Nothing PC at Gamestop ...

Susquehannock

Supreme [H]ardness
Joined
Jul 26, 2005
Messages
4,591
At my local store anyway.

While sauntering down the lane at my local mall looking for a gift, I spied a Gamestop, so decided to pop in and see if there were any good used PC titles on the rack, but there was no rack at all. The sales guy said they have not carried anything PC for quite some time.

What has this world come to?

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I can't ever remember ever seeing PC stuff at the gamestop near me. Their previous iterations maybe.
 
it's been this way for years...I'm not even sure if they allow you to pick up PC pre-orders in store anymore...last game I picked up at GameStop was the Dark Souls 2 Collector's Edition (pre-ordered through website and picked up in-store)
 
Kinda pointless to buy physical copies of PC games nowadays. You be lucky to get a disc with it anymore. If you do you more then likely only have part of the game and need to download most of it on w/e platform. You don't even get a cool manual or other items with physical releases.
 
Kinda pointless to buy physical copies of PC games nowadays. You be lucky to get a disc with it anymore. If you do you more then likely only have part of the game and need to download most of it on w/e platform. You don't even get a cool manual or other items with physical releases.

it's all about price...I bought the physical copy of Doom (2016) through Amazon because it was $15.99 (or something like that) a few months after release
 
Last retail PC game that I bought, was the original Witcher. Even then I was able to import the CD key to my steam account and received the digital steam version.

While I hands down prefer digital copies, there was something special about the old retail boxes. I remember the packaging and extras that came with the original Baldurs Gate being almost as good as the game itself.
 
While I have not purchased a physical PC game in many years, I do wax nostalgic for the old mall PC gaming store. Shelves and shelves of PC games enclosed in brightly-hued box art. Walden Books used to have a whole section in the back with shelves for C64, Atari ST, Apple, IBM, Amiga, etc. Babbage's also comes to mind.

But, alas, life moves on. Frankly, I am not sure how a place like GameStop stays in business any longer. I am not a console gamer, but don't they also have their respective online "market places" where you can make digital purchases of full games? Seems like in a few years, even consoles will eschew physical media, and then where will GameStop be?
 
Some of the stores still seem to have a small shelf for the PC but even then half of it seems to be digital download cards. I used to pre-order games at the store down the road from me for easy pickup but switched to Best Buy for the GCU discount and digital since a lot of games are going that way. As the PC has faded somewhat retail wise it actually makes sense to pre-order the stuff if it is even available in the first place. Seems like more and more of the big AAA games will omit the PC retail release.
 
I haven't really seen anything PC related at Gamestop for years, outside of a stack of pre-orders waiting to be picked up and a small 2' x 2' section of hanging space that has game time cards for MMO's.
 
Gamestop does a ton of console business. The local one got so big, they actually left the mall.

I hate them as well. But, I'm not a console gamer, and I don't have to leave the house to get my games...
 
Last PC game I purchased from them was the original Supreme Commander back in 07 or 08. Only reason I remember is the box still has the Game Stop price sticker. $39.99 (new).

They used to have a single rack with all the PC games in the center of the store. While all the console stuff was slapped up on the walls.
 
Every Gamestop I've been to the last few years has a small section with a couple of Steam Controllers and Steam Gift Cards, but that's about it.

It's been years since Electronics Boutique was still in business with racks and racks of used PC games.
 
I don't understand how game stop is still in business. If there is a title you are looking forward to, why wouldn't you just pre-order it online? Same with new consoles. Even trading in old games can be done online through Amazon now.
 
The Gamestop I visit on an occasion has a small rack of pc games as well.

Although you can pretty much preorder what you want there, it seems pointless for them to have anything more than a 3 x 3 shelf of pc items. Can't trade in pc games either, so there goes that side of the business for them.
 
I don't understand how game stop is still in business. If there is a title you are looking forward to, why wouldn't you just pre-order it online? Same with new consoles. Even trading in old games can be done online through Amazon now.


It's the social side that helps them stay open. The Gamestop I go to has some of the funniest and most enthusiastic people whom love talking games. At some point and time, you must admit that this is a way funner experience than to just click and buy. I'm all for a good deal,but what's a few more bucks when you walk out with a smile, eh?

Plus, not everyone wants to wait a few days (at best) for results.

Can't talk video games to an Amazon cart, can't immediately pick up or return either.
 
You can get Steam Cards their for Credit but that is about it the the place thrives on console sales which is why systems are marketed to the public like Classic NES and SNES.
I mean the Nintendo switch probably has about 3 dozen games at most while the NES had about 100 at this same time since the console launched.
 
Last game I bought was Titanfall and I cringed having to install Origin for that one. I refuse to molest my personal computer with Steam. It is just too damn intrusive for my liking.

I just quit playing games. I do miss it sometimes.
 
It's the social side that helps them stay open. The Gamestop I go to has some of the funniest and most enthusiastic people whom love talking games. At some point and time, you must admit that this is a way funner experience than to just click and buy. I'm all for a good deal,but what's a few more bucks when you walk out with a smile, eh?

Plus, not everyone wants to wait a few days (at best) for results.

Can't talk video games to an Amazon cart, can't immediately pick up or return either.
That makes a lot of sense. Especially since there was three people hanging around the register gabbing with the other employee. My lady's son-in-law and his kids are into consoles. One of his friends works at a Gamestop and was amazed when I rattled off the older consoles I owned - NES, SG, PS1, N64. None of which I payed a red cent for. Last one that saw light was the PS1 about eight years ago. Was amazed that saved games from 1998 were still stored on the chip.
 
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Gamestop around me I think still has some PC games but the section gets smaller and smaller. Think it's just a tiny endcap now but I havent been in there in awhile.
 
I don't understand how game stop is still in business. If there is a title you are looking forward to, why wouldn't you just pre-order it online? Same with new consoles. Even trading in old games can be done online through Amazon now.

It's the social side that helps them stay open. The Gamestop I go to has some of the funniest and most enthusiastic people whom love talking games. At some point and time, you must admit that this is a way funner experience than to just click and buy. I'm all for a good deal,but what's a few more bucks when you walk out with a smile, eh?

Plus, not everyone wants to wait a few days (at best) for results.

Can't talk video games to an Amazon cart, can't immediately pick up or return either.
Gamestops real money maker is used console game sales, they buy the game from you for around $10-$15, then turn it around and sell it for $45 if its a recent release, All of the money from that one game sale is profit since they dont have to give the makers of that game any money
 
Last PC game I got from Gamestop was when I preordered Fallout 4; picking it up the day after release. The guy at the counter seemed very happy to see that I was getting a Fallout game (he complimented me when I told him what I preordered).
That store (which was walking distance from my house) closed down and in its place is a chain bakery.
 
Last retail PC game that I bought, was the original Witcher. Even then I was able to import the CD key to my steam account and received the digital steam version.

While I hands down prefer digital copies, there was something special about the old retail boxes. I remember the packaging and extras that came with the original Baldurs Gate being almost as good as the game itself.

Those old games really had some great extras: like the fighter blueprints and the fun "Claw Marks" game manual/spacecraft carrier magazine that was in the original Wing Commander:

https://www.wcnews.com/wcpedia/Claw_Marks (includes PDF download)

Even some of the journal entries in the AD&D Gold Box game manuals were fun to read.

Some of the more recent games, like Deus Ex: Human Evolution/Mankind Divided, Wolfenstein: TNO/TNC, and so on now have the "plot/environment building snippets" in the form of e-mail/virtual books/newspapers/journal entries, but I'd love to see some actual manuals.

Neverwinter Online had a good amount of Forgotten Realms lore in-game, before a patch took most of that out, unfortunately.
 
I used to deal with Gamestop corporate back in 2012 at a previous employer, absolute shit company to work with. Would be happy to see that entire chain fail.
 
Last time I stepped foot in a Gamestop was when I was maybe 13 years old, and found Fallout 2. Can't imagine why I would ever go there again.
 
The last few box games I purchased installed steam and downloaded the game. I can't imagine a need for a store to sell physical copies of anything PC related anymore. It seems like 1/2 the major titles released are so riddled with bugs at launch a stand alone install made pre launch would be garbage anyways.
 
My Gamestop has always had a little shelf of PC games, sometimes at clearance prices. I picked up Wasteland 2 Director's Cut for $4 and the Duke Nukem CE for $5.99.
 
I go to gamestop for gba/ds/3ds carts... sometimes a ps/ps2 game... only if they are cheaper than online, which is not uncommon at least at my local store...
 
last PC game I bought at a gamestop was SC2 WoL. Had actually preordered it and picked it up at midnight.
 
It's the social side that helps them stay open. The Gamestop I go to has some of the funniest and most enthusiastic people whom love talking games. At some point and time, you must admit that this is a way funner experience than to just click and buy. I'm all for a good deal,but what's a few more bucks when you walk out with a smile, eh?

Blockbuster had a social side too. Usually the employees there were movie buffs and were happy to talk movies and make recommendations. I can easily picture Gamestop going the way of Blockbuster. Amazon Prime provides release day deliveries of preordered games plus the HUUUUGE benefit of 20% off. Even without Amazon, you can buy a lot of games straight from the console and download them without even getting your fat ass off the couch.

My entire childhood was spent in places like Electronics Boutique, Funcoland, and Gamestop. As an adult, it's been years since I even set foot in Gamestop. I just don't see the point.
 
Blockbuster had a social side too. Usually the employees there were movie buffs and were happy to talk movies and make recommendations. I can easily picture Gamestop going the way of Blockbuster. Amazon Prime provides release day deliveries of preordered games plus the HUUUUGE benefit of 20% off. Even without Amazon, you can buy a lot of games straight from the console and download them without even getting your fat ass off the couch.

My entire childhood was spent in places like Electronics Boutique, Funcoland, and Gamestop. As an adult, it's been years since I even set foot in Gamestop. I just don't see the point.

Eh different wishes and different needs from product purchases all across the board. Quite frankly,there are still items I refuse to purchase online, wait a few days and hopefully get it all in tact. Where as in store purchases, the time spent purchasing a product, trying it out, and then it possibly being faulty, can be exchanged or returned all in one day.

Until physical copies are no longer a thing, I personally don't see Gamestop going out of business any time soon.

And as I said before, the social side of things helps keep the doors open.

A lot of people like myself don't really care about the convenience of clicking a button a few times and then having something delivered with in the same day to a week ahead.


7 day return policy on any used game you purchase is pretty reasonable in my opinion. And there's enough gamestops in any metropolitan area to still make it convenient enough for most people to take a few minutes out of their day to visit.

As well, Blockbuster and Hollywood video lost heavily due to streaming/quicker services like Amazon, Netflix, HULU, Redbox and more... But until games can be simulated the same way, I don't think the two industries can be all that comparable.

And let's not forget that consoles are as hot as ever. PS4 just had the biggest black friday sales in all of Playstation history. The market is definitely still there for retail when it comes to console and games...
But with PC games, that's another story...

Best Buy is another one to take a look at. Automatic 20% off any new games when you're a member of their game program.

Wal-Mart does trade ins as well. And I'm sure others are doing whatever it takes to take on the online giants.

At the end of the day, more options is better. Forcing people to buy everything online, including entertainment, is ludicrous.
 
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I fully agree that more options is better, and I'm not saying that we should be forced to buy things online. I'm just saying that this is the direction that things are going. We live in the digital age and more and more people are staying home to do their shopping, especially when it comes to digital goods. Gamestop has been on a downward trend for a long time now. Their stock price has been dropping for many years and they just recently announced that they're closing 150+ stores.
 
I went to GameStop recently for the first time in a long time, since I just picked up a PS4 and wanted to grab FFXV. I reserved it online for in-store pickup (new copy), and when I went to pick it up they told me they only had pre-owned...lol. Honestly it was so cheap from them anyway I didn't care, so I got the pre-owned copy (looked brand new anyway), but it just seems like a bait and switch to get you to come into the store. The guy of course asked me if I wanted to pre-order anything, as is tradition.

Looking around it was kinda sad...basically 100% console stuff with a bunch of toys and trinkets as well. There were quite a few people in there though, surprisingly...and this was mid-day on a work day (I went during lunch).
 
Electronics Boutique, Software Etc., Babbages... Those days are long gone. Digital (Steam, Origin, etc.) are the way it's done now. There just isn't a market for store bought physical sales anymore when it comes to PC games. Either because physical is easier to pirate or digital is just what the consumer preferred (damn Steam won me over long ago).

I do miss going into the store and buying PC games. I bought a 14.4 modem from one, too. Just so I could get on the WWW.
 
I don't miss going to the game store to buy games.

Look through the rack for like 20 minutes for anything worth buying...

Narrow it down to 3 items, each individually in your budget, but you can't afford more than just 1.

Debate over it for a while. Ask the dude behind the counter for advice, and be told to buy the most expensive one.

Narrow it down to two.

Debate over it for another 10 minutes.

Put both back and get the third.

Wait in line for 45 minutes to check out because there are 30 people in line, and only one checkout attendant working, even though they have 5 employees and 4 sales terminals.

Get home, and find that an employee has opened the game, played it, or as they would say, 'demoed it', and forgot the CD key when it got put back on the shelf.

Go back to the store, and wait another 55 minutes to talk to a manager about getting a CD key...

There, you've wasted 4+ hours of your life.

Buy it off steam. CD key is usually a non issue. You get reviews, documentation, Q&A, etc., right there. No pushy sales slob to deal with, and the game downloads and installs in less time than it would take just to drive to the store.
 
I don't miss going to the game store to buy games.

Look through the rack for like 20 minutes for anything worth buying...

Narrow it down to 3 items, each individually in your budget, but you can't afford more than just 1.

Debate over it for a while. Ask the dude behind the counter for advice, and be told to buy the most expensive one.

Narrow it down to two.

Debate over it for another 10 minutes.

Put both back and get the third.

Wait in line for 45 minutes to check out because there are 30 people in line, and only one checkout attendant working, even though they have 5 employees and 4 sales terminals.

Get home, and find that an employee has opened the game, played it, or as they would say, 'demoed it', and forgot the CD key when it got put back on the shelf.

Go back to the store, and wait another 55 minutes to talk to a manager about getting a CD key...

There, you've wasted 4+ hours of your life.

Buy it off steam. CD key is usually a non issue. You get reviews, documentation, Q&A, etc., right there. No pushy sales slob to deal with, and the game downloads and installs in less time than it would take just to drive to the store.

A fair assessment.
 
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