GameStop Downsizes, Over 300 Stores to Permanently Close

[Vayra86]

But I thought they were essential.

Just STOP

But yeah... the demise of physical game stores... I mean, if you didn't see it coming, what drugs were you on...

 

[lexluthermiester]

I'm not sure I agree. As the above poster, I see this going the way of blockbuster. One-store operations only.

Time will tell.

That said and in a way, the brand and the handling at many of their other stores have really gone downhill from those days. The way they handled trade-ins and resale have gotten considerably worse, and the way they treat their employees is complete and utter shit.

These are some of the reasons why I think a restructure is going to happen, which is needed.

 

[moob]

Absolutely not. But I assume older people just don't have time for it. You disagree?

Yep. What they said:

Yes, I very much disagree. Adults still have free time, and my generation, that grew up gaming, still game in their free time as entertainment. Older generations golfed, or went to baseball games, or went to the movies, etc. Younger generations play games, even if they are in their 30s and 40s now. And we also tend to have more disposable income too.

Teenagers today just don't play games like we used to 20 years ago. They're more into smartphone gaming, Fortnite, LoL and things like that.
If Baldur's Gate or Civilization launched today, they would become niche and forgotten games. It just isn't interesting to kids AD 2020.

As mentioned above, what kids like is only a part of the story as games can, and often, target older audiences and still be successful. Hellblade: Senua's Sacrifice, a AA, award-winning game about psychosis, was successful despite being a fairly niche game (excellent game by the way). GRIS, another excellent, award-winning, but niche product (probably my GOTY in 2018), turned a profit within a week. Lucas Pope's Papers, Please and his follow up, Return of the Obra Dinn are also award-winning titles that didn't sell 10 million copies, but they don't really need to with far smaller budgets. Just last year you had a game like Disco Elysium, most definitely a niche product, supposedly selling hundreds of thousands of copies. I can go on and on about fantastic single-player titles that were successes that aren't geared towards kids, but you get my point.

 

[dirtyferret]

What's shocking is they actually had 300 stores to close

 

[TheinsanegamerN]

Their revenue is slowly fading due to digital subscriptions and purchases. As technology advances, games will move to the cloud via streaming and distribution. Physical copies of games really won't make sense. Further, games are simply becoming too large for physical media.

Physical copies of music have essentially collapsed to a 5-10% market share. Movies are following suit.

I don't think there is any reading between lines.

That's only because game developer stopped compressing things to the same degree they used to for anti-piracy reasons. Thank EA for that terrible idea. Gigabyte after gigabyte of uncompressed MP3s, because MP3s are just the pinnacle of audio quality, all for "performance" as EA claimed. Performance, for a game built on the source engine.

And even with gigabit internet, these ever growing sizes will pose just as many challenges to internet infrastructure and storage. There is a real benefit to not having to downloaded 150GB just because you want to play a single game.

 

[Vayra86]

Absolutely not. But I assume older people just don't have time for it. You disagree?
...
If Baldur's Gate or Civilization launched today, they would become niche and forgotten games. It just isn't interesting to kids AD 2020.

Hmm... maybe you need new glasses.

Baldur's Gate 3

An ancient evil has returned to Baldur's Gate, intent on devouring it from the inside out. The fate of Faerûn lies in your hands. Alone, you may resist. But together, you can overcome. Gather your party.

baldursgate3.game

Definitely looks niche and low budget, indeed! They got this project in spite of Obsidian and others trying to get it... because they made Divinity Original Sin 1/2 and those were sleeper hits. This, together with the multitude of other recent releases in cRPG land... Pillars of Eternity, Tyranny, to name a few. This genre is getting a massive revival. Just like space did a few (more) years ago and we backed Star Citizen... which brings me to another 'niche'... the largest crowdfunded project in game history. Yeah. Niche

You mentioned Civilization? I wonder how VI is doing... Note the slow upward trend over the last years.

Sid Meier's Civilization VI - Steam Charts

An ongoing analysis of Steam's player numbers, seeing what's been played the most.

steamcharts.com

Niche? This is niche... but it still got through Kickstarter and is now a finished project, rivalling other cRPGs and often surpassing it in pure scope and size. Note the Steam review count.

Pathfinder: Kingmaker - Enhanced Plus Edition on Steam

Pathfinder: Kingmaker - Enhanced Plus Edition is the first isometric party-based computer RPG set in the Pathfinder fantasy universe. Enjoy a classic RPG experience inspired by games like Baldur's Gate, Fallout 1 and 2 and Arcanum. Explore and conquer the Stolen Lands and make them your kingdom!

store.steampowered.com

Older people don't have time...? They make time, wherever they can, but time or not... the demand is there, the age group has the money, and they grew up with games. This is where the phenomenon of a 'Steam backlog' originates from... I find myself in this category a little bit more every day and I can tell you right now... age is irrelevant here. What you're seeing now is new generations that have grown up with gaming and its simply a part of life, much like reading books.

What people without time DONT do, is waste it by visiting a physical store. They go online, order their shit at the lowest price and leave... for the past 5-10 years already

$720/person isn't really that much. That's $60 a month on games, so basically one new game a month. I know people that buy something game related every single time they get paid.

Yeah and dont forget the elephant in the room: MTX. Six skins and you're already easily 60 bucks lighter.

 

[Master Tom]

Well exactly, that's one new game a month. On average!
I may have been buying games so often when I was 12. Nowadays I buy 2-3 games a year (probably like most gamers in their 30s).

You know... I have absolutely nothing against people gaming for few hours a day. I've been there. And if someone can afford spending $200+ per month on games, nothing wrong with that either.
But the way I see this, there just aren't that many good games...

Also, I though that nowadays most avid gamers don't play multiple single-player titles, but focus on a handful (...single...) multi-player game.

I'd love to see some Steam sales statistics.

200$ per Month for Games? That would be about 10 to 20 Games per Month.
Who can play that much games?
There are tons of good games, but cannot play all of them.

 

[INSTG8R]

Last physical PC game I bought(from EB)was MW2 and even then it was pretty much just a Steam code. Mine has been gone for years anyway. Their trade in policy is:

 

[notb]

Definitely looks niche and low budget, indeed!

?
Obviously I meant franchises. Baldur's Gate III is going to happen (probably) only because fans are waiting for another title in the series. I'm in that group, obviously.
Honestly, I'm looking forward to how teenagers react to this game.

200$ per Month for Games? That would be about 10 to 20 Games per Month.
Who can play that much games?
There are tons of good games, but cannot play all of them.

AAA titles launch at $40+ these days, with all the special editions often going for twice as much.
"Assassin's Creed® Odyssey - ULTIMATE EDITION" was whopping $120.

It also includes DLC, subscriptions and microtransactions.
Pokemon Go alone makes around $250mln/year in USA (close to $1 bln globally).

 

[Master Tom]

Who buys games in stores anyway? That is anchronistic.

 

[notb]

Who buys games in stores anyway? That is anchronistic.

Web forums are anachronistic as well.

 

[candle_86]

It depends, honestly the store can be quite useful for some stuff, like limited editions for collectors.

 

[Master Tom]

Web forums are anachronistic as well.

What is more up to date than a web forum?

 

[notb]

What is more up to date than a web forum?

Mostly Facebook, complemented by portals like Reddit, Instagram.

From the more pro-oriented side: Stackoverflow (and all the clones) for community interaction and QA systems for enterprise support.

 

[Master Tom]

Mostly Facebook, complemented by portals like Reddit, Instagram.

From the more pro-oriented side: Stackoverflow (and all the clones) for community interaction and QA systems for enterprise support.

Thanks. I am registered on Facebook and Reddit and I am using Stackoverflow.

 

[candle_86]

What is more up to date than a web forum?

Forums are a left over from web 1.0, they survived as a shell of their former self like chat rooms

 

[Nater]

I only buy Switch games physical, if possible. If I'm going to buy it, might as well give it some resale value IF I ever sell one. Oh, and we have TWO Switches in the house, and it's a complete pain in the ass to "share" games bought digitally. (last i checked)

 

[hat]

Gamestop's website needs a lot of work. I always have trouble with it. I have the Gamestop credit card, but I can't use it online... it says my information is wrong somehow, even though nothing has changed since I got it.

Most recently, I tried to order a Nintendo gift card there. I used PayPal checkout. When I clicked the button for submit/complete order, it led me to an error page saying the transaction was cancelled... so I never got an order confirmation from them, let alone the gift card, however my PayPal was charged, and my bank account even reflects the charge. If I got charged, how was the transaction cancelled? Apparently, the only part of the transaction that was cancelled was their end of the deal...

 

[lexluthermiester]

Who buys games in stores anyway? That is anchronistic.

I do! Prefer it actually. Don't care who disagrees.