Poll: The Anti-GameStope Revolution

[Blindswordmaster]

Alrighty then game industry, I'll give you an ultimatum: make your games cheaper so that I don't have to trade in my used games to buy new ones. Sound good? No? That's what I thought. Listen, I'm in college right now and money is tight, and even though I'm working I still have to budget my money wisely. Video Games, food, and rent are my top three financial priorities, but the latter two come first because I need them to live. Thus my only options to continue buying games is to are to buy used and trade in my old games. Otherwise I couldn't afford to buy games at all. I know that the industry wants my support without Gamestop, but that's all I can do to support you at all. Sorry, but for the time being, that's just the way it is.

 

[Direwolf750]

No, I like Gamestop. Besides, if it pisses him off it makes me even prouder to use it.

did you even watch the video? he has some good reasons for this revolution also it is not take down gamestop it is take down the gamestop MONOPOLY and a monopoly is always a bad thing.

That is inherantly wrong, monopolies are not always a bad thing. When you take economics you will know that. There are plenty of monopolies that run things that you never have to think about, and don't HAVE to worry about because the monopoly regulates the prices. Do not speak of thing of which you know little.

Gamestop is no more of a threat than Walmart is. In fact, Walkmart is worse. Buying from Gamestop wont kill the industry, and as long as I still have the internet, then game retail isn't really restricted. The person who gives the best service gets the buck. Gamestop happens to be very reliable at getting me games, so I use them. Give me a small business that does the same, and if it is more convenient then I will use them. If they can get me Fable 3 on release day with bonus extras the same as Gamestop can, then all the better.

The problem is that games don't vary much is price when they come out. A new AAA game is $60 just about everywhere. So they aren't price gauging, they are just more successful. Plus I doubt that a small video game store, a generic game store, can manage to keep up with the selection and bonuses. And on a final note: they don't have a monopoly anyways, as long as you can still buy the games on the internet, they don't have a monopoly, not even on AAA games.

 

[AngryLawnNinja]

Why don't we just appeal for the laws concerning royalties off used games to be changed so that developers and publishers get a slice of the profits of used game sales too? Wouldn't that be problem solved? It seems that there is a flaw in the system here.

Cheers from Holland!

 

[katsumoto03]

This is why I never buy used games.

 

[lasherman]

The whole "used games are a parasitic drain on game developers" argument is bullshit. It can be used to target literally ANY product being sold.

Seriously, just replace the word "videogame" with the word "car", or "books" or even "trombone", and you can make a case about how used "nouns" are killing the "noun" industry.

So what exactly are we saying here? That I am not allowed to sell my used games to somebody else who wants to play it, because that way Ubisoft doesn't get any of that person's cash? If I paid 60 bucks for a game, beat it and don't want it anymore, but my friend is willing to give me twenty bucks for it, should I say "No, go fuck yourself and buy retail" then throw my copy in the trash?

Are we saying that you can sell used products of any kind EXCEPT for videogames? Why is nobody outraged that Hyundai didn't get a cut when I bought my first used car? Videogames are a product, just like anything else, and treating them differently is part of the reason why people don't take them as a serious form of media.

 

[nairb1582]

Game stop isn't a monopoly at all.

They happen to be the only national chain of specialty game retailers. They are so far from the only game retailers that the idea of their being a proper monopoly is laughable.

-m

You have other game retailers in your city?

That must be nice...

 

[KefkaCultist]

Where I live there are 2 places to buy games nearby. Game Stop and Walmart; I REALLY don't like Walmart.

Besides, several of my friends work and at Game Stop and I may actually be hired there for the christmas season so I don't want to boycott it.

However, I do agree with several points in the video, specifically the radioactive chainsaw fucking developers by buying used, and thats actually why I think project $10 dollar is actually a good idea. Either that or GS can start giving a cut of their used game profit to the developers.

 

[Treeinthewoods]

If we just boycott what is most successful then we aren't improving the total quality at all, we should be boycotting Gamestop if it practiced dirty business tactics or anti-consumer policy, not because it makes a lot of money. Sometimes things are successful because , oh I don't know, they work better than others?

Brilliant ninja!

They aren't doing anything evil (unless you are a used game hater) and their prices are virtually identical to any of the other local places I could go to. If anything, other game stores should work to emulate their business model because it is clearly working well.

Monopoly my butt.

 

[ProfessorLayton]

Game stop isn't a monopoly at all.

They happen to be the only national chain of specialty game retailers. They are so far from the only game retailers that the idea of their being a proper monopoly is laughable.

-m

I actually agree with you... I mean, they don't even sell Xbox games anymore. If I want to find a PS1 game, I'll go to one of the tons of other game stores that sell PS1 games. GameStop just has the best deals that I've found.

 

[Worgen]

Game stop isn't a monopoly at all.

They happen to be the only national chain of specialty game retailers. They are so far from the only game retailers that the idea of their being a proper monopoly is laughable.

-m

You have other game retailers in your city?

That must be nice...

you dont have a wallmart or a target or a best buy in yours? what sort of one horse town do you live in that has internet access?

 

[Dags90]

That's because he IS Movie Bob, and I hate the guy as well.

I don't get how Movie Bob doesn't see the parallels between movie production and game production. Does he have a similar rant against mainstream movie publishers somewhere? How about the parallels to the textbook industry? The textbook industry is having extremely similar problems from the used book sales and content innovation in that industry is minimal.

His arguments have some serious flaws. Namely monopolies aren't "always" bad. There are many regulated monopolies, some work and others haven't. Communism works on a publicly owned monopoly (which makes his "I'm not a communist!" statement pretty ludicrous). He also acknowledges that there are other places to buy games and to trade in used games other than Gamestop...which means they aren't a monopoly...

 

[Rusty Bucket]

Wow, this is some revolution you've organised here. I'll go get my pitchfork ready for the big march.

 

[freedomweasel]

The whole "used games are a parasitic drain on game developers" argument is bullshit. It can be used to target literally ANY product being sold.

Seriously, just replace the word "videogame" with the word "car", or "books" or even "trombone", and you can make a case about how used "nouns" are killing the "noun" industry.

To a certain extent, true. However, until recently, the game itself was the same used or new. A new car is not the same as a used one. You don't have the same (if any) warranty, and the obvious wear and tear. Same goes for books or trombones. This of course assumes the disc isn't scratched.

I have no idea how much it's actually changing the bottom line of the publishers though.

 

[linwolf]

Well I am a PC gamer so used are not even a option.

 

[Ironic Pirate]

1. it helps our industry
2. gamestop is a monopoly and needs to be taken down a notch
3. it could increase the chanses of more original and fresh games coming out

1) And shopping at Gamestop doesn't? My goodness that's logical fallacy if I've ever seen one.

2) No, it isn't. It's the only store that sells only games, plenty of other stores sell them. They may need to be taken down a notch though, although I'm not quite sure what you mean by that.

3) PSN. XBLA. Steam. Plenty of fresh and original games come out from them, we don't need big stores to sell them. And besides, originality isn't the only thing that makes a game good.

 

[Atmos Duality]

1. it helps our industry

It only helps the Publishers. Not the consumers.

2. gamestop is a monopoly and needs to be taken down a notch

It's going to make the virtual monopoly worse by limiting retail sales to Best Buy, Wal-Mart, Target and K-Mart. This isn't fixing the problem; it is (at best) merely changing the perpetrator since all four of those corporations are seriously considering reneging on their "No Used Games" policies.

If Gamestop were to be eliminated tomorrow, their inventory would be bought right up by those four for just that purpose. I'd bet money on it.

Publishers might see improvements in the short run (due to the collapse of a very large portion of the used game market), but things don't look so good in the long run.

3. it could increase the changes of more original and fresh games coming out

It won't. The (theoretical) additional revenue generated by eliminating the Used Game market will not make investors feel more secure in their intellectual property. Why? Because those sorts of decisions start long before retail is even considered.
As long as generic/clone games continue to sell so well, that's what they will make.

Now, if you don't believe in Gamestop's business ethics, than go ahead and boycott/revolt/protest them. I won't stop you.