Ben-DutkaWhen a company executive stands up and tries to convince people that he doesn't like to make money…well, it's amusing in a way.
GameStop and the used game business has come under fire recently, with publishers being upset that they don't receive a dime for any used game sale, and gamers tossing in their own brand of disapproval. But when GameStop exec Niall Lawlor addressed this subject during the Develop Conference 2010, he said something that many journalists and industry fans find difficult to swallow. According to Examiner.com , when InstantAction CEO Louis Castle compared the sale of used games to blatant thievery, Lawlor defended his company by saying, "We like to think GameStop evangelizes the business." But then came "the" comment:
"We don't like being in the used business, it's very difficult to manage."
Now, wait…back up a second. You don't like it? Who cares how "difficult" it is to manage when the company drags in a few billion every year based on the sale of used games, which enjoy nutty 100% markups…? Standard markup in that store is maybe 50% (although I remember working there, and it's far less for hardware and other items), and the trade-ins these days point to more than 100%. I traded in Naughty Bear last week and got $16 for the trade; its used price tag is $40. The gap has been widening over the years; I've been watching it.
So to say you don't "like" this may be construed by many as a lie. We're not calling him a liar; we're simply warning him that others might call him that.
No codes worked at the time because I had to call in the $10 coupon code and my order was less than the $25 minimum for free shipping.
Actually, it was EB but whatever. I worked there during (and a little after) college…was there for the Dreamcast, PS2, Xbox and GameCube launches. 🙂
@fluffer: Yeah, by me. You said "This is John", which didn't help at all. I was like "Wha?". At least now I don't have to wonder anymore.
@Ben
There was a big difference for me between EB games and Gamestop. I felt like EB actually cared about their customers compared to Gamestop (this was before Gamestop bought them over). What ever happened to Funcoland?
@KB, there is no minimum for free shipping.
@Wolfie, but I am John and you weren't the first to ask, either. Why were you wondering so much? Get outside, you lazy sack! Ha!
@fluffer nutter
I got this message for the Gamestop website when I applied the SAVER coupon – "Coupon:SAVER – Free Value Shipping on your order. Minimum cart value must be $25.00"
@Kevkev
Hey Kevkev. The EBgames in my city all suck like Gamestop. The one nearest my house is run by a really big and tough angry woman. '0.o'
@Underdog15
I was talking about EB games before Gamestop bought them out in 2006.
Ah yes… 2006. when they employed all the newly bought out EBgames with large, tough, and angry women.
@Underdog15, Those were women? O_O
@KB, I didn't get that message on my order. I guess GS site is corrupted. 😀
Last edited by fluffer nutter on 7/13/2010 2:44:20 PM
@Underdog15
"Large, tough, and angry women." – What state do you live in?
So far 3 out of the 4 Gamestop/EB games that I go to have hot college girls that work their, they don't know jack, but they are still hot (I live in Texas).
I live in Ontario, Canada, and it's actually just one really big tough woman in the store nearest me. And she's the manager… so… no one hired her.
The EB at one of the malls in my city had a pretty good looking girl working there, but truth be told, I don't frequent the EB games beyond the one nearby. Mostly I just checked out the store because my wife was visiting the Suzy Sheer or whatever it is across the hall. I ended up buying a new copy of 3D Dot Game Heroes.
Edit: Also, the manager lady knows shes a manager. She's always so angry….
And Texas, eh? Shouldn't you guys have tonnes of big and angry women? The dude on Supersize Me said it was one of the chubbiest places in the world. I've never been, though.
Last edited by Underdog15 on 7/13/2010 3:35:13 PM
@Underdog15
Yes, Texas has tons of big angry women, but they work at Denny's and Walmart. If big angry women worked at Gamestop, none of the kids would go there (need some eye candy for the kids).
My grandma lives in Ontario, Canada. My parents and I have driven from Texas to Canada, it's a nice drive, it takes about 3 days to get there.
HA! Of course they do. What was I thinking? lol
Our Walmarts are most well known for their elderly, mothball smelling greeters. It's nice… they always remind me to smile!
@Kev, you forgot the big angries at IHOP, Cracker Barrel and Shoney's…
you know what i think?
i think we should ignore corporate quotes, go 2 gamestop, and buy whatever game we want like ive been doing for years.
its that simple fellas
well the past three months i been buying all my games used to save money. i don't care if its a 5 dollar differents i reather pay 54.99 then 59.99. i am so sick of the 60.00 dollar price tag. i wish that all games coast 49.99 like last gen so i can buy more then 2 games a month. last gen i was able to 5 games at the most last gen.
Well I guess if he hates making money so much he can send his paychecks to me, I won't hate it at all.
He said it was HARD to manage…I would like to see whats so hard to Manage….
In fairness of GameStop…Not all of 'em are evil…Mine Is quite nice…PS3 And 360 are at the other side of each other and have same amount of space…And there quiet nice.
I agree with you, how hard can it be to manage a business where your mark-up on goods is more than 100% and you don't even have to go get the product, it's brought to you. Gamestop management are nuts.
It may be difficult to manage, but how can that mean they don't like it. It nets them a ton of money.
Like me going to GAME and JB Hi-Fi to trade in my copy of RE5. GAME offered me 25 while they were selling it used for 110. Yes that is the same price as brand new when it was four months old… insanity. I told them to stuff themselves, took it to JB where they gave me thirty five while selling it for sixty. Still one hell of a mark-up, but I feel I got the better deal.
People are strange.
Peace.
the ridiculous markups are what drove me to glyde.com
its literally as easy as throwing it away. they send you an envelope and credit you the money. i make usually twice as much off glyde as i would at gamestop, the only difference is time.
While I do visit CAG, trying to find Canadian traders/buyers is very difficult. It's popular with Americans but not for us Canucks. I use Kijiji to unload my games/consoles.
I can see why Gamestop is despised by many with comments like this one. Give me a break. They give out next to nothing on trade-ins and then mark-up the game to just $5 below what a new copy would cost.
As much as I hate Gamestop and the used games market, I am willing to step in and help them out for a few million. That's chump change compared to their profit and I believe worth it to ease their worried minds.
I can't imagine them not liking it since all i get in my e-mails from them is "trade in these game for this much", or "buy 2 used and get one free" advertising. Then every time you go in there its did you bring in games to trade? They accept them like a kid would candy. I can't imagine there is any truth to this.
Not to mention they make a fortune of the used games! They right now are taking GOW 3 in for trade in and will give you $20 in store credit, but are selling it used for $55 lol, I mean c'mon! Whats not to like if people are buying?
Last edited by bigrailer19 on 7/13/2010 7:49:36 PM
Poor Gamestop.
My @ss closed shut along time ago for them buying back my games. I can make double of what they offer by selling them myself on Ebay. Screw Missouri's gamestops, d@mn Xbox lovers.
I live in Missouri. The Gamestop closest to me are PS3 fans through and through. They never seem to talk about any XBox games, and if a game is multi-plat, they talk about the PS3 version, lol. Pretty awesome. They have a few games they like that are on the XBox, but that's just personal preference.
I just don't get why saving money on a video game is a bad thing. Everyone is so against buying used games and then they complain about games being too expensive. Buy a used game, and you'll be saving money. But you can't save money because saving money is unethical.
Saving money isn't a bad thing. But, if 20% of all sales of a game are used copies, that means that 20% of the total number of players did not pay the publisher/developer for the game. It's not that the buyer is doing a bad thing by saving money, but think about who you are paying for your game. Would you rather pay GameStop (or the equivalent) $55 for a game, knowing that $0 goes to the guys that made the game, or would you rather pay $60 for the game knowing that at least $25-$30 gets to the publisher/developer? Used game purchases penalize and do *not* reward the publishers and developers making games for us to enjoy. Does that seem right or fair to you?
The game is used, and has already been bought. That's like saying not to buy a game from your friend or at a yard sale because the developers don't get any money from it. The developers got their money for it. I'm interested in saving money, because money is hard to get a hold of and keep in today's world. To be honest, I'd rather go to my local pawn shop and buy a PS3 game there than Gamestop because all games at the pawn shop near me are priced at $15, regardless of the rarity. No developer gets money from that sale but it's like a quarter of the price originally. They already sold their game, it's just being bounced around because the last person didn't want it anymore. One game I would actually buy a game for the soul purpose of not giving money to the developers in Final Fantasy XIII. It's not even Square-Enix that I don't want to give my money to, it's Leona Lewis. I hate that woman. Also, I've pre-ordered and payed for my copy of Birth by Sleep as soon as I heard it was able to be pre-ordered because the game is $40 and not $60, I can come back and pay on it (which I did twice), and because that game looks like a quality game, I went ahead and pre-ordered it. The graphics are really close to the Kingdom Hearts II quality and I love the style of those graphics.
They're sooo full of BS its just hilarious.
Lawlor needs to be fired. If he thinks it's hard taking candy from a baby then I don't think he's well suited for position of "exec."
gamestop used games and trade in's are a ripoff, the mark up on the and what u get for trading is retarded so I go to yes what for it Blockbuster Video to do all my trading and purchasing used games, I traded in a few games and got like 30 for eachone where GS said 5 dollars, I asked BBV what they would sell it for and it was like 5 dollar more, I have found alot of great games used there like Eternal Sonata for 15 bucks, WHite knight chronicals for 20 bucks, and a few more.
I stopped buying from Gamestop a while ago I only buy from them if they have good deals or if I want a collectors edition of something but really I shop around.
yeah such hard work dealing with them.
the only reason i hate EB is because they give you scraps than charge so much for it!
for example crackdown 2, i was so fu*king pissed off with this but my 360 put a massive gash in my crackdown 2 disk.
i rang customer support, after a hour and a half or arguing, than swearing me head off at the guy i took it back to EB traded it in for 40 bucks.
guess how much there selling it for?
90!
could you get more of a mark up?
i recently traded my PSP in to get my wii, they gave me 70 bucks for it, and am charging 300 for it!
EB should thank their lucky stars the employees at game are complete f*ckwits! and JBHIFI does not normally get games in till a week or so after release, otherwise they would of been bankrupt years ago!!!!!!!!!
When it comes to used games Gamestop is not the place to go people. Have you seen how badly mistreated their used game cases are? Reps at Gamestop treat their merchandise like trash instead of trying to preserve it's quality. When it comes to must-have pre-orders, Gamestop does a good job. Simply because you're purchasing a NEW item just like you would at any other retail store. They even throw in some incentive to get you to buy from them when it comes to NEW releases. Used games though? No incentive what's so ever, and you can't depend on Gamestop to offer a quality used game that doesn't look like it got stepped on multiple times before being put on the shelf. The only thing good about Gamestop is that they provide the best "rental" for your buck, which equals "0" out of pocket. Since they offer a complete refund on used games within 7 days you're practically renting the game if you return it. Beats Blockbuster rentals or even Gamefly if you understand what I'm writing.
For anyone who's too lazy to be their own vendor, cross out the alternative that I'm about to offer. Ebay or Amazon. You bought a brand new game and hate it? Sell it on eBay or Amazon and get nearly 80-90% back on your investment. Bought a great game and no longer play it? Looking for some extra cash? Sell it on eBay or Amazon and get a good return on your investment because good games tend to hold onto their value longer.
Want to buy a used game you've been dying to play? Trust me, eBay or Amazon will have it at a better price than Gamestop does AND in better quality, trust me.
If getting screwed over suits you well, stick with Gamestop for used games (purchased and traded in). If you're looking to get back your dignity and stop being a whore to chain stores, evolve to what makes sense.
The problem here isn't Gamestop selling used games per-say, but more so that people are stupid enough to trade in. When I buy a game, I never get rid of it. I don't see the point of getting rid of a game. When I buy a game, I usually like it. I'm a collector of sorts, but a terrible one at that, lol. Need more funds, ya know? :p
I don't have any problem with GS/EB/or any other used game store just because as a collector, I NEVER trade in any games.
I will wait them all out till the games I want are under $20 used(or up to $30 on their buy 2-get 1 free deal days).
And with all the tons of games I already own that haven't even been played yet(and since I'm not an on-line multi-player either), then I have the added luxury of having all the time in the world to waiting out any new or current games. And yes, that means even if it's a year or more later.
And for the strategy, MMO's, & RPG titled games I'll never play but still need for my collections, I'll just wait them out till they're in the $10 or less pricepoint.
And for sports titles I don't want, but still need, I just pick them up them when they're down to $.99 to 2.99 only.
Heck, since I also have 3 Hospital sponsored upscale thrift shops(all money goes hospital) right by me, & I do most of my games spending there.
They often get Gamecube, Xbox, 360, PS3, & PS3 games in, and re-sell them for only $3,(and only $1.50 on their special monthly 1/2 off just for tapes, movies, & video games).
Just yesterday, they had 22 PS2 games there & I managed to grab 8 of them that I didn't already have, and only those that were in mint condition with everything there, for only $2 each.
Games like MVP Baseball2004, Sega's NCAA College Football 2K3, Summer Heat Beach Volleyball(like DOA girls in Paradise???), Tekken Tag Tournament, to TC's Ghost Recon, Rainbow six 3, & Splinter Cell:Pandora Tomorrow.(I already have some of them in my original xbox collection).