Game Stores Selling Opened Games as "New"
- Thread starter Chased
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Every store I've ever been to does this, sorry for my assumption. As far as preventing theft, how does it not? You have the unopened stock out back, and then you have shelf copies all out front with their disks taken out. Where are you going to steal from? Are you just gonna waltz right past the counter and walk out with a bag of games from out back? Maybe if everyone working there is blind.chadachada123 said:
But more importantly, why is this even a problem?
I fail to understand the problem.
If people didn't go out of their way to actively steal games off of shelves, than game stores would not be forced to drastically unbox a select handful of new games. There's no way they can keep every new game they receive behind the glass case (behind the counter). What do you want them to do: make the entire game store one large wall-to-wall glass case that they'll have to repeatedly open for every single customer?
I pre-order new games that I really want. They always come fresh, happy, and wrapped up. Sometimes they come with special 'pre-ordered' bonus goods.
If you get really paranoid about the game 'not being new', then simply ask to see the game disk before it goes in the case. If you don't want an opened new game, go to a different store? The game store employee isn't going to cry. They'll just sell it to the next guy.
The only issue I've ever had with a gutted new game was when I was searching for a copy of No More Heroes 2, and the employee kept badgering me to buy the used copy. "Are you sure you don't want the used copy? It's slightly cheaper! Come on, you seriously want the used copy. I'm not lying here, used copy is awesome." There was nothing wrong with the new copy. No scratches or smudges.
If people didn't go out of their way to actively steal games off of shelves, than game stores would not be forced to drastically unbox a select handful of new games. There's no way they can keep every new game they receive behind the glass case (behind the counter). What do you want them to do: make the entire game store one large wall-to-wall glass case that they'll have to repeatedly open for every single customer?
I pre-order new games that I really want. They always come fresh, happy, and wrapped up. Sometimes they come with special 'pre-ordered' bonus goods.
If you get really paranoid about the game 'not being new', then simply ask to see the game disk before it goes in the case. If you don't want an opened new game, go to a different store? The game store employee isn't going to cry. They'll just sell it to the next guy.
The only issue I've ever had with a gutted new game was when I was searching for a copy of No More Heroes 2, and the employee kept badgering me to buy the used copy. "Are you sure you don't want the used copy? It's slightly cheaper! Come on, you seriously want the used copy. I'm not lying here, used copy is awesome." There was nothing wrong with the new copy. No scratches or smudges.
Yay! a voice of reason! I was about to go mental with all of the whining in the first few posts.Zhukov said:
The process is called gutting. It's a theft prevention and space saving measure. Don't like it? Buy games someplace else.
Also, what's your obsession with NEW DISCS!!!!!
If it works, installs and you never need the DVD again, what's the problem?
Owyn_Merrilin said:
Dude wtf is wrong with you. Do you imagine every PS3, X360 and PC disk reader fucks up the disk before you can play it?
Also, do you just buy games for the sole purpose of having them on a shelf and never play them?
I'm seriously wondering what the hell you can be getting so worked up about a table of value ranking for a product THAT YOU INTEND TO USE ANYWAY, which is incredibly difficult to accidentally damage (hint: a cloth cleans smudges), and if you're a PC gamer (GPGMR here), you'll need once.
TL
Rlike it fucking matters
Here's why it matters: I. Do. Not. Like. To. Over. Pay. It's a ripoff. End of.ResonanceSD said:Owyn_Merrilin said:
Dude wtf is wrong with you. Do you imagine every PS3, X360 and PC disk reader fucks up the disk before you can play it?
Also, do you just buy games for the sole purpose of having them on a shelf and never play them?
I'm seriously wondering what the hell you can be getting so worked up about a table of value ranking for a product THAT YOU INTEND TO USE ANYWAY, which is incredibly difficult to accidentally damage (hint: a cloth cleans smudges), and if you're a PC gamer (GPGMR here), you'll need once.
TL
like it fucking matters
Edit: I mean, seriously, this thread is turning into yet another normal people who know the value of a dollar vs. rich people who consider $60 nothing thread, just like the "used games are evil" and "new games cost too much" threads.
Owyn_Merrilin said:
Ah yes, I get it, because you never actually play games, the simple act of opening a jewel case SERIOUSLY DEVALUES THE PRODUCT, ZOMG! CALL THE POLICE. DEY RUINED YOR MINT CONDITION GAMEZ
Also, dude, I pay $99+ for retail games, $40-60 for imports and $60+ on Steam, the fact that teh retailer has also *GASP* opened a fucking box in order to prevent theft makes little to no difference to the product itself.
I don't approve of the practice and I make sure to only get sealed copies for my money. I could argue reasons why I think they shouldn't do this but I have learned that all gamestop topics always has about 12 people who religiously defend the destruction of consumer rights no matter the reasoning.
Yes, it seriously devalues the product, because if I want to get an open box game (i.e., a used one) I can buy it for half the price, either elsewhere or often in the same freakin' store. If I'm paying for new, I'd better be getting new.ResonanceSD said:
Whoops, sorry for my sight assumption, I thought you were saying to not have ANY unopened stock, to gut ALL of the copies instead of just a few, which is what the OP is saying he thinks stores shouldn't do. My bad.SL33TBL1ND said:
I don't mind that shelf copies exist, but I'd mind if the store I bought from did that to every copy when they only need to do a couple of shelf copies.
GAunderrated said:
yes, in order to protect themselves, they're obviously trampling your consumer rights by opening a box.
Yes, call the ACLU, now. Go do it! WHILST THERE'S STILL TIME!
Skyrim. Understandable. That might have been the last copy. Boarderlands and Red Dead? No. There are so many used copies of that game they are just saying that it's the "last copy" to sell it to you at a higher price. Start haggling.Chased said:
People still steal the boxes though.Twilight_guy said:
OT: It only bugs me it they put that sticker to seal the case after. They used to always leave a residue. I go to the store so often they stopped doing that for me.
What I hate is when I see five, ten, twenty gutted box on the self. Its almost telling you that their will be no sealed copies.
personally as an ex-employee of a game store I am cool with it.Chased said:
a) stores have X amount of shelf space and Y games. they wont fill the shelves with demo cases unless head office says they have to. this is because the proper box art is of infinite better quality than a print out in a demo case.
b) when you display the proper box on shelf people will try to nick the games so the simplest solution is to take out the disc to minimise the loss. most big releases have extra copies out back so if you ask you'll definitely get one.
c) as for taking games home, most stores only let staff take pre owned stock home
I've never even thought of this as a problem, to be honest.
The part that matters to me when I buy the game is the game. I'm not going to keep the box/case, I'm not going to buy it and not play it, I'm not going to re-sell it, and I'm not going to erect a shrine to the Game Gods - I'm going to play the game. What matters to me is that the disc/product codes have never been used. If they have, I will get in my car, drive to the store, explain what happened, and ask for a refund.
Okay, I can get behind the idea that a display copy should be, perhaps, slightly cheaper than a factory-sealed one. A lot of stores will do this with other display products, so maybe that's fair. I can see that.
But this has really never bothered me, on the whole. I buy a lot of my games through Steam and Steam-like services, and there aren't enough new releases that I honestly care about, and those that I DO care about, I would pre-order, which should guarantee a factory-sealed copy anyway. And if I walk into a game store and think a new game looks interesting and want to buy it - which rarely happens, since I'm poor as shit - I'm not emotionally invested enough to give a crap about the packaging.
And there are enough places that don't gut games that if it bothers you, you can shop someplace else. Simple enough solution, I'd think, unless there isn't one near you. But then there's always ordering online - so it's not like the only option is to buy from places that gut games.
Besides, I really hate removing the plastic crap from game cases. It's sticky and clingy and annoying. So, really, the store saved me several minutes of my valuable time that I can now spend playing the game I spent $60 on.
The part that matters to me when I buy the game is the game. I'm not going to keep the box/case, I'm not going to buy it and not play it, I'm not going to re-sell it, and I'm not going to erect a shrine to the Game Gods - I'm going to play the game. What matters to me is that the disc/product codes have never been used. If they have, I will get in my car, drive to the store, explain what happened, and ask for a refund.
Okay, I can get behind the idea that a display copy should be, perhaps, slightly cheaper than a factory-sealed one. A lot of stores will do this with other display products, so maybe that's fair. I can see that.
But this has really never bothered me, on the whole. I buy a lot of my games through Steam and Steam-like services, and there aren't enough new releases that I honestly care about, and those that I DO care about, I would pre-order, which should guarantee a factory-sealed copy anyway. And if I walk into a game store and think a new game looks interesting and want to buy it - which rarely happens, since I'm poor as shit - I'm not emotionally invested enough to give a crap about the packaging.
And there are enough places that don't gut games that if it bothers you, you can shop someplace else. Simple enough solution, I'd think, unless there isn't one near you. But then there's always ordering online - so it's not like the only option is to buy from places that gut games.
Besides, I really hate removing the plastic crap from game cases. It's sticky and clingy and annoying. So, really, the store saved me several minutes of my valuable time that I can now spend playing the game I spent $60 on.
It matters because that determination of value applies to anywhere else I would buy it -- or to Gamestop itself, if they happened to have a copy that they had labeled as used. Face it, used is worth less than new, opened is used, gamestop routinely rips off their customers.Buretsu said:
Owyn_Merrilin said:
"worth less"? It's an opened box. I'm not going to waste any more time explaining this to you because you've apparently decided that AN OPENED BOX IS A DEVALUATION OF PROPERTY, SKULLS FOR THE SKULL THRONE, or something.
Value is what people assign to things. If the game works as new, then it's new. If it does not, then it's broken.
Another reason why "buying used" is just fucking hilarious, most of the time, you just get the same product after someone else has taken it's virginity. If you're ok with that in a spouse, I'm not sure why you're not ok with someone getting to first base with a game before you.
Fucking hell, my analogies rule.
All it takes is a mistake in handling after opening the game to cause a defect that wasn't there before it was open. What's more, it doesn't matter, it's considered used the moment the shrink wrap comes off, just like with toys, DVDs, or anything else that people collect.Buretsu said:
As far as I know it's only Gamestop/EB Games that does that and no I'm not cool with it. That's why I don't shop there anymore.
there is also the fact that some people dont know the definition of used. used is a game that has left the store, gone to a machine what plays it and is the played and THEN traded-in, then sold as second hand. not a disc that's been removed from its box.Owyn_Merrilin said: