MS and Retail Stores

theeboredone

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I hadn't given this much thought, but I went to my local GameStop and Best Buy to see what the local opinion was with the employees in regards to both consoles. I was a bit shocked to see GameStop throwing their complete weight behind Sony, whereas Best Buy was a bit pro PS4, but nothing like the employees at GS. I don't know if it was a personal opinion, or something their managers are telling them to do.

Anyways, it got me thinking. The majority of GS' revenue comes from Used Game sales. Yes they will most likely have some weird device that will enable them to do trade ins for X1 games. I do think it's wrong GS makes 100% of the money from used games, but given they may now be forced to share some of that pie, I don't seem so surprised by the GS reaction. I decided to look a bit more into it, and lo and behold, there is a topic on NeoGaf talking about the exact same thing.

When you think about it, it does make sense for retail stores to throw their weight behind Sony, because of the Used Game Policy. These guys are just holding onto their money/business practices, and as corporations go, they don't want to share their money. Stores like Walmart, GS, or Best Buy haven't exactly adopted some "online download" system where they can rake in money as well.

Anyways, this is only what I've seen and the only sample outside of me, is the people on NeoGaf. Let me know if you guys hear or see anything different.
 

Mystictrust

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I was in my local Microsoft Store the other day and from what I've heard, they are throwing their complete weight behind Xbox One. Several of them seemed fairly excited about some of the features, and I talked to one of them for quite a bit about all the things Xbox One has to offer :angel:

I'm not even remotely surprised that Gamestop seems to prefer Sony, precisely due to the money situation - they are used to seeing 100% profits, price gouging trade-ins and then marking them up to the highest acceptable price, which seems to usually be about $5 off retail, $10 if it's a year old. Ugh.
 

Polychrome

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The reality is if the used games go, so do their jobs, and this is not an economy in which you want to be out of work. And Microsoft's move, whether you like it or not, is strongly shoving the software industry toward digital distribution. (As if it wasn't snowballing already.)

For a long time, the market has been balanced the way it is precisely *because* of used games. But the balance in the last ten years has been shifted so heavily toward used games that these stores can make *nothing* on new games markup.

My guess is what'll happen is this: There will be "disk" games that can be bought at retailers, but the disk version will be a bit more expensive than the downloadable version. It'll likely be touted as a version for people with low-bandwidth or cellular connections. However, if the balance shifts enough, we'll likely see them able to collect a bit more markup on these to make up for the loss of used-game sales.

And let's face it, there were rumors for months that this next Xbox wouldn't have an optical drive at all. My general thought to that rumor was "Gamestop is *not* going to like this."

I'm okay with Gamestop. I used to work for them. They're not the bastion of evil people make them out to be. But people aren't kidding about the markup on used games and how heavily they milk it. People forget that there was once a time that Gamestop carried a large selection of PC games, sold mostly new, and was doing fine. Gamestop used to operate that way once, and if need be, can operate that way again. Social Darwinism: Adapt or die. :p
 

Keith Wallace

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I can see Gamestop adapting by offering exclusive game content with purchases made via their store

They already do that, though. A lot of reserved games get upgraded to the "Limited Edition." They offer deals on game manuals as well, though who actually buys THOSE? Maybe they can swing a deal where they can offer an Online Pass for $5 less when it's purchased with a new game or something.
 

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