Addendum to my Meet The Team answer

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Landslide

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Hey, long time no post!

I'd apologize, but you don't want to hear it and I don't want to dream up an acceptable excuse. Suffice it to say, I'm Back.

And really irritated.

I just went to the local EB Games shop (which I just highlighted as my favored place to buy games) and discovered something disturbing. I walked in, and the walls were void of any PC titles at all. None. Zero.

Confused, I approached the manager, whom I know by name, and asked him what the deal was, where did all my PC games go?

To which he replied, "That little bookshelf behind you is it. It's because of the 'summer switchover' (No idea)."

I then asked him if he was serious (which he was), and when there would be a bigger selection of PC titles. Apparently there won't be. One double-sided, four-foot high bookshelf is all that remains. One side for new releases and top sellers (Front facing outward), and the other side packed with older and bargain titles (spine out, packed together). I couldn't believe it.

So, if this is the new EB Games policy, then I must revise my answer. My favored place to buy PC titles is pending, but I will no longer shop at EB.

-Jon
 
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Landslide

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Original Comment by: Unk
http://www.squidoo.com/indiegames
Yah... I noticed the same thing at a local EB a few weeks ago. As suspected the gamestop (bleh!) buyout is destroying EB.

There was ONE pillar in the store with pc games on it. The pillar is a square post about 1 foot wide per side that runs floor to ceiling... and the rest of the store is reserved for console space.

I used to love this store and have gone there for years. I was starting to get pissed off watching the PC shelving decline over the years. Moreover the boxes have always been in poor condition and poorly organized. But this is the last straw.

My response? I have boycotted EB. =)

I refuse to shop there or at Gamestop. I even unsubscribed to the EB newsletter which I have read religiously for years. They simply won't get my money.

It is time we pull out of these closed retail markets anyway and move everything to more open online distribution systems. They don't want to support PC games? Guess what? We don't need them. While the slow retail and console markets are wrestling with the meaning of change in an always online society, PC/Linux/Mac developers are already out there laying a foundation and making money off of it.

Let these monolithic old systems die. Stop feeding them with our money. Then we need to figure out what comes next in a non-proprietary open market system where we all have control.

-Unk
 
Andraste

Andraste

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When Jon came back from lunch and mentioned this, I was rather annoyed, too, as that's the EB I go to as well. All I can figure is that perhaps they are doing this to gear up for the likely inevitable digital download, as it'll be so easy with PC games, maybe they're just trying to slowly switch over. But it would seem they're creating a self-fulfilling prophecy a bit here, no?
 
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Landslide

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Original Comment by: Darius K.
http://tinysubversions.blogspot.com
Yeah, I encountered the same thing. Pitiful.

Then I realized I could pay Stardock directly to download Galactic Civilizations II. Which I then gleefully did. Screw you, middle-man!
 
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Landslide

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Original Comment by: jlaakso
http://7178.blogspot.com
PC games are widely available over here in Finland (at EB Games, too), but their shelf space has been steadily declining. As it happens, in accord with my money spent on buying them and my time spent on playing them. I've moved almost exclusively to the consoles over the years.

But really, shelfspace is valuable. They would sell and stock them if people bought them. Piracy is rampant and these days PC gaming is just too difficult for the average guy who has has an hour to throw into gaming every few evenings or so. I don't even consider booting up the PC and wondering whether my old drivers still work with whatever I'd feel like playing. I'd rather consider which switch to throw on the ol' SCART hub and fire up a console.

PC gaming isn't going anywhere, but out there on the high street, it may limit itself to the few high sellers. Online distribution is coming, and it may be just the answer to the dwindling PC titles.
 
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Landslide

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Original Comment by: Brian Easton

It's funny. I used to think of EB as more of a console-centric kind of store and Babbages as a PC store, but since the switch in names to GameStop they have had less and less in the way of pc titles. I can't say that I totally blame them. With the rise of internet sales and digital distribution the PC market can't be all that large fror brick and mortar stores. Combine that with "big-box" stores like Best Buy, CompUSA and "K-Wal-Target" carying pc titles at extremely competitive prices and it suddenly dosen't seem worth it to sell PC games.

 
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