The GameStop Experience

[CriticalGaming]

So I had a bit of confusion yesterday as I was looking up Wo Long videos. I when to check the playstation store and the store said that Wo Long released on 3/2/23, which was yesterday at time of writing, so I thought maybe it came out already (strange for a launch on a thursday but it's happened before) and I went to my local Gamestop to pick up the game if I could.

The clerk double checked the system and said, "If it did launch today we didn't get any." Which was strange to say, but he checked the system and said, "No it's tomorrow. But we don't have any pre-orders so I don't know if we'll even get them." And it really annoyed me because he said it the same way DSP begs his audience for tips on stream, very wishy-washy and clearly trying to lead me into pre-ordering the game.

Gamestop is pathetic and the biggest reason they're struggling right now is because they've stuck with this stupid antiquated system of pre-ordering that doesn't work anymore. Back in the day, limited copies and the lack of digital stores made pre-ordering somewhat make sense. Plus there used to be reasons to pre-order like special DLC's and outfits of whatever. The thing about that is, Physical pre-orders no longer ever have any bonuses. So there is never a reason to do it.

All the pre-order bonuses are now digital only, which is never done at Gamestop and instead done on whatever platform's store you want. Take Hogwarts for example, pre-ordering the game actually got you the game 3 days early, THAT'S a reason to pre-order a title. Headstarts, free next gen upgrades, these are things that are reasons you might want to pre-order a game, and none of them are things that Gamestop can offer you anymore. They can't give you the game early if you pre-order, they wont give you a free upgrade copy, they don't give you a damn thing anymore and it's fucking sad that they try and pull that same garbage.

Gamestop is a perfect example of a business model that fails due to a failure to adapt their income planning. On of the big things about Gamestop was them banking on taking a $5 pre-order and then you never come get the game, so they make that money for nothing and sell your copy to someone else 24 hours later. The other model was used games where you would get $1 dollar for everything and they turned around and sold it near full price without having to split revenue with the publishers. That shit doesn't work anymore as digital sales can't be sold back, and pre-ordering is mostly dumb.

A few months ago I went to another Gamestop a few miles away from me that is in a mall. The store with Funko Pops, Board games, T-shirts, and trading cards and hardly any games at all. I asked them for a new game that had come out but wasn't on their small shelf, which they had in a drawer behind the counter. Again I'm confused, why are you not promoting the new release by having it on the shelf so people know you have it? How many people are going to come in and completely ignore the game's existence because they don't see it on the shelf? What the fuck are you doing? Oh well the answer to that is to encourage people to only buy the used games, until such time has passed that trade ins for the New games have begun and then they can push those instead of selling their new copies. It's really stupid and scummy.

 

[BrawlMan]

I've had mostly good experiences at GameStop, but I have a few bad ones I still remember. Most of them weren't exactly game related, but there used to be three of them in my neighborhood. Now there's only one left (it opened up in 2006 around August). Ironic, cuz it used to be the worst one. That one in particular they kept hiring people who didn't want to be there or just didn't like gaming at all. I remember some jackass clerk was getting mad at me, cuz I wouldn't go through the stupid little buy to get one free deal on new games problem. The problem was the Wii games I was getting I only want it a certain one in that package deal came with a game that was crap and I didn't want to spend extra money on it. We weren't harassing anybody and minding your own business. It got to the point where her manager told her to leave me and my older brother alone, because neither of us were having it. Especially my big bro. The manager somewhat new of us, and he knew we never caused trouble, so he left us be. She ended up either quitting or getting fired about a few weeks later. What's even crazier was at that time, her shift was even close to ending yet. According to the manager, she had like another three and a half hours.

Then there's one that happened back around 2019 or so, where a guy at my favorite GameStop (close down in 2021), withheld canceling my pre-order, because I "ruined a sale for him". What the clerk neglect to mention to the customers was that if they were going to buy Overwatch, that they would need PS Plus in order to play online. If they bought that copy of the game without the PS plus, they would have returned it back to the store anyway. He was able to cancel it, but he thought he had broken me or made me sweat or whatever. I called customer service on his ass and the next day he was all chipper and all apologetic. Dude got transferred to a GameStop nobody likes a few weeks later, and it turns out this regional manager or whatever, none of the other managers like him either.

Recently, GameStop messed up my pre-order for Wanted Dead. A clerk pre-ordered the PS5 version instead of the , and they never had any extra copies on hand. This is something I always despise about GameStop . Whenever it's a niche title or not, it's always: "You have to pre-order now or else we can't guarantee to have it in stores!". Just have a few extra copies on hand. It doesn't matter if it's going to sell well or not, you should have those extra copies. So I cancel the pre-order, got my money back, and I put it towards just buying JoJo: All Star Battle R on Amazon. Amazon had it on sale for $19.99, and I've been waiting a while for that to go down to that price. Best deal ever made, and honestly, Wanted Dead can wait until it goes to that same price point.

Yeah, I don't go to GameStop nearly as much as I did in the early 2000s or halfway into the 2010s. Which sucks cuz I know a lot of cool people that work there, but their policies are just bull crap. I still remember the days when they were Funcoland and not GameStop. I will say that the GameStops in Michigan don't go too overboard with the stupid pop figures and all that crap. They have the merchandising and other stuff, but most have a large selection of games. Though from what I heard, the downtown Royal Oak GameStop is the worst. Not only is it in a crowded location, but not even the higher managers like working there. Why that location has never closed down is beyond me.

 

[CriticalGaming]

I tried going to GAmestop on my lunch today. They open at 11am but at 11:30 they were still closed.

 

[BrawlMan]

I tried going to GAmestop on my lunch today. They open at 11am but at 11:30 they were still closed.

Odds are whoever opens the store is late, or they are on their "lunch break/bathroom break".

 

[CriticalGaming]

"lunch break/bath bathroom break".

Taking a break before the store even opens!? And this is the generation that wants $20/hr for every shitty job.

These kids don't have the work ethic required to be worth the pay they think they're worth.

 

[BrawlMan]

Taking a break before the store even opens!? And this is the generation that wants $20/hr for every shitty job.

These kids don't have the work ethic required to be worth the pay they think they're worth.

Slow down there. Let's not blame an entire generation. This is a problem GameStop has had, even back in the mid to the late 2000s. I can't name any in Michigan, but there were a few out of state around the Midwest that had this issue.

 

[CriticalGaming]

Slow down there. Let's not blame an entire generation. This is a problem GameStop has had, even back in the mid to the late 2000s. I can't name any in Michigan, but there were a few out of state around the Midwest that had this issue.

Never heard of that happening anywhere before. But being on the West Coast means we don't see a lot of Midwest news unless it's crazy like a massive train crash or something.

The 7-11 I go to in the morning has a bunch of young people (holy shit I'm old) working there and everyday the manager is complaining that they haven't done shit, and they'll argue back at the manager like a bunch of brats.

Maybe I'm just getting to that age where I hate everything young people do.

 

[Chimpzy]

We don't have GameStop over here. We have Game Mania, which I suppose is kind of our equivalent, except not as overtly malignant, judging by what everyone keeps saying about GameStop. They do pre-orders, but I've never had them try to push one on me. Nor try to push some of the other stuff they do like game merch and such. They do the membership thing that let's you earn point that you can exchange for coupons, but it's free. They don't sell secondhand as new. Their actual secondhand stuff is pretty much always in good condition. Staff is nice. Maybe a bit too corporate to give me that feel I got walking into an independent mom&pop game store back in the 90s and early 00s, but it's fine. Overall, I'm quite content shopping there.

Tho the most convenient bit is that there's a store on my commute route. So, you know, super convenient to quickly drop in after work and pick something up. I don't really know how well they're doing. I'm guessing not too great. I think the pandemic might've hit them hard, since they dropped from 75 stores in Belgium and Netherlands just before to 49 today, with one closing later this month. They also got a webshop too, which apparently is doing well enough, but I'm kinda old school and enjoy the the physicality of a brick and mortar store. Would suck it the one near me closed. Tho there are three others reasonably close (on account of Belgique being tiny)

 

[hanselthecaretaker]

The last game I recall preordering from a GameStop was the Dark Souls 3 Collector’s Edition, and that was mainly because it had an exclusive item there. Last game I bought there was I think the Resistance Collection a couple years later maybe, idk. I’ve stopped in a few times since but it’s just a sad excuse to what game stores used to be two-three decades ago. Blame the internet I guess. Practices have gotten scummier but the ever-encroaching digital pinch hasn’t exactly helped matters.

 

[BrawlMan]

The 7-11 I go to in the morning has a bunch of young people (holy shit I'm old) working there and everyday the manager is complaining that they haven't done shit, and they'll argue back at the manager like a bunch of brats.

That's nothing new or unique to this generation. Nearly every generation had some variation or other on that.

 

[BrawlMan]

Other than retro game stores and comic book shops, we got Game Play and Disc Replay. The former is similar to games.com but they don't push constant pre-orders on you, and then I'll have a lot of the merchandise GS has. They also have plenty of used games that usually come in great condition, new games, and new gaming accessories from first & third party controllers, to other gaming periphials. They have retro games too. Most of them do. Disc Replay on the other hand, does not sell any new games. All of their games, movies, and consoles are all used. They do get refurbished and cleaned out though. They also sell a bunch of third-party controllers, HDMI converters, and even Retron machines that are brand new. So not too different from Game Play, in that regard. I do prefer Disc Replay because it's closer to me by comparison. But GP is a nice alternative.

 

[Gordon_4]

EB Games here in Aus are generally a pleasant experience. The staff are helpful, generally good at weaving their required upsells in to conversation naturally and aren’t pushy when you say no, and if they don’t have what you need they’ll check around to see who does if you’re married about getting from their chain. Other than that I generally don’t ask much more of them and they ask even less of me beyond being polite.

 

[Elvis Starburst]

Taking a break before the store even opens!? And this is the generation that wants $20/hr for every shitty job.

These kids don't have the work ethic required to be worth the pay they think they're worth.

Well alrighty then, pretty quick to act like an entitled and disgruntled Boomer over something that may be explained by a very simple situation, like the opener being late, as BrawlMan said.

Maybe I'm just getting to that age where I hate everything young people do.

Yeah maybe.

Back in the day, limited copies and the lack of digital stores made pre-ordering somewhat make sense. Plus there used to be reasons to pre-order like special DLC's and outfits of whatever. The thing about that is, Physical pre-orders no longer ever have any bonuses. So there is never a reason to do it.

I do my best not to pre-order anything cause I agree, it is dumb, especially these days. However, I made the piss poor mistake of not pre-ordering Ys 9 when it got launched in the West. A very lesser known JRPG series come from a somewhat smaller game company with a growing (but still limited) fan base in the West? Didn't have a damn chance in hell. Nowhere within a 150km radius around me had it, and I didn't want to wait for it from Amazon.
Still don't have a physical copy, and I still regret it. Ps4 version's going for more than double retail everywhere now, so...


More OT, my GameStop experience has usually been ok. Not exactly amazing, but, nothing horrid that I'd complain about. Though they did give me some pleasant experiences as well. Thankfully most of the places I went to over my life weren't relentless in pushing pre-orders, memberships, and all that junk. I think I only remember one time that they got on my nerves a little with how pushy the guy was, but I never saw them again so it was never a repeat problem.
I do remember getting bugger all for a lot of used games though.

We used to have a local chain of about 4 stores near me (which, upon googling, looks to be down to 1 now), and it used to be good. The previous owner was quite awesome. Maybe not a huge gamer, but he knew business, and he knew how to make the store inviting and enjoyable to be in. Eventually, he sold the stores he owned to someone else, and the new guy was some jackass who knew little about video games, business, and even less about PR. Absolute train wreck. Insulting anyone and everyone that he provoked, going on drunken tirades on FB, using different accounts to act like other people in an attempt to make the situation better (or worse). He even harrassed the previous owner and tried to take him to court thinking he was tanking this guy's business, while the old owner took him to court for slander... No wonder the other stores closed and only 1 remains. Probably the only one that this dude didn't own. Word on the vine was the guy got the stores as a wedding gift or something.

but I'm kinda old school and enjoy the the physicality of a brick and mortar store.

Saaaame. I also have that same feeling with physical copies for games. On a related note, I am very happy I managed to snag a physical copy of Metroid Prime Remastered after I gave up hope on finding one. Thing's apparently being scalped to hell and nobody around me had some... till I chanced the city north of me, and they checked their system and said they had one, as well as the shop location here in town. Called the other store, and whaddya know, they got a few copies in

 

[CriticalGaming]

Saaaame. I also have that same feeling with physical copies for games. On a related note, I am very happy I managed to snag a physical copy of Metroid Prime Remastered after I gave up hope on finding one. Thing's apparently being scalped to hell and nobody around me had some... till I chanced the city north of me, and they checked their system and said they had one, as well as the shop location here in town. Called the other store, and whaddya know, they got a few copies in

This is the primary reason I still even fuck with Gamestop here and there. I like going to a video game store and seeing walls of games, at least that's how it USED to be. I like the experience of going to a store on launch day and picking up a fresh new hardcopy of a game so that I can display it on my bookshelf. One of the reasons why I made sure to get the Disc-version PS5 was so that I had a unit that allowed me to utilize my PS4 collection as well.

I imagine that I'm going to have to go digital at some point, probably next generation, and in which case Gamestop will be well and truly dead. So until then I still want to get some grasp of the experience while it's still available. Even if the current experience is not great.

 

[CriticalGaming]

Well alrighty then, pretty quick to act like an entitled and disgruntled Boomer over something that may be explained by a very simple situation, like the opener being late, as BrawlMan said.

In regards to this, two things.

If the employee opening the store went on break (maybe doing inventory or something before the store opened) then they should be timing the breaks better to make sure they open the store on time.

If the employee is just running late then, not much can be done about it. I will say though, this isn't the first time that Gamestop wasn't open on time or even anywhere near time. I rolled up at 12pm once and it was still closed despite a 11am opening time. A fluke once sure, but I would imagine that it is fairly common and frankly I have a big pet peeve about people who can't show up on fucking time. Emergency situations, fine. But when you're just late because you over slept, or forgot what time it was, it's bullshit.

I used to send my employees home if they showed up late on my shift. To this day I still do it. And unless there is a traffic accident or illness making the employee late, I will send them home and do the work myself.

Nobody is late in my office, and people tend to show up early by 5 minutes. It's amazing what a little responsibility will do for someone punctuality.

Keep in mind I don't fire people for being late. They get send home which means they lose hours, but I've never fired someone over just being late. And it's a policy that I apply to everyone. Even if my manager shows up late, home he goes. The rule applies to everyone except me, but I'm in the office 90 minutes before everyone else so I'm never late.

 

[RhombusHatesYou]

EB Games here in Aus are generally a pleasant experience. The staff are helpful, generally good at weaving their required upsells in to conversation naturally and aren’t pushy when you say no, and if they don’t have what you need they’ll check around to see who does if you’re married about getting from their chain.

Hell, my local EB (when I had one) would sometimes even call competing retailers for customers to see if there was stock available.

 

[FakeSympathy]

AHH yes, back when GS was a fun experience.

I remember going to midnight releases. I saw a whole community of people who had similar tastes not only in gaming, but also in sports, movies, hobbies, etc. We even had fun talks about politics and laughed about how the current administration is worst than the last lol (this was in the 2009-2013 era, btw). What was fun about these was that on the next midnight releases, I would see the exact same people again. There were some crazy midnight releases; Destiny, Battlefield 3, Skyrim, etc. And it was fun to hang out with like-minded people. During the Black Ops 3 release, fucking buffalo wild wings that was few steps over handed out free wings!

Phyiscal pre-order bonuses were nice as well; I remember getting Witcher Medallion for Witcher 3 release, dog tags for Battlefield 4 release, and Bonfire keychain for Dark Souls 3 release. In-game bonuses were really cool too; Alternate outfits, extra gears, early-access to new map packs

I actually liked them selling pre-owned games at lower prices and frequent discounts. This was back before I discovered steam, and all the items on XBL seem to never go on sale. Gamestop just seem to have many great games at a cheap price. It's how I bought AC Brotherhood, Dead Space, Batman Arkham Asylum, and Bad Company 2, all under 5 bucks each

But I would say the best part about going to Gamestop was the environment; Until I reached around 23, maybe I was a impressionable idiot, but these store always had a welcoming presence, with cool game demos I might add. The workers all seemed nice.

However, Gamestop today just feels okay as many of you have pointed out. Definitely not as impressive as before; Cool figures on game characters and in-game weapon replicas are now replaced with pop vinyl figures and think greek merch. The number of games that are facing forward to catch my attention used to cover every inch of the walls, and now they are down to just few. The workers seems rather cold, which I completely understand given how upper management treats them and no longer give that cool fellow-gamer feel. The overhead displays that used to cover every new games coming out are now replaced with how great gamestop and its pro-membership benefits are.

Last time I went there was actually a few weeks ago, when I was trading in my PS4 Pro plus some other games. IT was my second time going there, where the first time was a few weeks prior to that. The first time, I was quoted 250 for the trade in. The second time I went there, the trade-in value dropped to $130, I asked them why the price was dropped, and they told me because my pro-membership expired, which happened like 5 years ago, and because the trade-in value for PS4 Pro have been reduced to that of regular PS4. I was mad, but took the deal because I knew no one else was buying it (seriously, I tried) and I just wanted to get rid of it.

My friend actually got his ass bitten by them when he bought a refurbished XB1, which worked for about 5 min then would randomly shut down when he took it home. He went back, they told him sorry, and exchanged him for another one. This one stayed turned on just fine, but wouldn't read the disc and had some serious wear and tear marks around the console. He said "fuck that noise" at that point and just got a refund, and got the refurbished one from Microsoft directly, which was much better.

Thankfully there's another game store nearby, and these guys seems to know what they are doing; they got retro games, cool games from each console eras, some arcade machines, some tabletop rpg stuff, and even hold small gaming events every now and then. They give the welcoming feeling that I haven't felt from gamestop in YEARS.

 

[Elvis Starburst]

If the employee opening the store went on break (maybe doing inventory or something before the store opened) then they should be timing the breaks better to make sure they open the store on time.

If the employee is just running late then, not much can be done about it. I will say though, this isn't the first time that Gamestop wasn't open on time or even anywhere near time. I rolled up at 12pm once and it was still closed despite a 11am opening time. A fluke once sure, but I would imagine that it is fairly common and frankly I have a big pet peeve about people who can't show up on fucking time. Emergency situations, fine. But when you're just late because you over slept, or forgot what time it was, it's bullshit.

All understandable and easy enough to say, assuming the store actually has enough staff to make that manageable. Considering the situation with retail workers these days, I highly doubt that place has enough staff. 90% of the time corporate stores aren't hiring to fill the necessary positions anyways. Countless stores and chains have found that they can feasibly run a location with a skeleton crew or less and still do business, so why pay for more employees? That cuts into profits.
And while some are quick to pull the "nobody wants to work" BS (and it is largely BS), there's the slightest truth to that, only because the pandemic helped people realize that working at shitty jobs for shitty people with shitty customers for minimum wage or less is a fast track to mental health problems and bad quality of life... and life's too god damn short to be dealing with that.

I used to send my employees home if they showed up late on my shift. To this day I still do it. And unless there is a traffic accident or illness making the employee late, I will send them home and do the work myself.

Keep in mind I don't fire people for being late. They get send home which means they lose hours, but I've never fired someone over just being late. And it's a policy that I apply to everyone. Even if my manager shows up late, home he goes. The rule applies to everyone except me, but I'm in the office 90 minutes before everyone else so I'm never late.

A decent system. Hope the rest of the team can keep up if someone shows up late and they have to carry the extra workload.

Also, based on what you've said about your work place... I've come to a conclusion.
You're oooooooold. Likely way more than I could've really pictured at first. Granted, I'm not saying you're ancient or anything, but I took you for maybe 30's at most. If that's incorrect, then I'm even more curious. If that IS correct, then... man, running a whole show at that age, well played

 

[Drathnoxis]

Also, based on what you've said about your work place... I've come to a conclusion.
You're oooooooold. Likely way more than I could've really pictured at first. Granted, I'm not saying you're ancient or anything, but I took you for maybe 30's at most. If that's incorrect, then I'm even more curious. If that IS correct, then... man, running a whole show at that age, well played

If he started in his 20s at a place a place with high turn over, and has a good work ethic, it's not unreasonable to end up in a management position by mid 30s (which is where I'd place Critical also). And let's not forget that once you have a management position on your resume it's that much easier to get another. You don't even have to be any good, you just need to be able to BS in an interview. That's how we ended up with a plant manager and maintenance manager who are both completely useless and haven't actually seemed to have done anything in the year they've been with us.

 

[CriticalGaming]

You're oooooooold. Likely way more than I could've really pictured at first. Granted, I'm not saying you're ancient or anything, but I took you for maybe 30's at most. If that's incorrect, then I'm even more curious. If that IS correct, then... man, running a whole show at that age, well played

Im 38.