link is that Gamestop is still looking for a permanent CEO to replace the guy who left last May.

    They have also explained that the main reason why they hadn't filled the CEO position permanently yet was due to the possible buyout. They didn't want to hire someone only to sell and have the new owners want to put their own person in charge.

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