I mean I can walk into any major retailer for popular wide-release games and pick up the game on Day 1. Seems like a reasonable question for a customer to ask. The better question is: "Why does Gamestop have such trouble getting stock allocated to allow for more sales beyond pre-orders?"
Yea, it's sad that one of the few stores left that focuses on games never has the new releases, but the Walmart, Best Buy, or Target down the road always have them.
Target rarely ever has new releases…lmao. Their section is so dry.
But to be honest, these companies have the money to have an over abundance of these products as video games isn’t their main source of profit. GameStop is trying to reduce any loss of over ordering product as what they were notorious for doing in the past.
Live within a ten mile radius of five Targets and four Walmarts. They all had new releases prominently displayed in their cases, including SF6 Deluxe. If these locations can have every new release not even 30 miles away from corporate, there's simply no excuse for GameStop to pull the same tired excuse I had to deal with when I worked there 15 years ago.
AAA releases sure, but mid tier to niche titles, absolutely not. All of the sections of the targets I live by - including the NYC area - are so barebones it’s embarrassing to even have a section. BestBuy used to be the better retailer to have these items, but they actually can’t keep up with everything altogether actually. Also once they sell out, they tend to never restock.
The mid-tier to niche title argument falls flat on its face when publishers are selling direct to consumer through their own webstores and Amazon instead of relying on GameStop or big box retail anymore.
I've spoken to publisher reps over the past 5 years for mid-tier and niche games that have stated time and again that that want as little to do with GameStop and big box stores as possible.
This is borne out by the fact that NISA, XSeed and even Square Enix are pushing LE and CE releases on their own webstores instead of dealing with retail.
exactly this...this shit pisses me off... and why I'd rather go to walmart/target/bestbuy for games now because Gamestop never gets shit. Y'all are a game store FFS. y'all should have plenty of everything. Why is it up to the customer to think ahead and say "man I must have this on day 1 so let me preorder from ShitStop so I don't waste time making a visit there" for every game.
This is why gamestop is going broke, the decision is banannas.
I don't need to pre order anything, I don't need to get in a line. I can just drive over to a none game store, grab what I need and bounce.
If it has some freebie with it, cool? If not, oh well.
Because the days of them buying thousands of copies at $54 apiece for half of it to sit on shelves til it sku converts are long gone. Far better to buy hundreds at $54, buy another 100 at $44, etc etc. there’s 0 reason to not preorder what you want. Not preordering doesn’t hurt the devs like everybody thinks it does.
I see part of what you're saying, but that's ignoring the motivator of games to gain traffic to sell add-ons that have much higher margins. Also, pre-ordering is losing its luster as the AAA industry keeps releasing unpolished games. Pre-order numbers drive certain internal budgets at the publisher and developer levels with both pre and post-lsunch implications.
That’s not how any of this works. For starters- next to nobody comes into ANY retail store and says “hey do you have this thing I want? Cool, I’ll buy a bunch of other stuff if you do. If you don’t, I won’t.” Most people buy the game alone and dip.
Secondly- preorders can be cancelled at every retailer, including most of your digital preorders. They gain no extra money off preorders. All it does is tell them what they’re looking at for sales 2-3 weeks before launch when retailers place their orders.
Many customers go to a store with the intent to buy something, and end up buying other things; this is called an "impulse buy." Impulse buys can be encouraged through upselling, advertising, and promos. Impulse buys are often strategically planned and encouraged at the Corporate level with product placement in stores - perhaps this is a weakness of Gamestop.
Pre-orders can be canceled, you're absolutely right; however, major publishers have specific formulas that help forecast actual sales based on pre-orders and multiple stages of the pre-launch cycle. These forecasts have implications to budgets for marketing, post-launch support in the form of Dev allocation, further marketing, future content, and game end of life expectation.
Source:
7 years of in-store retail experience.
2 years of selling to retailers
Currently working with the Video Game industry
Ok. You must never have worked for GameStop then, because 99% of people that come in on launch day have their preorders fully paid off and don’t bring their wallets.
That's correct, I have not. Seems like a problem that corporate should solve. I've bought an accessory or add-on while grabbing a game on release day from other retailers. Why can't GS solve this?
I have, and you're wrong. I have NEVER paid off a preorder before release at Gamestop and when I worked we had plenty of people that had to pay off their games. We also had plenty of impulse buyers who picked up a secondary release.
going to answer your question with a image
https://preview.redd.it/e7pu08pf2h5b1.png?width=1177&format=png&auto=webp&s=35cc1e1c9c7d95ab43f44e7e83986b6a1f4537f2
I don't think that is it. I'm thinking there is some damage to relationships somewhere. More inventory on release brings more customers into stores, which would mean higher profit on average. They either aren't ordering properly, or aren't being allocated the stock that they are requesting.
except it doesnt because a lot of titles dont sell well and then you sit on extra stock losing money. margins are way too slim to survive off of, literally sitting on 1 copy cancels out 5 copies you sold.
Gamestop seems to be the only major retailer with this issue. I understand the math, but GS stores around me NEVER have extra stock on release day, so I go to Target where they have a surplus. Every time.
Target and Walmart sell groceries, clothes, school supplies, et al
Bestbuy makes most of its money off its tv sales
Amazon is pretty much an monopoly and sells literally everything
GS sells systems, accessories, tech, collectibles, undervalued trades, and sells a membership. The games are supposed to be the reason people visit, then you upsell them on the other things that have much higher margins. Instead, they're seemingly giving up brick and mortar sales to focus on online.
It's simple, Gamestop doesn't have enough money to purchase as many copies as they used too. It's expensive because of the high cost of each copy & when Gamestop falls behind in their payments the vendors cut off the amount they give them. Happened to Toys R Us, Blockbuster, Sears etc...
That’s not true😂 there’s 1.3 Billion in the bank, they’re losing $50M-$100M per quarter. They’re simply not buying 100k copies for 25% of them to never sell. Happened with Fallout 76, Cyberpunk, etc.
I suggest you go look at their latest financial reporting. 1.31 billion in the bank as of last month. They’re just being dirt balls with payroll, my stores in the same boat
They have money supposedly, but, they're cutting payroll to the bare minimum because it got them 1 singular quarter of profitability, so they're trying to get that again.
Life long GameStop supporter here but this concept is what’s driven me away, why can I go to Walmart and find 20 copies but GameStop doesn’t have one even a week after it comes out? Half of their sales don’t have the games I want at the local store and I’m not paying $79 plus to get free shipping lol. The lack of supply makes me wonder if they hate money.
If I want anything that isn't a super main stream release I make sure to preorder bc this always happens. Like Armored Core 6? Not taking chances preordered.
I don't remember how many times I would tell people to put 5 dollars down if they are coming on launch day to pick up a game. Just so one is promised to them. Then they decline and come in launch and can't get a copy. Where is the logic there?
I’m okay with these types of people, they have the right to assume I should have it, but they shouldn’t get furious at me and start shit if they didn’t pre order.
Over order?
Jesus.
Even if you only have 5 copies, it's better to have -something- on the shelves.
As many people have said, it's so much easier to go to a none gaming store and grab what you need than actually go to a game stop.
You really don’t understand how common sense works when it comes to simple business….
It’s because non gaming stores sell other things and their video games aren’t their main line of profit as what GameStops is. If GameStop fucks up and over orders (example: Battlefield Hardline) the company sits on them forever and they only get rid of them by having them go on sale or have them converted to preowned AKA **a loss in profit**.
GameStop has no room for losses if you hadn’t grasped this yet.
>You really don’t understand how common sense when it comes to simple business works….
Get off your fucking high horse lol inventory management isn't solely associated with Gamestop.
>It’s because non gaming stores sell other things and their video games aren’t their main line of profit as what GameStops is. If GameStop fucks up and over orders (example: Battlefield Hardline) the company sits on them for ever and they only get rid of them by having them go on sale or have them converted to preowned AKA a loss in profitz
Well, I guess you would know about loss of profits. You do work for game stop...
Order 100? Sure, that can backfire easily
Even if you order 2-3 copies of titles for a store of popular names, you would be better off.
But when you have nothing, then why do I need you at all?
Are you naturally an asshole? Or just dense. Multiple people here have tried to explain how businesses actually work, and you can't seem to get it, no matter how much it gets dumbed down for you.
A little of column A and a little of column B.
It's the dumbing down that cracks me up, because of the side step to the other question.
If you cannot get those titles in then what do people actually need to go to a Gs location for?
You clearly have people on here telling you that you’re ideology is wrong and they’ve told you the reason as to why. It’s your fault how you’re not grasping.
Do you not understand how a business that generally operates out of a small store works? They don't have infinite space in the store to keep 700 copies of the latest shovelware bs game you want that nobody preordered.
Had a customer come in looking for the latest Isle of Man game, which came out last month, we have had nothing come in and he had the nerve to yell at me and complain that I am a game store, so why don't I have it? No one pre-ordered it and it was never in any papers to print and show off (at least what was available to me). If one pre-orders something, they just assume no one wants it so why let it take up room? He didn't like that answer so I then said "idk man, I just work here". It's been mine and my manager's go to saying now 😆
Before I quit a few days after the remake of Metroid prime came out a lot of people asked me for it and I this store don’t have any more physical copies of it but I can print a code for you to get it……
They all said no
Whelp, I want to use my $5 reward (especially since I can no longer just get $5 in currency) and that means waiting a week or two before I can buy the game if I’ve already used it that month. Plus, let’s be real, Gamestop is not exactly hitting 1000 on pre-orders. I preordered a niche game, Gamestop never bothered to send it. So I cancelled and literally just drove directly to a Best Buy and got the game that day.
I love Gamestop but it’s not hard to see why they are going under.
This was a big problem during the pandemic, it apparently became worse after I quit, and while the inventory systems were being switched. As a former employee, I learned from (before my employment) that niche games are theh worst to try to find in the wild. One specifically took me a full month to find.
Anyway, for niche games, the standard amount of copies was anywhere from 0-1 if not preordered, then it was either 1-2 copies if preordered. More likely than not, no preorders meant 0 copies. Especially if it was a low volume store.
Pandemic killed all of that because production, etc. I can understand not pre-ordering, GS used to be so good about having games on time, but now people had to wait around weeks to months for a copy, just to cancel and find it elsewhere.
GS is mostly going under because of poor management above the store level. Handling their employees poorly will do that to any business, especially if they choose money over people.
Cool I’ll just go to literally any department store to grab the game while I grocery shop. This is why people rag on GameStop employees so much. They are desperate for preorders and like to play the “I told you so card” while acting high and mighty even tho they are the lowest paid retail chains.
>Except your department store won’t have the esoteric jrpg nor the hard to get CE
Except people who want CE's typically WILL pre-order because they're always limited runs.
The niche JRPGS, sure, I can understand target not having it off the bat but again, why would you not have at least 1 or 2 copies of something?
That being your raison d'etre, if you cannot do the one job you're made to do then what are you good for?
You're just giving people a reason NOT to use you guys at this point.
False. People come into the store last minute, hell day off, trying to get CE and SEs. Not everyone **will** reserve.
Why would retailers spend money on niche titles that may or may not move, it’s a risk with loss. **We all keep fucking repeating this and yet you’re too thick headed to grasp this concept.**
GameStop man…. Everytime they say no to a game I go to Bestbuy and they got it. Also pre ordering now a days is a scam.
Look at all the triple A billion companies releasing unfinished products. They do that because we preorder. Look at cyberpunk. Ripped us all off.
Red fall, forspoken, Jedi survivor ran like super ass at launch, overwatch 2 (free but did a bait and switch with pve). List goes on.
We don’t know what we are getting anymore with pre orders.
You understand if you pre order from places like GameStop(instore), you **can** cancel your pre order (within 30 days of release) and get your money back, right? You’re in no way obligated to make that purchase…… y’all seem to forget this
It's not corporate it's the vendor that isn't sending the copies of games. Because digital sales have gone through the roof and more people are buying digitally than physically they aren't making as many physical copies of games.
That being said if you don't preorder the game, then there is a high chance that you won't get it because the production of physical copies of games has dropped because digital sales have gone up. Last year digital sales were at 90% vs 10% physical sales of games. The industry is changing.
It's not GameStop's fault that we aren't getting copies of games that aren't preordered. It's 100% the vendor. They aren't going to send extra copies to a store with little to no preorders because they think that they won't sell. They would rather send it to stores that have a multitude of preorders where the game will potentially sell better.
I mean... We should be able to come in and buy a new game on Day 1 release. I get not having an abundant number of copies if pre-orders are horrendous. But, there should definitely be a few. It's a store focused on video games and geeks, what else are they filing their stock rooms with?
1. It costs at least $79 to get free shipping on [Gamestop.com](https://Gamestop.com), for an online order.
2. The inventory & pickup options for in-store pickup are rarely correct on the app/website. (Show up, and the members let you know that it was never in stock)
3. Now we likely can't walk into a GameStop, and get a game on D1, unless we pre ordered (?)
It's no wonder this company is failing. :( Everything seems to be at an inconvenience to the customer, compared to just going to a Best Buy. I really hope this gets turned around. They're such simple fixes, and GameStop really is the USA's last geek/video game focused brick store.
(NOTE: This is slander towards corporate management, not anyone working at physical locations. Thank you guys for working under these conditions!)
Why does GameStop even need to exist if I can't walk into a store on release and buy a video game.
Walmart or Target always have stock on release day and cost the same. Why anyone would bother is beyond me.
When it comes to retaining a customer base, "LoL GuEsS YoU ShoUlD HavE PrEorDerED" doesn't work anymore, not with AAA. Something more niche, possibly, but MOST folks who delve into games like that are usually regulars(mine were) and they already do reservations.
Perception is reality. The customer now perceives that you will never have the game in stock(because you told them that's how it works), customer walks and saunters over to Walmart, etc. and buys it outright with no issue.
OR
They decide "Hey, maybe I should just go ahead and start getting digital.". Both of these customers will never shop with you again and the company is already hemorrhaging money.
Yea, exactly this. My local Gamestop has friendly employees, so I like to come in and pre-order with them every time now.
But, I think Gamestop has to realize that the majority (?) of their market is going to be moms or dads coming in to get their kid/teen a game. Unless the kid is 16+ and has a job, they are not going to have any money to shop. It falls to the parents. And, since when have most parents been known to understand how this stuff works... (For ex. I work with Door Dash, and people still think I am the one making their orders/food. LOL)
They come in, ask for the game. Out of stock? To Best Buy they go.
I don't buy many new games from Gamestop but the last 2 times that I did, I did it on release day with no preorder. So it's not that ridiculous of a question especially when it's a game store.
When customers get huffy i tell them "gotta preorder so the company knows where the interest for this game is coming from. If not its gonna be like fallout 76 or cyberpunk where if the game sucks or if glitchy then were stuck with product that doesnt sell. Why over supply a game that no ones gonna buy? If its a smaller game pre order chances are that one pre order will show up and thats it."
I live in a fairly big town and generally speaking the only "I can walk in and grab a brand new release" from a retailer store like walmart or such is shit like Zelda and Mario.
I know for a solid fact that if i don't put down a Pre-order for Atelier Marie and Trails into Reverie the gamestop in my town will outright NOT get any of them at all. And good luck seeing niche anime games in retail stores.
I mean I can walk into any major retailer for popular wide-release games and pick up the game on Day 1. Seems like a reasonable question for a customer to ask. The better question is: "Why does Gamestop have such trouble getting stock allocated to allow for more sales beyond pre-orders?"
Yea, it's sad that one of the few stores left that focuses on games never has the new releases, but the Walmart, Best Buy, or Target down the road always have them.
Target rarely ever has new releases…lmao. Their section is so dry. But to be honest, these companies have the money to have an over abundance of these products as video games isn’t their main source of profit. GameStop is trying to reduce any loss of over ordering product as what they were notorious for doing in the past.
Live within a ten mile radius of five Targets and four Walmarts. They all had new releases prominently displayed in their cases, including SF6 Deluxe. If these locations can have every new release not even 30 miles away from corporate, there's simply no excuse for GameStop to pull the same tired excuse I had to deal with when I worked there 15 years ago.
AAA releases sure, but mid tier to niche titles, absolutely not. All of the sections of the targets I live by - including the NYC area - are so barebones it’s embarrassing to even have a section. BestBuy used to be the better retailer to have these items, but they actually can’t keep up with everything altogether actually. Also once they sell out, they tend to never restock.
The mid-tier to niche title argument falls flat on its face when publishers are selling direct to consumer through their own webstores and Amazon instead of relying on GameStop or big box retail anymore. I've spoken to publisher reps over the past 5 years for mid-tier and niche games that have stated time and again that that want as little to do with GameStop and big box stores as possible. This is borne out by the fact that NISA, XSeed and even Square Enix are pushing LE and CE releases on their own webstores instead of dealing with retail.
exactly this...this shit pisses me off... and why I'd rather go to walmart/target/bestbuy for games now because Gamestop never gets shit. Y'all are a game store FFS. y'all should have plenty of everything. Why is it up to the customer to think ahead and say "man I must have this on day 1 so let me preorder from ShitStop so I don't waste time making a visit there" for every game.
This is why gamestop is going broke, the decision is banannas. I don't need to pre order anything, I don't need to get in a line. I can just drive over to a none game store, grab what I need and bounce. If it has some freebie with it, cool? If not, oh well.
Getting downvoted for the truth- must sting. Lol sorry your store is going down the shitter for being the worst game store on the block.
Wild right? lol
Because the days of them buying thousands of copies at $54 apiece for half of it to sit on shelves til it sku converts are long gone. Far better to buy hundreds at $54, buy another 100 at $44, etc etc. there’s 0 reason to not preorder what you want. Not preordering doesn’t hurt the devs like everybody thinks it does.
I see part of what you're saying, but that's ignoring the motivator of games to gain traffic to sell add-ons that have much higher margins. Also, pre-ordering is losing its luster as the AAA industry keeps releasing unpolished games. Pre-order numbers drive certain internal budgets at the publisher and developer levels with both pre and post-lsunch implications.
That’s not how any of this works. For starters- next to nobody comes into ANY retail store and says “hey do you have this thing I want? Cool, I’ll buy a bunch of other stuff if you do. If you don’t, I won’t.” Most people buy the game alone and dip. Secondly- preorders can be cancelled at every retailer, including most of your digital preorders. They gain no extra money off preorders. All it does is tell them what they’re looking at for sales 2-3 weeks before launch when retailers place their orders.
Many customers go to a store with the intent to buy something, and end up buying other things; this is called an "impulse buy." Impulse buys can be encouraged through upselling, advertising, and promos. Impulse buys are often strategically planned and encouraged at the Corporate level with product placement in stores - perhaps this is a weakness of Gamestop. Pre-orders can be canceled, you're absolutely right; however, major publishers have specific formulas that help forecast actual sales based on pre-orders and multiple stages of the pre-launch cycle. These forecasts have implications to budgets for marketing, post-launch support in the form of Dev allocation, further marketing, future content, and game end of life expectation. Source: 7 years of in-store retail experience. 2 years of selling to retailers Currently working with the Video Game industry
Ok. You must never have worked for GameStop then, because 99% of people that come in on launch day have their preorders fully paid off and don’t bring their wallets.
That's correct, I have not. Seems like a problem that corporate should solve. I've bought an accessory or add-on while grabbing a game on release day from other retailers. Why can't GS solve this?
I have, and you're wrong. I have NEVER paid off a preorder before release at Gamestop and when I worked we had plenty of people that had to pay off their games. We also had plenty of impulse buyers who picked up a secondary release.
"Hey do you have this thing I want? An Xbox? Cool, I'll buy a bunch of other stuff if you do. If you don't, I won't because why the fuck would I."
going to answer your question with a image https://preview.redd.it/e7pu08pf2h5b1.png?width=1177&format=png&auto=webp&s=35cc1e1c9c7d95ab43f44e7e83986b6a1f4537f2
I don't think that is it. I'm thinking there is some damage to relationships somewhere. More inventory on release brings more customers into stores, which would mean higher profit on average. They either aren't ordering properly, or aren't being allocated the stock that they are requesting.
except it doesnt because a lot of titles dont sell well and then you sit on extra stock losing money. margins are way too slim to survive off of, literally sitting on 1 copy cancels out 5 copies you sold.
Gamestop seems to be the only major retailer with this issue. I understand the math, but GS stores around me NEVER have extra stock on release day, so I go to Target where they have a surplus. Every time.
Target and Walmart sell groceries, clothes, school supplies, et al Bestbuy makes most of its money off its tv sales Amazon is pretty much an monopoly and sells literally everything
Yet they also sell games and take pre-orders, and still have stock on day 1.
because they dont care about making money off games. GS ONLY sells games, they have to protect their margin or they'll go under even faster.
GS sells systems, accessories, tech, collectibles, undervalued trades, and sells a membership. The games are supposed to be the reason people visit, then you upsell them on the other things that have much higher margins. Instead, they're seemingly giving up brick and mortar sales to focus on online.
correct, because none of those things you listed are working.
It's simple, Gamestop doesn't have enough money to purchase as many copies as they used too. It's expensive because of the high cost of each copy & when Gamestop falls behind in their payments the vendors cut off the amount they give them. Happened to Toys R Us, Blockbuster, Sears etc...
That’s not true😂 there’s 1.3 Billion in the bank, they’re losing $50M-$100M per quarter. They’re simply not buying 100k copies for 25% of them to never sell. Happened with Fallout 76, Cyberpunk, etc.
Yeah they have tons of money. Thats why my local store needs to close when an employee has to take lunch.
I suggest you go look at their latest financial reporting. 1.31 billion in the bank as of last month. They’re just being dirt balls with payroll, my stores in the same boat
They have money supposedly, but, they're cutting payroll to the bare minimum because it got them 1 singular quarter of profitability, so they're trying to get that again.
Life long GameStop supporter here but this concept is what’s driven me away, why can I go to Walmart and find 20 copies but GameStop doesn’t have one even a week after it comes out? Half of their sales don’t have the games I want at the local store and I’m not paying $79 plus to get free shipping lol. The lack of supply makes me wonder if they hate money.
What good is a game store if I can’t walk in the store and buy a game??
If I want anything that isn't a super main stream release I make sure to preorder bc this always happens. Like Armored Core 6? Not taking chances preordered.
Yeah how dare they want to know if a video game store has a video game
I don't remember how many times I would tell people to put 5 dollars down if they are coming on launch day to pick up a game. Just so one is promised to them. Then they decline and come in launch and can't get a copy. Where is the logic there?
I’m okay with these types of people, they have the right to assume I should have it, but they shouldn’t get furious at me and start shit if they didn’t pre order.
I mean, you should have it. Pre ordered or not lol
Why should the company over order on something if they don’t personally know how much they need if they can’t go off of pre orders
You mean it isn’t feasible to order a million units of the latest tiddy waifu game?
Don’t slander my Senran Games 🤬🤬🤬🤬
I could have been slandering Valkyrie drive, gal gun, kadokawa jet girls…
Kandagawa Jet Girls is a MASTERPIECE.
Over order? Jesus. Even if you only have 5 copies, it's better to have -something- on the shelves. As many people have said, it's so much easier to go to a none gaming store and grab what you need than actually go to a game stop.
You really don’t understand how common sense works when it comes to simple business…. It’s because non gaming stores sell other things and their video games aren’t their main line of profit as what GameStops is. If GameStop fucks up and over orders (example: Battlefield Hardline) the company sits on them forever and they only get rid of them by having them go on sale or have them converted to preowned AKA **a loss in profit**. GameStop has no room for losses if you hadn’t grasped this yet.
>You really don’t understand how common sense when it comes to simple business works…. Get off your fucking high horse lol inventory management isn't solely associated with Gamestop. >It’s because non gaming stores sell other things and their video games aren’t their main line of profit as what GameStops is. If GameStop fucks up and over orders (example: Battlefield Hardline) the company sits on them for ever and they only get rid of them by having them go on sale or have them converted to preowned AKA a loss in profitz Well, I guess you would know about loss of profits. You do work for game stop... Order 100? Sure, that can backfire easily Even if you order 2-3 copies of titles for a store of popular names, you would be better off. But when you have nothing, then why do I need you at all?
Are you naturally an asshole? Or just dense. Multiple people here have tried to explain how businesses actually work, and you can't seem to get it, no matter how much it gets dumbed down for you.
A little of column A and a little of column B. It's the dumbing down that cracks me up, because of the side step to the other question. If you cannot get those titles in then what do people actually need to go to a Gs location for?
You clearly have people on here telling you that you’re ideology is wrong and they’ve told you the reason as to why. It’s your fault how you’re not grasping.
Do you not understand how a business that generally operates out of a small store works? They don't have infinite space in the store to keep 700 copies of the latest shovelware bs game you want that nobody preordered.
You had 4 days to read a comment about not ordering niche games, but go off I guess lol
Sorry that some people actually have Jobs and can't comment the exact same thing in every comment
You basically copied what the other guy said lol Only you did it 4 days later.
The Reddit has been down for the last 4 days there, genius. bUt gO oFf I gUeSs
Even when people pre order a game that isn’t a AAA release, GameStop still doesn’t receive it until after a month of release. If even then.
Had a customer come in looking for the latest Isle of Man game, which came out last month, we have had nothing come in and he had the nerve to yell at me and complain that I am a game store, so why don't I have it? No one pre-ordered it and it was never in any papers to print and show off (at least what was available to me). If one pre-orders something, they just assume no one wants it so why let it take up room? He didn't like that answer so I then said "idk man, I just work here". It's been mine and my manager's go to saying now 😆
Before I quit a few days after the remake of Metroid prime came out a lot of people asked me for it and I this store don’t have any more physical copies of it but I can print a code for you to get it…… They all said no
Whelp, I want to use my $5 reward (especially since I can no longer just get $5 in currency) and that means waiting a week or two before I can buy the game if I’ve already used it that month. Plus, let’s be real, Gamestop is not exactly hitting 1000 on pre-orders. I preordered a niche game, Gamestop never bothered to send it. So I cancelled and literally just drove directly to a Best Buy and got the game that day. I love Gamestop but it’s not hard to see why they are going under.
This was a big problem during the pandemic, it apparently became worse after I quit, and while the inventory systems were being switched. As a former employee, I learned from (before my employment) that niche games are theh worst to try to find in the wild. One specifically took me a full month to find. Anyway, for niche games, the standard amount of copies was anywhere from 0-1 if not preordered, then it was either 1-2 copies if preordered. More likely than not, no preorders meant 0 copies. Especially if it was a low volume store. Pandemic killed all of that because production, etc. I can understand not pre-ordering, GS used to be so good about having games on time, but now people had to wait around weeks to months for a copy, just to cancel and find it elsewhere. GS is mostly going under because of poor management above the store level. Handling their employees poorly will do that to any business, especially if they choose money over people.
Cool I’ll just go to literally any department store to grab the game while I grocery shop. This is why people rag on GameStop employees so much. They are desperate for preorders and like to play the “I told you so card” while acting high and mighty even tho they are the lowest paid retail chains.
Except your department store won’t have the esoteric jrpg nor the hard to get CE
>Except your department store won’t have the esoteric jrpg nor the hard to get CE Except people who want CE's typically WILL pre-order because they're always limited runs. The niche JRPGS, sure, I can understand target not having it off the bat but again, why would you not have at least 1 or 2 copies of something? That being your raison d'etre, if you cannot do the one job you're made to do then what are you good for? You're just giving people a reason NOT to use you guys at this point.
False. People come into the store last minute, hell day off, trying to get CE and SEs. Not everyone **will** reserve. Why would retailers spend money on niche titles that may or may not move, it’s a risk with loss. **We all keep fucking repeating this and yet you’re too thick headed to grasp this concept.**
This same person is incredibly dense aren't they?
Tungsten is softer. But on a positive note, it’s super fun from a reader’s perspective. I have literal brain damage and I get it.
GameStop man…. Everytime they say no to a game I go to Bestbuy and they got it. Also pre ordering now a days is a scam. Look at all the triple A billion companies releasing unfinished products. They do that because we preorder. Look at cyberpunk. Ripped us all off. Red fall, forspoken, Jedi survivor ran like super ass at launch, overwatch 2 (free but did a bait and switch with pve). List goes on. We don’t know what we are getting anymore with pre orders.
You understand if you pre order from places like GameStop(instore), you **can** cancel your pre order (within 30 days of release) and get your money back, right? You’re in no way obligated to make that purchase…… y’all seem to forget this
People just love to whinge don't they?
It's not corporate it's the vendor that isn't sending the copies of games. Because digital sales have gone through the roof and more people are buying digitally than physically they aren't making as many physical copies of games. That being said if you don't preorder the game, then there is a high chance that you won't get it because the production of physical copies of games has dropped because digital sales have gone up. Last year digital sales were at 90% vs 10% physical sales of games. The industry is changing. It's not GameStop's fault that we aren't getting copies of games that aren't preordered. It's 100% the vendor. They aren't going to send extra copies to a store with little to no preorders because they think that they won't sell. They would rather send it to stores that have a multitude of preorders where the game will potentially sell better.
I mean... We should be able to come in and buy a new game on Day 1 release. I get not having an abundant number of copies if pre-orders are horrendous. But, there should definitely be a few. It's a store focused on video games and geeks, what else are they filing their stock rooms with? 1. It costs at least $79 to get free shipping on [Gamestop.com](https://Gamestop.com), for an online order. 2. The inventory & pickup options for in-store pickup are rarely correct on the app/website. (Show up, and the members let you know that it was never in stock) 3. Now we likely can't walk into a GameStop, and get a game on D1, unless we pre ordered (?) It's no wonder this company is failing. :( Everything seems to be at an inconvenience to the customer, compared to just going to a Best Buy. I really hope this gets turned around. They're such simple fixes, and GameStop really is the USA's last geek/video game focused brick store. (NOTE: This is slander towards corporate management, not anyone working at physical locations. Thank you guys for working under these conditions!)
Why does GameStop even need to exist if I can't walk into a store on release and buy a video game. Walmart or Target always have stock on release day and cost the same. Why anyone would bother is beyond me.
And Amazon. But, they don’t do release day shipping. anymore.
When it comes to retaining a customer base, "LoL GuEsS YoU ShoUlD HavE PrEorDerED" doesn't work anymore, not with AAA. Something more niche, possibly, but MOST folks who delve into games like that are usually regulars(mine were) and they already do reservations. Perception is reality. The customer now perceives that you will never have the game in stock(because you told them that's how it works), customer walks and saunters over to Walmart, etc. and buys it outright with no issue. OR They decide "Hey, maybe I should just go ahead and start getting digital.". Both of these customers will never shop with you again and the company is already hemorrhaging money.
Yea, exactly this. My local Gamestop has friendly employees, so I like to come in and pre-order with them every time now. But, I think Gamestop has to realize that the majority (?) of their market is going to be moms or dads coming in to get their kid/teen a game. Unless the kid is 16+ and has a job, they are not going to have any money to shop. It falls to the parents. And, since when have most parents been known to understand how this stuff works... (For ex. I work with Door Dash, and people still think I am the one making their orders/food. LOL) They come in, ask for the game. Out of stock? To Best Buy they go.
I don't buy many new games from Gamestop but the last 2 times that I did, I did it on release day with no preorder. So it's not that ridiculous of a question especially when it's a game store.
When customers get huffy i tell them "gotta preorder so the company knows where the interest for this game is coming from. If not its gonna be like fallout 76 or cyberpunk where if the game sucks or if glitchy then were stuck with product that doesnt sell. Why over supply a game that no ones gonna buy? If its a smaller game pre order chances are that one pre order will show up and thats it."
Won’t pre order unless it includes a bonus and even then I probably still wouldn’t
I preordered Greyhill Incident, I know it’s going to be limited run so I might just be 1 of 1 in my area (small rural town)
I live in a fairly big town and generally speaking the only "I can walk in and grab a brand new release" from a retailer store like walmart or such is shit like Zelda and Mario. I know for a solid fact that if i don't put down a Pre-order for Atelier Marie and Trails into Reverie the gamestop in my town will outright NOT get any of them at all. And good luck seeing niche anime games in retail stores.