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Are Exclusive Games GameStop's Secret Weapon?
An anonymous reader writes "It's one thing to try to muscle out the competition, but when you start to lock down the sales of certain games, consumers lose. This is how GameStop hopes to compete against the big box retailers. With sales of games predominantly happening at stores like Walmart or Best Buy, they must feel that extreme measures are required. 'Chulip--an offbeat game involving kissing--has been released in the US to the cheers of fans of quirky games. The only problem is that EBGameStop is going to be the only place to buy it. Strategy gamers will be annoyed to hear that The Settlers for the DS will also be an EBGameStop exclusive. The game has been getting some favorable early buzz, but if you'd like to buy it on the 28th of next month... well, you know where you'll have to go.'"
if they want to cripple their sales by only selling in one place be my guest. And if gamestop has the business chops to land such a deal, also, be my guest.
I have a gamestop in my town. I try to support them whenever I can. I have a PSP and buy used titles there regularly. I can't believe that they have the buying/selling power to get exclusives on any big titles. Do you think this is coming from smaller titles/publishers to get support from a national vendor?
I don't mind, I know it costs a lot to run a GameStop/EB Games, and I also know that they don't make very much money on each sale...I like konwing that I can go buy a MASSIVE library of Xbox games for under 20 dollars each (many under 10) and it's only a coupl eminute drive away.
Sure, of course I prefer the mom-and-pop game stores, but those are nearly non-existant nowadays. While I am aware that Gamestop is one of the reasons WHY they went away, there are still some great deals there
Living With a Nerd
I vaguely recall that GameStop has been doing this for a while now - it was just that none of the games were really worth caring about. From what I can tell of the Ars article, the writer is mostly sound and fury - there still aren't any blockbuster games that are GameStop only. He seems more pissed off that it's GameStop, which he apparently does not like very much.
I'm not a big fan of this trend, but it doesn't seem to be going anywhere, either.
Plausible conjecture should not be misrepresented as proof positive.
No, their secret weapon is game resales. They buy games back for a few dollars and resell them for just under full price. They actively push used copies, putting them at the front of the store and offering used copies to people buying new.
It is hitting certain game styles enough (primarily single player, plot driven games) that fewer are being made. Offline games pushed to build in 'contact the server before you play' model, requiring an internet connection to play single player games. Or publisher based online distrobution, where transfering ownership costs money if it is possible at all.
They're like WMDs that everyone makes a big fuss about but can't find. Until I saw this /. article, I had no idea that GameStop had any secret weapons. I thought they sell video games.
I used to run a brick and mortar chain of stores (skateboarding, paintball, etc) that went bankrupt due to tax incompetency on our part. But we learned some important lessons along with our suppliers -- even with the Internet quickly dismantling brick and mortar operations, we were a VERY important arm of the manufacturer's life because of our direct end-user support. As our local competitors fell to the online pricing, we were growing because we supported our customers (even for online purchases). In the video game world, it isn't as big of a deal, but the gaming industry still needs brick and mortar stores for more than just sales.
Our most important items were those that we had received to sell before the online merchants did -- at a decent margin (50-60% profit). It took about 2 years for the manufacturers to offer these "brick and mortar-only" products, but they helped us so much that it gave us reason to open additional stores.
I don't think you'll see tons of games go local-only, but those that do will help to keep the local stores open, and for the manufacturers this is a very important area to keep alive. I can't see the negatives, except that the more local-oriented family stores won't have that competitive edge, which is definitely a loss.
It's difficult for anyone to compete with Wally World on price alone -- but where Gamestop et al could do well is on service and convenience. My local Wal-Mart's game selection is absolutely horrible. They probably still aren't aware that there are two versions of Flight Simulator X, let alone add-ons.
What smaller stores can offer is a store by gamers, for gamers -- with employees who understand what the games are about (c'mon, finding gamer employees can't be that hard). Just like comic book/game stores can stay in business by providing niche services and products (where else are you gonna find a blue pearlescent D30 for your collection?), Gamestop and similar stores can attract customers by just providing better service.
Some things they might try are:
* Guaranteed availability of games on launch day (I believe they already do this; I don't think Wal-Mart bothers.)
* Try-before-you-buy, with a bunch of really cool peripherals set up (to encourage sales of these, too),
* Courier service, for lazy geeks who want their games now but don't want to drive to the mall (maybe work with a pizza-delivery joint?),
* Web delivery of games (I just downloaded Ship Simulator, which is 300+ meg; it got here in just a few minutes. Much easier for everyone involved than buying a CD from a store or using FedEx.)
Bottom line -- they shouldn't need strong-arm tactics like this. Can't really fault them much, though; it seems like it's becoming more and more common. 8-(
Paleotechnologist and connoisseur of pretty shiny things.
Personally, I refuse to 'support' any store ... If a company wants my money they have to offer me something that has value to me.
Now, this doesn't mean I refuse to shop at smaller stores but the smaller shops I use tend to have better customer service, wider selection, or are more convienient; I'm not going to go out of my way to pay more for Sponge-bob (a gift for my Niece) to have to deal with an over-weight college drop out (who smells like a dead moose) with an attitude.
Exclusives give me a reason to visit a store that's not based off price and convenience. For instance, if I want a copy of Half-Life 2, I have no reason to visit a nearby GameStop if I can get it cheaper at a nearby Target. If Target is the only one who has it, though, I have to go there- and I will probably end up paying more too, since there is no competition for that title.
While this does shaft the consumer slightly, we only notice because games are normally sold by resellers, not the original manufacturer. (McDonald's, for instance, doesn't allow resellers to sell Big Macs). Lots of things we buy are only availible from one store, while things like grocery stores ususally have a mix of exclusive and non-exclusive items. It looks like Game stores want to emulate the grocery store model.
You are reading a copy of my copyrighted post.
These places charge MSRP always, without exception, never heard of a sale. Meanwhile, Fry's typically put's a $50 game on sale for $35 the first couple of days it's released, and then again within 6 months. I used to buy the SJ Mercury every Friday just to get the Fry's ad to see what games were on sale, but now I can even save my $0.50 since the Mercury put the Fry's ad online.
....then they wouldn't have to pull this crap.
The chains that GameStop absorbed (Funcoland, EB, etc...) never had the anti-customer practices that Gamestop has, and the remaining vidoe game specialty stores don't do the little things that make GameStop so terrible. I don't know what they're thinking, but perhaps they'd be better served to stop doing the things that chase the customers away rather than tring to force customers to shop there when they don't want to. I know that with me only one of those things is likely to work.
What types of things am I talking about? Imposing draconian quotas on their employees, which causes the sales associates to bully the customer into sales to prevent losing their job; Forcing pre-orders for items which are not in short supply; Paying pathetic trade-in values while charging outrageous prices for used titles; Maintaining a poor back catalog; Accepting vendor promotions that encourage their sales associates to favor one vendor over others at no real gain to the company; Cramming so much marketing material into the store that you can't find anything you're looking for; Locking PC games in huge plastic security boxes; Selling non-guaranteed pre-orders; Selling not-for-resale demo copies as "used"; etc.
Fix some of those things. It can't be that hard, and it can't cost that much. Then, maybe, I'll consider shopping at GameStop again. Until then I'll take a page out of their book and buy the games they "lock up as exclusives" used from somebody else.
I'm ok with EB/Gamestop getting things that Best Buy/Walmart/etc doesn't. It makes sense that by going into a dedicated gamestore that you'll find a better selection than going somewhere that isn't. But EB/Gamestop isn't the only gamestore. My friend manages a GameCrazy, and I'm at his store all the time for game tournaments and stuff, but when I want say, the collector's edition of FF12, I can't just buy it from his store. There's also a few locally owned stores in my neighborhood that get left out by these deals. I don't want to see EB/Gamestop become a monopoly, and deals like this just get them closer and closer to that.
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Toys R Us does that every so often, just not with software only. I remember they used to get exclusive versions of Nintendo hardware. There was an exclusive N64 package that included Pokemon Stadium as I recall. More recently (and more fresh in my memory) they had an exclusive color of the GameBoy Advance, before the SP came out.
How'd it work out for them? These exclusives are few and far between so seems like not so well.
Unless the games are actually published by Gamestop/EB or a subsidiary, the only way they could have gotten an exclusive deal is if they pledged to buy a whole lot more games than the publisher would have expected to sell from normal distribution channels. Which suggests the game won't sell very well. Which ALSO suggests that quirky games don't sell well. Whether or not that's true I won't contest but that's an unfortunate suggestion because anything that isn't the same old same old in gaming is something I most certainly welcome.
More Twoson than Cupertino
The problem is we're seeing the death of Gamestop.
Before anyone cheer or wails, let me explain.
In America convenience sells. Yes, there are people who will go out of their way to make sure what they're getting is a quality product. However, the majority of consumers won't seek out that small, family run business no matter how good it is. Whatever's closest to home or on the way back from work is what gets their business.
Now a lot of people buy groceries, clothes, and other things at Walmart and similar stores. A lot of people go to Best Buy for music and movies. A lot of people have multiple errands to do on a Saturday morning when they'd rather be relaxing at home. Why go to 8 individual stores for specific task X when you can go to one or two which cover all of them?
It all boils down to Hardcore versus Casual again. Before Walmart and others caught on that video games were good sellers, everyone had to go to places like Funcoland, Babbages, EBX etc. to get games. It was a good time to be a specialty store. However, once the giants entered the scene they took away a large portion of casual gamers. The casual gamers aren't likely to have enough motivation to seek out a GameStop if there's a closer Walmart or Best Buy.
Meanwhile, hardcore gamers still know that Gamestop is the best bet for finding game X, used or new. Best Buy and Walmart will only rarely have a game over a year old, and that's only if it was either really popular or really bad. The only better option is the internet, but that requires shipping. Sadly, in the very near future it may be the only recourse for titles marketed but little.
What we see here is GameStop's desperate attempt to remain relevant. With Best Buy thinking about reselling used games, the niche Gamestop fills is shrinking. They need a tangible edge over the giants in order to compete, and the giants have been eating away those for some time. The better selection isn't tangible to most casual gamers, so that isn't enough. Gamestop needs something obvious.
Hence, exclusive titles.
As people have already pointed out, this is akin to suicide for developers. When the purchasing power of the casual gamer is becoming paramount, why would you restrict your title to a single store more known for its hardcore crowd. Unless A) your game sucks, B) your game is specifically directed at the hardcore crowd, C) your game is an AAA title that will sell bajillions anyway or D) you've been offered more money than you could ever make on the title, I just don't see the incentive.
So we're left with a fangless GameStop, fighting off bigger predators in a desperate bid for survival. Personally, I'm sad. Gamestop may not be the best thing ever, but losing it will leave a gap in gamer culture. We're no longer special enough to warrant our own store.
Eventually, whether or not GameStop survives, games will finally be recognized as mass media and will receive the attention they deserve. At which point specialty stores will return to viability (ala Suncoast Video). Until then, it'll be a struggle for GameStop to compete.
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I'd rather deal with the very worst of EB/Gamestop's staff and policies, than let them sink in favor of centralizing distribution around Best Buy, much less around Wal Mart. Wal Mart actually censors games by refusing to carry certain titles; imagine if they're the only game store in town, then you'd really be screwed.
And to the screeching Wal Mart apologists: if online sales trumped Wal Mart's "decency" controls, why is Wal Mart still such a dominating factor in game sales? Hmm?
--- Grow a pair, liberals... stop letting the Republicans bully you!
I suppose if you trade games in for store credit, there might be some reason to go there. However, I don't trade games. I only buy games that I'm pretty sure I will want, so I keep the games I buy.
I got a gift certificate from gamestop for my birthday in september and every time I go to the mall (admittedly only once every couple of months) I check out the gamestop looking to use the gift card. Everything there is so overpriced. Even with the $5 on the gift card any decent used games are still more than I would want to pay for them.
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Good luck GameStop, because your customer service SUCKS.
My local store has 5 employees, yet there's always a line. Why is this? Well, yesterday it was because 4 of the employees were busy talking about their girlfriends and sorting thru a box of games instead of taking care of the customers.
Maybe it's because the PC games consist of 3 racks, most of them in random order. Console games are not in much better shape.
Maybe it's because they never have anything new in stock.
Got the Command and Conquer 3 pre-order disc in? No. Want to reserve it anyway? Um, no, I actually wanted the disc, I'll go somewhere that actually keeps a stock.
First, many cheap foods are actually rebranded goods from a third company- Every cream cheese (except Philidelphia) that I've bought for years had an identical generic wrapper underneath the outer packaging, regardless of what store brand was on the outside.
Second, many exclusives are higher quality- the Martha Stewart goods in Kmart being a prime example. They are not branded with the store name, however, because people interpret that as being the cheap option. (I.E. if Schnucks wanted to market exclusive high-end cream cheese, they wouldn't call it Schnucks Cream Cheese- they'd call it "Prarie Fresh" Cream cheese or some such).
You are reading a copy of my copyrighted post.
I'm about fifty miles from the nearest EB or GameStop or whatever the hell they call themselves this week. :(
Step 1: Spend millions developing game.
Step 2: Only release said game in one chain.
Step 3: ?
Step 4: Profit??
From the game publiser's point of view, how exactly does only releasing into one store help revenues? Considering that some publishers are claiming game development costs are nearing $30mil for a single game, why would you seemingly shoot yourself in the foot by only releasing the game into one chain?
I don't know about you, but I have much better things to do with my time than drive around town going to Best Buy, Circuit City, Frys, and then Gamestop looking for a specific title. I don't usually go to Gamestop unless I'm specificaly looking for used games. Otherwise, they charge full price on new games - even games you can get for less at Costco or Frys. Actually, Frys is my first choice for games since they have a good broad selection, and sometimes discount new titles when first released.
Furthermore, has anyone actually BEEN to a Gamestop lately? They're a mess! The ones in the malls near me are a disaster. There's game cases all over the place. There are pre-order boxes shoved in among the used titles, there's GameCube titles shoved in the Xbox area. Even the so-called "New" game cases look pretty bad after being pawed by countless people...
Does anyone here honestly think that Katamari Damacy would have been nearly as big a hit in the US had Namco ONLY sold it through Gamestop? As I said, that's the LAST place I look for games. And casual gamers? Pfft. They go to Best Buy or Circuit City. If it's not there, they've never heard of it.
Is Gamestop literally throwing millions of dollars at each exclusive title here? Again, I can't see this making sense since even Capcom and EA are saying it takes at least a few hundred thousand sales to even break even on smaller titles, much less pay off the investment from larger titles.
Well, the exclusive games have been horrible up until this point such as... Tenchu for the DS, that game got horrid reviews. Yesterday I was shopping at gamestop, and while I HAVE moved 90% of my video game shopping online, i decided to buy some stuff, the store was VERY crowded and there was barely enough room for one person to stand at the register and pay and one person to browse the ps2 games lined up on the wall. I was extremely dissastisfied with the products sold to me. I purchased a copy of Dr Mario/puzzle league for the gba that was supposed to be new, however when i got home i discovered the paper insert that holds the cart was missing. This was supposed to be a new game that I paid the full new price for, a new game should not be missing a piece of the product. This game was pulled from a drawer and was not even a display copy. Ok next this is what really ticked me off, I was sold a used copy of pinball of the dead, when i got home i discovered the game cart had umm... a lot of really deep chew marks on it. It was also filthy and of course, did not work. It looks like someone shot a BB gun through the game. The fact that they sold me a game that they did not test, and in that condition makes me not want to go into the stores anymore. I did not have time to check the merchandise before I left due to the crowded situation of the store, because there was literatly no room to stand in the store at all. This is NOT something I should have to worry about though at a gamestop store, as a customer I should ONLY be sold working products, and I should not have to be worried about checking them for completeness or for things like I described above. New products should also be sold to me as NEW, and not incomplete.
I shopped quite regularly at a local EB where I used to live. This was before the merged with Gamestop. I enjoyed going to that particular EB because the people who worked there were real gamers. Especially the manager. The manager himself played lots of games and was great at making recommendations. While he didn't directly bash games that weren't good, he would be try to subtly tell customers when they were about to purchase a game that was sub-par. He would often lead them to a comparable title that was better. He would tell you when a new game was coming out (or was out) without shoving an attempt to sell a preorder down your throat. The store itself was clean and organized, and the atmosphere he maintained kept me coming back.
Now that may have been just one store. The rest of them may have sucked back then, I wouldn't know.
The EB in the mall by where I now live sucks. The store is disorganized and cluttered. You nearly have to trip over the display PS3 and Wii boxes (the empty type, they don't really have either in stock) to get into the place.
The employees don't seem to really care about anything, except trying to push preorders and strategy guides. Some of them are probably gamers, but they don't seem enthusiastic about it. It looks as if half the boxes in the PC game section (which is basically an unmarked cart) are smashed in.
Even though the prices are usually the same as Target (Target sometimes has a sale that'll make the game $5 off), Target is actually a much better shopping experience now. Sometimes Target even has games that this EB doesn't.
Maybe I'm a bit off, but maybe Gamestop can turn things around by:
1. Hiring managers that are both enthusiastic about gaming and enthusiastic about making their stores inviting to customers.
2. Not shoving preorder forms down my throat whenever I go in. If I want to preorder something, I will.
3. Not shoving strategy guides down my throat. If I want to buy the strategy guide, I will.
4. Keeping the store organized and clean. Just maybe, I want to go into a store that doesn't look like someone shoved stuff in random places.
The one thing that I despise about EB/Gamestop is there is no way to ensure that you're getting a new game. I recently purchased a new copy of Naruto:CoN2 and they pulled it out of a paper sleeve. When I questioned them on it, the response was "Oh, we do have some sealed copies if that's what you're looking for." Is this standard procedure? I personally think they were trying to pass a used copy as new.
I'm not worried. I'm a part time employee at EB (nice 2nd job) and we have yet to get an exclusive game that wasn't a total piece of crap. GameStop will never lock down a big game that is an exclusive because the high selling games (usually made by good game companies) would not just limit themselves to GameStop.
My experiences at Gamestop and the like have been less than stellar. The stores are always really small and packed to occupancy with overweight 12 year olds manhandling their mothers pocketbooks out of her hands to they can buy the latest version of superkillerbloodfestwithdrugsalcaholnuditysexandev erythingelse 9000! Sure its rated mature but the parents have trained their kids that if they scream loud enough they will get it. The clerks think that they are absolutely the most awesome think since *insert video game character of choice* and they treat the customers like garbage if they have even the slightest hesitation about buying something. It also seems like they only carry "brand spanking new game X" and if you want something else your SOL. Whenever I ask about a PC game they look at me like I'm some kind of idiot. "You want that on a PC?!?!" is their usual response. Yes I want it on the blasted PC, I built my gaming machine TO PLAY GAMES. WHAT A NOVEL CONCEPT! But its not surprising, have you seen the size of the PC section in relation to, oh say, the used games section. At my stores there is one shelf half as tall as I am. How can they expect to compete with wally world and Best Buy when those larger chains offer me a better experience, lower prices, and service that is helpful. The Walmart PC game shelf is bigger too...
What if Gamestop paid you x number of dollars to make it exclusive to thier stores for x period of time? You'd be garruanteed the cash that you'd otherwise make through the other retailers and you don't have to deal with as many retailers. Sounds like a win/win to me. Also what if Gamestop decided they didn't want to carry your game?
Not to nitpick, but with the exception of hardware (which can shoot from 'impossible to find' to '20 copies available' within a week) generally speaking, the less known and/or more niche a game is, the less people are going to try and buy the game on launch day. Shadow of the Colossus was an unexpected hit given the fact that nearly no one had heard of the game previously (remember the Katamari Damacy shortages?) and Civilization 4 was a PC game which has more or less been resigned to a niche market in comparison to the mass market.
i will say, at least in my area, that the gamestop stores are *way* nicer than bestbuy, circut city, fry's, target, etc. things they do right? no tvs blaring music, no loud music, no ultra bright lights, glass store front with actual daylight - in short: a quiet and relaxing shopping experience. all the electronic sections of the big box stores make me feel like i've been through battle. two things i'd like to see: let you play the games before you buy, and have kiosks to read internet reviews on the games in the store.
Already if you want quirky and offbeat games, you have to go to a game shop. Walmarts and Best Buys Seldom carry something as obscure as that. Heck, I was surprised to see Valkyrie Profile 2 there.
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