John-ShepardThe whole world is going digital.
Parent company Dish Network has announced that Blockbuster will end its retail and by-mail distribution operations by early January 2014. The last 300 stores in the US region will be shuttered, as will all remaining distribution centers.
Said Dish CEO Joseph P. Clayton:
"This is not an easy decision, yet consumer demand is clearly moving to digital distribution of video entertainment.
Blockbuster isn't dead, though. The company has expanded via digital offerings, and Dish will retain licensing rights to the Blockbuster brand. The Blockbuster @Home service will remain, as will the Blockbuster On Demand program, so you needn't worry about those disappearing. Blockbuster UK just entered administration for the second time but if the company can continue to embrace the digital revolution, they should be okay. Adapation is essential for all businesses.
However, I'll miss the days of going to the local Blockbuster and picking out a movie or a game to rent. It was very much a social event in those days.
Very sad. My Blockbuster has been gone since early 2011. Figured this would happen at some point. It was always a special event to go rent a movie or a game. At least you can still do it at Red Box, but the magic of going inside the store, not finding what you were looking for and then stumbling upon an older film or game that turned out to be awesome, will be sorely missed.
Red Box only has newer films/games. Blockbuster had a pretty wide variety of newer films and older films.
hehe this is foreshadowing the eventual demise of Gamestop.
it'll be ironic that the very thing gamers loathed and hated about the XboxOne will be eventually embraced by most gamers by the dusk of the next-gen. No one accepts big changes right away but given the choice and enough time, one by one, the majority will, to where it'll be a non issue in a distant gen.
Last edited by Temjin001 on 11/6/2013 10:42:05 PM
Which things are we going to embrace?
Nothing for you to worry about world. You're definitely not the majority.
Actually. That gives you everything to worry about. Your physical gaming future is a digital one, like it or not.
But hey, perhaps you're not so opposed to that. You do consider your ps+ games part of your library eh?
Edit: I mean you must seeing that you get upset buying a physical game just before the ps+ version hits.
Last edited by Temjin001 on 11/7/2013 1:53:40 AM
Yeah I've accepted that digital will be the norm, but I'm not willing to concede that everyone will jump into the restrictions on it that MS had lined up.
Temjin, I think the people who buy the digital version of the game would be more upset if it came up on PS+ the next month. At least the people that bought the disc version would be able to sell it back to a retailer or to a non-PS+ subscriber for $5 or $10. Then download it and continue playing it.
no one will do anything all at once.
it is just like PS+. First. start with an optional buffet style offering of free games and discounts to condition the apprehensive lot of physical consumers into feeling safe with digital. Second. Make it a mandatory requirement for online play in the coming years where then hardly anyone makes a peep. well, except for Ben, he tried to pose it as a legitmate issue. But it seemed most everyone here was ready with their pants down to take it. Even E3's audience didn't seem to care.
I garuntee from the very beginning of PS+'s design, they knew very well they'd make it mandatory for the PS4. It's how this crap works. You support it early, you make it requisite for the future. Same exact crap happened with Kinect.
Last edited by Temjin001 on 11/7/2013 12:07:52 PM
and what I mean about the XboxOne thing is over the concerns of MS having full DRM control over games, abolishing the used game market in the process. Where everything is a license and on their terms of the agreement. It seems so ironic that so many hated and reviled it, all the while it'll become a non-issue in a distant future because most will just have converted to digital consumption anyway. Where all of these restrictions come with the territory. Sure it's a different means but it all ends just the same. Everyone who supports any program or consumption of digital products is aiding this process along.
Last edited by Temjin001 on 11/7/2013 12:27:17 PM
We successfully fought off online passes, so there's that.
no, EA jumped the gun under the pretense that most of everything used was going away anyway with the heavy DRM schemes MS had up their sleeves. They revoked the passes before MS announced their plans, if you remember. I'm sure EA now regrets being so hasty.
I miss going out to the video store too, it wasn't some big extraordinary experience but it's one of those things you've been doing your whole life that you suddenly realize you have great memories attached to. It's really sad, I loved the experience of the video store back in the day. Everything changes.
I don't think there will be much reason to have brick and mortar stores for anything in the future except stuff like clothes that you need to try on. We will become a nation of hikikomoris.
I used to love it too. Having to pick a movie from a limited catalog (compared to online ones these days.), getting pissed because the movie you wanted was already taken, the box art of that movie you wanted to watch, having to remember that you have to take it back in a few days. Those were some moments.
uhh, I suppose that's one way of looking at it.
I meant meeting new people and talking about your favorites face to face, taking risks on games and movies you normally wouldn't watch and finding out you like it, the feeling of togetherness I'd get from going to the vid store with my dad on a Friday night and picking something together. Or just browsing through all the grown-up titles as a kid with nothing else to do.
Oh… got ya now, especially that risk part.
Last edited by Masszt3r on 11/7/2013 2:14:35 PM
Even dial up internet is wandering how Blockbuster is still around.
They're even closing down their by-mail service?? So, with that gone, what exactly is left? Renting /buying overpriced digital crap?
really sad that rental services are gone.
actually, no im not im quite glad there gone!
theres nothing more frustrating than spending 20 f*cking bucks to rent 3 freaking movies, be forced to watch them in 1 night, then get them home and all 3 wont play because there scratched to hell!
ill never understand how rental services manage to damage their discs so badly, i mean ive used them as freaking frizzes when i was drunk and bored and not even then did i scratch them half as badly as the ones i rent!
hell i got charged replacement fee for one disc i forgot to send back so i kept it and used a coaster for 15 years, still looks freaking brand new!
im not a big fan of digital, hell 80 f*cking bucks for the latest season of the simpsons?
yea, go shove it!
but if paying that means we can send these extortionate hell holes where they belong, than all i can say is bring out the lube!
yea well these things happen but i guess with times changing the business has to happen
happy gaming =)
I miss Hollywood Video and Gamecrazy. I remember the deals on movies and games were great money savers. I bought assassins creed and bioshock the same day for like 60$ because I had bought some soda and a movie at the same time. As much as I hate to say it because I do enjoy digital games, I really am going to miss seeing movies and games at stores. I never did go to Blockbuster though, so I really couldn't say anything about it other than I hope those people find new jobs.
why all 300 blockbuster video store in the usa are closing?
Last edited by macyeepsx2 on 11/7/2013 6:13:02 PM
This is truly a loss. The business model of BB might not have been the best, but one thing that I think could help the gaming industry is a well thought out rental chain.
In the absence of places like Blockbuster, my gaming habits have dramatically changed. Demo's aren't enough and I (and I'm sure many others) take way more precaution when trying new games.This is one reason why games like CoD and the barrage of sequels are the only things selling so much. Nobody wants to try the ICO's and Puppeteers.
Blockbuster introduced me to the worlds of Chuck Norris, Bruce Lee & Jackie Chan – miss my home store
The Huffington Post just reported that the last movie rented at Blockbuster was Seth Rogan's "This is the End". Strangely appropriate, I think!