GameStop: the world's largest video game and entertainment
software specialty retailer. "But at what cost?"
On Monday, April 19, 2005, at 1 PM in the afternoon, GameStop
Corp. announced a reported 1.44 billion buy out of Electronics
Boutique Holdings Corp. in a merger consisting of 70% cash
and 30% stock. Most or all EB Games stores are expected closings,
or some for remodeling to adapt to the GameStop layout, next
year after the deal is clenched sometime before Labor Day.
The merger will grant GameStop a more global access to other
countries besides the United States, and will position itself
as the number one video game retailer, counting a total of
3, 800 stores worldwide.
GameStop, which was started by the book giants Barnes &
Noble, who are no strangers to "book buy outs" either
- if you recall they took over the popular US book-selling
B.Dalton a while back - now has a new mountain cash stock
that rivals even that of the grossly overcrowded bookstores.
If you recall a few years back, GameStop formerly swallowed
up Babbages, Software Etc, and Funcoland with ease to make
sure that they're the only game in town. With this announcement,
though, EBGames, a game retail chain consisting of more than
2,000 stores worldwide, makes all of the other previous merging
stints seem like pushovers. In fact, the GameStop franchise
became so large and successful that on Novemeber 5, 2004 Barnes
& Noble officially reported a spin-off, making GS a solely
independent entity with its own stock unto itself.
Is this what "free trade capitalism" we hear so
much about in the States entails? Aggressive domination of
a total market? Is this what is being taught to the young
people coming out of college with business degrees as a good
example of that? By now the stockholders are doing cartwheels,
but really how is this beneficial to the consumer, the actual
working backbone to a corporation? Do other competitors even
stand a chance in a level playing field that then spouted
into a Mount Everest overnight? Has it already been like this?
And just who are these other gamestore competitors, anyway?
A regular visitor to the site, Dan, aka "roninsoldier04",
wrote in to share his own feelings and experiences of working
at one of the couple other corporate-run gamestores existing.
Up until last Sunday, I worked at a video game store called
Game Crazy, which you may or may not have heard of because
there's only some 800 stores nationwide. When this place first
started, the idea was to pick up where Funcoland had started,
which most people were psyched about because there would be
a place to hang out in again, play + buy games, and talk to
a staff that knew what they were doing. This fantasy lasted
about 15 minutes or so before the corporate offices started
throwing weekly curveballs to anger our customers, the biggest
one by far was that all employees of a Game Crazy retail store
had to sell one discount card and two pre-orders for every
ten hours worked, or else you could basically consider yourself
fired. Considering the cards, called MVP cards, were $20 bucks
a pop, it didn't matter what the card gave you, which started
with nothing and then worked its way up to a free subscription
to EGM, it was still an extra $20 bucks you were forced to
push on people. By far this was the hardest thing to do, not
so much in the sense that most gamers were smart enough not
to buy the stupid thing, but because I was forced to hassle
gamers like me.
After 3 years, 3 store managers, and six 6 employees,
only four members of the original staff remained, including
myself. By far, we were the best employees for that place,
not because we made people buy useless crap they didn't want,
which we did as scarcely as possible, but because we knew
the most about the products we were selling, we gave really
good customer service, and we kept the place up to date. However,
the corporate offices had given us a 19 year-old grammar school
failure for a store manager whom knew nothing about the products
he was selling, pissed off all of our customers, and worked
to have us all fired because we couldn't sell plastic cards.
Consequently, we all quit, and told all of our customers not
to buy their games from stores like this. The point to all
of this is, all of these stores, Game Crazy, EB, AND ESPECIALLY
GAME STOP, are god awful to shop at and work for. It's funny
too, because all three stores are networked anyways; staff
from Game Stop have gone to Game Crazy, Game Crazy Staff have
gone to EB; In fact, the district manager of our store was
the same guy who was the district manager of Game Stop during
the time that all of the Funcolands were being converted into
Game Stops, and considering that this man was responsible
for firing Funcoland's district staff, (which means in the
area he was in control of, he fired all of the employees that
worked beneath him, and re-staffed his stores with ignorant
morons that were willing to follow the new GameStop rules)
and was himself fired by GameStop, makes me wonder why the
store I worked for would want him to work for them.
To trade games in means to get pennies for your games,
which are then priced at a mark up of anywhere from 100 to
300%. Trying to return something that you have purchased at
any of these stores is near impossible, considering that most
of them, especially Game Crazy, are graded on their montly
return percentage. And trying to buy a system? If you can
buy a new or used system by itself without having to purchase
a warranty, a discount card that does squat but line peoples
pockets, and a few crap games that are having a difficult
time selling, consider yourself lucky. However, it has made
buying video games so much easier, and cheaper too. For new
releases, go to a Circuit City, a Best Buy, or even a Meijers
or Wal-Mart (Because Wal-Mart and Meijers buy in bulk, they
usually sell stuff cheaper, like $20 Memory cards instead
of $26). For classics and rare-finds, eBay and Flea Markets.
Hopefully, if enough people figure this out, these stores
will crumble, or go back to being run the way they used to
be.
All the more power to Dan for quitting. I hear it's worse
enough dealing with customers at a retail store without a
corporate machine breathing down your neck too. I've been
inside of a Game Crazy only once before, and it does not surprise
me at all that he had to push those kinds of things to keep
the company shirts off his back.
GameStop is by far the worst offender for that policy. They
preach religiously to their employees to always push pre-orders,
warranties, and the company's discount card/bogus magazine
to every customer that walks in. I try not to get angry at
the employees anymore when they make a pitch, except if they
ask me numerous times in a row after I say no; remember it's
not their fault and not their doing.
Another example, at Barnes & Noble, employees are required
to remind customers of "their" overpriced $25 cost
book membership card during each transaction made, yet they
receive only a $6 commission from the few who do decide to
purchase one. One might think that an extra six dollars is
the reason they push the card, but it's not, because as Dan
pointed out, it's a coporate policy that they must abide by
to keep the job, and it certainly becomes very competitive
when your store is trying to outnumber card sales with all
the other stores in a certain district to receive the perks
from the corporate headquarters. It's kind of like a dysfunctional
lab experiment, with the employees acting as the amoeba in
a manager's slide which sits directly on the corporation's
microscope lens. I can imagine that if you calculated
the amount of time an employee takes to ask each customer
if they are interested in owning a membership card, that that
rare $6 commission practically adds up to an hour's worth
of hearing "no", or slander from the customers.
I would wager, if employees had that choice to push or not
to push, many of them would do themselves and everyone else
a favor by putting up a membership memo beside the computer
register and let the customer decide to bring the thing into
conversation in the first place.
B&N, GS, and even EB see it in an entirely different
perspective. The more profitability prospects from their enslaved
hourly waged staff, the more money, of course. And also, we
must not forget, the better they weed out the insignificant
profit-loss employees by the higher-ups pounding away at those,
as Dan reported, who are regularly reminded of meeting sales
records through threats of losing their job positions. I mean
no respect to the knowledgable, honest, and hard-working retail
employees who might be reading this right now when I say that
this is precisely the reason why some employees nowadays know
very little to nothing about the product they sell; rather
they only know to how to sell it. When you have a manager,
his district manager, other same-name stores' competiting
in the race, and a corporate HQ on your ass to shove extra
warranties and horseshit on every Dick and Jane who walks
in and buys something, all of a sudden personal ethics and
customer satisfaction begin to fall into second and third
and last places.
GS has a 10% membership card itself, costing $10 more than
the EB Games card, even though both cards contain the same
amount of discount. This extra non-negotiable ten extra bucks
pays for a 12-month subscription to GameStop's very own magazine,
Game Informer, which they secretly and closely monitor from
behind the scenes to "inform" people on what to
buy in their stores. If you know anything about magazine advertising
tactics (and if you don't, shame on you for not reading the
"Writing to Game Magazines"
editorial), the more annual subscribers a magazine receives,
the higher advertisers have to pay for their advertisements
to appear in the magazine. Essentially, the extra $10 is a
bonus for GameStop, because your subscription just boosted
the magazine's ad venue as well as costing you twice the amount
of their (once) competitor EB's card. Strictly coming in second
to ads are the writers who GS oversees that package it together
in a fancy front and back cover to contend that it's a real,
unbiased gaming source. (Essentially it's similar to how Dan
had to push certain pre-orders and cards, except only this
nuisance arrives at your door every month. It's Orwellian-stylized
free advertisement when you are the owner of the magazine
and the featured upcoming printed ads you read about at home
are conveniently also the same displayed standees and signs
in the store. What are the odds! Sorry if this sounds neurotic,
but, having a game retailer control game press and game information
doesn't come off as the brightest idea to me.)
While on the subject of George Orwell, another convoluted
thing, probably the most manipulative feat that GameStop has
done in recent years, is when the company poured countless
of advertising dollars into an annual game awards ceremony
called the "Spike Video Games Awards". Weeks prior
to the event, shoppers at GameStop listened to commercials
of the upcoming award show being played on an infinite loop
as they made their rounds around the shelves of the MSRP-priced
new releases. When finally the airing day of the show came,
Snoop Dogg, a "wisely" chosen West Coast rapper
to represent the game industry, was to host the fancy occasion.
In pure coincidence, Snoop Dogg had also been on the front
cover of that current month's Game Informer to promote his
newest involvement in an upcoming super-violent video game
placed in an urban setting (ala the megahit GTA games). In
an even more ironic twist of a completely "unstaged"
turn of events, Mr. Dogg walked out on national television
of the Spike Video Games Awards wearing a t-shirt of the ironed-on
Game Informer magazine front cover on his chest. To even further
the amazing odds, the winner of the "Best Gaming Publication
- Fan Favorite" category was, indeed, Game Informer.
The day after the showing, GameStop.com proudly displayed
a side-bar banner for the remaining week and into the next
of the awards won and a shopping cart list to all of the game
nominations/winners mentioned.
Still, after all of these things rolled out before my eyes,
I could not help to think that these seemingly indepedent
pieces were actually related to another in one big publicity
puzzle. Surely a fair and balanced evaluation of the electronic
software and information sources came about to judge and host
the awards . . . . right? Apparently I was not the only one
left scratching my head in confusion. I soon found out online
that neither did most other seasoned gamers hold the answer
to that question. Many agreeably called it the most amateurish
display of fake celebrity people holding a multi-million dollar
circle jerk (my words) together ever and an embarrassment.
The second-rate "stars" all came together for one
evening to simultaneously pretend they possessed at least
a superficial "GTA, Halo, EA" portion of knowledge
on the video games they presided over, and prostituting the
already most under appreciated of art forms in a carefully
planned and promoted corporate advertising stunt planned way
above the celebs' permed hairstyled heads.
Maybe Spike TV lured the actors with the promise of free
booze and the chance to have sex with Vin Disel at the after
party? Whatever the case, I can only imagine that to the very
young and to the very impressionable (I guess they're one
in the same) tuning in to the ADD flashing lights, the sights
of Carmen Electra's bust testing the law of gravity, and in
synch to loud hip hop music, did these cheesy effects have
on making them believe they were witnessing one "phat"
night. This is all despite the bad game mispronunciations
and the many awkward moments following the tried-and-false
jokes and the subsequent fallen deliveries of them. (Fact:
Samuel L. Jackson proudly thanked the crowd for receiving
recognition for his voice work in "Grand Theft Auto 2",
as he miscalled it, a title which was released in '99, about
five years prior to his speech on the PS1 and Dreamcast.)
THE CURRENT SCOREBOARD - GameStop: 1; Mom and Dad: $-50
to $-100 for the "must have" winning titles; The
Makers of Ritalin: +3% stock rise.
That's just one example of how a company with such great
wealth wheels and deals in the biz. Now I'm getting off track
to the internal GS company policies that will soon almost
definitely dominate the method of how EB is run. Incidently,
the policies aren't too appealing either (a shocker!).
One such policy enforces over the stores to destroy traded-in
boxes of classic games instead of giving them away as freebies.
(True story: I once walked past torn up SNES boxes on the
ground by a GS dumpster.) One reason given for this odd decision
is because they do not have sufficient room to hold them.
The last time I checked at a EB that did have NES boxes, though,
they were stacked neatly beside one of the corners of the
classic game bin. Most bins at GS have locked compartments
underneath them, which could be easily converted to storing
them if for some reason there are classic games spilling from
the bins (...if only...). What it all comes down to is form
over function. A distraction of, say, Fabio on the front
cover of a "Wizards & Warriors II" box could
potentially draw attention away from that the counter standee
of the next Grand Theft Auto title, of which they are currently
accepting pre-orders for, even though it's too early in development
to give you the name of the game yet. Sure this is merely
speculation, and an extraordinary claim at that, but how else
am I supposed to think while in the shoes of a GS coporate
that throwing away game extras equates to a better business
decision? Like anything else in this vein of informal "biz"
practices, why would a successful chain store care to bother
with a box when the game is $5 or $6 dollars? Give a regular
"Angel" customer a complete copy?
Nah, toss 'em out in the back!
This is a clear cut case of profit over people. (I'd like
to believe I'm not exaggerating this point either. Some people
are adamant when it comes to collecting complete video games.
In the case of a modern rare game completeness, does a Suikoden
II disc-only fare the same value as a complete Suikoden
II? Of course not. Most collectors, not resellers,
still want complete copies even if they aren't looking to
sell. Why hold out on them?)
Only later did I find out from actual GameStop employees
that they were ordered to salvage these items to claim insurance
on them, refusing to give away or sell any older games, boxes,
and instructions.
I just gave the case of Suikoden II, well this other
time I was the victim of a second shady policy. I caught an
employee craftily removing an instruction manual from a less
commonly found, fairly pricey PS1 RPG (a complete copy of
Thousand Arms, to be exact) when she turned her back
to me. When I got into my car, I quickly checked the game
before leaving and found that it was missing. I walked back
in and cut to the front of the line right up to her and asked
if she had taken the manual out of the case I handed her.
She admitted she had and explained that if the customer does
not ask for it specifically, she is required to take it. What
the fuck? Didn't I just hand you the thing and ask to buy
it from you? It STILL wasn't mine after I handed you the money;
I need to also ask you for it all too after I just paid? The
employee was cold, and I turned hot, lecturing her a bit before
warning a couple in line with PS1 games to take out the manual
before handing the games to her. In this case, I let the employee
have it. Trying to sell a warranty is one thing, but taking
what is rightfully mine is another. I understand if you work
at a GameStop you must have some remote interest in games.
Ask yourself, if hired for a job, could you be so controlled
by the system to actually have the nerve to take items from
other paying people who share the same passion, and the audacity
to act like it's just a small matter when or if the customer
notices? Does time make it become such a mechanical process
that you lose the meaning of what you're actually doing?
Historically I'm experienced enough to check everything before
heading out, knowing the way these stores are run, but I see
rules like this one deliberately targeting and taking advantage
of younger kids and their uninformed parents. They do not
have that extra time to double-check everything when their
life is busy enough. Profit over people, strike two.
These reasons so far might appear as pet peeves to some people
(though I hope not to most). If you fall into the former,
I really wish the ones I'm about to list don't seem that way
to you. The thing I hate most about the merger is the negative
effect this potentially has on pricing; especially when dealing
with the classic games selection. GameStop prices are quite
literally 2 to 3x more than EB Games on a number of older
pre-played games. The EB 10% card, which only costs $5, has
easily saved me over $60+ over the past year because it can
not only be used in both brick and mortar stores but also
online via EBGames.com. With GameStop cards, however, costing
three times the amount of money because of the aforementioned
attached mag, you cannot use the discount for purchases at
GameStop.com. Essentially they regulate how you can use your
discount card when you pay a lump sum of $15 for it. If due
to this merger they replace the EB method with that of the
inferior GS one, then I will piss on my defunct EB card as
a sweet memorial to the good times we had together and look
the other way.
Gamestop.com's meager "Lemmings
under construction" frontpage, circa 1999.
Gamestop.com's scary, new
index page in Spring 2005.
Furthermore, the online store counterpart EBGames.com guarantees
that the original box and manual to be included with all current
generation games (and some PS1 titles). I did not take this
into consideration when I placed an order for "Marvel
Vs. Capcom 2" from GameStop.com for about half the price
EB was offering it. When it arrived, in what looked like a
regular office portfolio with postage stamped on, no box or
manual could be found, not even an empty case to hold the
game inside. Instead, the scratched disc was placed in a very
thin CD cover made of paper without any bubble wrap or packing
peanuts or any protection inside holding it in place. What's
worse, GameStop.com does not accept returns/exchanges to be
done in one of their stores (unlike EBGames.com) because the
website is actually run by the BN.com people! (BN.com is Barnes&Noble's
online store.)
If it sounds like I'm biased towards EBGames and against
GameStop, I guess I am; but not to the extent that I'd ever
call EB a great store either. Like many things in life, it
all comes down to the "lesser of the two evils"
- which of the two diseases do you prefer more? It might sound
like a cynical choice, but at least it is a choice.
My case against GameStop and this merger ends abruptly on
the note that I firmly believe with all of my heart and soul
that the people who run B&N and their own properties (like
GS) are a bunch of deranged, Lexus-driving sociopaths.
ResellerRatings.Com - Store Ratings As of 4/21/05 (Low
Store Average, for GS, and the difference of 1.84 points for
EB to meet Average Store rating.)
Arm Yourself With Knowledge As Your Armor
And Money As Your Weapon, Cash Rules Everything Around Me
I am always the sort of person to insist that one-man protests
do work and are powerful, especially when others (like yourself)
hear about inside company practices (as talked about in this
editorial), feel outraged, and begin to follow suit through
grass roots movements to continue spreading the word to other
people and avoid these places.
Hardcore gamers (myself included) cannot declare a total
boycott on GS for the rare case that they are the only ones
who carry a certain obscure title (which, by the way, can
be checked out online through the "in-store availability"
search - no need to go to the store and browse idly) and only
when you are ABSOLUTELY positive they carry the game for the
lowest price (and I mean a significant price difference).
With that said, if you figure the cash register sound upon
every sale you give them is the only voice this Barnes &
Noble company has the time to listen to, shelling out a few
more bucks to support a better retailer says: "I do not
reward stubborness", "improve your quality",
"lower your pre-played costs", and "I'm not
loyal to any one store". Unless they don't hear these
words right then and there from your local perspective, they
will soon eventually get the message thereafter when if more
lowered sale numbers come in through the power of the grass
roots. Besides, it feels good not to beat yourself up by becoming
a regular shopper at a store that treats both its customers
and employees this way, not having to deal with their crap.
It makes you feel like an informed citizen in your society;
the corporation's one unsolvable problem - a person armed
with knowing what they know; gaining the upperhand, educated
perception to understand the company policies and unfair practices
inside out.
When you face the facts, you'll realize the purpose of GameStop
buying EB isn't exactly to give you, the customer, more of
a choice. I wouldn't be here on a writing spell if that were
the case. The merger is in place to give the consumer an even
smaller choice of stores to pick from. There is a very possible
chance that GS might now become the only exclusive gamestore
in your town. Nevertheless, always remind your civic responsibility
that store availability does not necessarily equal versatility
and affordability; laziness and submission go hand-in-hand.
Ebay.com is a superior
outlet for the "world's truly largest" used video
games selection, albeit at times a little expensive. Comparison
shopping websites, like PriceGrabber.com,
will help you find the lowest online price available. Online
deal sites, including CheapAssGamer.com
and FatWallet.com,
provide up-to-the-minute news on great game and hardware prices.
These guys will be your one and only true "Informer".
Did I get you craving for
more? Try checking out these external info sites:
To learn more about the history and
the overrunning successful progression of corporations,
like Barnes&Noble that formally owns GameStop, I cannot
recommend enough The
Corporation. It is a Sundance documentary winner that
presents itself professionally, and at times humorously,
and features CEOs and business experts alike. (Which can
be ironically purchased at most US/Canada corporate chain
stores!)
For more individual employee/customer
horror stories, head over to smackdown
GT's "Funcoland
Sucks" section. A must-read companion to the corruption
of the video store!
(5/7/05) Follow Up:
I received some mixed response from other classic gamers
who took the time to read this editorial. Justin, a frequent
contributor and hardcore NES head here, has sent this message
out to question if there really was ever a difference between
EB and GS, since, in his opinion, they both always offered
subpar service. Here's his take, and below again a little
clarification of my own position.
Okay, I'll say it- EB games has a habit of sucking. Many
employees are like the Best Buy type-they know nothing about
what they sell. Many people have compared the local EBs to
the video store from Clerks. We've had one good mamager, a
gamer, named Darald. Older guy, got tranferred some time back,
but is back at the main store, so I have a reason to shop
there.
So what if either Gamestop or EB has classic games? The
labels are pretty much ruined at the stores. Those price stickers
sit on there for years and will never come off easily, and
they don't take the games in trade-in anymore anyway.
Game Crazy has close to 800 locations. Their wishlist
system is a joke since they have ONE GUY handling it. 800
stores to check, and one guy hired to do it. Corporate keeps
screwing up the computers so sales and deals don't ring up.
Their current 3 for $15 sale on all classics is another coffin
nail. But I got Tetris and Dr Mario for SNES (a $30 game)
for $5.
Blockbuster's Gamerush has lost 200 million dollars so
far since they keep giving out insane trade prices. People
are trading in so little, get so much, the stores make no
money. The biggest gamerush in the country is near me and
the place is pretty threadbare on good stuff. Gamerush is
giving a quarter for classic games now, which is 24 more cents
than elsewhere.
The buyout won't really change anything, since the stores
won't change their practices. The competition sees Gamestop
cutting systems so they do the same. What's the point of even
having competing stores if they're going to be run as poorly?
I happen to agree with Justin that EB isn't what I'd call
a "good" company, either, and the employees, as
I said before, are hired to push pre-orders and collectible
editions of Madden - not because they're familiar with the
products they sell.
But the difference between EB and GS lies within their online
components. With 25% off and free shipping offered everyday,
and relatively cheap prices on classic games at EB.com (including
some very, very rare titles that appear every so often), they're
pretty decent that way. (For example, I purchased Mega
Man 1 from them for only $4.76 shipped, whereas Gamestop.com
has it listed for $29.99!)
In fact, even with the free shipping, I usually get games
within 24 hours shipped to my door. If they are in awful condition
(which some have been), EB has a 30 day return policy on all
used games and they accept in-store returns. So basically
if some kid has written his name on a cart, I can send it
to a local EB (or lesiurely wait a month until I pass one)
and then receive another in a matter of a day or two. GS,
on the other hand, has a strict 7 day return policy on used
games and offer no in-store returns. You're forced with the
hassle of shipping it back, or relying on the shrinking stock
inside of the stores.
That is not to say EBGames.com has not screwed me before.
They package NES carts with a promised slogan and 100% guarantee
that your game arrives ready to play. Well, that might be
the case, but they didn't exactly define which game
would be ready to be played when I bought Mega Man 4
quite recently ago for around $4-5 shipped. When I received
the game in the mail in a couple of days, a mint and cart-only
copy of MM4 was placed into my top loader. I was stunned
when I began hearing the classic Super Mario Bros.
music as I touched the start button on the controller by accident
whilst unraveling the cord. I had fallen victim to the oldest
trick in the book: the game switch. Some asshole discovered
how to use a screw bit and took the MM4 game board
out of the cartridge and replaced it with a common SMB.
I now had in my possession a $4-5 Mario with a Mega
Man 4 label on the cart. Obviously, for this to happen,
it supposes the notion of testing used game stock and pretending
to guarantee satisfaction are EB's chance for a marketing
ploy.
Doing in-store returns can sometimes be a bother, as well.
A manager at one EB told me he could only give my store credit
because "I did not bring in a VISA statement of the purchases".
I know I knew his employer's policy probably better than he
did, and I was entitled to a cashback to my card. After displaying
that I wasn't just about to back down, he stared at me as
if I was a thief and quickly told me he'd "do me a favor"
this one time. Other EBs, often times this is the case of
mall stores, do not care at all why you're returning games
or that you want a direct credit.
Individual EB stores do not pay for postage, or anything,
to mail back returned items to corporate headquarters. Customers
who are unsatisfied with purchases online are able to receive
store credit or a cashback to their credit card, as long as
the packing slip (serving as an online transaction receipt)
is present. No credit card statements are needed! The one
logical reason why managers and some employees give people
a hard time, like me, and push store credit so fervently is
because they know the cashback to your credit card is money
back to you, not them; they will never see that money again.
Most of the preowned merchandise, especially NES games, returned,
however, is inexpensive while inside of EB stores $50 games
and preorder chances are abundant. Hence a $5 store credit
for a deceitful Mega Man 4 does not necessarily translate
into a fair trade for another game at the store using credit
due to a.) limited classic/cheap game stock, b.) lack of online
coupons, and c.) more expensive B&M used and new games.
The store credit then isn't beneficial to you but rather to
them: they receive the money from the EB headquarters and
a fair possibility of a bigger item purchase from you used
in conjunction with your "credit."
More and more brick and mortar chains are/will be dropping
their classic game stock. That's a given. With the ability
of ordering games online, shipped to your door, along with
incentives like 25% coupons and free shipping, this gives
the classic gamer another easier and more centralized outlet
to choose from besides the sometimes ridiculous prices (and
sellers) on eBay. While it's not perfect, if it wasn't there
to even be discussed, then it'd be one less choice for the
NES player.
It's a crapshoot with mergers. We don't know yet if Game
Informer will be bundled with membership cards and cost $15.
We don't know if GS will simply erase all EB policy and stores
the same way they did with Funcoland, and people will ask
in the years to come, "What was EBGames?" Only time
will tell. My main point of the article was that the fewer
choices we have, the worse off everybody's going to be.
I'll be quite honest with everyone. If it were EB making
the merger, EB would have then been my target and I would
have found things that they lacked (such as faulty in-store
availability on used games to save people from idle browsing
in their smelly stores and the inability to track backordered
games). Corporate America is taking over, even more so than
before, and it isn't helping us, the consumer. Is there really
a convenience in having twenty Walgreens and half a dozen
Gamestops within a ten-mile radius to you? Chances are gamers
aren't going to be reading an editorial about this kind of
thing in their latest EGM or Game Informer, so I might as
well put it all out on the table so they know the score.
