Physical retail stores are dying. Gamestop closing approx 225 stores worldwide.

[GeekJump]

Who could have saw this coming!?!? I think everybody agrees it has to do with online services - either going digital or getting a physical copy from a website for cheaper (Amazon knocks off ~$12 on new physical copies for Prime members for example).

 

It looked like that were trying to branch out to fix the money issue by forming a game studio and merging with Thinkgeek but I guess it wasn't enough. The gamestop near me is the size of 2 normal gamestops and it 90% filled with clothing and TG items. It looks more like tamer hot topic or FYE with all the pop culture and nerd stuff but a tiny wall for video games. The last two times I went there was to get non-gaming stuff.

[MoonSpot]

1 hour ago, Kloaked said:

If they actually sold PC stuff I'd go more. I've been in there a couple times recently and they have zero PC stuff anymore.

Didn't help that for the last few years when you bought a physical copy for PC at any store, all we'd get is a blank disc with a digital download code on it.  If I can't play offline in my faraday man cage, then what's the point?  Seems publishers are quite eager to kill off retail, we've always known that they hate the used markets with a seething passion.

[Bouzoo]

I do buy more and more stuff digital, but that feeling when you go to a game store and they have everything, I feel like a happy little kid. Good luck getting that on Steam. 

[Okjoek]

For buying hardware: 110% online shopping.

 

For Software: I'm kind of torn, I like Steam, but sometimes I do wish I was using physical copy of somethings.

[alca]

Did I hear this right? 3% of all their stores equate to 225?

 

That would be... 7425 stores worldwide? Jesus.

[Orangeator]

Gamestop should just close all their stores and work on their site, be a digital provider online, like Steam in a way.

[Orangeator]

Just now, alca said:

Did I hear this right? 3% of all their stores equate to 225?

 

That would be... 7425 stores worldwide? Jesus.

GameStop has 6,614 stores in operation, of which 4,434 are located in the United States, 343 in Canada, 413 in Australia/New Zealand and 1,424 are in Europe

[DarkBlade2117]

1 hour ago, AG1233 said:

For consoles I would anyday choose Physical over digital.There's something about having a physical collection which IMO digital cant ever compete.

I don't. Much rather not deal with physical copies, wasted materials and space

[AG1233]

15 minutes ago, DarkBlade2117 said:

I don't. Much rather not deal with physical copies, wasted materials and space

Well it comes down to personal preference.As i said in my previous post there is something about physical game disks and cartridges that i absolutely love.

[That Norwegian Guy]

YES! fistpump!

 

 

Gamestop are a bunch of shitbaguettes and hopefully this means Nintendo will stop their damn "go to Gamestop to get this Pokémon" BULLSHIT.

[laminutederire]

27 minutes ago, Bouzoo said:

I do buy more and more stuff digital, but that feeling when you go to a game store and they have everything, I feel like a happy little kid. Good luck getting that on Steam. 

Lord gaben has heard your prayer and he'll let you browse games with a VR virtual store where you can hit on people of your area if needed!

[kuddlesworth9419]

I haven't even been to HMV in about 5 years. There is a good reason why these stores are dying.

[Bouzoo]

5 minutes ago, laminutederire said:

Lord gaben has heard your prayer and he'll let you browse games with a VR virtual store where you can hit on people of your area if needed!

That... is not even close.

[N3v3r3nding_N3wb]

Is there a list of number per country?  It'd be interesting to see the spread of percentages closed per country.

[MrRavens]

Saw this coming. Technically they could've been clever and created some benefits on coming to a Game Stop. But no, there's literally no reason to go. Prices are usually among the worst. Forget selling or returns there. How much you get and their policies are like a slap in your face, then proceed to spit in said face and then I swift kick to the nuts for good measure. I only comment from my previous experiences, maybe they got better idk. But really they came to the place where they simply just...existed. As a result, obviously all the other retail stores, more importantly the online stores (which they failed in diving into...could've been the microcenter of games and more...) came up and just squeezed them out of relevancy. Good riddance I say. You guys had a good run I guess. 

[MrRavens]

19 minutes ago, That Norwegian Guy said:

YES! fistpump!

 

 

 

LMFAOOOO

[Guest Kloaked]

1 hour ago, MoonSpot said:

Didn't help that for the last few years when you bought a physical copy for PC at any store, all we'd get is a blank disc with a digital download code on it.  If I can't play offline in my faraday man cage, then what's the point?  Seems publishers are quite eager to kill off retail, we've always known that they hate the used markets with a seething passion.

True. Though I did miss Gamestop trying to get rid of their excess PC copies of games I didn't want to pay full price for and weren't currently on sale on Steam.

[Lilninjsways]

Sorry dad.... welp.... (he works at gamestop and has been since it first started in north carolina)

[ProjectBox153]

Just now, Lilninjsways said:

Sorry dad.... welp.... (he works at gamestop and has been since it first started in north carolina)

Man, that sucks. Do we know which stores are closing (I live in North Carolina and like to visit the GameStops sometimes)?

[dizmo]

Haha, that title is a little sensationalist but it's definitely true for video games and music. As it should be. Music I can see why you'd want to have the digital version. Album art, signatures, etc. Video games, not  so much. Except consoles. Being able to sell a game if I hate it, or if I've beaten it is awesome. Plus with Amazon Primes discount I don't even really lose out on that much cash. 

 

2 hours ago, AluminiumTech said:

I think that more companies need to compete with Valve's Steam platform.

I do, they want to make lots of profit.

I don't. The last thing we need is 15 different download platforms we have to have installed. It's bad enough having 3. 

2 hours ago, AG1233 said:

For consoles I would anyday choose Physical over digital.There's something about having a physical collection which IMO digital cant ever compete.

I like the ability to sell it when I'm done with it. No post in keeping something around that I'll never play again. 

2 hours ago, Princess Cadence said:

I don't even have CD/DVD driver any more on my new rig, everything is downloaded already... Frankly the other day I was thinking, I know that cds and dvds are extremely cheap thus why they are used but wouldn't it be possible to migrate from those to some cheap usb solution?

-snip-

The thing is though...the USB solution is still potentially millions of dollars more than a simple download is. It still doesn't make sense financially. For monitors and such, I'm honestly surprised they even bother including the disc anymore. Should just give a download code. 

 

Most console games still make you download a good chunk online. 

2 hours ago, Teddy07 said:

I try to buy as much as I can online. I basically only buy groceries in the supermarket and that´s it.

You'll have times in your life when toy need soemthing, and waiting a day or two for delivery costs you dearly. Retail stores are very much a necessity for many reasons. 

2 hours ago, SpaceGhostC2C said:

-snip-

Retailers of certain products, like cloth  or shoes, still have the advantage of letting you try things out and see them in person (online pics aren't a good enough approximation yet), but they can still be cursed by the "tray at the store, buy online" pattern if they sell widely available products (say, if you sell Adidas stuff, there's no real reason to buy from you if the same can be obtained $0.01 cheaper online, unless delivery time matters and you happen to have the right size in stock).

I think saying that a $0.01 savings will sway people is a little far fetched. I and many of my friends would need to save at least $15 to $20 depending on the item for it to be worth waiting a few days to get it. 

1 hour ago, GeekJump said:

-snip-

 

It looked like that were trying to branch out to fix the money issue by forming a game studio and merging with Thinkgeek but I guess it wasn't enough. The gamestop near me is the size of 2 normal gamestops and it 90% filled with clothing and TG items. It looks more like tamer hot topic or FYE with all the pop culture and nerd stuff but a tiny wall for video games. The last two times I went there was to get non-gaming stuff.

I'm pretty sure the stuff you were biting was gaming related though, wasn't it.

I knew it'd go this way for a while. There's simply more margin in goods like clothes, the game section gets smaller and smaller. 

 

I love Amazon for their discount. I couldn't care less about extra skins or a weapon that will be obsolete 5 minutes into gameplay. Give me money in my pocket I can use for other things.  

[MeDownYou]

2 hours ago, AluminiumTech said:

 

I do, they want to make lots of profit.

How about, they have a PHYSICAL STORE to pay rent on.

 

Btw having a physical copy of a game means you can give it to a friend also especially if you are only gonna play it once.

[Humbug]

3 hours ago, AG1233 said:

For consoles I would anyday choose Physical over digital.There's something about having a physical collection which IMO digital cant ever compete.

Yes.

-taking up space

-getting scratched

-getting dusty

-getting lost

-getting knocked over and creating a mess

 

[Princess Luna]

19 minutes ago, MeDownYou said:

How about, they have a PHYSICAL STORE to pay rent on.

 

Btw having a physical copy of a game means you can give it to a friend also especially if you are only gonna play it once.

You also pay rent on domain, servers, storage, programmers and other employers, distribution and so on, it isn't like e-commerce/digital is free of cost, also nothing stops you from sharing your steam game library with your friend, my boyfriend and I shares our game libraries on steam with each other, I play The Witcher 3 through his library etc.

[SpaceGhostC2C]

26 minutes ago, dizmo said:

 

I think saying that a $0.01 savings will sway people is a little far fetched. I and many of my friends would need to save at least $15 to $20 depending on the item for it to be worth waiting a few days to get it. 

 

The idea wasn't to take the $0.01 to the letter 

In any case, what you describe falls under "delivery time matters", doesn't it?

 

[themctipers]

3 hours ago, AluminiumTech said:

Gamestop has experienced a reduced year over year sales of around 13% compared to the same time last year.

 

Gamestop has decided to close approximately 225 retail stores worldwide which equates to roughly 2-3% of their stores worldwide.

 

I agree with ReviewTechUSA's interpretation that this is due to digital downloads becoming more mainstream.

 

Source:

 

Frankly, if a retailer wants to sell me a product in a physical store then it needs to be something I can't get anywhere else for cheaper or something that I can't get anywhere else, period.

I'd recommend retailers to develop their own brand signature product so that customers have a reason to come back to that store.

i thought reviewtech usa died, i used to watch him

 

i remember him bitching about buying a 680 over a 670 because he upgraded from a 660 and a 670 is enough  

 

also i goto physical stores because 1. i cant buy online, 2. fuck shipping time, 3. it's the same/cheaper here to buy in store than online (PC HARDWARE IM TALKING ABOUT)

3 hours ago, Jamiec1130 said:

I have optical drives EVERYWHERE! I love them. 

mine are all ide

 

and my motherboard doesn't have a ide