Gamestop to start buying/selling retro games again

[technozombie]

I'm sure a lot of you have seen this on Facebook already but just in case:
http://www.ign.com/articles/2015/04/15/gamestop-to-offer-classic-consoles-and-games

Pretty interesting really.

[SignOfZeta]

What's interesting about it?

[Nazi NecroPhile]

It's hard to get too excited.  You know they'll pay peanuts on trade in, and you have to buy games online; and if I have to go online and wait anyway, why not get a better deal from ebay/amazon/etc.?

On the plus side, Turbobs aren't accepted. 

[bob]

I'm glad gamestop is indirectly admitting that DLC is hurting them and they need to look into other revenue channels.

It's no surprise GS is announcing this now.  Q4 financials were horrendous and the stock took a dive in mid December (prime Christmas time).  It's been creeping back up lately back to Jan 2014 levels and I haven't seen the Q1 reports yet.  They are probably trying to get shareholders confident again, but retro gaming will be a logistical nightmare for them.  It's going to take many man hours and overhead to "test" and catalog the games if they actually get them in at good volume.  Half the games that come in will be in pretty bad shape and probably be covered with GameStop stickers from original purchases.  As NecroPhile said, they will offer pennies on the dollar for trade-in value and as we all know, we generally like to see what we are getting before purchase.  I see them putting up generic photos of each game on the website and you have to cross your fingers of what the condition would actually be.

[technozombie]

What's interesting about it?

For one thing I'm curious what a more static price structure would do to rising game prices. Obviously this would take awhile to come into effect, but if there is a large scale, big name source for certain   games then people may be more hesitant to pay rising eBay prices.

[cr8zykuban0]

if theyre doing this an online only thing, I doubt itll be good for them since what NecroPhile stated, just wait for better deals online.

it sucks for the people who would trade in their classics for chump change

[SignOfZeta]

GameStop was a crappy place to buy N64 game when they were new, it's a crappy place to buy them now. Just setting foot in that place fills me with so much hatred and anxiety with the stupid loud sales pitch coming out of every TV and demi-human in the place. I'd rather shop Red Frog. At least you couldn't see their stupid faces hassling you about preordering crap the whole time you were shopping.

Clarification: I never bought anything from Red Frog.

[Nazi NecroPhile]

I bought quite a few PSP games from 'em; they were (perhaps still are) quite cheap.  The sales goons were often quite annoying, though; even after saying flat out that I only own a PSP, they'd ask if I wanted to pre-order the latest PS3/360 shit pile.

[bob]

yeah, the $8/hr morons that work there are one of the biggest problems with the whole company.

[PukeSter]

I like GameStop. Don't really get the hate for it, but I guess it does depend where you go.

Hopefully they at least bring back PS2 and GameBoy games. Don't really get why they got rid of them.

And maybe some N64 games would be cool too.

[jlued686]

They need to update their stores in a major way. The ones by me still look like an old Babbage's from 1994.

[bob]

one of the worst sales practices I have ever seen in retail is conducted by gamestop.
"new" games being sold for full price and when it's the last one, you get the case off the shelf and the disc they pulled out of it.  LOL.

[jeffhlewis]

one of the worst sales practices I have ever seen in retail is conducted by gamestop.
"new" games being sold for full price and when it's the last one, you get the case off the shelf and the disc they pulled out of it.  LOL.

Yup...I just bought the "new" copy of Child of Eden that had been on the shelf for a bazillion years (cashier chick was like "Someone finally bought this, wow!"). They took the covered-in-stickers box I pulled off the shelf, slapped a disc in it and handed it over.

I didn't protest too much (because I removed the stickers anyway), and I get that most mainstream buyers wouldn't really care about this practice, but give me a break.

I fully expect game stores to go the way of record stores in the next 6-7 years. We'll have niche stores selling retro and whatnot, but very very few (if any) stores selling "new" product.

[TurboGrafx]

Bring back Funcoland!

[technozombie]

I've said this before but I worked for GameStop for 5 years and was a store manger for 3. I HATE GameStop. When I was a manager I would give people who bought the last one 10% off.

[PCEngineHell]

Do not want. No fucks given.

[poponon]

I've got no problem with this. I hope it encourages more people to play older games. I wonder how it'll affect the market though?

[SignOfZeta]

It won't have much of an effect because GameStop won't exist in three years.

[EvilEvoIX]

Don't they have a ton of old FUNCOLAND stock just sitting somewhere?  I know they are buying up PS2's now as well.

[technozombie]

Don't they have a ton of old FUNCOLAND stock just sitting somewhere?  I know they are buying up PS2's now as well.

This rumor has persisted for a awhile but I think its just a rumor.

[BigusSchmuck]

Well, they aren't even going to put most of the retro games in the store, it will be through their online store.
http://gizmodo.com/gamestop-is-going-to-sell-classic-game-consoles-again-1698087137
So just another online store that sells retro games..

[DragonmasterDan]

This rumor has persisted for a awhile but I think its just a rumor.

When GameStop started offering some retro stuff for GameStop reward points they mentioned that they had an entire distribution center full of stock that they no longer sell in stores and that they may look into selling it in the future.

[Gentlegamer]

This rumor has persisted for a awhile but I think its just a rumor.

When GameStop started offering some retro stuff for GameStop reward points they mentioned that they had an entire distribution center full of stock that they no longer sell in stores and that they may look into selling it in the future.

They probably think they are sitting on a gold mine, when it's just 500,000 copies of Genesis sports games.

[technozombie]

This rumor has persisted for a awhile but I think its just a rumor.

When GameStop started offering some retro stuff for GameStop reward points they mentioned that they had an entire distribution center full of stock that they no longer sell in stores and that they may look into selling it in the future.

They probably think they are sitting on a gold mine, when it's just 500,000 copies of Genesis sports games.

They used to sell Super Mario/Duck Hunt for 5¢. Now I see people asking $10.

[TR0N]

Meh,if they go by ebay prices then i could care less.Unless there pricing will be different but i'm not expecting much.Heck i rarely go to a gamestop any more i often use amazon more.

[slinkyturd]

I'm curious about this. Funcoland was amazing! I miss it dearly. I miss the availablity of retro games in the neighborhood. Kinda sucks that this will be strictly an online thing but makes sense. Floor space is expensive and if they aren't making money on $60+ new merchandise, it makes no sense to replace it with $5 and $10 retro games that won't make them profit either.

Supply and demand go hand in hand, gentlemen. More sellers means lower prices...or sellers go out of business and liquidate and we're all happier anyway.

[esteban]

Do not want. No fucks given.

Exactly.

[SignOfZeta]

I'm curious about this. Funcoland was amazing! I miss it dearly. I miss the availablity of retro games in the neighborhood. Kinda sucks that this will be strictly an online thing but makes sense. Floor space is expensive and if they aren't making money on $60+ new merchandise, it makes no sense to replace it with $5 and $10 retro games that won't make them profit either.

Supply and demand go hand in hand, gentlemen. More sellers means lower prices...or sellers go out of business and liquidate and we're all happier anyway.

Not exactly. They aren't making money on $60 games because almost nobody is. While game revenue is very high, profits are overall very low for everyone in the game business. In some cases a $60 game might net the store $15 margin, maybe, and with that they have to run a store. Profits on game systems are often as low as $1! So those are basically a loss leader for everyone in any situation.

If you take a copy of Mario/Duck Hunt that you paid some kid $1 for and you sell it for $10 you make as much profit as you do from a copy of Madden. This is why these stores are so aggressive in seeking your trade ins and selling used games. There is almost no profit at all in the basic model of selling new games in a mall store. That's why nobody does it without suplimenting it with service plans, publisher kickbacks, used sales, etc. 

And supply and demand...geese, come on. Supply and demand is a significant factor in things like lumber or gasoline but with an industry like this there are many more factors that overall make a bigger difference. Anything aimed at Collectors is usually so rife with market manipulation from day one that supply and demand is only a small factor, slightly more significant than sun spots.

[esteban]

Sun spots!

[slinkyturd]

I'm curious about this. Funcoland was amazing! I miss it dearly. I miss the availablity of retro games in the neighborhood. Kinda sucks that this will be strictly an online thing but makes sense. Floor space is expensive and if they aren't making money on $60+ new merchandise, it makes no sense to replace it with $5 and $10 retro games that won't make them profit either.

Supply and demand go hand in hand, gentlemen. More sellers means lower prices...or sellers go out of business and liquidate and we're all happier anyway.

Not exactly. They aren't making money on $60 games because almost nobody is. While game revenue is very high, profits are overall very low for everyone in the game business. In some cases a $60 game might net the store $15 margin, maybe, and with that they have to run a store. Profits on game systems are often as low as $1! So those are basically a loss leader for everyone in any situation.

If you take a copy of Mario/Duck Hunt that you paid some kid $1 for and you sell it for $10 you make as much profit as you do from a copy of Madden. This is why these stores are so aggressive in seeking your trade ins and selling used games. There is almost no profit at all in the basic model of selling new games in a mall store. That's why nobody does it without suplimenting it with service plans, publisher kickbacks, used sales, etc. 

And supply and demand...geese, come on. Supply and demand is a significant factor in things like lumber or gasoline but with an industry like this there are many more factors that overall make a bigger difference. Anything aimed at Collectors is usually so rife with market manipulation from day one that supply and demand is only a small factor, slightly more significant than sun spots.

I've already factored your point in. The space to display an nes game and any new game is essentially the same. even if they make 90% profit on an NES title it is still less than the $15 they'd make on a current Gen title in the same amount of display space. The profit margin may be higher but the actual amount is still not economically better than the current model.

Your sun spot claim is quite an amusing assumption. Like I said either the supply drives the model down or units don't sell and then liquidation happens. See you forgot that back door of liquidation. Either case we all win.

[vmorr]

I hope their pricing is better than ebay. If it's popular, it could drive market prices down a little.

I REALLY doubt it will be though.

[Mzo]

They said they'd only be selling these games online, and I can almost guarantee there won't be detailed pics and it'll be a crap shoot to see what you actually will receive.

The worst part that I don't see enough people complaining about is that GS never prices on condition.  These games will have a baseline price cart only or complete, in great shape or beat to hell.

Even worse, they've shown they're not above throwing cases and manuals into the trash to normalize their stock across the board.

[Gentlegamer]

Many GameBoy family games are missing manuals because of GameStop trashing them.

[o.pwuaioc]

I hope their pricing is better than ebay. If it's popular, it could drive market prices down a little.

I REALLY doubt it will be though.

GameStop's current prices are worse than eBay. Why on earth would you think it would be otherwise for their new milk market?

GameStop is shit, their products are shit, their practices are shit, and fuck them for wanting to ruin this classic gaming hobby.

[Sarumaru]

I hope their pricing is better than ebay. If it's popular, it could drive market prices down a little.

I REALLY doubt it will be though.

GameStop's current prices are worse than eBay. Why on earth would you think it would be otherwise for their new milk market?

GameStop is shit, their products are shit, their practices are shit, and fuck them for wanting to ruin this classic gaming hobby.

I agree with o.pwiauiouiok. When GameStop starts taking in games with boxes and manuals they are going to straight up trash that shit. This really is a shitty thing for Retro gaming.  I hope it blows up in their faces and they get nothing but Joe Montana's. Maybe they'll turn it all around and they'll be the exclusive retailer for the Retro VGS! Thank goodness for that.

[DeshDildo]

My biggest fear with this is also that they will throw a lot of stuff away.  There's no way they will try to clean/repair games or hardware that they can't get working.  I feel like a lot of salvageable goods will make their way to the dumpster.

[synbiosfan]

My biggest fear with this is also that they will throw a lot of stuff away.  There's no way they will try to clean/repair games or hardware that they can't get working.  I feel like a lot of salvageable goods will make their way to the dumpster.

Yep, cardboard cases will likely get tossed. Probably system boxes too.

[xcrement5x]

Yeah, this whole thing seems like it would turn out badly, but I'm sure from a business standpoint they'd rather try something than just let themselves slowly be eaten away by digital distribution sales.  Online only sucks, but if they will pay me $1 for all the old loose copies of random sports games I have I am happy to sell to them.

[DragonmasterDan]

Yeah, this whole thing seems like it would turn out badly, but I'm sure from a business standpoint they'd rather try something than just let themselves slowly be eaten away by digital distribution sales.  Online only sucks, but if they will pay me $1 for all the old loose copies of random sports games I have I am happy to sell to them.

I suspect they'll only be buying back certain games and as mentioned they have a distribution center full of stuff they couldn't sell in the earliest days of being called "GameStop" after having had Babbages, Software etc and FuncoLand merge into one entity that was no longer as focused on selling several generation old hardware and software.

[xcrement5x]

Yeah, this whole thing seems like it would turn out badly, but I'm sure from a business standpoint they'd rather try something than just let themselves slowly be eaten away by digital distribution sales.  Online only sucks, but if they will pay me $1 for all the old loose copies of random sports games I have I am happy to sell to them.

I suspect they'll only be buying back certain games and as mentioned they have a distribution center full of stuff they couldn't sell in the earliest days of being called "GameStop" after having had Babbages, Software etc and FuncoLand merge into one entity that was no longer as focused on selling several generation old hardware and software.

LOL.

GameStop Acceptable NES Trade-In List:
Little Samson
Duck Tales 2
Panic Restaurant
Bubble Bobble 2

[Mzo]

They've already replied that there will be one SKU per item in their system.  One price regardless of condition and no way to tell what you're getting through online-only storefront.

Worst fears confirmed.  At least the employees will get to profit by taking the boxes and manuals and selling them on eBay?

[munchiaz]

I used to work for this company like 8-9 years ago. When i was 16 i got a job there and i really enjoyed it. But as time went on and i became an adult i started to hate  the place. It sucks that this will most likely hurt the mom and pop shops out there.

[DragonmasterDan]

I used to work for this company like 8-9 years ago. When i was 16 i got a job there and i really enjoyed it. But as time went on and i became an adult i started to hate  the place. It sucks that this will most likely hurt the mom and pop shops out there.

It might, but a lot of the mom and pop shops were far more damaged by ebay flippers buying up potential stock for them to buy on Craigslist, Thrifts, Flea Markets, etc making it harder for them to conduct business than an online only GameStop portal that's selling some retro titles.

[Alt-Nintega]

The only time I liked GameStop was when they made the stupid move of selling their entire stock of PSP games in the $1 - $5 range for most of them. This was when PSP Vita came out and these idiots thought that UMD is dead. Well I have over 100 PSP cic games which cost me on average 2 dollars per game. Thanks GameStop and your dumbass decisions.

Other than that, nowadays put me with the group that hates GameStop.

[Nazi NecroPhile]

At least 50 UMDs have come out since the first of the year, so it's clearly not dead.

Speaking of idiots.....

[munchiaz]

At least 50 UMDs have come out since the first of the year, so it's clearly not dead.

Speaking of idiots.....

ohhh kill em!!!

[cr8zykuban0]

man I  hope this flops. I dont have good expectations but I guess we will have to wait and see what happens.

if they throw away boxes and manuals, im check out the dumpsters and pick that shit up!

[xcrement5x]

I figured this would be a good thread for my story...

So I bought from Gamestop's "retro" store since they had a buy 2 get 1 sale earlier as a Black Friday promotion.  They do not guarantee their games being sold as having cases and manuals, but I had purchased these three titles with the intent of keeping them if complete and returning if they were missing stuff.  Not uncommon to hear of and I was delighted when it was delivered today and I saw these inside!



Until I opened them and saw this...



NO GODDAMN DISC IN THE QUAKE III ARENA CASE!

Come on GameStop, what kind of QA are you running here.  You can't even check the cases when they are traded in to see if there are actual games in them? 

I figured I would try to contact their customer service, but the contact form on their website doesn't post either, awesome.  Way to go GameStop/eGain!  I sent an email back to the confirmation address, and will probably try calling later again tonight, but this is just ridiculous.  I know it's only a $5 game, but it was MY $5 game that was supposed to show up, not just a case. 

[SignOfZeta]

Yeah, these stories are all over the place. Even if half of them are fake it's still extremely obvious that the QA at GameStop HQ is the same as it is at the store, and all the details they gave us regarding the inspection process are total fabrications.

Not surprising from the worst place in America to buy a video game...

BTW, why would you even pay shipping on those DC games? That's like $2 worth of super common junk.

[johnnykonami]

I figured this would be a good thread for my story...

So I bought from Gamestop's "retro" store since they had a buy 2 get 1 sale earlier as a Black Friday promotion.  They do not guarantee their games being sold as having cases and manuals, but I had purchased these three titles with the intent of keeping them if complete and returning if they were missing stuff.  Not uncommon to hear of and I was delighted when it was delivered today and I saw these inside!

Until I opened them and saw this...

NO GODDAMN DISC IN THE QUAKE III ARENA CASE!

Come on GameStop, what kind of QA are you running here.  You can't even check the cases when they are traded in to see if there are actual games in them? 

I figured I would try to contact their customer service, but the contact form on their website doesn't post either, awesome.  Way to go GameStop/eGain!  I sent an email back to the confirmation address, and will probably try calling later again tonight, but this is just ridiculous.  I know it's only a $5 game, but it was MY $5 game that was supposed to show up, not just a case. 

That blows.  Gamestop blows.  Hope you get it sorted out!