Casual Gamers Forcing Gamestop to Rethink Store Layouts

The Guardian Gamesblog has up a post noting that Gamestop will be rearranging stores to meet casual gamer needs. For example, they'll be creating a section just for music games (karaoke, guitar games, etc). They'll also be putting together a 'family-friendly' area, with a focus on titles like Nintendogs, Lego Star Wars, and the like. The post is based off of an interview in The New York Times with Daniel A. DeMatteo, Gamestop's vice chairman and chief operating officer. In his mind casual games are now so important to sales that the company is having to do some 'radical retail re-thinking': "There is a real breadth of properties now appealing to a much broader audience than we've seen before. Honestly, we are having to retool the way we think of things in our stores in terms of merchandising, layout and also customer service because it is no longer only the hardcore gamer walking in who knows exactly what he wants."

Comments

Hype.

[Aladrin]

My local GameStop just got a new Plan-o-gram. What changed? They moved the used DVD movie rack closer to the front of the store. -yawn-

This isn't news, it's an advertisement.

I hope that means other changes

[heinousjay]

Does that mean that I can actually buy a game or two there without them hounding me about reservations? If so, I might rescind my personal boycott.

Re:I hope that means other changes

[Aladrin]

Just get a sticker that says:

Ask me about reserving a game and
              I WILL KILL YOU

and stick it to your shirt. Alternatively, you could have cards printed that say that and hand it to the person before you begin to speak to them. It'll make them think twice about asking other people, and they probably won't ever ask you again.

Re:I hope that means other changes

[StarvingSE]

My personal boycott is due to their overly high prices on used games. I am not a big console gamer, but enjoy the occasional ps2 title. I go in and still find titles 3+ years old selling for more than $20 used. Seems a bit ridiculous to me, seeing that if one were to try to sell said games to gamestop they'd get about $5.00 for it.

Re:I hope that means other changes

[_xeno_]

The last time I was at a GameStop, they asked me if I wanted to get an extended warranty on the game for $3. Since I was third in line, I'd heard the "Do you want to buy an extended warranty for $3? It allows you to replace the game for free if it becomes scratched or anything. No? OK, do you want to reserve $RELATED_GAME{$PURCHASED_GAME} today?" twice already. I guess I was a little more forceful with my "NO!" than intended, because the clerk skipped the rest of the spiel.

So I'd add:

And if you ask me to buy a warranty on the game:
I WILL KILL YOUR FAMILY TOO

Re:I hope that means other changes

[Fozzyuw]

I go in and still find titles 3+ years old selling for more than $20 used. Seems a bit ridiculous to me, seeing that if one were to try to sell said games to gamestop they'd get about $5.00 for it.

Supply/Demand and the business model.

Supply and Demand

I can walk into a Gamestop and buy a used PS2 game for $3 or for $80+. It depends on the game. No joke. Buy a copy of Madden Football [year-2] (aka it's 2008, get 2006) or a professional wrestling game and it'll probably be $3. Conversely, just the other day I found Marvel vs Capcom 2 for the PS2 for $79.99, no box slip, no manual, etc. Why? Because you cannot find MvC2 or games like some "Baulders Gate" or "Champions of Norrath", etc High Demand, Low Supply. It's economics, you cannot fault them for that.

Business Model

Used games is where stores like Gamestop make their money. It's not selling consoles or new games. The games industry has very tight control over the games price and the profit garnered from each game. Suffice it to say, the margins are small. Without used games, such speciality stores probably wouldn't be able to operate.

Use it to your advantage

Is it disappointing to see used games sell for $45 when the new game is $50? Sure. Then buy the new version (or save yourself $5, because, hey, it's $5. That's 1-2 beers at a bar.) Not happy that they'll only give you $0.50 or $3 for your 3 year old game? Then sell it on Ebay, in classified ads, or many other options. Reselling video games are not an exclusive right to Gamestop.

I understand how Everyone wants something for nothing, but I'm willing to see a service for what it's worth. It cleans to my house and I take full advantage of promotions that are always running that sometimes net me the same or more money for trade-ins than I paid for it. I can also maximize it to cost less than renting new games. At least, console games can be traded in, unlike PC games.

Sometimes we luck out and get a great game for real cheap, other times we're out of luck when you really want to get Marvel vs Capcom 2 but have to pay a premium for it, sometimes 2x or 3x what it cost (try looking up prices for Final Fantasy VII for the original Playstation and see that it goes for $50-$300, which is much lower now that the hype died down after the movie and sequel game have come and gone)

Cheers,
Fozzy

Re:I hope that means other changes

[radish]

The warranty is the source of one of my favorite GameStop stories. There's a store near my office, and being basically the only place in downtown NY that sells anything game related (sidenote: MASSIVE untapped market there retail people!) I used to go there quite often at lunch to browse. So a couple of years ago they started this whole "Gameplay Guarantee" thing, but as usual with their offers there's really no descriptions written down anywhere of what you get for your $3. The first time I bought a game and they offered it to me, the clerk said that it was basically a 100% guarantee that allowed you to return it anytime in the first year for ANY reason. He said you could return it if you didn't like it, if you beat it, whatever - for a full refund. That seemed too good to miss, so I started adding the $3 on all my purchases (when they asked, half the time they added it without asking).

Roll forwards 6 months, and I have a bunch of old PSP games I no longer play. Of course I kept the receipts for the guarantee so in I go to get my refunds. I hadn't been in the store for a while but I noticed right away that all the staff were new, even the manager. I go up to the counter, explain that I'd like to return these games I'd finished playing, and the clerk starts telling me that the guarantee is only for DAMAGED games before the manager stops her, tells her to give me the refunds (over $200) and explains to me that the entire store were busted for mis-selling the guarantee (they were paid commission on each one) and were all fired. He says they were getting 2 or 3 people a day coming in with the same story and they were honouring the refunds as a sign of goodwill. It must have been costing them a fortune...

Translation

[sesshomaru]

Translation: "Now that non-geeks are playing games, we'll have to do actual customer service, instead of just throwing things onto the shelf as we had in the past."

Maybe they can also start firing the employees who tell clueless Mom's that "Mario is coming out on the Xbox, but it is going to be a cooler version than the Gamecube with better graphics. Don't buy a Gamecube, it's lame. Nintendo is going out of business soon." (System names can be rearranged based on employee biases...)

Have multiple floors and more supervisors

[Anonymous Coward]

Casual gamers can get their merchandise right up front. Place the hardcore games on the top floor.

Hardcore gamers should have to go through at least 3 levels and 2 bosses before being able to get to their goods.

Penny Arcade for everything

[James Kilton]

This immediately came to mind: http://www.penny-arcade.com/comic/2007/03/30/

Not "hardcore vs. casual"

[RichPowers]

I hate those labels, but I'll save that rant for another time.

This has to do with "informed vs. clueless" gamers. Informed gamers, the people who've been playing games for years, know that GS is run by assholes, employs assholes, and overprices its games. Informed gamers know they can get better deals online or at other retailers.

GS is appealing to the soccer moms and new gamers who go there because of brand recognition. These people won't realize if the employee is pushing a shitty game on them or that they're paying more than they have to.

I apologize for the elitist tone, but anyone interested in saving money and preserving their dignity shouldn't shop at GS :P

Re:Not "hardcore vs. casual"

[Jeff DeMaagd]

You hate those labels but you are ready to provide your own? Good going.

Kids section at my gamestop last night

[netsavior]

So my son and I (he is pre-school aged) went to the gamestop... he knows he can ask for games in the PS2, gamecube, Wii or gameboy sections and we will talk about it... Now they have a kid's section with games for all systems randomly strewn about the shelves. Which was particularly confusing to... KIDS. It just ended up Can I get this one? No that is PS3. Can I get this one? No that is Xbox.

I mean I am sure there are families out there with every single system, but I found it particularly annoying that the new layout basically assumes you have all systems.

Good

[p0tat03]

I was just at the local EB a few nights ago, and in walks a girl and her mother. They looked around for a bit, and then noticed that all of the casual girly games (Barbie Horse Adventures or Nancy Drew or whatever) are all... 8 feet above the ground, on the highest shelf possible. The actual reachable shelves were stocked with shooters and EA sports titles. They had to get a guy over to bring each interesting game down for them. So yes, retooling their layout is certainly necessary.

Here's an idea for them

[Homr Zodyssey]

Maybe they should think about having more actual product on the shelves. Perhaps even games for PCs!

I understand that these guys have limited floor-space. You can double that if you count the nearby EBGames that's owned by the same corporation, resides in the same shopping center/mall and has the exact same crap in stock.

I am primarily a PC gamer, and I am frustrated every time I go into one of these stores by the three giant walls of empty game-boxes labeled "Coming Soon!", and the tiny half-rack 3-year-old PC games (still at full price). I take a short walk to the other store, and find that they have the exact same selection.

being able to see the whole box would help

[Astarica]

A lot of time I have no idea what I was going to get, and if the box art looks interesting and I've at least heard of people talking about the game I'd give it a shot. However in Gamestop you can usually only see the spine of the box, and I'm less likely to pull a game out of the shelf just because it has an interesting name. Not to mention Gamestop seems to have their games sorted alphabeticlaly up to the letter G, and after that you have no idea where the rest of the games are. I'd rather go to Best Buy to buy games because at least I won't miss something that catches my interest.

Re:you might have to show the kid how to read

[netsavior]

the kid in question is 2.5 years old

Re:Pre-order

[gknoy]

Sounds like my Burning Crusade experience.

Went to Gamestop. The guy said, "Well, the UPS guy may get here today, or tomorrow. I think we'll have more then." So, I went nearly-next-door (in the same shopping center) to Best Buy, where there were multiple tables literally overflowing with the game. I walked up, grabbed a box, and checked out.

My game-buying experiences at Best Buy have been nearly-always been better than Gamestop. Not only do they have more PC games (local GameStops have practically all XBox/PS3 games), but I don't have to do the preorder BS. Heck, I saw DEFCON there... quite the shocker. :)

They open my games...

[MasaMuneCyrus]

My personal boycott is because they open my god-damn games. You can't go into Gamestop to buy anything without them having taken off the plastic wrap (or for PC games, cut or torn off the seal), opened the game up, and sloppily thrown the game disc(s) into crappy paper sleeves to store in a cabinet.

What if someone were to buy a game as a Christmas present, only to find out that someone else had already bought it? As soon as they walk out the Gamestop door, that game is now worth the $5 trade-in value, even if you've never opened it and still have the receipt; because the plastic-wrap is no longer on the game, you can't prove that you didn't open it.

It's bullshit policy. I want my "new" games, "new", not "mint" condition.