Any Swedish Escapists here? A question.

[Ariseishirou]

Have we got any Escapists around from Sweden?

In a conversation with a Swedish gamer the other day they mentioned that you can't buy shrinkwrapped games anywhere in the country, in order to minimize risk of theft, they take the disks out. When I expressed surprise, she said that lots of other countries do this, too.

This seems strange to me, because some stores here in Canada do that to - to a single display copy. The rest are locked behind the counter. This means that the risk of theft is minimized, but everyone still gets a mint copy of the game, as opposed to everybody having to buy a display copy that people have had their grubby paws all over (i.e., nobody gets a mint copy). When they're down to the display copy, they sell it at a discount, because it's not in its original wrapping.

Does this not piss you off, Swedish gamers? Why don't stores implement the "display copy" strategy? And are there Escapists from anywhere else that does this?

 

[Maeshone]

Swede here, and I have no idea what that person is talking about. When I buy games they're always shrinkwrapped unless it's pre-owned.

 

[Ariseishirou]

Huh, really? She was really adamant about it, and offended that I assumed she could buy them in shrinkwrap. Pulled the whole "ignorant (North?) American" card and everything.

 

[The_Blue_Rider]

This happens in New Zealand and Australia, and honestly its not a big deal. You're still the first to play that copy of the game, and it lets you know how many copies there are of a certain game i.e. if its not on shelf then its not available.
Besides a lot of places can re-shrinkwrap things anyway, plus, how do you think the game came to be? A lot of "grubby paws" were placed on it when it was delivered to the store, and even during manufacture believe it or not

 

[distortedreality]

OP - so does that mean you walk into a game shop, and there's a single display copy of each game on the shelves, and you take that copy to the counter and then pay for and receive your copy?

What happens when three people want to buy the same game? Do they have to wait for the person behind the counter to go and put the case back? Or do they just walk out and go to another shop when the game they want isn't on the shelves because somebody just used the box to buy a copy and the box hasn't been put back on the shelf?

I'm confused.

 

[Ariseishirou]

OP - so does that mean you walk into a game shop, and there's a single display copy of each game on the shelves, and you take that copy to the counter and then pay for and receive your copy?

What happens when three people want to buy the same game? Do they have to wait for the person behind the counter to go and put the case back? Or do they just walk out and go to another shop when the game they want isn't on the shelves because somebody just used the box to buy a copy and the box hasn't been put back on the shelf?

I'm confused.

If it's a popular game they'll put several display cases up, so no, I've never seen anyone waiting in line, but you get the basic idea. In stores like EB here, you bring the display copy up to the front and they give you a shrinkwrapped new copy, unless they're down to the last copy, in which case they give you a discount and stick the disc in the case you brought to the front.

Unless it's a used game, in which case the display cases are the actual cases and only the discs are behind the counter. In that case, the number of cases on display = the number of used copies of that game they have in the store.

 

[IamQ]

I usually get my games shrikwrapped. If you buy from GameStop though, they won't be, but I don't buy games there anymore, because I can get them cheaper elsewhere.