Flojomojo Posted July 18, 2019 Share Posted July 18, 2019 Sure, but they're all privately owned, not a big franchise hegemony like GameStop. It would also be tough to get staff trained to be useful/fun in this setting. They've got to do something to differentiate themselves from Amazon or Target (or downloads). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Agamon Posted July 18, 2019 Share Posted July 18, 2019 2 minutes ago, Flojomojo said: Sure, but they're all privately owned, not a big franchise hegemony like GameStop. It would also be tough to get staff trained to be useful/fun in this setting. They've got to do something to differentiate themselves from Amazon or Target (or downloads). For sure. I think this shift is too little, too late. They're about to join Blockbuster in corporate heaven. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cobra Kai Posted July 18, 2019 Share Posted July 18, 2019 Meh. That strategy won't get me in the store. 2c given. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
digdugnate Posted July 18, 2019 Share Posted July 18, 2019 as another personal GameStop anecdote: I was in town and stopped by one of the GS stores after my wife's appointment looking for Dragon Quest Builder 2. They didn't have any copies on their shelf and looked at me like I had 3 heads when I asked them to look it up for me. Which.. they did, and they did have copies, but if I didn't specifically ask for it and just left because I didn't see it, it's just another sale that they lost. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
godslabrat Posted July 20, 2019 Share Posted July 20, 2019 On 7/16/2019 at 6:05 AM, Flojomojo said: GameStop plans on renovating some stores in hopes of staying relevant And someone who worked for Circuit City, this plan sounds VERY VERY familiar... 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jaybird3rd Posted July 20, 2019 Share Posted July 20, 2019 Pat and Ian also discussed this on the CUPodcast (and they're not optimistic either): Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
godslabrat Posted July 20, 2019 Share Posted July 20, 2019 4 minutes ago, jaybird3rd said: Pat and Ian also discussed this on the CUPodcast (and they're not optimistic either): I've wondered how P&I have been as optimistic as they were up until this point. GameStop literally has nothing going for it except being a minor monopoly of convenience in some areas. Their fixed costs are outrageous, the supply of their primary product is drying up, and their reputation as a company is spotty to be kind. It's true that a lot of cash flows through the doors, and that looks good in the short term, but big picture they're a loss and have been for years. Bastards also killed Funcoland AND Thinkgeek, so this is a bit personal for me. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Flojomojo Posted July 20, 2019 Share Posted July 20, 2019 Don't Pat and Ian run their own independent game store? I definitely agree about the circuit city connection. They don't want to break what works, but "rearranging the deck chairs on the Titanic" comes to mind. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cybercylon Posted July 20, 2019 Share Posted July 20, 2019 It is going to be too little too late. I am sure Target, Amazon, etc eat just as much of their profits as the digital downloads. They could have done some things over the last several years to stick around longer. Messing with the cell phone stuff was a disaster. Plus, they had (and still have) way too many stores. I have four I can easily get to (two are about 1.5 to 2 miles apart). They should have gotten rid of about half of their stores, maybe more several years ago. They could have differentiated themselves from others by offering exclusives and extras by going the Japan route. They have a lot of neat stuff that we don't get. Now, that would have narrowed them down to a smaller audience, but it might have been doable if they didn't have all of those stores and stayed out of the cell phone and tablet stuff. So now some are going to be redone to offer retro games? Give me a break. Since they went out of their way to destroy cases and manuals, what are they going to sell? Disc only? They already do that online, and I can't imagine that stuff sells too well. Then as that podcast says... you have to train the staff. On a wide scale, that won't work. Maybe if they went with 12-24 regional stores and took some inspiration from Super Potato in Japan to make it really nice and differentiate them, that might work. Don't see that happening. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
godslabrat Posted July 20, 2019 Share Posted July 20, 2019 9 minutes ago, Flojomojo said: Don't Pat and Ian run their own independent game store? I definitely agree about the circuit city connection. They don't want to break what works, but "rearranging the deck chairs on the Titanic" comes to mind. CC management had this weird theory that you could take a program that was failing give it a new name, and suddenly it would rake in cash. They also seemed convinced that the store could TELL customers how to spend their money, and the customers would simply obey, as if other alternatives did not exist. The exact same mindset is at play with GameStop. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Flojomojo Posted July 20, 2019 Share Posted July 20, 2019 It may well work well enough with the people who go there regularly. I have a friend who regularly buys and sells from them and has a standing relationship with the staff. The trick is finding, attracting, and retaining such loyalists. Gamestop has printed a few games that were in high demand. I wonder if they could work out some kind of distribution deal for manufacturing collectible retro cartridges at a healthy markup? Or perhaps "retro" is just a make-GameStop-great-again desperation move to back when they were more relevant and powerful. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
godslabrat Posted July 20, 2019 Share Posted July 20, 2019 3 minutes ago, Flojomojo said: It may well work well enough with the people who go there regularly. I have a friend who regularly buys and sells from them and has a standing relationship with the staff. The trick is finding, attracting, and retaining such loyalists. Gamestop has printed a few games that were in high demand. I wonder if they could work out some kind of distribution deal for manufacturing collectible retro cartridges at a healthy markup? Or perhaps "retro" is just a make-GameStop-great-again desperation move to back when they were more relevant and powerful. That's actually not a terrible thought. If they could essentially become a publisher (kind of a ghetto version of Limited Run Games) then the margins could be whatever they want them to be. I don't know if carts would ever be their market, though. All the cart based systems are aging out to the point where they're not even "hip retro" anymore, just plain old OLD. The time to have grabbed that market and done it right was 5-7 years ago, and GameStop got it way wrong. If only they'd acquired a company that specialized in retro games... hmmmm.... would be a shame if they'd done that and let it rot away. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JBerel Posted July 20, 2019 Share Posted July 20, 2019 I'll say the same thing I said in the brick and mortar topic. I used to feel really bad about these retail stores closing up, so I made a real effort to support them. I got over it. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mord Posted July 20, 2019 Share Posted July 20, 2019 3 hours ago, Flojomojo said: Don't Pat and Ian run their own independent game store? No, Ian works at Luna Games, but Pat doesn't. That's why it's always Ian's "tales from the video game store" segments. As for Gamestop going the publisher type route, that would at least save them in name but there's no way they'd be able to keep all the stores open that way. They should have also dabbled in getting their own dev groups working under them so they'd be creating new games in addition to porting/etc games already made in other markets. I doubt their meager finances would enable them to attempt that now or any time soon though. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
godslabrat Posted July 20, 2019 Share Posted July 20, 2019 5 minutes ago, Mord said: No, Ian works at Luna Games, but Pat doesn't. That's why it's always Ian's "tales from the video game store" segments. As for Gamestop going the publisher type route, that would at least save them in name but there's no way they'd be able to keep all the stores open that way. They should have also dabbled in getting their own dev groups working under them so they'd be creating new games in addition to porting/etc games already made in other markets. I doubt their meager finances would enable them to attempt that now or any time soon though. They wasted all their efforts on loyalty programs and pop figurine deals. For too long, the focus was about putting a new coat of paint on the existing (and failing) business model and not innovating. GameStop should have taken the money they spent on cell phones (which NEVER made sense outside some board room jabber) and either partnered with or outright BOUGHT a few medium-sized dev studios. Then not only would they be the sole source for certain games, they could have had a leg into the digital distribution world when the time came. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Flojomojo Posted July 20, 2019 Share Posted July 20, 2019 Do they still make Game Informer? Not that print (or any) journalism is making much money, but I thought that was pretty well done for what it was. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Keatah Posted July 20, 2019 Share Posted July 20, 2019 Marketing retrogaming to the general public is much harder than many think. It's not like McDonalds or anything. Genuine hardcore retrogaming involves a lot of specialty hardware. FPGAs, fast and properly set-up PCs, emulators, certain kinds of SoCs, R-Pi's, stuff like that. And the non-specialty retrogaming hardware seems to sell just fine at like Wal-Mart or other department stores. No need for a unique or dedicated store-front. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Albert Posted July 20, 2019 Share Posted July 20, 2019 2 hours ago, Flojomojo said: Do they still make Game Informer? Not that print (or any) journalism is making much money, but I thought that was pretty well done for what it was. Yes.. https://www.gameinformer.com/subscribe They offer digital and print subscriptions. Apparently Game Informer was the 3rd largest magazine a few years ago. ..Al Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
godslabrat Posted July 20, 2019 Share Posted July 20, 2019 2 hours ago, Keatah said: Marketing retrogaming to the general public is much harder than many think. It's not like McDonalds or anything. Genuine hardcore retrogaming involves a lot of specialty hardware. FPGAs, fast and properly set-up PCs, emulators, certain kinds of SoCs, R-Pi's, stuff like that. And the non-specialty retrogaming hardware seems to sell just fine at like Wal-Mart or other department stores. No need for a unique or dedicated store-front. In this parallel universe where I'm in charge of GameStop and I'm not screwing it up, I'd heavily push clone systems. Possibly even having a controlling interest in Hyperkin/Retrobit. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mord Posted July 21, 2019 Share Posted July 21, 2019 With esports as big as it is (For what it's worth. Never did care for the term.) getting involved in that directly with their own tournaments, etc, is something that would probably make a lot of sense. I'm sure they'd be able to add this kind of thing to their business model right now. They could even have special tournaments with new games being released meaning nobody would be an expert either way but it'd be potentially great exposure and drive some sales. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mord Posted July 21, 2019 Share Posted July 21, 2019 On 7/18/2019 at 3:32 PM, digdugnate said: I was in town and stopped by one of the GS stores after my wife's appointment looking for Dragon Quest Builder 2. They didn't have any copies on their shelf and looked at me like I had 3 heads when I asked them to look it up for me. Which.. they did, and they did have copies, but if I didn't specifically ask for it and just left because I didn't see it, it's just another sale that they lost. Yeah, they've almost lost sales from me in the past over this but more importantly they most likely ARE losing sales from me today. I gave up bothering to ask them if they have niche title A or B in. Half of the time the answer would be no, and most of the other times it'd be like a gutted copy which I don't want. It's been years since I've even bothered bringing a gutted copy up to the counter and ask if they have any sealed copies left. (Something that has happened in the past.) Sucks to be them I guess. Perhaps they shouldn't mutilate the merch. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tanooki Posted July 22, 2019 Share Posted July 22, 2019 Same here if I on a rare occasion go in there looking for something (usually they wrangled some annoying exclusivity deal) if I don't see it, I don't ask, and if I see they don't have more than one of the shelf, I don't bother usually asking either for that very reason. I'm not taking the faux new game because when you pop that cherry known as the factory seal, IT IS NOT NEW. Knowing their policy of employee try outs, it's even more likely it is quite used, not just opened, shelved and the box has been fingered. They gave up having any incentive to go in there anymore for years, so they started getting the random game sale exclusivity from the maker or because they ended up help publishing it. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cybercylon Posted July 22, 2019 Share Posted July 22, 2019 18 hours ago, Tanooki said: Same here if I on a rare occasion go in there looking for something (usually they wrangled some annoying exclusivity deal) if I don't see it, I don't ask, and if I see they don't have more than one of the shelf, I don't bother usually asking either for that very reason. I'm not taking the faux new game because when you pop that cherry known as the factory seal, IT IS NOT NEW. Knowing their policy of employee try outs, it's even more likely it is quite used, not just opened, shelved and the box has been fingered. They gave up having any incentive to go in there anymore for years, so they started getting the random game sale exclusivity from the maker or because they ended up help publishing it. When I used to go there more often, I have run into times where they are more than willing to give you that faux new one but may still have sealed ones in the drawer. I always asked. If they didn't, I said no thanks unless less it was a niche game I simply forgot about it. Nothing seems niche in store anymore though. "Niche" winds up online. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tanooki Posted July 23, 2019 Share Posted July 23, 2019 Funny thing is I tend to look when those ones they distribute only come out, then I walk away. I can't get myself engaged to actually pay them, then I see you can get it online for the same price or less through ebay etc. From there I kind of just put it off until later, and in time, just do without. I'd still like Wild Guns on Switch, but well, that reason. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MrMaddog Posted August 4, 2019 Share Posted August 4, 2019 On 7/18/2019 at 2:32 PM, digdugnate said: as another personal GameStop anecdote: I was in town and stopped by one of the GS stores after my wife's appointment looking for Dragon Quest Builder 2. They didn't have any copies on their shelf and looked at me like I had 3 heads when I asked them to look it up for me. Which.. they did, and they did have copies, but if I didn't specifically ask for it and just left because I didn't see it, it's just another sale that they lost. That's a laugh...those millennial monkeys couldn't even go on GS's own web site to look up the game, price and store availablity. That is the only single advantage GS has over local used game stores. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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