UK Game Store Charges People $6 to Test PSVR For 10 Minutes

[Blitsie]

not really too mad about this.. If not for the fact that the deterrent reduces the chance of getting pinkeye from the headset.

People aren't very hygenic..

God yes, I once had this job at a mall where I had to basically babysit a whole bunch of PS4 demo stands and it was placed right nearby the public toilets. During my one break as I was exiting the toilet I see this one person zoom by me to the Playstation, shaking literal drops of piss from his hands on the way. And that was one of the cleaner things that happened to those stands, I spent that night dealing with the WORST stomach bug I've ever had in my life (felt like I was going to die at one point) thanks to the constant contact I had with all the shit left on the controllers.

I also had to deal with constant fighting for controllers as well and this one group of really annoying teenagers who would try hog all the stands for hours and cause trouble with anyone who also wanted to try, bunch of troglodytes.

So yeah, after an experience like that, I say go for it with charging people as it will at the very least filter out some unwanted folks from the store and besides, if you're keen to spend money on VR (or have the money to do so) then this won't be such a major issue. And fortunately there's going to be other free opportunities to try it out at least, so can look elsewhere if you just want to give it a go to see what all the fuss is about with no intent of buying it (like me hehehehe).

 

[Neurotic Void Melody]

Didn't they get the memo that we left the EU and the pound is doing badly? And what are they doing charging people in American dollars? The traitors!

The thing you need to know about Game is; you don't shop at Game if you don't want to be ripped off. Even if a new title is out that you cannot get at CeX, just go to Tesco. 24 hour service there and they won't try and funnel extra pennies from you as you attempt to pay for a single item.

 

[wulfy42]

Considering the history of VR games, this is a pretty horrible deal.

Back in the day (almost 20 years ago), VR game systems made the rounds in America with games like Raptors Rampage. Many malls had them, and not only did it have a VR headset, it had gloves you could wear (So you could aim your gun normally), you could even point your gun above you and shoot a raptor as it was flying away with you!!

Now the cost for those systems and others like it (Battle tech, Red Planet etc), where usually 1$ a minute. Which at the time (remember $1 is worth less now then it was then), seemed pretty extreme. VR addicts (my 4 best friends where all addicted), could blow thousands of dollars a month playing those games. It was pretty crazy.

That being said, even the ones in the arcade where huge setups, with tons of expensive equipment. The battle tech setups where even better, set up for full team fights, with rankings, tournaments etc. You got alot for what you paid.

Skip forward 20 years and now....they want to basically charge you 60 cents a minute to use something that is only $400 to freaking own yourself? I mean, $6 is 1.5% of the freaking purchase price!!! Here in America they let you try it out for free, but only at a very few select stores (my closest one is an hour away). Not worth it to me to make the drive just for that. I have way to many games to play and RPGs, platform games are my favorite and it's gonna be awhile till there are any great games of that genre for VR.

Honestly they are marketing this all wrong. They should make sure every freaking city (With over 5000 people in it) has at least one store (Gamestop, bestbuy etc), with a demo model for people to try. If you don't grab the players attention right away, even if something ends up having great potential, it may never reach that point.

I get charging to test the VR system out, but i'd do something like sign up to test it for 20 minutes for $5 (can call to sign up), with the same deal (if you end up buying the system you are refunded the 5...or for that matter never even charged it).

If the VR system rocks, the more people that try it, the more that will buy it. If it blows it's doomed anyway (at that price point). It makes no sense to put any roadblocks in the way of customers trying VR.

 

[gigastar]

Cant say i blame them for charging. I can just imagine some wank stain is going to try to run off with a headset and put it up on ebay.

 

[Darth Rosenberg]

I despise GAME - partially for screwing the far superior Gamestation out of the market/my town, and partially because it's just a terrible, soulless store - but I don't really have any issues with this at all.

You can't have The Public and all their chancing chumps abusing one or two open stations, and having to be repeatedly corralled out of the store in mini-reruns of a scene from Black Books. Forcing people to pay lets them know they're there for a set time, gives them a flavour of the experience (not a lot can really be learnt from 10mins. they should've dropped the lowest bracket), and helps the Automated Service Drones staff control numbers and use.

It may not be the best way to showcase the tech, but it's by no means exploitative, and I don't really understand why anyone could take issue with it.

 

[Mortuorum]

Smart, with conditions.

See, here's the thing. I used to work for a game store. We got the same asshats in almost every night loitering in the store, tying up the demo equipment and never buying a thing. I'm sure Game UK is seeing the same thing. With the fee, only serious buyers are going to be evaluating the new hardware and it's not going to be tied up dawn-to-dusk by people who have no intention of spending a nickel (or the UK equivalent) in the store. As a bonus, the store has a little extra cash to cover any extra sales staff required.

That said, there are going to be legitimate customers who try the thing, then decide it isn't for them. They should be able to apply the cash they spent on the demo on any nonreturnable product, whether it's a console, peripheral, game or what-have-you. That way, you're not alienating actual product-buying customers.

 

[Laughing Man]

Demo time should always be free, especially as a way to sell technology that makes some people feel pretty ill. It's a dick move but anyone who has been in a Game store since they went into administration probably understands they'll try to make money any way they can.

As someone who works in retail and has had to deal with free services and provision I agree with what Game is doing. First thing you learn about free offers is that people will rip the utter shite out of them and will do so with no intention of ever buying or paying for anything even when you end up advising them that they require additional service or product. I have no issue with free services that are linked to paid product or free service that doesn't require me to assign a colleague to oversee it but free services that have no buy in and require colleague over sight are a fucking piss take and they are a fucking piss take purely because members of the public will take the piss.

Good for you Game

 

[Leg End]

If one is considering laying down the cash for the device, the small upfront fee to test the experience would be nothing, only people not willing to pay anything will complain.

Because paying to test something to see if you're going to hurl is blatantly greedy on part of the operator.

Its not a paid demo as such demo's are usually downloaded to your own device and use your own equipment to run it, and as such would be a dick move, in this case its their equipment they are risking.

Considering what Demo is actually a shortened term of, it's quite literally a paid demonstration of the hardware and software for said hardware.

 

[ASnogarD]

If one is considering laying down the cash for the device, the small upfront fee to test the experience would be nothing, only people not willing to pay anything will complain.

Because paying to test something to see if you're going to hurl is blatantly greedy on part of the operator.

Its not a paid demo as such demo's are usually downloaded to your own device and use your own equipment to run it, and as such would be a dick move, in this case its their equipment they are risking.

Considering what Demo is actually a shortened term of, it's quite literally a paid demonstration of the hardware and software for said hardware.

If you cant afford ?6 to see if the device will make you hurl, then you have no business considering a ?400 peripheral that is still mostly gimmicky and aimed squarely at those with more cash than sense, or seriously bored but financially secure individuals.
I would happily pay to see if the device was viable for me, and I would rather not have to fight masses of people messing with the device for free entertainment.

I consider a demo I downloaded to trial on my own platform but I need to pay to actually run a dick move as it is my equipment, and I used my bandwidth to download it, its risks my stuff and only costs the provider the bandwidth to host it.
One being a virtual commodity, the other being a physical one in a physical location.

 

[Leg End]

If you cant afford ?6 to see if the device will make you hurl,

Or it'd be not wanting to give the stiff at the counter the price of nearly two new-but-older games to test the full affects of this contraption on my body and to see if it holds up to hype.

then you have no business considering a ?400 peripheral that is still mostly gimmicky and aimed squarely at those with more cash than sense, or seriously bored but financially secure individuals.

Pretty sure that determination is up to the person actually interested in the product. And again, not wanting to give a store basically free money for a quick session to determine the usefulness and enjoyment of a product does not mean one cannot afford said product. Possibly the reason why they can afford said product is because they are selective in how they use their capital, such as in this very instance.

I would happily pay to see if the device was viable for me, and I would rather not have to fight masses of people messing with the device for free entertainment.

I just wait until all the kids are gone. Not many people are like me and want to look like an asshole for fifteen minutes while experiencing glee seeing EVE Online ships fly past me.

I consider a demo I downloaded to trial on my own platform but I need to pay to actually run a dick move as it is my equipment, and I used my bandwidth to download it, its risks my stuff and only costs the provider the bandwidth to host it.

Basically the same here but I still bought Ground Zeroes.

One being a virtual commodity, the other being a physical one in a physical location.

One that only requires electricity and using a demo unit or ripping one out of a box to use as a display model. Still remembering the days of standing in a store and waiting for the guy at the display to hand off to someone else. Good times.

 

[Charli]

As an Employee of Game, and someone who's store already had a phone robbery the past week, we're doing this for a semi good reason. Alot of shady people come in, get close and personal with valuable things like this. And it's not like we have any safe room or booth for people to demo in it, its literally right by the door usually with one christmas temp between it and the door, get an employee outnumbered and distracted enough on a busy day, and off a heist could be pulled, quite easily.

Frankly, I see both sides, but our stores are poorly equipped for demoing stuff like this safely and cost efficiently.

And yeah alot of people have actually tried it and then bought it...soooo as it's already a high luxury item you're dropping money on. You already know if it's something you can afford to try and buy anyway.

See it more as a paid firewall between our ?350 product and the strange people looking slightly drunk walking in, having a go and legging it as they shove our poor staff to the ground likely injuring them in the process.

(Hell I'm not even in that income bracket so I have to bitterly stand next to it. :< )

 

[uncanny474]

If it makes a difference, I work at a Best Buy in Minnesota (the northern US, for you foreigners), and we let people demo the PS VR for free 3 days a week.

 

[Charli]

If it makes a difference, I work at a Best Buy in Minnesota (the northern US, for you foreigners), and we let people demo the PS VR for free 3 days a week.

The problem with that is that the best buys in the US as i've experienced are better manned, larger stores and not on busy high streets usually. GAME has some serious space issues when it comes to demos. We'd really like to be able to do this free and get as many people hyped about this as possible. But... our stores for lack of a better description, are bloody tiny.

Largest ones are barely the size of a quarter of a small best buy. And not particularly well staffed, 4 members during off peak times of year, 5-6 during the busiest. That includes everyone, management and sales.

The only GAME stores I can picture this being conceivable for are the ones stationed inside malls, who have the added buffer of mall security watching out for theft. But the ones on high streets, right next to all the dodgy gambling places in town? Nah. No.

Our demos in the 3 stores i've gone into is RIGHT NEXT TO AN OPEN DOOR. Like, christ I'm freaked out every time I have to guard it.

I could go on but just want to highlight the circumstances that are different, they're different worlds. That's not even getting into the extra buffers of large carparks and isles for customers and staff to get through, it's a lot of trouble to go through to steal it there, if I get crowded in game, that it, game over, I cannot move without injuring myself. If a group of large guys come in to take the VR from me nothing I could do would prevent it, but 5 pounds will stop someone just putting it on, having a friend distract me, and walking quickly off after subtly disconnecting the cables. Lost forever in the bustle of the highstreet after doing a runner.

 

[Zulnam]

I hate VR, I hate Game, I hate sony.

Fully trained team manning the ps vr.

Addendum: All in all, I can see this from both sides. I don't think this is "driving people away from VR" like some people are claiming, IF people are actually paying to trial this.

Fully.Trained.

What kind of a twister person modifies somebody's comment in their own reply? What is this, an NSA training facility?

And I was being facetious. That "fully trained" crew will be checking their phones or tending to other costumers.

 

[Infernal Lawyer]

I hate VR, I hate Game, I hate sony.

Fully trained team manning the ps vr.

Addendum: All in all, I can see this from both sides. I don't think this is "driving people away from VR" like some people are claiming, IF people are actually paying to trial this.

Fully.Trained.

What kind of a twister person modifies somebody's comment in their own reply? What is this, an NSA training facility?

And I was being facetious. That "fully trained" crew will be checking their phones or tending to other costumers.

Bwahaha, whoops! Didn't even realize I was splicing my comment into the guy I was quoting XD Fixed now.

Still, judging by the comments by some employees, I kind of doubt checking their Facebook status would be worth losing hundreds of dollars worth of gear...