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GameStop buys EB
Dram writes "Business Week, among others, is reporting that GameStop will buy Electronics Boutique for $1.4 billion. Hopefully this will allow both chains to better compete with Wal-Mart and Best Buy for our gaming dollars."
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Since I refuse to shop at walmart and theres no BB within an hour, my local EB is my first and usually only stop to buy games. There are actually 2 in my home town, one that sells mostly new games, one that sells mostly used. I can always find a copy of the game i want used (within a week or two of being released even! saw copies of halo2 used for $40 or so less than week after its debut). So, i hope this deal doesnt (negatively) impact the used games market. While i would love to support developers and buy everything new, i really dont have the cash for that.
"Something's wrong with you...and I hope we never do meet again." - Deftones When Girls Telephone Boys
"Shares of Electronics Boutique rose even higher -- up $14.42 or 35.1 percent, to $55.54 -- in trading Monday morning on the Nasdaq Stock Market."
Judging on the current volatility in the games market, some people would decide to sell any stock they own at this point. It would probably be worth remembering about the PS3 and Xbox2 being just around the corner. This buyout will create a company definitely worth watching.
Business Voyeur
Hopefully this will allow both chains to better compete with Wal-Mart and Best Buy for our gaming dollars.
I don't understand, both GameStop and EB suffer from varying degrees of suckiness. I've had to deal with enough crap from both stores to wish they'd just go out of business altogether.
While Walmart and Best Buy might not be all that great either, they are ALWAYS, WITHOUT EXCEPTION cheaper or equal in pricing to GameStop/EB for new games.
Used games are a different story, but when I see games that retail new for $19.99 selling for $17.99 used, or $49.99 games selling for $44.99 used, I feel like you're a sucker for buying used games there (this intarweb thing works pretty well for that). On top of which is the fact that you won't get more than $5 cash/store credit for selling that $49.99 game that they turn around and sell for $44.99. Bastards.
Mod me a troll if you must, but I doubt I'm the only one with these complaints.
why? forty-two.
..those EB Games pre-orders.
This could be pretty bad for EB Games employees, because, at least in my hometown, there's never a GameStop shop that doesn't have a competing EB Games shop nearby. In fact, GS and EB are only two blocks away from each other in my neighborhood. I guess this means a lot of annoying, "I totally know more about the PSP than you do" people are gonna be broke and living with their parents soon. If they weren't already, anyway.
So I wonder why it was Gamestop that took the initiative to issue a bunch of debt to buy EB?
Given the co-operation of the EB people in the vote, it seems more like a merger than an acquasition.
I really hope that EB doesn't get it's great service dilluted by GS's management.
EB was the only place I could go to buy and sell used PC games. Gamestop doesn't do that, for whatever (presumably political) reasons. Now where am I to go? (Don't say ebay, it's not the same).
Hopefully this will allow both chains to better compete with Wal-Mart and Best Buy for our gaming dollars."
This may suprise you, but when chain stores consolidate, it rarely leads to more and good competition.
Frequently, the reverse happens. The big chains simplify their inventory, reduce service, and only do the absolute minimum to compete with the likes of Wal Mart.
Unfortunately, the consumers won't always shop elsewhere. There isn't always a convenient choice.
94% of Repubs and 21% of Dems voted to renew the Patriot Act
I can't imagine buying a game from a local store unless I had a gift card or something.
The last time I tried to buy a game (UT2K4) locally, every place I went either didn't have it, had only one version (dvd instead of cd was popular), for pennies off what it was when it was brand new, but marked on sale (when online retailers were selling it for ~30).
They rip their customers off, I buy from someone who doesn't.
Pulp Audio Weekly - Geek News and Reviews
Every Gamestop I've ever been in is dark, dirty, has unhelpful employees, and has a poor selection of games. Every EB I've been in is clean, has cheerful, helpful salespeople and has a good selection of games.
I'm disappointed.
My other Slashdot ID is much lower.
My town only has an EB, and not a GameStop. Maybe if they're turning it into a GameStop, they'll start selling $1.99 used strategy guides.
;D
Don't knock used games. If you know what you're looking for, you can make a killing selling the stuff. I picked up a used, great condition copy of Valkyrie Profile up at the GameStop in the next town for 39.99 (omg highway robbery!?), cleaned the sticker gunk off of it, and sold it on eBay for $91.00.
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I turn to the PSP launch as a case in point of how they suck at competing with BB and WalMart.
Both of my local GS ring me the same old line of "Preorders only, not enough for everyone..."
But I go to Best Buy that morning, and they have 500 consoles for a line of 20 people.
Are you telling me that a retailer that has a 3:1 location advantage over another retailer can't stock a better ratio of consoles?
They can grasp at straws of "not being as big" as the other guy, but they're in this industry, not outside of it. They need to learn to get customers, you need to stock the merchandise.
I'm suprised that their pre-order scare tactic sales technique has lasted as long as it does.
I haven't pre-ordered ANY game since Super Monkey Ball 2, and I've NEVER had a problem finding that game in stock, ANYWHERE local.
I'm stunned the explosion of the small gamestores. Prices rarely vary, and I've always ordered (or pre-ordered) my games online. I don't know how these brick-and-mortar stores can make a profit, much less cover the costs of running the store.
Maybe I have a bias because I'm PC-only, and I can usually demo the games that I'm interested in before I buy.
One man's Funny is another man's Offtopic.
My local mall already has TWO Gamestops and TWO EBs. Either some people are going to be out of jobs, or it's going to be hilarious seeing four Gamestops in one mall.
How weird, I refuse to shop anywhere BUT Wal-Mart.
In this case, though, the idea is valid. EB, Gamestop, and the rest of the specialty retailers are getting creamed by Walmart, Target, Kmart, Toys R Us, Best Buy, and the rest of the superstores. I can't specify numbers, but one could ignore the specialty retailers and still have quite healthy sales.
In other words, EB / Gamestop / etc aren't competing with eachother, they're competing with the superstores. And they're losing. And they're in danger of disappearing.
I've not been terribly happy with EB in the past 10 years, and their employees have been legendarily unhappy with corporate policies. I would much rather Funco have taken over EB, and not the reverse. But Funco was even more of a specialty store, catering to the used NES game crowd.
In my not-so-humble opinion, EB / Gamespot need to work on getting more space, bigger aisles, and not cluttering their stores like they were libraries. Their stores are an intimidating wall of noise, noise which continues inside. Even if they're not going to go full Apple store sleek, they should at least go Suncoast. Simplifying their inventory might be a first step. I don't see how it would be possible for EB to reduce service any, short of slapping every customer that walks in the door. But reducing the noise and helping people to find good games (recommended section?) should be their first steps.
The ______ Agenda
I wish the guys that work at the local EB stay because GameStop employees are more annoying. GameStop employee never seem to shut up. No, I don't want hear about some Japanese import. That's great you finished the game - I don't care. Do I have to bring in my copy of Katamari Damacy so you don't make fun of me to the other employees like I am not here when I buy Madden 2005. Dammit stop yammering about some game to a soccer mom just trying to buy a game for her kid and get my damn game for me.
GameStop, EB, etc will always have a niche in the marketplace. There really do need to be exclusive video gaming stores in order to attract audiences that Wal-Mart, BB, etc do not wish to cater to. However, these niche stores will never be able to compete with Wal-Mart or Best Buy. The ones that have tried to compete on a customer-service-based approach have either gone under or changed their ways. Anybody remember when Software ETC let you return opened games for a refund within 30 days?
Niche Stores also can't compete with the raw buying power of the chain stores. Things like returning a PSP is no problm at Wal-Mart. Just tell them you want your money back and they'll gladly give it to you. I've even returned open games to Wal-Mart after some arguing. GameStop and EB have to go along with things like dead pixel policies because they don't have the power to bully Sony like Wal-Mart does.
I'd like to address some of the concerns people are having with this merger.
;)
1) Their customer service is going to change.
- Not entirely true. I've worked at both EB and Gamestop, and EB has a strong and well-developed program in customer service and sales training while Gamestop has almost none (as of 2000). Once both companies sit down and analyze each other's practices it'd be logical to assume that EB's method of training will be incorporated. This is also backed by the fact that EB employees make more annually than Gamestop employees, and EB still turned a higher profit last year.
As for the matter of the return policy, it changed because of copyright laws, not some corporate mandate.
2) It's going to affect the used games market.
- It should affect it at all, honestly. Rather, it should help stabilize it. There is a huge glut on the market as far as used product goes. Trade in prices are dictated by the amount the company has already vs the rate at which it's selling. That's why sports games trade in at such a low rate: once the current version comes out, previous versions get traded in at a huge rate and it devalues. Both companies rely on trades, so if trades stifled they would definitely addresss it, therefore it's safe to assume the prices would drop too.
Btw, the $44.99 game likely had a trade in price of $25 to $35. This is how retailers like EB and Gamestop make profit. Average cost of a game is around $47. Companies like this can't keep their lights on just by selling hardware (which they sometimes lose money on) and new software. The profit margins from preowned is what keeps these companies afloat.
Plus, with discount programs available, a preowned version of a new release being priced at $40 is actually a good deal sometimes (especially with BOGO sales).
3) Gamestop is going to close stores in malls with multiple locations.
- Again, this is not entirely true. Right now, an EB is open because it's getting business. If Gamestop closes a store because it is too close to another, it's a perfect opportunity for a competitor, say... Gamecrazy to move right in because they know that store gets traffic. As it stands, there are actually malls in America that have three EB stores in them, and they all get good traffic. I know there will be closings, but there will be many more openings.
4) Prices will go up.
- But they may go down. Prices are dictated by cost vs profits. Right now, the bulk quantity that EB and Gamestop purchase at gets a resulting cost of about $47 a game, as I mentioned earlier. Now, with some 3000+ stores in the US (more in Europe and Asia) Gamestop can now purchase games in a higher quantity, meaning a higher bulk discount and more profit from the $49.99 price point. If anything, it'd be an incentive for prices to stay where they are and more incentive to have sales on games.
As an EB employee, I'm very optimistic about this merger. If nothing else, I at least made a quick 1k off of stock sales
(From the Laws of Japanese Animation) Law of Inherent Combustibility -- Everything explodes. Everything.
I almost took a job as Electronics boutique store manager.
I'm glad I didn't.
There is a game crazy (part of hollywood video) in our town that seems to cater to the console-game people. The only diffy between EB & Game Crazy is that Game Crazy doesn't carry PC games (a bummer, since that's my primary gaming platform.)
I kind of wonder if this is karma kicking in vis-a-vis EB. I was there last weekend, and the guy wanted to give these kids $1 for a DDR game pad that they paid $100 when they bought it off of him.
Maybe I'm a schliemel, but I bought that, 2 play station games, a couple of N64 games off of them for $10. They were only looking to make some lunch money.
I did get some nasty glares from the EB people.
Did anybody else buy the EB preferred advantage card? I hope they still honor that after this deal carries through.
If GameStop and EB are doing so poorly, why do they seem to be expanding so rapidly?
One man's Funny is another man's Offtopic.
I like EB because of its pricematching with cheaper games (e.g., Fry's and Best Buy's ads usually on the first week of PC game releases), rebates once in a while, and being able to sell my very old PC games easily. I also don't do online shoppings and auctions.
Ant(Dude) @ Quality Foraged Links (AQFL.net) & The Ant Farm (antfarm.ma.cx / antfarm.home.dhs.org).
Perhaps it has something to do with the EULA you so quickly pass over and never read. If you ever bothered to read it, you might have noticed that it mentions things like: I will only use this on one computer; I agree to be the sole owner/user of this software license; I will not resell this; etc. etc. etc. That is the reason that Gamestop does not purchase used games. It is not for any political reasons. I have never figured out how EB got away with it because they could have been sited for it at any time.
Everytime I go into any of these little gaming specialty stores (GameStop, EB, GameCrazy), there's always the dude in there who has to bash my system. If I'm in there looking at Nintendo stuff, they'll tell me that Nintendo is dead. The other day I was in there just playing a demo and the two employees were talking loudly back and forth about how the Nintendo DS stood for "Nintendo Dead System". I kept thinking, "Wow, this really makes me want to buy my DS games here!".
Perhaps they need to be screen out the fanboy's in their hiring process.
Forget the whales - save the babies.
In this dream, the "Niche Store," rather than trying to compete with faceless juggernauts like Walmart and Best Buy, tries to respect gamers and offer a service that those places don't: knowledgeable attendants who make honest recommendations, good deals on used carts, gamer-community-oriented events (LAN parties, multiplayer tourneys) and more.
If I walked in to any EB or GS store in the country and said "Hey I'm looking for some backlog Treasure titles, what do you have?" and the employee said "Well we've got a near-mint Dynamite Headdy and a good Gunstar Heroes, plus an imported Silhouette Mirage," I would basically shit my pants on the spot.
Local record stores have been working on this model since the 70s: get stuff the big chains miss or can't carry for cost/margin reasons, employ people who love the products you carry, and provide a service to the community. Host the equivalent of events like open-mic nights, or acoustic performances by rising stars: showcase games made by people who live nearby, or have release parties for exciting new games.
I realize that it is a chain like many others, but they are going to be CRUSHED if they don't find a way to make themselves more valuable.
How many of you would pay an extra $2-$5 for a game if you really respected, trusted, and loved the people and store you bought it from? You'll get no complaints from me!
Gamestop showed up to pick up their EB today, but were informed that since they didn't pre-order, there were none in stock for them. They were able to special order it, but it may be a few weeks.
-Cliff
There is the distinct possibility that the big boxes had so many units because the small stores sold more PSPs at launch since they are the place people go for preorders.
Probably an infinite number of people can preorder up to a certain date and that store will likely be guaranteed every unit it needs unless the demand is absolutely ridiculous. After that happens, the big box that doesn't take preorders appears to have a massive stock because all the launch day people already have theirs.
Where I live, the California bay area, every single store sold out it's PSP launch stock and usually it's next couple shipments after that. The big boxes were cleaned out, so if you wanted it on the first day, a small store preorder would be the way to go.
For all the people that complain about EB, when I worked at EB (3+ years as an assistant manager), there were good, solid, friendly people who visited our store more than once a week. They loved us, and we loved them. These people had been customers since opening day. Our relationships with these people reminded me very much of how it must have been like to run a smalltown hardware store at the turn of the century; we did them good by working deals in their favor when we could, and they always came to us when they bought games. Basically, the way business should work.
That all changed when they brought Steve Morgan on board, maybe a year after I'd been working there. Up to that point, EB had been essentially a family business. The board had hired people from inside the company to run itself. But Morgan was from a department store. I knew someone who was inside the company enough to have talked to Morgan, and Morgan was quoted as saying that he'd never played a game in his life and never would. He didn't have children, and never wanted them.
Joe Firestone, on the other hand, was CEO when Morgan was brought on. This guy exemplified leadership. He'd write inspirational, funny columns in our mailbox newsletter every week. Think of a fireside chat for video game employees. He knew what it was like to be one of us, and his emphasis was always the customer.
The first thing Morgan did was set quotas on the stores for selling Game Doctors. It went downhill from there. When I left, they were changing the return policy to a Best Buy variant (you breath on it and you cannot refund it). He revamped the training that focused less on customer relationships and more on the bottom line.
Firestone retired soon after they brought Morgan onboard. Jeff Griffiths replaced him, but it was clear even to the 5 hour a week part time employee that he was a puppet for Morgan. I haven't been in EB for two years now, but I have no doubt that Morgan had something to do with this buyout. Only people from outside the company, who had no vested interest in the company itself, no history, would have sold out EB.
It's sad, actually. Many of the things people complain about when they're talking about EB stem from Morgan's policies. Sure, EB has always had arrogant assholes behind the counter or "unfair" trade-in values, but the underlying philosophy is now (obviously) completely different. The customers were first. Likewise, under Firestone, employees were treated fairly well and with respect. That started to change when Morgan came in.
Morale of the story? Watch out for outsiders coming in, because they don't give a damn about anything except their own stock values - especially not the customer.
I can't help but think that this decision hurts the people it really shouldn't hurt: the customers (who no have no choice or direct competition), and the hard working EB employees who will no doubt have to fend for their own jobs against longtime Gamestop employees. You think the clueless employees are bad now? Wait until EB/Gamestop starts to resemble the only competition they have left: Best Buy and Walmart. My guess is that the internal employee relations will reflect the same practices as Best Buy and Walmart too.
Get out, video game store employees, while you can.
Honestly, I never really could tell the difference between EB and GameStop. I don't know what niche GS and EB fill! You can find all that new crap at BB or Walmart. But if there's a good stock of used stuff, especially old school, I'll return often.
Like GameCrazy - I love that place. They have old school games! And the employees are familiar with them! (At least, at the one near me!)
I recently grabbed my bro's Genesis and got a replacement SNES from eBay... there's just something really appealing about the classics. Maybe it's because I'm old. I also got a NES and 2600.
My stupid web site
...their prices are almost always cheaper, if you want new games that is. if you continue supporting (financially) the idiots at ebgames/gamestop they'll continue being the losers that they are, and milking all the kids of their lunch money.
sigs suck
Simplifying the inventory is the opposite of what they should do. Lots of them are mall stores, and none of them have all that much space. Well, that's not true, there's a funcoland (or now, a gamestop) near santa clara someplace that's got a pretty big floor space, but in generally they're really small. Anyway, a game store without a selection might as well just close the door, because people will get tired of going there and not finding anything they're looking for. In fact, gamestop already cut off everything that I loved funcoland for; They dropped all pre-32 bit systems, and also stopped carrying stuff for sega saturn. Now I only go in for shit like cables and memory cards, and the occasional used game.
"You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
From what I read about the PSP launch, the specialty retailers sold out of PSP's reasonably often, while the Walmart / Target type places had plenty on hand.
The PSP appealed to hard core gamers willing to burn money for a PSP. More casual gamer types who tend to pick up games at Walmart were not about to burn that much for the console.
END COMMUNICATION
Alot of people bash pre-orders and complain about how aggessive EB / Gamestop are in pushing them.
However, Pre-Orders are probably the safest way for a specialty shop to go. Ordinarily, they would only order as many copies as they think will sell. Pre-orders are guaranteed sales. They know that the copy will be bought. They dont have to waste shelf space on it.
In general, if you want to guarantee a game at launch, pre-order it. If you want to buy within a month or so of launch, go to Walmart and get the better price.
If you want to buy a game several months past its launch date, and its a B grade title, you need to go to a specialty shop.
The game is the same regardless where your buying it. Just know when you want it, and shop accordingly.
END COMMUNICATION
I believe that's the Funcoland on Wolfe avenue near Valco Mall that you're referring to.
The smaller funcolands, like the one in Tustin next to the Target there, used to keep their older games in drawers. That way their selection stayed large, but the store stayed relatively free of clutter. If you wanted to go diving into the NES section you could, but the casual gamer could walk in and get a new system and a new block of games without getting overwhelmed.
The ______ Agenda
Next, I bet, you're gonna tell me that Adobe bought Macromedia. Now THAT would be crazy!
Yes, the funcoland (now gamestop) in Capitola (behind the mall) used to keep their used games in drawers, too. Actually, gamestop still has games for which they have no covers in drawers, but they never have anything good, as store employees will often buy them and put them on ebay. In other words, exactly what I would do if I worked there.
"You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
There *IS* no market competition for new games. 49.99 or 49.96 at Wal*Mart so they can still claim to be the "Low price leader". Gamestop and EB? Oh look 49.99. At least at Best Buy or Wal*Mart you don't have the community college dropout that works there pestering you to pre-order every over hyped future bomb.
No sig for you!!
Just go to Frys if there's one in your area. They often offer lower than usual prices on games that bave been out 0-2 weeks. The only good thing about these two clone stores (EB and Gamestop) is their used games. This merger won't affect me much.
0- Eamonman Proud member of DNRC
I've always had a sore spot with gamestop from when they were babbages. Or maybe they bought babbages, who knows. All I know is at one point there opened up a computer store and it was amazing, it was the only one in the area.
After about 5 or 6 years an EB finally opened its doors across the way. Everything in EB was 10 dollars cheaper. I guess it was the standard. Instantly all Babbages prices dropped 10 bucks and they had a price matching plan where if you saw something in EB cheaper you could walk over and tell them and get it matched down.
Still made me sorta hate babbages for marking everything up when they had the monopoly on the area.
Hey buisness is buisness, I get it, but I still check EB first everytime.
As a side note, I have noticed that in the EB's i've been going to the pc game section has pretty much shrunk down to a shelf or two while the consols take over the store. Sorta makes me sad. But the areas I've been to are definatly the types where they are going to get a lot of used game traffic for consols and there really arent many "pc gaming" types in the area.
Well, I work at the local Barnes and Noble (the only B&N in the world to have an EB Games on the same strip (since as you may not know, Barnes and Noble owns GameStop) and now well, it doesn't really matter that they don't have GameStop near them. Hmm, I wonder if I get discounts at EB Games now... even though I sort of did before, through connections and friends. This is very interesting though.
"Instant gratification takes too long." - Carrie Fisher
"The other thing I have an issue with is how EB has a habit of opening a new copy of a game to be able to put it on the display shelf. If it's the last copy in stock, they want to sell it to you at the price of a new game, even though the goo from the 5 stickers that have been put on the case and the discs that have just been kept in a drawer somewhere can put the game in a condition that can be worse than many used games."
Demand the 10% shop-worn discount. Managers have been told forever that they're not supposed to use it, but they will if you ask for it politely enough.
--
Internet Explorer (n): Another bug -- that is, a feature that can't be turned off -- in Windows.
It seems the UK our GAME set of stores might have been an alternative target. The Game group actually bought the UK Electronic Boutique stores out a few years back as well.
http://www.channelregister.co.uk/2005/04/19/game_g roup_takeover_talks_end/
Game Group takeover talks end
Game Group, the UK computer games retailer, yesterday said takeover talks with a mystery suitor had ended. Shares slumped by a quarter on the news. Shareholder speculation about a bid flushed out a statement by Game Group on 31 confirming talks.
The company refused to say who and why, but unnamed sources quoted by Reuters, say there is a "connection between the collapse of talks and the $1.44bn acquisition of Electronics Boutique by its bigger US rival GameStop Corp", announced yesterday.
In a statement today, Game Group said it expects challenging 2005, thanks to price deflation. But March was good, with like-for-sales up eight per cent on last year. For the full year, the retailer pulled in pre-tax profits of £31.9m.
Professor Karmadillo Songs of Science
This is all I need to fulfill my gaming needs:
GoGamer.com
find . -name "noobs" -print | xargs rm -rf && echo "pwnd."
Ivan256, the original poster, used this one incident to imply that Electronics Boutique has a corporate directive to break the law.
Many states disallow waiver of the implied warranty of fitness for a particular purpose. When a game shop sells, for example, a PC game with system requirements listed on the side of the box, it's implied that the software contained in that box is fit to run on the specified hardware. In the past EB would accept returns of games. If you bought a game that was buggy and crashed frequently you could simply return the game to the store.
I live in Massachusetts. It's one of the states that disallows the waiver of implied warranties. Under EB's new return policy, you can't return software that has been open unless you're exchanging it for another copy of the same title. If the game doesn't work, then that policy is against the law.
What makes this worse is that they falsely claim that this policy exists to prevent piracy. If this were the case, they wouldn't let you sell the game back to them for trade-in credit... The policy change, illegally, in order to prop up their high margin used games business.
Why push "PreOrders" as you call them?
We 'push' reservations for upcoming titles because it 1) saves us a ton of money on games that people say they they want, publishers hype like mad, and no one buys; 2)because it is a gaurenteed game for you on release day. It doesn't even cost you anything! $5 that goes to the price of the game anyway. Now, are some employees to pushy about it? Yea, there will always be those people.
Let me point something else out to you. Our stock on hand levels and initial shipments of games are based on # of reservations and popularity. Why didn't your EB/GS have enough of that title? Because of people like you who have to bitch about preorders.
Next: "then there's no reason not to buy your games at Wal-Mart."
Here's a reason. When was the last time you could go and pick a game off the shelf at WM and have even a remote chance that any employee in that entire store had played the game, and was able to tell you if you'd like it based on other games you've played and liked?
Not enough? How about the fact that both EB and GS have a price match policy?
Next: "they should have a return policy that doesn't violate the laws of most states."
Now, I don't know much about the laws of the other 49 states in this country, but I do know that MY GS follows every law of my state, to the fullest of our ability. As far as our return polocies being unfair... How? You might be able to just bitch about it because we won't take that PC game you took home, burned, and now want 100% back. You open a new game, take it home, play it for 5 minutes and decide it's a shitty game. Did you even try to ask us if it was good? At least 80% of the time we'll know. It's what we're paid to know. And if we don't, buy the used copy that is a) cheaper and b) has a 7 day satisfaction full return.
As far as poor customer service goes, that's completly a personal opinion about that single, individual location. It does not reflect either anyone elses experiance in GS or EB nor does it mean that anyone of the 4k stores worldwide will have the same horrible service. To be quite honest, Go shop at WalMart. I'm happier w/o your $ in my till. Gives me more time to talk with the people who do want to come into my store and enjoy gameing.
hey! just so ya'll know, it's your own fault that the once great return policies turned to shit. As a former employee of GS (with many *friends* who work at EB) the customers are the ones who ended the great return policies. First, flagrant abuse that resulted in "renting" games at $50. and then one of you jagoffs sued the companies for selling them a "rented" copy of some game that was shitty that you paid too much for in the first place.
what you really need to remember is this:
when you play a cd or dvd in your system all that it get exposed to is photons. yes,
(ph)ucking photons. Unfortunatly, this lead to it being cost "ineffective" to continue these policies. Check around, Blockbuster had something similiar, toys r us, eB and gamestop all had similiar, then one by one they changed. all from class action suits (the rumor was that one person or group started each one).
SO a) don't blame the companies for doing something cost effective, cause if they don't then anything that you do like about them will change when they go belly up! and b) if you were any good at video games in the first place you could beat them and trade 'em in within the first month and get $30 value for it.
as for gs and eb merging.... on the one hand i think great, a bigger rival for wal-mart.
on the other, it's sad to see the lack of competition, and the fact that none of you guys realize that the only way to get wal-mart to stop their underhanded business practices and lack of competant....anyone, is not, i repeat NOT FUCKING SHOP THERE. but what the hell do i know i didn't make them the largest corporation in the world. you did. and so did your four toothed sister(/mother/cousin/aunt/wife whichever and/or all that fit. and if you don't understand you probably rode the short bus didn't you).