Gamestop Will SAVE Physical Media | Physical Media IS DYING!

Gamestop will save Physical Media? In this video we discuss what the big corporation has done and should do to save Physical Media. With many of the big retailers jumping ship and getting rid of the Physical media, I think its time that Gamestop cashes in all their chips and focusses on Physical Media while also going all in on Retro Games as well. What do you think in this Digital Vs. Physical Media Discussion?
In past videos, I've talked about how much I don't really like Gamestop. The overpriced games, the crappy trade in offers, and more. To be honest, maybe I should change my tune. I usually support local game stores more than this company but with physical media dying, I'd like to think Gamestop could pick up the slack and help us all in the future. Will they is the question and with their track record, who knows.
Physical Vs Digital Media! Physical Media is DYING!
Video Topics: Gamestop Saving Physical Media, Digital Vs Physical Media, Gamestop Pricing, Retro Games at Gamestop
#gamestop #physicalmedia #digitalmedia
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[@seektruthnow.]

Yesterday I stopped at a GameStop I’ve never been to before and asked if they had any retro games. Only and some ds, wii and Wii U but we had a conversation about how last week they had a copy of devils third on Wii U they sold for 60 bucks.

[@IowaRetroGamerDad]

Are you serious?! WOW!! Thats an insanely rare and expensive game right now.

[@seektruthnow.]

@@IowaRetroGamerDad I know hearing stories like that make me want to check GameStop more frequently

[@OldWorldOrder.ended.not.victim]

All gaming stores have been closed in my town in recent years and those who sell used games on sales sites, many try to scam by selling them at ridiculously high prices.

[@IowaRetroGamerDad]

Yeah that's why I was super surprised when I checked out their retro pricing it wasn't through the roof like DKOldies. I have one local game store left and luckily it's private owned so no corporate greed. The owner is super nice and hooks people up if you are a long time customer and kids. Lol

[@JamieKitchens6]

One of my local Gamestops has a ton of 360 titles, but little else in the way of retro. I bought several titles.

[@IowaRetroGamerDad]

Well it's a start I guess. Lol. Next time I make it to the city I'm gonna see if mine decided to stop any.

[@megacide84]

Nope... That ship sailed years ago. The very few times I pop into a GameStop, I see less and less paying customers. I can't see the chain surviving beyond this year.

[@IowaRetroGamerDad]

I could see that. I've made a few videos saying I don't see them lasting long anymore unless they make changes.

[@WhatsOnMyShelf]

I'm not sure how they could make this work with their tiny storefronts. Tiny retro stores may have local storage, but will retro trade-ins go directly to corporate? I wonder.

[@OmegaAceGaming]

Maaaaan I recently had this conversation with my wife! I said to her that if Gamestop wound up being one of a few physical media distributors, they might actually be able to pick up the pieces and bring back what us older game collectors itching for. Yeah, their business practices were and likely still are terrible, but if this brought them back and they revised their prices, they could reall flourish here. Thanks for bringing up this interesting topic! It was super relevant to what I was thinking about 🙏 Gamestop once sold used music cds and movies. What if they started selling movies again? Maaaan, they'd become a favorite store of mine.

[@IowaRetroGamerDad]

RIght?! I think the major problem with Gamestop is they have become so corporatey and greedy they are just destined to fail now. They use to be about fun and games.. then they started pushing Pre-Orders, barely giving anything for trade in, and treating their employees like crap. I think if start taking in and selling retro again, focus more on media instead of funkos and stuff, and start making the stores unique again instead of a cookie cutter corporate design.. they could make it. People don't believe it but I give them a few years. We use to have like 5 gamestops in Sioux City which is a decent sized city.. we now have like 1 and its tiny.

[@Z_SquaredGaming]

Just stopped at a GameStop yesterday. They had some decent retro stuff. I picked up a couple 360 games and a loose DS game. All retro games were a few dollars lower than pricecharting. They had a couple NES games, a single Vita game loose, about a dozen N64 games, and also 360 and PS3 games. The employees were a little too talkative for my liking. Great topic and talk.

[@IowaRetroGamerDad]

Haha. Well at least they were friendly I guess. I use to hate going to GameStop because they'd sit there and try to get me to preorder crap.

[@Z_SquaredGaming]

@@IowaRetroGamerDad It might be the stores and/or management too. All the stores that I go to around the Twin cities seem to be pretty cool. I've had a few ask about pre-orders but nothing overbearing.

[@fredcasdensworld]

If GameStop was to rebrand themselves as a 'collectors store' I can see that going a long way to both the brand surviving and helping with physical media preservation. Of course, GameStop would have to do a lot to earn the good will of the consumer base to justify doing business with them.

[@Madmetalmaniac42069]

This is my exact thought. They have a lot to prove.

[@IowaRetroGamerDad]

A rebrand would be nice. I know they'd have to change a lot. Their company policies. The pricing and more. The store is a lot of different than it was 20 years ago when I was 16. It was such a fun place to go to and see all the games and now it's just kind of a little shanty with barely even any.

[@darthinsanitus8510]

It’s gonna continue to be a slow dying brand for yrs to come…they treat there employees horribly…as of Jan they wanna start a new benefits program funded by employees and not corporate….

[@jjlnguess7354]

My GameStop has been stocking up in the retro games area too. 😎👍

[@IowaRetroGamerDad]

That's awesome!! They got a decent inventory for it or just kind of like Xbox 360 games and stuff?

[@jjlnguess7354]

@@IowaRetroGamerDad ​​⁠mostly they have NES, SNES, N64, 3DS, and GameCube titles at our GameStops in the Tulsa, OK surrounding areas. I have seen a few Xbox titles too. Not so much PlayStation though.

[@JohnDoe-kp3tf]

Perfect timing 💨

[@IowaRetroGamerDad]

Haha..I was going to wait but I finished the thumbnail and decided to drop it. Lol

[@RetroGamingLoser]

The gamestop by me is 80% funko pops. The store manager is also extremely rude. I can't wait for them to go under.

[@IowaRetroGamerDad]

Seems like that's most GameStop's nowadays 😩

[@guardiansofthetotem8772]

My store doesn’t do it but I have a G2K and another store I go to

[@IowaRetroGamerDad]

That's awesome!! I got a pretty nice hole in the wall store nearby!

[@bryancook6345]

It’s not the games that’s leaving Best Buy it’s the movies and GameStop only sells 1 movie the Mario games aren’t going anywhere cause they sell more then movies

[@Going4Spooky]

GameStop can’t even keep games in stock let alone save physical media entirely.

[@IowaRetroGamerDad]

I doubt they could entirely but sooner or later if they take this time to shine, they can at least be one of the few left standing to actually sell it. I have a feeling though they will go out of business once physical media falls.

[@WhatsOnMyShelf]

I'm curious how the expect to stock all generations, if they remain in tiny stores. Will they mostly keep retro in local stores, ship to some corporate warehouse, or maybe ship a sprinkling of retro in with shipments of other items from warehouses. It's not impossible. Online stores have warehouses, but maintaining a hundreds of storefronts has a lot of overhead.

[@IowaRetroGamerDad]

You know I noticed that now too. They used to have some bigger stores in my area but normally just kind of moved into tiny little shanties in the mall. All I really have room for is brand new games and Funko pops seems like. Maybe they will just focus on selling everything online

[@game_master_rukia]

i've been saying this in the gamestop reddit that gamestop needs to carry more retro and no one there cared and told me it just doesn't sell so there's no point stocking ps3, 360, and anything older

[@IowaRetroGamerDad]

Selling retro is the best turnover. When they sell brand new games I believe they only make a profit of like 3 to $4. It's not much at all. But if you buy back retro at a decent price and then sell it for a little over the price charter you can make a lot more money.

[@muneno1066]

You never know what you're gonna get with gamestop. I ordered Wind Waker for Wii U 3 times before I got one in the box. Luckily, you can take it to store for refund if you're not happy you got a loose copy.

[@IowaRetroGamerDad]

That's cool!! I hear the customer service is pretty alright for GameStop

[@gallowaygaming75]

It's a shame to see physical media dying off there are to many games selling as downloads and I personally prefer to have the actual game in my hand buddy. The main shop.we have here in the UK is CEX and ordering games from them is hit and miss with missing manuals 🙂👍

[@IowaRetroGamerDad]

Sounds to me CEX is a lot like our game stops here. Do all of them sell retro games in stores?

[@gallowaygaming75]

Yeah they sell retro in store but the prices are terrible and they give bad prices when buying stuff in as well mate

[@RetroReminiscence]

You make some good points. I think all the stores that are stopping the sale of physical media is gonna help GS. I think they should start selling high end blu rays and 4K steel books online only. I bet they would clean up

[@IowaRetroGamerDad]

I'll set in the past they focused more on retro games, collectibles, collector's edition stuff, and merchandising for gaming that they do very well. They've obviously been selling while these Funko pops, and I wish they'd branch off of that actually do like video game collectibles.

[@theish9]

I will check and see what they have. I stopped going to gamestop yrs ago becuase when ever stuff got cheap or unwanted and i could get in the game, they stop selling it and i need to go online. But if they go retro thets good newd

[@IowaRetroGamerDad]

Let me know if they got any in stock! It'd be cool to see if anyone else does!

[@theish9]

@@IowaRetroGamerDad for sure

[@WhatsOnMyShelf]

I hope they do their homework when verifying retro.

[@IowaRetroGamerDad]

Lol. I doubt that but I would definitely be cautious buying a $100 cartridge from them.

[@WhatsOnMyShelf]

@@IowaRetroGamerDad If they did get something expensive in the case, I wonder how amenable to the question of opening the cart to check authenticity as a normal retro store would be. Maybe they have authenticators on staff that authenticate everything before they put it into the case. I would also be worried about bad customers trying to return repros instead of the authentic cart they purchased. If there is someone who authenticates retro stuff before it goes in the case, who will be there to authenticate, if it gets returned.

[@IowaRetroGamerDad]

I wonder nowadays if thats why alot of these other places don't seem to have carts. They just hiring Joe Smo off the streets who has no training in checking if things are real or not. I know Pokemon games are crazy nowadays with repros. They getting pretty good at making fakes.@@WhatsOnMyShelf

[@WhatsOnMyShelf]

@@IowaRetroGamerDadI've never seen a good repro. They're pretty easy to determine, though some of the GBA Poke carts might fool you, if you only give a glance. Most repro carts have super fake labels. They are either to smooth and plastic-like or have really poor printing quality. It's harder to determine if you're looking at a photo of games taken from several feet away (as I do when I buy lots), but in-person is a lot easier. If GS wants a store which can handle repro, they need someone who knows their stuff on staff. The same goes for pawn shops. Every now and then YT recommends videos from a pawn shop run by some Russian guy. It's pretty funny to watch people try to fool him with inauthentic Gucci bags or something. I'm a little jealous of his ability to turn away scammer customers. I wish I could do that on ebay.

[@Turner_D_Century]

I bought Burnout Revenge on Xbox 360 the other day from GameStop. That is the first 360 game I purchased from GameStop in at least 7 years.

[@IowaRetroGamerDad]

Such a good game too!! I never see retro stuff at the one I sometimes go to!

[@Turner_D_Century]

@@IowaRetroGamerDad they’ve been adding more (recently) to my local store.

[@IowaRetroGamerDad]

@@Turner_D_Century that's so cool!

[@zombiegamercat777]

Great vid as always. The last time I was at Gamestop (Dec 23 I think) they had Toy Story 2 on the N64 while I was there. Gamestop was my childhood game store and I hope they stick around.

[@IowaRetroGamerDad]

Nice!! It's cool to see some retro games coming back

[@zombiegamercat777]

@@IowaRetroGamerDad Yep!! 🎮

[@jasonmyers8278]

So they will resell us the games for 10x the price we got in store credit back in the day.

[@IowaRetroGamerDad]

Sometimes. That's the way with any store though. But yeah, some of my old deals from back in the day still taste sour.

[@WhatsOnMyShelf]

@@IowaRetroGamerDad Yea, you could sell it, but going to GS is a lot easier. They sit on the item until it sells. They pay for the storefront. They pay taxes. They pay workers at least minimum wage to be there for at least the operational hours. It's all factored into what they pay you. Newer stuff that moves faster is higher value; hence, Spidey 2 gives $40, while NCAA Football 11 on PS3 is $1.65.

[@crazyoldschool6342]

Only thing I see in my GameStop is ds and 3ds games

[@IowaRetroGamerDad]

I guess it's a start lol

[@batman3217]

Let's try to Save GameStop first.😊

[@IowaRetroGamerDad]

Haha. True

[@WhatsOnMyShelf]

The reason you didn't see the Paper Mario for SNES is because there was none. You conflated Mario RPG with Paper Mario. Maybe you would like to play Paper Jam on the 3DS which combines the Mario RPG and Paper Mario series.

[@IowaRetroGamerDad]

😂 proof I don't need to make videos at 3am huh

[@CAPCOM784]

​@@IowaRetroGamerDadIt's all good we all make mistakes. 🙂

[@abnlucky666]

I only go to GameStop for steam receipts for play steam games

[@IowaRetroGamerDad]

Nice dude!!

[@WilliamSmith-ex9et]

Retro games inside Gamestop is extremely rare and is extremely store specific. It’s really too bad it’s so limited. I’ve been hearing for years. Gamestop is going to go back to stocking retro games but it’s beyond hit and miss.

[@IowaRetroGamerDad]

I'd like to see it become more popular! I know we had some people call and ask if they take retro anymore and one store he declined it. Maybe I should do a video calling and asking. Lol

[@WhatsOnMyShelf]

Maybe it has to do with staff at certain stores. Maybe certain staff are qualified to verify retro.

[@WilliamSmith-ex9et]

@@WhatsOnMyShelf or certain staff may not give two sh*ts.

[@ReinMixTape]

Selling online will eventually lead to you needing to declare your side hustle to the government and you'll be taxed over it. Also some buyers are real nightmares to deal with etc. So being able to sell off your unwanted games in a safe convenient way is nice. Gamestop has to make this kind of move because games going forward will increasingly be digital only which will leave them with not much to sell. Also retro gaming is a big market and it's well worth for them to tap into. In my city there used to be a bunch of game stores, now there's one big chain with a few stores here and one small store that's only open on the weekends.

[@IowaRetroGamerDad]

I'm honestly surprised they haven't gone all in on retro with the market the way it is. They have stores everywhere and could easily stick their stores fast if they give decent trade in.

[@WhatsOnMyShelf]

Gamestop, like all pawn shops, require you to present ID when trading in games / hardware. This transaction is reported to the government.

[@lile3164]

Madden 17 the last one on PS3/Xbox 360

[@IowaRetroGamerDad]

What's your favorite Madden? I think mine was 2006. I played that one the most

[@lile3164]

@IowaRetroGamerDad PS2/OG xbox era of madden 06-12

[@aldoushuxleysghost]

This would be a brilliant move and a great way to make up for all the shit they've dumped on games over the past ten years or so

[@IowaRetroGamerDad]

Right?! Make a campaign saying we aren't letting physical media go! And we are now taking retro at every store!

[@WillyWooly]

I go to GameStop for the toys and crap. Not games.

[@IowaRetroGamerDad]

Yeah I mentioned another, the only thing I really purchased there was 10 years was a Majora's Mask poster haha

[@cherokeefit4248]

I hope stores like dkoldies don’t start buying everything as all eyes are certainly on the next Gen consoles and if they’ll be only digital or not. The months leading up to the next Gen console release will decide the fate of physical/retro games. It will be out of this world if it’s true and retro games become even more of a rarity and a collectors item.

[@IowaRetroGamerDad]

Yeah I really hope not too. I hope DKOldies doesn't swing in and snag everything then charge twice as much

[@Major73Problem]

At the prices they charge, the inventory they lie about having and the conditions they keep the inventory and the way they treat the employees you think they are the ones to save the sinking ship? You are entitled to your opinion but the over resurfaced discs to the point of not working and no case having sales to me tell a different story. Them saving physical media is like trying to right the Titanic using a bucket that has a hole in it.

[@IowaRetroGamerDad]

The title was mainly click bait. I think they could help keep it afloat but save it, no. Only way to save it is if people start buying more physical and start boycotting digital which ain't gonna happen. They honestly didn't have too bad of prices on the retro games if you wanted the whole video. Compared to DKOldies and stuff. They will rip you off on your trade ins though.

[@Major73Problem]

I even tried to use a mom and pop local store and based on Pricecharting, they only offered me 23% of that resale value. I have been having better luck with Ebay for prices but we all know the inherent risk there too. And like you said too, got to consider how much its worth and how fast you need the money.

[@Jackbat69]

Don't sell your ribbit king man it's a great game It's really fun to go through the story I also played with my friends 4 player with drinks.

[@IowaRetroGamerDad]

I'd only sell it because it's worth so much but I might hold onto it. It's like mint condition so if I was going to play it I'd probably get the PS2 version which is like a quarter of the price

[@Jackbat69]

@IowaRetroGamerDad That's fair I know there's some version differences between the two I don't have ps2 stuff but if that's what you like go for it. Ribbit king , chibi robo , cubivore are my 3 favorite gamecube games.

[@timetravelfilms727]

The thing is Gamestop is one of the last chain stores. People don't like their business, but the thing is if they weren't like this they would have closed a long time ago. Mr Nice guy stores long went bust because they were too nice and didn't make enough money to stay in business. Let that sink in for a second!

[@IowaRetroGamerDad]

They really are the last of the chains. I remember having a software etc before GameStop showed up and it was a way better place then GameStop was. It's insane how the times have changed

[@bryanobrien2726]

Gamestop listing retro games again is nice , but I can't find a cartridge game in stock online . Even Tetris for Game Boy is unavailable lol , the most common GB game ever . I only buy carts with good labels so Gamestop online is not for me . I rarely buy sight unseen , maybe if it's super rare and very cheap .

[@IowaRetroGamerDad]

You know now that you said it, I was watching Retro Rebound buying retro games from GameStop and most his was disc based except for Gameboy advance games.

[@WhatsOnMyShelf]

It could be a reason to go outside to go back inside a store. Condition has always varied. The retro hunt has always been fun for people into retro. If GS could make that interesting, than maybe this could work. I think they would be better announcing a new chain of stores, like RETRO by GameStop.

[@bryanobrien2726]

@@WhatsOnMyShelf It'd take a miracle to make me waste fuel to go to the Gamestop store . It would have to be a whole new store .

[@WhatsOnMyShelf]

@@bryanobrien2726I suggested a spinoff store that would be better at handling retro inventory (such as authentication). Heck, they could revive their FuncoLand license which they acquired when they bought the chain. I do suspect there would be a "by GameStop" somewhere in the logo, if they did.

[@Madmetalmaniac42069]

If gamestop was run/owned by smarter people and gamers, it’d be an easy way to fix the leak they have as far as their value.

[@IowaRetroGamerDad]

Yes unfortunately it's corporate greed now instead of gamers. 20 years ago the place was so awesome

[@DrinkGameswithJosh]

I would spring for that copy of Wolverine on NES they have there. I check my local stores but they haven’t had anything older than PS3/Wii/360 at this point. GameStop could make a killing with retro if they opened up the gates to it. There resell prices are actually pretty solid. You won’t get much for trade in though on retro games.

[@IowaRetroGamerDad]

Yeah. I mean look at how many stores they have. That's a wide range to cash in on the retro scene. People just come to you. Start off by giving a lot for the games then back off once you established a baseline. Places like DKOldies are online only and I hope GameStop gets away from that and goes back to putting the stuff in their stores.

[@MC-hammered]

Who is your local game store? Jay’s? Video Games etc?

[@IowaRetroGamerDad]

Called Exile Gaming.

[@MC-hammered]

@@IowaRetroGamerDad Nice! I get up to Storm Lake a few times a year so will have to check it out. Not too far of a drive.

[@Chris-Courage]

GameStop should stock the Evercade as it will probably be the only modern console to offer physical media soon.

[@IowaRetroGamerDad]

Could be!!

[@leecroft7311]

Okay... but what is going to save GameStop.

[@IowaRetroGamerDad]

Focusing on selling physical media and bringing back Retro Games in stores. Walmart, Best Buy, Target are going to stop selling physical media soon for games, movies, and music. If Gamestop continues to focus on selling physical copies of stuff and doesn't subdue to selling digital cards and stuff... they should continue to stay afloat. The Retro market is still very good too so if they would start accepting trade ins again for Retro stuff... they could make money there while also having options for people to buy that stuff locally.

[@danielmoung9098]

@@IowaRetroGamerDad Thank you for the video, a very good video. You had me interested so I decided to browse gamestop's retro trade in value section just for fun. I was very surprised to see that both the og Fallout 3 and Skyrim on the xb360 trade in for only a penny. That is either extremely insulting or realty, Is that reality? Are the og skyrim and fallout 3 that worthless now? Like if I go a retro game store would they offer the same amount, a measly cent? Why does gamestop even bother offering a trade in for 1 cent?

[@IowaRetroGamerDad]

@@danielmoung9098 I think they probably just have to throw a number in there to have it on the site. But honestly Skyrim itself has been released for every console multiple times, has been out for 10+ years, it was massively produced and is everywhere. Fallout 3 I don't think is as in demand so that one surprises me.

[@E-Z_Gamerz]

I think if they mess it up, it’s on them…on the verge of going out of business so many times. I wouldn’t be surprised if they failed but if they don’t, awesome. With everything going digital and we’re over half way through the transition already, I don’t see them selling games much longer. What I heard is that within a few years GameStop is going to become like a 3rd party digital seller where you can get digital games/codes/keys cheaper kinda like where you would go to CDKeys etc…I heard that from a manager a little before Christmas.

[@IowaRetroGamerDad]

Wow! Honestly I can see that happening as well! I wish they'd focus on Retro media and go from there! But who knows. It won't hurt my feelings if they disappear but it's scary to think all physical media could be gone

[@nicktwolf]

To me there is a good and bad element to it. It's great that they are starting to sell retro games and hopefully see how much it will boost business. The only down side is that if you live in a rural area, you may not have the chance to buy what you are looking for, compared to a large city.

[@IowaRetroGamerDad]

You know me too well. Lol. My rural area is horrible here for this stuff. My local game store does good though. Haha

[@WhatsOnMyShelf]

That has always been the case. You are more likely to find off-the-beat games traded in at high traffic stores. GS doesn't want to put a store out in the boonies, even though the rent is cheap.

[@nicktwolf]

@@WhatsOnMyShelf I used to live in a town of about 121 people, if that. The closest town to have a Gamestop was about 50 minutes away. I never knew it at the time, the closest Wal Mart was half an hour away. We would always just go to one of the bigger cities.

[@legendaryhero90]

I live in a city with at least 4 different gamestops. Their selection of retro games are all abysmal. Heck I couldn't get a copy of megaman battle network legacy collection on the switch because the guy said they didn't take pre-orders for that game. Lo and behold, I didn't get my copy until 2 weeks after release from amazon.

[@ddsjgvk]

Gamestop? You mean funko pop stop

[@IowaRetroGamerDad]

Nowadays that's what it seems like.

[@rainbowgaming8441]

nope gamestop will not be around much longer everything is going digital

[@IowaRetroGamerDad]

Yep. I can see that coming. Thats why I was suggesting if they focus on physical media and maybe focus more on Retro games again they could at least stand a chance.

[@secretbunnyninja]

When Gamestop dies, and it will die. The unfortunate thing is that companies like Limited Run will be very happy to pick up the slack at a cost which is ridiculous to the consumer. Since wages have been stagnant since before I was born (38) and inflation and greed among corporations are on the uptick, Physical companies won't disappear, they are merely going to get more expensive. Things like the Square Enix store / Atlus store, etc. Already exist, and will remain happy to take your money by doing what they already do. Pre-orders.

[@IowaRetroGamerDad]

I sometimes don't understand the lure of Limited Run. It's expensive and you have to wait sometimes a whole year before you get it.

[@KazeMunashii]

there's no way. i just stopped working at gamestop for this past year, and let me tell you, they have HORRIBLE HORRIBLE policies and the future for them is not bright. they just parrot stuff like this every morning to employees to raise moral, they dont actually do what they say. not only is the turnover on merchandising worth more than game sales, we were making three times the amount of a ps5 sale in one merch sale, thats how bad stores are in the hole on sales for actual games, plus they lean more on you buying into the pro program, where they make the most regardless of discount. alot of these places even have heat sensors in the cieling to mark how much a person is hanging around a signage or what they are interested in, literally heat mapping. with playstations leaks as well making games $100 a pop in the next 3 yrs with planned price hikes, a place like gamestop cant keep up. if they want to survive, they need to change the name of the brand from gaming and go into merchandising and statue sales. even with steam decks now, we were even starting the used steam deck program, and that would basically kill console sales too, because who needs a walled garden when you can have a pc for 350 and pay no subs ever again? gamestop and physical unfortunately is done honestly.even in this digital age, you think you even own your console when they can shut that down too over the internet with a patch?

[@WhatsOnMyShelf]

That's interesting about the heat mapping. It probably helps them figure out how to market better. I have seen a lot of store cameras (Best Buy, grocery stores, etc.) now have motion tracking cameras which keep track of every customer and where they are putting their hands. The heat mapping was new to me.

[@IowaRetroGamerDad]

It's unfortunately true. 20 years ago when I was 16.. GameStop was the coolest around. The employees were gamers, they had constant good sales, and the stores were so crowded with games it was awesome. I know the game over rate is horrible now. Retro Rick and a few others said they only profit $4 on brand new games. That's insane. Only thing I've purchased from GameStop in the last 10 years too has just been a Majora's Mask poster.

[@WhatsOnMyShelf]

@@IowaRetroGamerDadGameStop / FuncoLand / EB / Babbages / Software Etc were always competing out of their league. Maybe really early on in the 80s and early 90s, profits were better on new items, but the way they were able to survive was trade-ins or selling discounted merchandise / acting as an outlet. Best Buy / Walmart / Target / Toys R Us etc all made $5 on new games as well; however, they were able to buy in bulk, saving on shipping costs, as well as having a large consumer base. People may go into Walmart to get a bunch of household goods, then the kids go, 'Mom, can we check out the games or toys section?' Things get added to the cart. GameStop is games only. Probably the best time they have is when they started selling consoles in bundles they made. That way they could get a $$ from each item all in one purchase.

[@akirafuudou2037]

As regrettable as it is, Gamestop has no interest in becoming a haven for physical media or turning the business around. During the late 2010s, they barely tried. They even gave retro a shot. And it floundered due to the awful business model they had put in place. They also don't much care to actually spend money on competent staff or better procedures. They are a penny-pinching company that is only surviving on the surface level right now. At this point, nothing they do will save them. Physical media is declining, but it is still turning profits, especially in an age where concerns about censorship and removal of content is influencing people to buy their movies/shows and other media again, even if on a small scale. Retail actually is dying, but that will merely require the market to evolve, and we will be seeing this happen sooner than later. But Gamestop's profit model? That is indeed dead in the water and will never come back.

[@IowaRetroGamerDad]

You are probably right. I think I'm still holding onto nostalgia memories from 20 years ago and how great the company seemed.

[@akirafuudou2037]

@@IowaRetroGamerDad I don't mean for my comments to shoot down what you think. I hope you don't think of it that way. I grew up as a kid with my Gamecube and Wii, and would flock to Gamestop in the mall all the time. As a 19 year old, just starting at a new job, cheap 99 cents or $1-2 Wii games was how I escaped boredom. It would be incredible if Gamestop could actually turn themselves around and set themselves up to be better than DKOldies ever could be. Unfortunately, it is no secret that the company is being run by corporate leaders and higher ups that do not actually care about video games. They only care about a good stock price.If it were possible for them to change and profit from it, I'd be all for it.

[@IowaRetroGamerDad]

Hey man. No worries. I love comments. The company honestly is run by greed instead of passion now and its pretty clear. It just stinks. @@akirafuudou2037

[@MrJgaddis4]

No. No. Just stop.

[@IowaRetroGamerDad]

🤓

[@SamuraiTacos1]

lol 😂

[@TheMahayanist]

Physical media is dying, and that's a good thing. 👍

[@Crusty783]

idiot

[@IowaRetroGamerDad]

If you say so.