I’ll be frank: I hate GameStop. Sorry if you work there, or if you have allegiances, but I’ve had so many horrible experiences in that store that I made a New Year’s resolution in 2009 that I’d never step foot in one again, and so far so good. It’s not just the customers, who are usually thuggish brats looking for the latest GTA, Maddon or Halo fix, but the clerks, who just reek of superiority and high-pressure sales.
Anyway, check out this great story about GameStop’s new idea of how to stay relevant in the adapting game retail market, since it’s good for a few laughs.
“We believe we can convert a significant portion of our in-store traffic to digital downloads for publishers,” said [GameStop COO Paul] Raines.
To sum up, GameStop is going to start trying to sell DLC to customers in the store. You know, where their computers and consoles aren’t. I wasn’t aware that gamers were so incredibly clueless as to have no idea how to purchase DLC, but perhaps in GameStop’s fantasy world, there are millions of frustrated video game players who want more, but are terrified of the internet, who they see as a vengeful god ready to strike them down if they dare approach its domain. Maybe their next great business model will be holding our hand while we cross the street and helping us to pee.
Also:
“We believe a large market for full game downloads is not imminent in the near future,” said Raines.
I… I don’t know where to begin to refute a lie of this magnitude. Or is it a case of corporate self-delusion? PULL UP! IT’S A TRAP!
The problem is that they /will/ get a ton of extra business that way though. There are millions of clueless mothers and grandparents out there that can be suckered into this.
While majority of gamers are smart enough to not get reeled, millions of non gamers are not.
I had a somewhat positive experience online that turned into a never shop with them again oath as well. Long story short someone hacked my email account and was able to use that to get into my gamestop account an order a 500 dollar gift card with saved information that I wasn’t aware was there. Anyway they called me to verify the order so I was able to stop it which was cool, but now if I try to order anything on their website the order gets cancelled due to fraud concerns. I use my name, my wifes name, different payment options and they all get cancelled.
I emailed them about it and was basically told there was nothing they could do and to try shopping barnes and nobles.com as they sell similar product lol. Nevermind the fact that they don’t sell anything gamestop does far as I know. Anyway couple that with all of the reasons you mentioned about the stores and I totally understand boycotting them.
Does Variety do joke posts sometimes? They have to be kidding. This can’t be a real thing that’s going to happen.
I can honestly say I’ve not bought a game from a shop in over a year and I don’t think I will again.
What I can’t get from Steam I get Amazon to deliver to my door. Ubiquitous digital downloads may be some time off as some publishers are still wary of putting their wares in the hands of what is essentially a second publisher (Valve), but order/delivery – atleast for pre-orders – is incredibly high.
As insane as it sounds, there are a few things retailers could do or digital downloads. I complained on rainbowmmo.com the other daythat there isn’t an easy was to gift a game on Steam unless you are already a Steam member… If I want Dragon Age on Steam, well I just can’t get it as a gift b/c my family isn’t on Steam.
As for their second point… Well, yeah, I think it’s coming sooner rather than later, but why would GS really be worried about it when Modern Warfare 2 was their most reserved game of all time and they just crapped out millions of golden eggs with the midnight release of MW2?
Some GameStops in my area have stopped stocking PC games altogether. As a PC gamer (the latest consoles I have are a SNES and a Game Boy Color lol), this is sad news for me
[...] model will be holding our hand while we cross the street and helping us to pee.” – Syp, GameStop: The Six Degrees of Cluelessness, Bio Break. [Bronte: One can dream Syp. One can dream.] Possibly related posts: (automatically [...]
Illwillpress has a pretty funny video rant about Game Stop. I loves me some Foamy the Squirrel.
http://www.illwillpress.com/GAMETRADE22.html
The local EBGames around here are pretty decent.
Aside from a couple scenekid employees the managers of the store are pretty decent.
I guess my city lucked out with their EB.
i used to work for EB/gamestop, it was fun b/c it was games, and nice to see the pleasant repeat customers.. but pay was poor, there were crappy customers “I need ID to trade in games??! Thats unacceptable!”, and high sales goals one needed to meet.
i fought depression after the initial 6mth glow, with friendly sarcasm.. otherwise in my area, we might be shot!
i still go to EBs, and i understand when i see a stressed or rude worker; its not nice if they take it out on you, but what can you do sometimes?
Syp, I don’t think you get retail. By them offering DLC in store they have a tremendous ability for add-on sales. They can mention to a person buying Fallout 3 “Hey, they just released some DLC for it, and we are having a sale if you buy both it and Fallout. Want me to add it?
As it is, you have to buy the game, bring it home, be connected to an online service (you’d be surprised I think how many people just want to play games and really don’t care about online-the wii and xbox live arcade sales should be a good indicator.) buy points and redeem them, then sift through the market place to find it.
Also, if they really invest, could you imagine walking in, picking up DLC pre-loaded onto a dvd similar to a redbox movie, and being able to skip any download time?
It could work, just by removing some of the barriers currently to buying dlc for consoles online. Like having to scroll down the marketplace, load your account with points, and the time it takes to dlownload large content.