200, out of their 3,800: “Plans to close stores were outlined Tuesday, shortly after GameStop reported a second-quarter net loss of $415 million, and a 14.3 % year-over-year sales decline. ” …And that’s how these downward spirals can start. Gabe from Penny Arcade kind of called it, too:
This could be better news, although admittedly I’m late to the party since GameStop never cared about PC games. It wasn’t until we got the consoles that I started to really get that people did not like their business model.
But I got to tell you that there’s one big thing about buying a game on CD instead of doing a download; they can’t muck about with the CD afterwards. We’re discovering this problem with e-books and movies right now, in fact. If you don’t own a physical copy, then in a lot of ways you don’t actually own it at all. If video games go full digital, well, gamers might end up missing those stores.
Although it’d help if GameStop had at least tried to have better PR.
I appreciate the model. Being able to sell something is a big part of owning it.
I have nice things to say about Disc Replay. (Also Hastings, may they RIP.)
And when I was younger, used bookstores were my bag, baby.
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My issue with Gamestop is simply that they do not charge a fair price, and do not offer a fair price.
I sold a stack of games to Gamestop once. IIRC, I walked away with twelve bucks and change store credit (partially because you pretty much had to buy a membership to sell them games). Then they turned around and priced the same collection at 3 to 4 hundred bucks.
With older games now readily available and selling at $20 or less, it’s often cheaper and easier to buy new. (Not even counting competition from digital distribution sales, which can be extreme. Or the Games with Gold service, which provides four games a month as a fringe benefit.)
Steam killed Gamestop. Long live Steam!
FYI some if not all games on GOG come with standalone installers, so you actually *own* your games.