Walmart Breaks Vow of Silence on Game Sales Numbers

[Sonic Doctor]

Some actual staff in their current Electronics department would be nice. How they sell anything with a 10 minute wait just to get your game out of the glass case is beyond me.

As of late, the Wal-Mart near me usually has three people working it, but I haven't actually bought a game at Wal-Mart in I think three maybe four years.

I remember the old days when I was a kid and didn't have a debit card and a good internet access and the ability to order games from Amazon.

In the old small Wal-Mart before they moved and went all superstore, they had a nice little electronics department. I think it is the whole superstore thing that pushed the electronics by the wayside.

I remember there was a little old man that worked at that old Wal-Mart. I'd be looking at some PC game boxes or through the 20 dollar bargain bin for Gamecube games and I'd see him peeking around the corner to see if I was stealing something. It was just hilarious.

Another thing that gets me is the selection in the that department has declined since they went all "super". I can't get a good set of headphones. All they carry is one cheap style of Logitech(that break within three to four months), and all the rest are ear-buds, but I can't stand ear-buds. They never fit in my ears properly and when I do get them in right, they hurt and cause wax buildup fivefold.

---------
On the sales numbers: I'm willing to bet that they are going to say that the Wii is selling the most and that causal games and kiddy games like the ones that Disney and other kid aimed companies produce will be the highest selling.

The reason: Wal-Mart is where the families go because for the most part it is cheaper, and the kids are either going to be in the toy section or the video games when the parents aren't looking and they wander off. If the kid begs to get a game, the parent is usually going to make them get one of those kiddy games. Or it is also the place where grandma knows that little Timmy wanted a certain game for his birthday or Christmas and she forgot what it was and gets some colorful covered game that looks kid friendly(probably has some puppy or a well know cartoon character on the cover) instead.

These days, what could be called the "hardcore" gamer crowd, either buys form specialty stores like GameStop, or make their purchases online, like I do for 90% of my buys, from Amazon.

The reason: They offer great incentives for gamers, like specialty points for future purchases or even game credit to next purchases from having pre-ordered games(Love Amazon because of that).

 

[Strazdas]

Wal-mart is a publicly traded company, so aren't they required to post a quarterly earnings report to the FTC that shows, in excruciating detail, their accounting records?

yes, however such reports are quite abstract. one could not tell how much of sales done would go into eletrocnics and what to other parts. it all adds to "product sales" and is basically one number. its all about inneri nformation which they have a right to keep to themself.

So, maybe this will prove the companies that PC games actualyl arent dieing?

 

[greyhoundpoe]

yes, however such reports are quite abstract. one could not tell how much of sales done would go into eletrocnics and what to other parts. it all adds to "product sales" and is basically one number.

If you're curious, all of these filings are publicly available. For example, here's Walmart's latest annual report -- you can see that they release a sales figure for their "Entertainment" division in total, but nothing more specific than that.
http://investing.businessweek.com/research/stocks/financials/drawFiling.asp?docKey=136-000119312511083157-35643D63LHS31A1UARAT8V2C9Q&docFormat=HTM&formType=10-K

Walmart releasing this data is a big deal -- they had $418 billion in sales last year, and 12% of that was in "Entertainment". Even if video games are a small percentage of that, I'd be surprised if they weren't the largest (or very close to the largest) video game retailer in the world, by scale alone.

 

[JET1971]

How many people buy there games at walmart? Aren't like all the releases 40 to 60 bucks? I mean ya sure that's the case everywhere but at least at say gamestop the price lowers and you can do some serious cashing in if you wait for special deals. I would think walmart wouldn't have a foothold on the electronics market cause there electronics area is very meek.

There are more walmarts in places where there is no gamestop, closest one to me is a 20 minute highway drive and that does not include traffic here and when i get there so it could be 45 minutes to get to it on weekdays and 45 minutes to get back home. theres a walmart here in town though. gamestop is generaly a mall shop, how many smaller towns and cities have a walmart but no mall in america? walmarts are like mcdonalds... they are in almost every city. So really how many do buy games at walmart because there is no alternative readily available?

 

[Swifteye]

How many people buy there games at walmart? Aren't like all the releases 40 to 60 bucks? I mean ya sure that's the case everywhere but at least at say gamestop the price lowers and you can do some serious cashing in if you wait for special deals. I would think walmart wouldn't have a foothold on the electronics market cause there electronics area is very meek.

There are more walmarts in places where there is no gamestop, closest one to me is a 20 minute highway drive and that does not include traffic here and when i get there so it could be 45 minutes to get to it on weekdays and 45 minutes to get back home. theres a walmart here in town though. gamestop is generaly a mall shop, how many smaller towns and cities have a walmart but no mall in america? walmarts are like mcdonalds... they are in almost every city. So really how many do buy games at walmart because there is no alternative readily available?

For me it's the other way around. There's like gamestop in any given direction one could go in in fact there's like two or three on one of the mainstreets we have while there's just one walmart that's between gamestop locations. In fact there's a gamestop infront of walmart here.

I had just assumed that gamestop took as many locations in a given area like they did here.

 

[The Wooster]

While I applaud Wal-mart for living the American Dream and becoming as powerful as it has that power comes with responsibility.

If they are a big player in the video Games industry then they must use that power wisely and with appropriate respect. In other words they need to get serious abotu video games and have their video-games section be more like a video games STORE.

In other words:

"If you can't bring the customers to the specialist store, bring the specialisation to the customers"

Wal-mart need to branch out and champion the smaller games, they need to work towards being a positive force that secures their own market for which they have a huge stake in, not just milk it supporting the "grey stuff".

Wait, so you think corporations have a responsibility to reach out to others in the industries they affect instead of trying to make money? Are you dumb?

I think he's arguing that a good corporation should try and nurture and expand a market rather than bleed it dry and lose it as a source of income. It's a fair position.

 

[Callate]

Mph... Talk about your mixed blessings.

Unless Wal-Mart's share of the market is actually much smaller than most people are suspecting, methinks the revelation of this data can only mean more companies trying to cater to Wal-Mart and its customers. Given that Wal-Mart in the past has done delightful things like refusing to stock controversial games, I can't say the idea delights me.

 

[JET1971]

How many people buy there games at walmart? Aren't like all the releases 40 to 60 bucks? I mean ya sure that's the case everywhere but at least at say gamestop the price lowers and you can do some serious cashing in if you wait for special deals. I would think walmart wouldn't have a foothold on the electronics market cause there electronics area is very meek.

There are more walmarts in places where there is no gamestop, closest one to me is a 20 minute highway drive and that does not include traffic here and when i get there so it could be 45 minutes to get to it on weekdays and 45 minutes to get back home. theres a walmart here in town though. gamestop is generaly a mall shop, how many smaller towns and cities have a walmart but no mall in america? walmarts are like mcdonalds... they are in almost every city. So really how many do buy games at walmart because there is no alternative readily available?

For me it's the other way around. There's like gamestop in any given direction one could go in in fact there's like two or three on one of the mainstreets we have while there's just one walmart that's between gamestop locations. In fact there's a gamestop infront of walmart here.

I had just assumed that gamestop took as many locations in a given area like they did here.

You are probably correct if the population base is large enough and young enough to sustain multiple gamestop locations. such as a 100k population(summer) city with a university such as Chico Ca. wich is where the closest gamestop to me is. I only know of the one in the mall but I am sure there is atleast 1 downtown and another on the other side of the campus in one of the other shoping centers. Thus making Walmart the more convienant place to go to when you want to buy a particular game in the majority of this county, and making gamestop another store to visit and see if they might have a good deal when you are in Chico for other business.

 

[Treaos Serrare]

While I applaud Wal-mart for living the American Dream and becoming as powerful as it has that power comes with responsibility.

If they are a big player in the video Games industry then they must use that power wisely and with appropriate respect. In other words they need to get serious abotu video games and have their video-games section be more like a video games STORE.

In other words:

"If you can't bring the customers to the specialist store, bring the specialisation to the customers"

Wal-mart need to branch out and champion the smaller games, they need to work towards being a positive force that secures their own market for which they have a huge stake in, not just milk it supporting the "grey stuff".

Some actual staff in their current Electronics department would be nice. How they sell anything with a 10 minute wait just to get your game out of the glass case is beyond me.

wait till christmas time when the district managers MAKE The department leave the case open, so anybody can steal 40+ games and not get caught because walmart has the most retarded system for managing employee dispersal in their cavernous stores

 

[Epona]

I don't understand the argument that you can get games cheaper elsewhere. Occasionally KMart will have $5 off a game but you gotta catch it at the right time. I won't wait months and months just to POTENTIALLY save $5.

Gamestop sells new games for the same price as Wal Mart except Wal Mart doesn't gut their new games.

I do agree that Wal Mart is understaffed. At my local Wal Mart there will be 200 people in line and only 5 registers open, 4 of which are express lanes and of course, electronics hardly ever has any staff available.

 

[Epona]

While I applaud Wal-mart for living the American Dream and becoming as powerful as it has that power comes with responsibility.

If they are a big player in the video Games industry then they must use that power wisely and with appropriate respect. In other words they need to get serious abotu video games and have their video-games section be more like a video games STORE.

In other words:

"If you can't bring the customers to the specialist store, bring the specialisation to the customers"

Wal-mart need to branch out and champion the smaller games, they need to work towards being a positive force that secures their own market for which they have a huge stake in, not just milk it supporting the "grey stuff".

Some actual staff in their current Electronics department would be nice. How they sell anything with a 10 minute wait just to get your game out of the glass case is beyond me.

wait till christmas time when the district managers MAKE The department leave the case open, so anybody can steal 40+ games and not get caught because walmart has the most retarded system for managing employee dispersal in their cavernous stores

Ya know, they do have those sensors at the door. If you tried to walk out of there with 40 games, it would go off. It goes off sometimes even when you aren't stealing something.

 

[Treaos Serrare]

Ya know, they do have those sensors at the door. If you tried to walk out of there with 40 games, it would go off. It goes off sometimes even when you aren't stealing something.

that may be true, but the doors are normally staffed with the elderly, and im talking walking corpse elderly here, and even when it isn't bubba ho tep manning the door nobody gives two shits to stop you if you keep walking like its natural, seriously i have seen this happen several times

 

[Epona]

Ya know, they do have those sensors at the door. If you tried to walk out of there with 40 games, it would go off. It goes off sometimes even when you aren't stealing something.

that may be true, but the doors are normally staffed with the elderly, and im talking walking corpse elderly here, and even when it isn't bubba ho tep manning the door nobody gives two shits to stop you if you keep walking like its natural, seriously i have seen this happen several times

That's true but there are measures in place to prevent shoplifting. That they put an elderly person by the doors is stupid but they really only hire them for the life insurance. Most things in Wal Mart are not behind glass, I would say having the games behind the glass most of the time is better than never.


They also have cameras so even if you do get out of the store, they have your picture, smile. You know those cameras on top of the store that point towards the parking lot? If you drove to Wal Mart, chances are they can get the make, model and maybe even license plate number of your car.

 

[Erana]

While I applaud Wal-mart for living the American Dream and becoming as powerful as it has that power comes with responsibility.

If they are a big player in the video Games industry then they must use that power wisely and with appropriate respect. In other words they need to get serious abotu video games and have their video-games section be more like a video games STORE.

In other words:

"If you can't bring the customers to the specialist store, bring the specialisation to the customers"

Wal-mart need to branch out and champion the smaller games, they need to work towards being a positive force that secures their own market for which they have a huge stake in, not just milk it supporting the "grey stuff".

Some actual staff in their current Electronics department would be nice. How they sell anything with a 10 minute wait just to get your game out of the glass case is beyond me.

And for some reason, they restrict M-rated games from 17-year-olds. Despite the ESRB stating, "Titles rated M (Mature) have content that may be suitable for persons ages 17 and older."

I found this out personally when I was carded and refused when I was trying to buy God of War at 17. I still don't get what that was about.
Why use the ESRB ratings if you're not going to abide by them properly?

 

[scar_47]

If I'n buying retail its usually from wal mart their the closest store to my home everything else is at or near the mall a 20-25 minute drive compared to the 10 it takes to get to wal mart, their service is fine by me I know what I want and they've always had it in stock, as for reduced price theres a bin like every other store has if I want more than that I hit the local game store before heading to game stop. Their sales numbers are probably pretty high but I don't see them having any real impact on the market or industry as a whole maybe a few games get a sequel due to higher sales numbers but anything beyond that seems highly unlikely.

 

[rembrandtqeinstein]

I'm not a fan of walmart but if it drives gamestop out of business then I'm willing to root for this devil over the worse one.

 

[Epona]

I'm not a fan of walmart but if it drives gamestop out of business then I'm willing to root for this devil over the worse one.

Wow, how irrational. Anyway, this thread isn't about Wal Mart killing Gamestop and even if it were, it won't happen because they have different business models. Gamestop is all about buying and selling used games with a little selling new peppered on top. Wal Mart is ONLY about the latter.

Why did I need to explain that to a gamer?

 

[aba1]

I havent been to a wallmart in years wow I almost forgot how big that chain has gotten even with them being everywhere