Is Gamestop Really That Bad?

I usually encounter alot of dislike on the store. I honestly don't dislike them, the times I went there went well with only one incident happen. So I like to ask what is your opinion on this.

Gamestop, in my opinion, are a true example of legal racketeering. Their used game supply may help gamers short of cash, but long term we are self destructing ourselves. The cheaper $5 copy that you saved on Max Payne 3 ensured that the publisher never received a dime from your purchase. "What does that have to do with me?" you may ask. Plenty. When a game doesn't sell as it is expected to sell, developers doors close, we are "nicked and dimed" for everything and left with only Modern Warfare, Madden and Halo. Now hear me out, I personally purchase plenty from Gamestop. I am not anti-establishment or anything, but we should just be aware of how we really do vote with our wallets more than we think.

One more thing, trading in a fairly new game at Gamestop should not make you feel dirty. They really can afford to give much better deals. "Sir, I know that it came out last week, but it is going to be $9 store credit for your copy of Call of Duty: Black Ops 2." I know that this is America, but kiss my ass!

As a former Gamestop employee (I was a Funcoland employee when Gamestop bought 'em out) I try to avoid them as much as humanly possible. Back when I was there, we had pretty good discounts (25% off everything except consoles - new or used) but we were constantly harassed to get a set number of reserves and subscriptions to the card. That, in turn, sometimes causes desperate employees to harass customers to reserve a game or get a subscription so they can keep their jobs...Or obnoxious butt-kissing employees to be even more obnoxious to the customer by not taking no for an answer. From what I've heard, the employee discounts aren't nearly as good anymore and the expectations for reserves and subscriptions have increased. Also, their "this game is opened, but new" line is a total lie. Employees are encouraged to "rent" these games to familiarize themselves with the product. If the disk is scratched, they have to buy it...But more than likely if that product is opened, it was probably played prior to you buying it.

Also, as Mr. Lays mentioned, the amount of credit you get for a new game is ridiculous. I understand that they need to make a profit, but quite frankly, paying someone $12 (which is the best I've seen for select, new games) for a game that they plan on selling for $55 ($5 less than a new game, whoopie!) is a pretty huge profit for them. I mentioned to the district manager when I worked there that giving them half of what we sell it for isn't a bad deal for the company and it won't result in customer's feel like they're being ripped off as badly. I was basically ignored for speaking up.

Now, all of that aside, the final straw for me was when they started loading up their used games with stickers that aren't easy to get off. As a collector, I don't mind buying used games, but I don't want to have to spend an hour with a container of GooGone to get the dang stickers off the cases. I've also gotten the ol' routine of me bringing up a case in good condition, with a manual, and checking the bag when I get home to find out that they swapped 'em and now I've got a ratty-looking case without a manual. I've got other options to buy games where I live, so I use 'em. If I need to buy something new that is more obscure, I try estarland.com or even amazon.com as they'll likely have it...And neither one will nag me with questions about games I want to reserve or if I want a subscription to their card that comes attached with a horrible magazine.

....That's a lot of ranting on my part. My apologies. I can keep going if need be. Like how they monopolized the game store industry...But for now, I'll leave my comments at the ones above.

As a simple customer, I can attest that "this game is opened, but new" is bull****. I bought Nintendo 3DS game cartridges that were supposed to be new, but had game saves on them.

Moreover, I know of more than a couple employees in my local GameStop shops which are totally ignorant about games and the industry.

Interesting responsives. Oddly enough the stickers thing never bother me too much but the whole credit thing sounds very odd and the whole "new game unopened" sounds weird too. Thankfully I never saw any annoying employees at the ones near by.

I don't mind them so much, at least they specialize in a product. I feel better buying video games from a store that just sells video games. I avoid box stores if I can. If I want video games, I go buy video games. I'd rather not wade through a sea of screaming children and shopping carts to save $0.14 on a new title. It's just not worth it.

I've purchased few little more rare games from there very cheap. There are 2 Gamestop stores around here. The other one really is quite pathetic with nothing rly in it, but the other has okay selection and the staff's more chill over there too. And they got very cheap movies there too, although most which I've totally never heard of. xD

I don't think they're THAT bad, it's just another store that sells games.

THE GAMES ARE CHEAP VERDA who are good and you say Why do not you put THINGS COULD MILESTONES AND INDUSTRY AND ARE LODE 2040 2050 2060 FIGHTING FOR THREE FACTIONS go to Mars and stayed there GAME

^ Good point. See, I liked Funcoland well enough, and got video game Christmas presents from Best Buy, Circuit City, and Toys R' Us. But the Gamestop got rid of pretty much everything going back more than two generations, and it just wasn't worth it anymore. I can get that stuff at any other electronics store. I mean, come on, you're a video game specialty store, 'Stop!

I don't buy the biggest releases right when they come out or anything like that, and never saw the use in getting Gamestop points. I'd much rather buy games from eBay or - more recently - via the Nintendo eShop. The latter has so much potential, so they really need to kick the Virtual Console porting into high gear, dang it!

Personally, I hope the future of gaming involves primarily digital releases via eShops (yes, they must all bear that name) that have massive libraries and selling/trading of used games over the internet and maybe in specialty electronics stores. Buying new physical copies of games can still be an option, since I'm sure some will appreciate the classic thrill of it, but it wouldn't be the driving force of the industry by any means.

^Agree with pumpkinate on that last point (well pretty much all of it- c'mon no classic playstation games? what the hell? aren't you a gaming store?) but I hope to move away from physical copies as much as possible. Gamestop itself doesn't really bother me, it's nice to get cheap games from. People say this hurts the industry, and I can't argue that developers don't get money from them, but somehow the book industry has survived with used bookstores, so I doubt that'll be real crippling. I feel like they are trying to be more than what they are, which is just a place to get used games. Their powerup rewards thing seems pointless to me.

Oh my god... don't get me started.

The only thing that I dislike about Gamestop is their practice of selling "NEW" games that are opened for full price. I always ask if they have an unopened copy and if they do I will buy it, otherwise I will buy it somewhere else.

Actually, I should probably clarify a few things about Gamestop.

I totally agree with what JPHOLT just said above... but I've had a few good experiences at Gamestop. One time recently I was able to get my friend a semi-rare game through their ship between stores thing which saved me a bit of money.

However, I kind of do get sick of how they always want me to reserve things when I go in there and no, I (usually) don't give a crap about the damn pre-order bonus. I know they have to sell so many pre-orders because they have stupid quotas but I personally like the non-chain store in the other town where I'm not bombarded by those questions. They know if I want to pre-order something I'm going to ask.

I was kind of annoyed by what the one guy said to me the other day however. He was trying to tell me they only get so many copies of the 3DS games in so I might want to pre-order a Link Between Worlds. Yeah, cause that game is going to be SO hard to find that I just can't buy it somewhere else.